In 2012, around 2.17 million tonnes of hazardous waste were generated in Switzerland. That is nearly 19 per cent more than in 2011. According to statistics published recently by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), the amount of waste generated and treated within the country increased from 1.57 million tonnes to 1.75 million tonnes.
An additional 425,500 tonnes of hazardous waste were exported, up from 267,900 tonnes in the prior year. The increases in exports to Germany (+35 per cent to 238,700 tonnes) and the Netherlands (+149 per cent to 151,700 tonnes) were particularly marked.
The most common means of disposal for Swiss hazardous waste was incineration, no matter whether the waste was treated domestically, where the incineration rate stood at 35 per cent last year, or abroad, where incineration was used to dispose of 51 per cent of the exported Swiss waste.
