What to do with rubbish before you travel? [Basel]

I've had this dilemma for many times, where we need to leave for a vacation or a week-long business, but the rubbish pick-up day is a day or two away. What do you do in this case? Is it OK to drop your rubbish in the pick-up zone that is outside of your address?

As long as you have the correct bags or stickers for the zone where you're dropping them off, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't.

We once nipped down to the next village before a holiday because we knew their collection day was the day before ours. It's the same bag for whole canton, so it was totally legal.

But unfortunately your canton is more the exception than the rule. In most places they have different collection days, different sacks coming in different colours which cost different prices. There are even cantons which have towns right next to each other, one can have an official sack, whilst another does not have one because the residents pay an annual fee.

I previously lived on a street where one side of the road had different coloured sacks to the other.

But even in those situations all one has to do is buy the correct bag or sticker.

Having recently come home to a bluebottle horror movie scene in our junk room, I'd have no problem paying for a dozen bags to only use one!

Thanks all! Luckily the bebbisag is uniform for Basel Stadt, so I just dropped it in the nearby zone. Now I know next time I won't have to sneak around with my rubbish worrying whether I'm breaking a Swiss law!

Sometimes, I just throw my half filled rubbish bag into the freezer or onto the deck if it's winter before a week or so of travel.

Some places still have pick-up days?

That's so '70s.

Tom

That's where having made friends with your neighbors really comes in handy.

Uhm, I throw it out whenever I want Do some places still not have those big dumpsters then? I have some kind of underground system where I live now, so it doesn't matter when I throw them out (also because the cost of throwing it away is based on weight rather than per bag - makes it easy to throw a half-full bag as well). But when I used to have these dumpster thingies, I threw the bags in there whenever I wanted. I do the same with everything else except bulky items - I put it out when it's ready, I have no clue at all when they pick up what

We have the problem of having to wait until the 17 litre bag is full, which can take more than 2 weeks sometimes as we recycle or take everything back to the shops. We need mini bags.

Would do that, leave it somewhere convenient for neighbour to pick up.

Sometimes made an effort to separate dry rubbish from wet rubbish, so that if only a 2 or 3 days in between pick up and going away, might have a half carrier bag or less of wet rubbish would put in street bin.

What sort of wet rubbish? Surely all of that goes into the green bin (if you have one)?

I don't throw my old sponges, wet cleaning papers, meat packages, and coffee capsules among other things in the green bin, do you?

On the way to looking up something else I stumbled on the Basel Abfallengsorgung pages, and remembered this thread.

So assuming you are in BS and not BL, it looks as if you can take a normal garbage bag to one of the recycling points on any day they are open. Click on the link Abfallentsorgung Basel, then page 86.

There is also a 'Sauberkeitshotline' for questions, Tel. 061 385 15 15. You might call to confirm.

http://www.aue.bs.ch/abfaelle/haushaltsabfaelle.html

I don't have coffee capsules and meat packaging goes back to the shop, at least the plastic containers do.

Simply throw it on your neighbours land

...will no longer be wet if you let them dry before disposing of them...

What the f is a green bin?

Biodegradable stuff for composting. Usually available on request.

I thought they were standard, but you're right even here where everyone seems to have one they are 'on request'.

In some areas they are fairly standard. It makes sense to have one as it reduces other waste (that you probably are paying to throw away using the taxed sack method) by up to 30%.