A tonne of waste per year and resident

“Waste recycling is a very logistical affair,” says Werner Grossen, Head of Marketing & Sales at AVAG AG of Thun in Central Switzerland. Efficient transport flows, a sophisticated collection organization with appropriate handling facilities and start-to-finish assistance and advice: that’s what makes all the difference in this particular field. AVAG and its 100 or so personnel have been providing a comprehensive waste collection and disposal service for 134 municipalities in southern Canton Bern since 1973, collecting the 250 000 to 300 000 tonnes of waste that are generated by their more than 325 000 residents each year – almost a tonne per person – and ensuring that it is all properly disposed of or (if possible) recycled or reused.

Responsible handling of ressorces

“Most municipal authorities want to have just one point of contact for all their waste disposal and recycling issues,” Werner Grossen explains. The range of waste collected by AVAG extends from household items to paper and road cleaning waste, and its processing ranges from heat- and energy-generating incineration in its own facilities to recovering and recycling specific reusable materials and all the way to landfill disposal. “We also attach a lot of importance at AVAG to working with reliable long-term partners,” Grossen continues. “After all, we have a duty and a commitment to the populations we serve to be as responsible as possible in our handling of these precious resources.”

Some 12 000 tonnes of waste paper are recovered in AVAG’s catchment area every year. “The closer nearby we can deliver these volumes for recycling, the better it is for the population and the easier it is on the environment,” Grossen stresses. And by working with APS, AVAG can ensure that these recovered paper volumes are accepted and sorted in Utzenstorf, and are recycled within Switzerland at the Perlen paper factory.