Switz Bitz - Part 1

While the majority of our entries so far have focused on the places we have visited in Switzerland, we thought that it would be interesting to also talk about day-to-day life in a new country.  We present to you, the first in a series of entries describing some interesting bits of Swiss culture, or "Switz Bitz".  Yup, I'm proud of that one.

1)  Smoking

The Swiss are known for their love of the outdoors.  Swimming in the crystal clear lakes, hiking in the mountains, nordic walking (see below), and biking just about anywhere.  "Fitness" and "wellness" seem to be the national pastimes. 

This is a sign we saw during our Uteliburg trek.  In addition to showing the hiking trails, the figure on the right demonstrates proper Nordic walking technique.  Nordic walking = walking with sticks!

For such an active country, we were so surprised by how much smoking there is.  Young and old, men and women, everyone seems to smoke.  On our recent trip to Bern we boarded a train in Zurich that had already been in transit for a few hours.  When the train arrived at the station, a large number of passengers disembarked to take a smoke break for the 10 minutes or so before the train departed.  Walking down the platform was a challenge from the sheer quantity of people just standing in place smoking, not to mention the cloud of smoke.  Last September, Swiss voters rejected a total ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces.  Only the canton of Geneva voted in favor (very slight) of the ban, while the other 25 voted strongly in opposition. Luckily, the interior of most restaurants are smoke-free.

2)  Noise and Sundays

Sunday in Switzerland is a "Family Day," and is how the country encourages its citizens to spend time at home.  We should clarify that they mean it should be "Quiet Family Time."  There are widespread restrictions on noise, dictating that people should keep noise at a minimum after the hours of 9PM and before 7AM.  These restrictions apply all day on Sundays and public holidays.  What's noisy?  Laundry, vacuuming, lawn-mowing, children running inside, parties, etc.  If it might be louder than a typical conversation, it's too loud.  The Swiss are not afraid to report your disruptive activities to the police, resulting in a stern talking to (and probably a fine) from the local authority.

Playing in gravel would be too noisy on Sunday. Sorry, bears. 

3)  Recycling

So, in a country as efficient as Switzerland, you would think waste disposal would be managed very effectively, right?  Yes and no.  Trash collection is financed by the purchase of special trash bags.  Trash can only be disposed of in these bags which differ by region.  Trash bags are available for purchase at grocery stores and the post office.  The more trash you create, the more you have to pay to bag your trash for collection.  Fair.  The trash bags we use in our apartment cost about 1.60 CHF per 35 liter bag.  Bags are placed in dumpsters located near our apartment complex and collected regularly.  Compost is collected just like trash, but is free!  For a country full of apartment dwellers, this is an excellent idea.  Kitchen scraps are placed in designated bins right next to the trash dumpsters.  Stacks of paper tied with twine are placed near the same dumpsters once a month for recycling.  Other recyclable items are all taken to public repositories frequently located near grocery stores.  When you go grocery shopping this is where you return your empty glass bottles and aluminum cans.

On the street off Bahnhofstrasse, recycling is encouraged.

Collecting the recyclables. Yup, those bins go deep underground.

Inside grocery stores is an area for recycling plastic milk bottles, PET drink bottles (from soda, bottled water, etc), and batteries.  What's that?  You still have plastic containers that once held your delicious yogurt, orange-yolked eggs, and himbeeren (raspberries)?  Sorry, if those containers aren't made of PET and didn't spend their life as a milk bottle you can't recycle them.  Why Swtizerland?!?  

More Bitz to come!

-Swiss Ms