Grandson will open the first plastic sorting center in Switzerland

The Vaudoise town will accommodate a sorting center for plastic waste. But the project comes up against major challenges in terms of volumes and engagement of local authorities.

The Leo-recycle company is preparing to inaugurate in Grandson (VD) the very first sorting center dedicated to plastic packaging and drinks bricks in Switzerland, reports Freedom. The objective is ambitious: Set up a national recycling sector. But for the time being, the volumes of waste still remain insufficient.

A technology already in action

Although the official inauguration is still to come, the sorting machine installed in the premises of Grandson is already at work. Capable of absorbing plastic packaging and drinking bricks, it has been operating since the start of the year as part of an industrial test phase. “The machine has been operational since the start of the year, but it is still in the industrial test phase”specifies Jennifer Ducommun, manager of commercial development at Leo-Recycle.

Currently, the waste collected in the paid bags of Leo-recycle (1.60 francs for 35 liters) is sorted in Grandson, but the company does not intend to stop there. It plans to create a real local recycling sector of which «l‘Objective is to recycle more than 60% of the materials collected »adds the manager.

Switzerland generates around 790,000 tonnes of plastic waste each year83% of which are cremated, and only 9% are exported to be recycled, mainly in Germany, Austria and France, according to the Federal Office of the Environment (OFEV). “You have to hope that this recycling sector project goes to the end, because Switzerland is delayed on this plan”observes Sébastien Humbert, co -director of the EQLOSION sustainable consulting office, based in Lausanne.

A necessary harmonization

The multiplication of private initiatives (Mr. Green, Werecycle, Bring Plastic Back, etc.) did not allow national harmonization of sorting. Systems vary according to providers, types of plastics collected, prices and economic models. A confused situation for consumers. RECYPAC wishes to remedy this fragmentation with a unified national collection system in a single bag, the recybag.

The organization aims A recycling rate of 70% for drinking bricks and 55% for plastic packaging by 2030. In 2023, only half of the Swiss municipalities participated in a certified collection of mixed plastics.

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