Dear Frau: Explain these strange Swiss laws!

Welcome to another edition of Dear Frau. It's kind of like Dear Abby, except with an international twist. If you have a question about life in Switzerland or moving to Switzerland, don't hesitate to contact The Frau.

Dear Frau,

I hear there are quite a few quirky laws in Switzerland. For fear of being arrested, can you please let this soon-to-be American expat in on some of these strange laws? Is it true you can't flush the toilet after 10pm? And why?

Thanks,

Confused in Connecticut

Dear Confused in Connecticut,

There are a lot of things that are a bit strange about living in Switzerland. The Frau does not pretend to know all of them, but here are three strange Swissisms she either has some personal experience with or knows someone who did:

Quiet Time

Flushing the toilet after 10 p.m. Forget Heidi, this is the real Swiss classic. The Frau does not believe this is an official Swiss law, but rather a clause that may be in your apartment rental contract. Many apartment buildings have strict quiet hours and these may include specific things a non-Swiss person may not typically associate with loud noise. Such as: not being allowed to flush a toilet after 10pm, not being allowed to do laundry on Sunday (or during the lunch hour—some buildings actually shut off electricity to the machines at this time...), or not being allowed to do gardening on Sunday.

Also on the quiet hour front: you can’t typically recycle glass bottles on weeknights or on Sundays without being yelled at for disturbing the peace. Never mind that yelling also disturbs the peace or the all night parties that go on right outside your window during Carnival or Badenfahrt…

Trash Talk

Make sure you get a copy of your city’s garbage calendar and try to understand it (for help, read this). If you put your garbage out too early (or in the wrong bag, oh my!) you may be subject to a fine. A friend of the Frau was once called to the police station where she actually had to identify her trash. She was then charged CHF 250 because she had set it out too early the night before.

Recycling paper (see photo) is another strange Swiss ritual. You let the paper pile up for at least six weeks at your apartment and then ceremoniously tie it up with strings in neat packages no higher than about six inches before putting it outside. Don’t slack and just think it would be easier to stick all that paper in a paper box or bag and put outside. It would be easier, but this does not matter. If you don’t do it correctly, your paper will not be picked up and it will be plastered with a sticker stating your error. If you’re like The Frau, you’ll then be tempted to just throw it in your regular trash rather than wait another six weeks to redeem yourself.

Transport Pitfalls

Speeding

Driving a car is expensive in Switzerland. If you go more than 5 kilometers over a speed limit, you’ll receive a CHF 40 fine in the mail for each offence. If you travel way, way over the speed limit, you will be charged a fine that’s a percentage of your salary.

Not paying the night ticket supplement

Typically beginning at 1 am, depending on the public transport network, you must buy a CHF 5 nighttime supplement in addition to your regular train ticket. If you don’t buy this and they check tickets, you will be fined as if you didn’t have a ticket at all.

Ok, the Frau has run out of energy. Anyone else have experience with some of these things or want to let Confused in Connecticut in on some additional Swiss laws or customs that are not fun to discover after the fact?

Extreme Angst in Baden

Attention Yodelers,

We have another item worthy of news. Someone in Baden has thrown a pizza box into a trash bin that specifically says: Please do not throw pizza boxes in here.

The nerve. Can you believe someone didn't follow the rules? That a Swiss rule could actually attract the opposite of it? That's the subject in this article, from the 7. October Rundschau. Its title: Extremes.

Tips from a Bag Lady

How to recycle. How to reuse. How to triumph over your Swiss trash. The April issue of Swiss News features my article, "Tips from a Bag Lady" on what to do with everything from your batteries to your banana peels. Because in the world of recycling, the Swiss are the champions. See how you can become one too. Even without a shiny new red passport.

Salad Shame

I can’t say that I’ve ever had my lunch analyzed by the amount of trash it produces, but there’s a first time for everything. And if it had to happen, it makes sense that it happened in Switzerland. No matter what I do in this country, trash always seems to get the better of me in a way that I have never experienced in the United States.

People here have a strange relationship with garbage. They tie paper to be recycled in bundles so neat you’d think it was some kind of contest. They carry around things like batteries, bottles, and plastics and dispose of them in all different locations. They even unwrap things they buy at the store so they don’t have to deal with the packaging later. These people spend a lot of time with their trash. But then again, wouldn’t you if your police had nothing better to do than to cruise the streets looking for people who put their garbage out wrong and then fine them SFr 250?

Anyhow, I give Switzerland credit. The country is very clean. But does it really give someone the right, in front of all my colleagues during lunch, to criticize my store-bought salad from Coop because of the amount of trash that will be left over after I eat it? All of a sudden I’m self-conscious and ashamed—by a few pieces of lettuce.

It doesn’t take much in Switzerland.

So tomorrow I think I’ll eat alone at my desk.