Coop says it will no longer dispose of plastic containers for free

The Swiss supermarket Coop has announced that it will no longer allow customers to dispose of empty plastic containers for free in certain stores. The announcement comes on the heels of the introduction of the new “Recybag” plastic recycling system, which was introduced nationwide at the beginning of the year. 

Coop will stop accepting non-PET plastic waste for free

Up until now, Coop and other supermarkets in Switzerland have operated free recycling stations for empty, non-PET plastic containers such as those used for milk, shampoo and cleaning products. However, at the beginning of this year Switzerland introduced its new Recybag system, a paid-for waste bag that households can use to dispose of empty plastic containers. 

With the new, paid system in operation at multiple locations across the country, Coop has decided that in municipalities where the Recybag is in operation, it will no longer operate plastic recycling stations, CH Media reports. Instead, consumers will need to pay for the Recybag (costing anywhere between 1 and 4 francs, depending on the size) to recycle their plastic waste. 

The Recybag has already been introduced in:

• Basel-Stadt
• Basel-Land
• Zurich
• Bern
• St. Gallen
• Schaffhausen
• Graubünden

To see exactly which stores are affected, you can refer to the Coop press release. Note that traditional PET plastic bottles are not affected by the change, and can still be returned to collection points as usual. 

Other Swiss supermarkets have no plans to follow Coop’s lead

The news was met with dissatisfaction from many customers, Watson reports, with some writing on social media that they didn’t have space for yet another garbage collection bag. Some said that they would now shop elsewhere, where they could dispose of their plastic, while others said they would end up just throwing plastic waste in the regular bin. 

It remains to be seen whether other Swiss supermarkets will follow Coop’s lead. So far, none of them have plans to scrap their plastic recycling offerings. Lidl and Aldi both told Blick that they would continue to offer plastic disposal for free in all their stores.