Swiss court suspends Geneva plan to ban single-use plastics
Volunteers collect plastic and other rubbish on the shores of Lake Geneva in 2018.
Keystone / Jean-Christophe Bott
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Swiss court suspends Geneva plan to ban single-use plastics
A Geneva court has suspended a ban on the sale and distribution of single-use plastics in the city, which was due to be introduced on January 1. This follows an appeal by Swiss retailers to the Federal Court.
From January 1, a new law was due to come into force in Geneva that included a ban on distributing disposable plastics in restaurants and takeaway outlets, as well as in the food sections of supermarkets.
But Swiss retailers Migros Geneva, Coop, Denner, Manor and Migrolino filed a joint appeal with the Federal Court two years ago, claiming that the ban infringes their economic freedom. They argue that the sector has already made sufficient efforts to reduce the utilisation of single-use plastic.
Another part of the law – the requirement for recyclers to incinerate in canton Geneva – is the subject of an appeal filed by the recycler Helvetia Environnement, which also believes that the limited choice of incineration sites could hinder its economic freedom.
The Constitutional Chamber of the Geneva Court of Justice decided at the beginning of December to therefore suspend the law’s application, the Geneva daily Le CourrierExternal link reported on Monday .
More
More
Recycling is not the panacea for Switzerland’s plastic addiction
This content was published on
Switzerland consumes a million tonnes of plastic every year, a large proportion of which is incinerated.
This suspension appears to suit the Geneva government, which has also filed an appeal against the law, more specifically against its final version, in which several provisions were invalidated by the Federal Council. The federal government believes that Geneva’s waste management plan does not comply with the “polluter pays principle”.
The entry into force of the new waste law had already been postponed last year. The Geneva government is keen to maintain the suspension, while awaiting the Federal Court’s decision on the various appeals.
Depending on what the Federal Court decides, the final version of the text may have to be reduced further.
“We will have to live with it,” acknowledged Geneva minister Antonio Hodgers. But everything else will come into force and will make Geneva an “innovative” canton in this area, notably by being the first to ban disposable plastics, he added.
More
More
Consumers snubbed plastic bags after charge imposed
This content was published on
The introduction of a small fee for plastic bags in shops has had a dramatic effect on the number of bags being used by consumers.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
What factors should be taken into account when inheriting Swiss citizenship abroad?
Should there be a limit to the passing on of Swiss citizenship? Or is the current practice too strict and it should still be possible to register after the age of 25?
Switzerland wants to spend CHF47 million on armed drones
This content was published on
The Swiss authorities are keen to buy long-distance combat drones as soon as possible, according to a Sunday newspaper report.
Trump tariffs: ‘I’m a bit perplexed’, says former US ambassador to Switzerland
This content was published on
The former US ambassador to Switzerland, Edward McMullen, says he is optimistic for the Alpine country with regard to the 31% tariff on imports imposed by US President Donald Trump.
Swiss Federal Court upholds Beny Steinmetz’s bribery conviction
This content was published on
Switzerland's highest court has upheld the conviction of French-Israeli mining magnate Beny Steinmetz for bribery of foreign public officials.
This content was published on
The Trump administration has imposed a 31% tariff on imports from Switzerland. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter has warned against "giving in to alarmism" in an interview published on Saturday,
This content was published on
Scientists have shown that bonobos combine their calls into complex sound sequences that resemble combinations of human words.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.