Wyland waste disposal organization - has been collecting plastic throughout the region since 2023

Since January 2023, all 18 municipalities in the area of the Wyland waste disposal organization (KEWY) have been collecting plastic with the collection bag.

Why did you decide to introduce separate plastic collection in the KEWY region?
A few years ago, individual municipalities in the KEWY regions introduced separate plastic collection on their own initiative. At the time, the association left it up to the municipalities to decide whether they wanted to collect plastic separately or not, as we as an association saw no reason to prescribe a comprehensive collection in our region. It was only when the Office for Waste, Water, Energy and Air (AWEL) of the Canton of Zurich issued an official recommendation to collect plastic with a licensed collection system that we looked into the separate collection of plastic in depth and finally decided that this would be a sensible thing to do if we were to work out a solution for the entire KEWY area. In our view, it no longer made sense for each municipality to develop its own concept, not least because of the journeys involved in collecting the bags. A regional solution can combine and thus reduce this.

Why did you opt for the "Bring Plastic back" collection system?
Half of the KEWY municipalities were already collecting with "Bring Plastic back". However, we also looked into another collection system because we wanted to look at all the options. However, we quickly realized that the municipalities were very satisfied with "Bring Plastic back" and that it made little sense to change something that was working well.

How did the collaboration with "Bring Plastic back" come about?
Managing Director Marc Briand heard that we were planning a regional solution and actively contacted us. Once it was clear that we would implement the project together, project manager Sandro Alves came on board and supported us with the theoretical and practical implementation.

What is your experience of working with "Bring Plastic back"?
Up until the launch, it was a very intensive and pleasant collaboration with Sandro Alves, who always provided us with expert advice and developed suitable solutions for the various municipalities. Since the launch in January 2023, however, I've heard virtually nothing more, which for me is also a sign that it's working. Because now it runs directly through the municipalities and if I don't hear anything, I assume that everything is going well, otherwise the municipalities would get in touch with me. The little feedback I got was that the municipalities contacted "Bring Plastic back" directly with the points that needed to be improved and suitable solutions were found quickly and easily.

Do you have a special experience or a funny anecdote in connection with the plastic collection?
As I haven't had anything to do since the collection was introduced, I can only report from experiences in my environment. Of course, we also have the collection bag at home and after two weeks my teenage daughter came to me and said how amazed she was at how quickly the collection bag was full. Similar feedback came from my mother, who said that it took much longer for her normal garbage bag to fill up. We only realize how much plastic we use in everyday life when we collect it separately.