Alex opening his recycling truck
Real tree, real candles, good thing Alex has his new fire truck ready to spray
Christian with Heidi
The COOLEST! PRESENT! EVER! from the Grandparents
27 December 2007
Some Christmas pictures
Alex in front of the tree
Alex opening his recycling truck
Real tree, real candles, good thing Alex has his new fire truck ready to spray
Christian with Heidi
The COOLEST! PRESENT! EVER! from the Grandparents
Alex opening his recycling truck Real tree, real candles, good thing Alex has his new fire truck ready to spray Christian with HeidiThe COOLEST! PRESENT! EVER! from the Grandparents
17 December 2007
Pictures!
How cute is Christian?
Oh Fisher Price Aquarium Cradle Swing how I love you!
Reto was very interested in the outcome of the elections to the Bundesrat (Federal Council of Switzerland). Long story short the controversial conservative Christoph Blocher was voted out of the government and his party, the SVP (Swiss People's Party), threw its remaining two members of the Bundesrat out of the party and went into the opposition. This is unprecedented in Switzerland, but Alex was clearly bored by it all.
Oh Fisher Price Aquarium Cradle Swing how I love you!
Reto was very interested in the outcome of the elections to the Bundesrat (Federal Council of Switzerland). Long story short the controversial conservative Christoph Blocher was voted out of the government and his party, the SVP (Swiss People's Party), threw its remaining two members of the Bundesrat out of the party and went into the opposition. This is unprecedented in Switzerland, but Alex was clearly bored by it all.
13 December 2007
This post is full of garbage
I know, I know. You want stuff about the baby and I'm giving you garbage. Yes, literally, garbage. You see, my 2008 Abfallkalendar (trash calendar) arrived in the mail today. I love the trash calendar. How much do I love the trash calendar? This essay I wrote for the Spring 2006 issue of Hello Bern shows just how much I love the Abfallkalendar.
The Swiss take their trash pretty seriously. Anybody who sends a 16-page pamphlet about trash and recycling procedures to every household in the city, and who also makes copies available in English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Serbian, and Turkish, takes their trash and recylcing pretty seriously. We received our 2006 Abfallkalender (literally, trash calender) in mid-December 2005. In it are the dates for trash pickup, paper recycling pickups, Gartenabfälle (garden waste, dead plants and leaves, etc), and old metal for the entire year. It also contains the the location of glass recycling depots throughout the city, the location and opening hours of the Tierkörpersammelstelle (what to do with animals who have passed to the Great Beyond), and describes how to properly dispose of batteries, car batteries, printer cartrages and toner, CDs, old electric cabels, skis and snowboards and more. I know when the ÖkoInfoMobil truck will be in my neighborhood. I know what types of paper and cartons can be recycled (newspapers, magazines, egg cartons) and what types of paper and cartons cannot be recyled (Tetrapacks, laundry detergent boxes). Like I said, the Swiss take their trash pretty seriously. The Swiss also recycle 91% of household aluminum and about 80% of PET plastics, so they must be doing something right. You may laugh at the Abfallkalender, but Switzerland is a recycling powerhouse.
I have a confession to make. I do not laugh at the Abfallkalender. Quite the opposite. I love the Abfallkalender. It appeals to the Swiss-wannabe in me, to my sense of order. I love the very idea of a city government putting together a calendar for all trash-related items for a whole year. A year! I mean, I can tell you right now that on Monday, November 27, 2006, there will be no trash pickup for Trash Sector C. I love that the city is divided into sectors for trash pickup. I love that I can turn to my handy street index at the back of the calender and find out what parts of the city fall into Trash Sector C. I love that this calender is available in eight languages, that it is delivered to every address in the city, that it can be found on-line. After we received ours, I punched a little hole in the upper left corner, ran a string through it, and hung it prominently from the shelving in our utility room where we store the recyclables. Yes, I am in love with my Abfallkalender.
Now I may love the Abfallkalender, I may love how seriously the Swiss take recycling, but I will say this: doing trash right the Swiss way takes a little bit of planning, a little bit of coordination, a little bit of extra space, and, even with the assistance of a detailed Abfallkalender, a good memory.
In my neighborhood (that’s Trash Sector A4, by the way, and can I tell you how much I love that Sector A is subdivided? Subdivided!) household trash is picked up at the kerb twice a week. Recyclable paper and carton is picked up twice a month, also at the kerb. Gartenabfälle is collected twice a month except January, when there were no pickups, and February, when there was one pickup at the end of the month. Woe to you if your large houseplant up and died on January 3rd! We need to bring glass, PET and aluminum to one of the neighborhood depots ourselves. The ÖkoInfoMobil truck, which will accept more difficult to dispose of items such as batteries, autobatteries, CD,and toner cartridges, is in my neighborhood on Friday afternoons for 15 minutes; there is a designated stop for this truck and I have to bring the items to the truck and cannot leave them behind if I miss it.
Keeping track of all these dates is, if not easy, at least possible, thanks to the calendar. Finding the space to sort and store recyclables is something else again. We’re fortunate to have a little utility closet in our apartment where the washer and dryer are (and, yes, we’re fortunate to have those in the unit, too). In this little room we have set up our very own mini-recycling center. A large cardboard box for paper and cartons; another box for plastics; a bag that we hang out of range of our young son for aluminium, including cleaned out aluminium cans, flattened, with the label removed. Glass bottles and jars we set on a high shelf. It’s an acceptable little recycling center until we go too long without taking the PET to the grocery store, until we miss a paper recycling day. Then the recyclables threaten to bury the washer/dryer.
Still, when the recycling backs up we just have to let it back up until the next pick up date rolls around. We’re not going to throw it out, not at 70 Rappen for a little 17-liter bag, 1.40 for a 35-liter bag. In my opinion, trash stickers (Gebührenmarke) are the real reason the Swiss take their trash so seriously. When you have to pay for each bag of trash that you set at the kerb, you’re going to think twice about putting that cardboard egg carton in the garbage instead of the recycling pile. Personally, I think this is a great system, so long as you pay attention to when you are running out of trash stickers and go buy more on time! It encourages recycling and puts more of the burden of the cost of trash collection on the people who generate the most trash. We recycle as much as possible – toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, envelops without the plastic windows in them (because it says in the Abfallkalender that these windows are unacceptable), cereal and pasta boxes – and I know it’s because of the Gebührenmarke. But remember to flatten those boxes, because if your recycling bundle contains an unflattened box, they won’t pick it up. This will of course happen on a day with rain or snow, and then you will have to take this wet bundle back into your apartment – because you can’t just leave it out there, after all – and hold onto it for another two weeks. Not that this has ever happened to me…um, right then. Where was I?
Ah, yes, the Abfallkalender. My little 16-page pamphlet answering every question I could possibly have about disposing of household trash, old skis, apple cores and Tetrapacks. I know it sounds crazy, but I love the Abfallkalender. Really. Truly. Deeply.
***
Since this article was published, Bern has traded in the trash stickers for special blue garbage bags. We pay 1 franc 40 for each 35 liter garbage bag - we average a 35 liter bag a week even with the new load of diapers - and don't have to keep track of trash stickers anymore. But if you don't use that blue bag with the City of Bern symbol on it, they're not picking up your trash.
The Swiss take their trash pretty seriously. Anybody who sends a 16-page pamphlet about trash and recycling procedures to every household in the city, and who also makes copies available in English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Serbian, and Turkish, takes their trash and recylcing pretty seriously. We received our 2006 Abfallkalender (literally, trash calender) in mid-December 2005. In it are the dates for trash pickup, paper recycling pickups, Gartenabfälle (garden waste, dead plants and leaves, etc), and old metal for the entire year. It also contains the the location of glass recycling depots throughout the city, the location and opening hours of the Tierkörpersammelstelle (what to do with animals who have passed to the Great Beyond), and describes how to properly dispose of batteries, car batteries, printer cartrages and toner, CDs, old electric cabels, skis and snowboards and more. I know when the ÖkoInfoMobil truck will be in my neighborhood. I know what types of paper and cartons can be recycled (newspapers, magazines, egg cartons) and what types of paper and cartons cannot be recyled (Tetrapacks, laundry detergent boxes). Like I said, the Swiss take their trash pretty seriously. The Swiss also recycle 91% of household aluminum and about 80% of PET plastics, so they must be doing something right. You may laugh at the Abfallkalender, but Switzerland is a recycling powerhouse.
I have a confession to make. I do not laugh at the Abfallkalender. Quite the opposite. I love the Abfallkalender. It appeals to the Swiss-wannabe in me, to my sense of order. I love the very idea of a city government putting together a calendar for all trash-related items for a whole year. A year! I mean, I can tell you right now that on Monday, November 27, 2006, there will be no trash pickup for Trash Sector C. I love that the city is divided into sectors for trash pickup. I love that I can turn to my handy street index at the back of the calender and find out what parts of the city fall into Trash Sector C. I love that this calender is available in eight languages, that it is delivered to every address in the city, that it can be found on-line. After we received ours, I punched a little hole in the upper left corner, ran a string through it, and hung it prominently from the shelving in our utility room where we store the recyclables. Yes, I am in love with my Abfallkalender.
Now I may love the Abfallkalender, I may love how seriously the Swiss take recycling, but I will say this: doing trash right the Swiss way takes a little bit of planning, a little bit of coordination, a little bit of extra space, and, even with the assistance of a detailed Abfallkalender, a good memory.
In my neighborhood (that’s Trash Sector A4, by the way, and can I tell you how much I love that Sector A is subdivided? Subdivided!) household trash is picked up at the kerb twice a week. Recyclable paper and carton is picked up twice a month, also at the kerb. Gartenabfälle is collected twice a month except January, when there were no pickups, and February, when there was one pickup at the end of the month. Woe to you if your large houseplant up and died on January 3rd! We need to bring glass, PET and aluminum to one of the neighborhood depots ourselves. The ÖkoInfoMobil truck, which will accept more difficult to dispose of items such as batteries, autobatteries, CD,and toner cartridges, is in my neighborhood on Friday afternoons for 15 minutes; there is a designated stop for this truck and I have to bring the items to the truck and cannot leave them behind if I miss it.
Keeping track of all these dates is, if not easy, at least possible, thanks to the calendar. Finding the space to sort and store recyclables is something else again. We’re fortunate to have a little utility closet in our apartment where the washer and dryer are (and, yes, we’re fortunate to have those in the unit, too). In this little room we have set up our very own mini-recycling center. A large cardboard box for paper and cartons; another box for plastics; a bag that we hang out of range of our young son for aluminium, including cleaned out aluminium cans, flattened, with the label removed. Glass bottles and jars we set on a high shelf. It’s an acceptable little recycling center until we go too long without taking the PET to the grocery store, until we miss a paper recycling day. Then the recyclables threaten to bury the washer/dryer.
Still, when the recycling backs up we just have to let it back up until the next pick up date rolls around. We’re not going to throw it out, not at 70 Rappen for a little 17-liter bag, 1.40 for a 35-liter bag. In my opinion, trash stickers (Gebührenmarke) are the real reason the Swiss take their trash so seriously. When you have to pay for each bag of trash that you set at the kerb, you’re going to think twice about putting that cardboard egg carton in the garbage instead of the recycling pile. Personally, I think this is a great system, so long as you pay attention to when you are running out of trash stickers and go buy more on time! It encourages recycling and puts more of the burden of the cost of trash collection on the people who generate the most trash. We recycle as much as possible – toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, envelops without the plastic windows in them (because it says in the Abfallkalender that these windows are unacceptable), cereal and pasta boxes – and I know it’s because of the Gebührenmarke. But remember to flatten those boxes, because if your recycling bundle contains an unflattened box, they won’t pick it up. This will of course happen on a day with rain or snow, and then you will have to take this wet bundle back into your apartment – because you can’t just leave it out there, after all – and hold onto it for another two weeks. Not that this has ever happened to me…um, right then. Where was I?
Ah, yes, the Abfallkalender. My little 16-page pamphlet answering every question I could possibly have about disposing of household trash, old skis, apple cores and Tetrapacks. I know it sounds crazy, but I love the Abfallkalender. Really. Truly. Deeply.
***
Since this article was published, Bern has traded in the trash stickers for special blue garbage bags. We pay 1 franc 40 for each 35 liter garbage bag - we average a 35 liter bag a week even with the new load of diapers - and don't have to keep track of trash stickers anymore. But if you don't use that blue bag with the City of Bern symbol on it, they're not picking up your trash.
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