Waste

To minimize the environmental impact of waste, wherever possible UZH goes in for recycling. In 2018, around two-thirds of the waste produced by UZH was collected on a source-segregated basis.

Practical recommendations

• Avoid disposable (single-use) tableware and unnecessary food packaging.
• Use tap water instead of bottled water.

Take-Away Tableware

Since the Fall Semester, conventional single-use tableware has no longer been used in 11 of UZH’s 15 cafeterias. Instead, the ZFV companies who run UZH’s catering services are using the reCIRCLE reusable system. Takeaway food and most beverages are now provided in recyclable, reusable containers. Manufactured in Switzerland, these reBoxes – plates and containers with covers – are made of long-lasting PBT material and provided in return for a 10-franc deposit. Once you’ve eaten, you can either keep the box or bring it back to the cafeteria.

While the cafeterias still provide paper cups for hot takeaway drinks, if you bring your own coffee mug or teacup you get to take advantage of the ZFV Kaffeepass, with every eleventh hot beverage you drink from your own cup free of charge.
More information

Bring and Take Day

Every fall since 2016, the Association of Infrastructure Staff (VIP) has organized a bring and take day. Anyone who has clothes, media, toys, sports equipment, household objects, small items of furniture, or office equipment to give away – provided it’s clean, intact and in working order – can drop it off in the Lichthof and rummage through the stuff brought by other people in search of collectors’ items, rare finds, or other useful objects. Anything that isn’t picked up is disposed of sustainably, or taken to a second-hand shop or charity clothes collection.
Dates

By Alice Werner, translated by MIchael Craig