[ZH]Taking boxes to the rubbish tip... do they all need to be flatpacked and emptied?

Hi guys. I have a TON of boxes from years of buying electronics and dumping them in the attic (of which I am not proud) to take to the rubbish tip. Do I need to cut them all up and flatten them and take out the packing foam etc or can I just take them there whole in a van along with my vouchers and they will dispose of everything?

EDIT - UPDATE 29.04.2023

You do not need to remove anything from the boxes and can provide them "as is" as long as you have your 100KG voucher(s). They will then weigh (to see how many vouchers you owe) everything then sort and flatten the rest.

HOWEVER you do have the option of separating it all yourself at the recycling center and then they will not take a voucher from you. So basically you can do it yourself for free or they will do it and you pay your voucher.

In future I will never let that amount of boxes build up without disposing of them properly, I had so many it was truly silly, overwhelming, but it's good to know that it can be handled without too much pain if the situation arises.

Depends on your Gemeinde and on your gree ethics. Cardboard can only be put in cardboard bins for recycling if empty and flat. At our Commune, some people do, and some people don't. Those who don't cause for a nightmare and are NOT very popular.

I would assume they would want you to at least separate cardboard from styrofoam or other packing materials.

But it's also like JackieH said. You're supposed to wrap your newspapers up in a neat bundle and stack them to be carried away.

My poop for brains former neigbours just threw theirs in old coop paper bags and yet they were still always removed.

I assume you are bringing the stuff to "Recyclinghof Hagenholz”.

All you have to do is arrive with with whatever you wish to dispose of, the people there will tell you into which skip to dump the various items.

Carboard, paper, packaging etc is all dumped into the same skip, you don’t have to separate it or fold it.

It is very simple, quick and friendly.

Styrofoam absolutely must be separated.

Take any packing foam or polystyrene out of the boxes so that there is only the cardboard.

At our replying centre we can just throw the boxes into the cardboard skip without flattening them as long as they are just cardboard and no other materials. They have a big rolling machine to flatten everything.

Why is that stupid? Everyone does it round here. The paper bags get recycled as well.

You are correct I am going to the center... thanks Ardmore I hope this is the case!

Lets see, I will do whatever they tell me to in the end.

You need to split it so dont be so lazy.
Its easy to read the website - heres the link for you.

https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/ted/de/…kostenlos.html

I worded that clumsily. They earned that title for a host of other reasons.

Luckily they've moved out now.

Ok guys, yesterday I went to the recycling center and...

You were completely right. They took all of the stuff and were also SUPER friendly. There is an amazonian lady at the Zurich center with purple-ish hair who is an absolute sweetheart and also speaks amazing English. We had a good laugh.

You guys were (fortunately for me in this instance) incorrect. You do not need to remove anything from the boxes and can provide them "as is" as long as you have your 100KG voucher. They will then weigh (to see how many vouchers you owe) everything then sort and flatten the rest.

HOWEVER you do have the option of separating it all yourself at the recycling center and then they will not take a voucher from you. So basically you can do it yourself for free or they will do it and you pay your voucher.

In future I will never let that amount of boxes build up without disposing of them properly, I had so many it was truly silly, overwhelming, but it's good to know that it can be handled without too much pain if the situation arises.

Cheers everyone.

If you wanted accurate information you should have stated your location in the OP.

Other posters can only give you the information for what they know. We don’t have a voucher system here for example.

I will amend the thread title to make it clear that it’s Zurich in case anyone is searching for the same thing in the future.

Same in Geneva. Its very easy to just put all paper in the bags and throw everything in the paper bin

My location is clearly stated in the usual place opposite my username in my posts, have you not discovered that forum feature yet?

On a similar topic... I have never been to Hagenholz and when I finally get around to doing the massive cellar clean up, how do I take things there? I will have loads of different materials etc. Just in carton boxes and then I sort it there? A lot of it will be things like trinkets, mirror, small furniture, old lamps etc.

If someone could tell me how to best organize it for most efficient disposal, I would be very grateful!

You’ve been here long enough to know that pretty much nobody looks at the location on posts as demonstrated by the replies you received.

It’s common sense to put the location in the OP and even better in the thread title as well if you want accurate replies. It also makes it easier in the future if people are searching on the same topic.

It’s also common sense to me to take all none cardboard material out of boxes and flatten them before taking them to the recycling centre. Apart from anything else flatpack boxes are much easier to transport and it saves time once you get to the recycling centre if they’re all ready to just throw into the respective bins.

Here it all gets burned to produce electricity, so cardboard, paper, etc. all go into the same skip.

We also don't separate glass by color, nor steel from aluminum.

Tom

Yes it may be 'common sense to you', but that unfortunately doesn't make it the right answer to the question of this thread.

Not everyone does so, however.

Tom