I have daily loose motion and use nappies, will I get free bags too? Really don't understand this concept of freebies for some and tough luck for others.
It will cost what it has to cost just like rest of us
Do the right thing and don't be a knob.
To be fair she did mention further down the thread that she was asking a "what if" based on what she'd seen rather than "I buy counterfeit bags, everyone give me a flaming, please."
A German guy in our neighbourhood does that and a Swiss lady gave him an earful but the knob keeps doing it. He says it has just ash from his ashtray Must be smoking cigarettes the size of Zeppelin.
Somehow, or other- disposal of rubbish/recycling has to be paid for. Any money not paid for by offcial bags, pay by weight, or other system- has to be paid via taxes and taxpayers. Official bags or pay by weight systems have been implemented to try to ensure that those who do not make the effort to cut down on packaging or recycle, pay more than those who do. Seems fair to me- and has said, makes people think and hopefully has an influence on how people buy and use.
Every time I go to throw my rubbish I see Migros paper bags full of rubbish in there. The more foreigners move into our block of flats the more I see this practice.
No wonder the Swiss get pissed off with us foreigners.
But how can one resist having a pop at someone online? Especially a newbie. YAAAAAAY
Are you missing Richdog?
Na, I upset him I think when I reminded him that unprovoked attacks on peoples mental state and their children is a bit harsh, particularly when they ask innocent questions nor had any spats with him before.
But back on topic. The price of the sacks here is quite a shock when you first move here. Especially from the UK where I think it is like £1 for 50 large black sacks. But as you begin to understand the system and how they effectively encourage you to recycle if you want to save money on the sacks, it is simply another genius system by the Swiss.......what with recycling places being at every supermarket near enough and glass/plastic bins randomly located.
Well, I for one completely agree with you.
This is the one (and probably only? can't think of anything else at the moment.) that I absolutely HATE about living here. I for one think it's completely silly. Not only that but the opening hours for the recycling center were I live are a joke.
How difficult can it be to counterfeit these things? Off to study MathNut's link. We will get the handle colors correct! I promise!
I think the system of paying for garbage bags here is one of the best ideas of any system in the world. It makes you think and not just toss loads of stuff. The bags end up really cheap over a year and compared to places like Sydney are way cheaper then your normal garbage fees at are imposed.
What i wish would happen is the retailers globally put as much thought instead of designer useless packaging most of which is garbage.
Seems harsh. I've wondered myself if there are forgeries about. There certainly would be in UK (and probably people just emptying other people's bags on the street).
Given mathnut's helpful input, I really don't recommend you doing this... But, I do appreciate you coming to my defense .
I love it! I was just called a "cheap ass" from some one called "Richdog." That's awesome, dare I say "rich" even!
Again, never ever ever post a "just asking" thread unless you have the constitution to deal with the volumes of hostility that will surely follow. Can't wait to read what's going to follow this post
It's not about the volume, It's all about the density. In 2007 they implemented the taxed bags here. We, as a wasteful, over-consuming family of 5 were going through about 1 bag per day. In 2008, while remodeling our kitchen, we installed a trash compactor. Now we use only 1 bag per week. We imported the compactor from Italy and it paid for itself in about a year and a half.
I'm sure it is difficult to do - but it's also quite difficult to prove mathematically that one can't!
When the bag is lying flat with nothing in it, it has zero volume. If you open it out just slightly, i.e. so that the top viewed from above is a long narrow rectangle, you get a little bit of volume inside. Open it wider and you get more volume, but only up to a point - and don't forget you still have to be able to close the bag again! Intuitively you can guess that you'll get the most volume if the shape at/near the top of the bag is something like a hemisphere, but the bottom of the bag can't be a hemisphere, so then what?
Well, I just measured one of our 35l bags (canton Glarus) and they're 56cm by 56cm. So the nearest estimate for the classic teabag problem would be 33.46 liters. The difference is that with a trash bag, instead of sealing the top edge shut along its whole length, you have to draw it together in the middle. The resulting shape is a little more sphere-like than if the top edge had to be sealed shut along its entire length, and so we'd expect it to have a bigger volume for the same surface area. On the other hand all those wrinkles at the top where you draw it together don't seem very efficient either.... hmmm.
I suspect your average town councillor's solution is to simply copy the bag dimensions off some other town and call it good enough. However, I am not a town councillor: so now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the bathtub to run some experiments.
You know that, MathNut knows that, I know that. It was only the (Swiss) folk down in the office that didn't seem to.
What they really meant was that the bags were suddenly twice as heavy.
Edit : Too late - MathNut is going to mess up my theory completely.
Would you really prefer the UK system? Here is a research study done by Leicester Uni:
Landfill
Landfill Overview
Landfill Gas (Methane)
Landfill Leachate
Since I haven't the slightest clue how it's done in the UK I don't know if I'd prefer that system.
Thanks for the ecology lesson, btw.
It depends on how often you take a bag of nappies to the bin.. I know that's stating the obvious but we got a sealed type bin (to stop smells) and we keep the wrapped up nappies in there until there is a full bag load, you can get LOADS in a 35l white bag. One bag per week used, MAX.
With the recycling of paper and plastic and glass etc. . 10 of these 35l bags easily last a month.
Our actual outside bin is over 100m from the house so this is partly laziness
No lesson, just information. So, how is it done where you used to live? If the system is indeed better, share here so the Swiss can learn and improve. I'd be really glad to pass on any useful tips and information to our local council. At the end of the day we all want the most effective and cheapest system, with the least impact on the environment, don't we? Making the most prolific users and paying less for those who try a/ to avoid waste b/ to dispose of it carefully, with max recycling, composting (at home or via council compost facilities), etc, does make sense to me.