Truth or tale: does Switzerland send its unusable old cars to Africa?

A reader asked if it was true that Switzerland sends large waste items, such as unusable old cars, to countries in Africa. SWI swissinfo.ch went in search of an answer.

Switzerland has strict rules when it comes to handling waste, including for vehicles that are no longer roadworthy. These are considered “controlled waste” because of the toxic nature of some of the components.

Switzerland cannot export this type of waste to countries outside the European Union or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). To protect the environment and human health, old cars are processed by licensed companies like the Thommen Group, which runs a large recycling and shredding plant near the capital Bern.

Here, on a one-kilometre strip of land between a motorway and the railway, specialists drain vehicles of all fluids and batteries, then remove parts that can be reused – mainly valuable metals like aluminium and copper – through a shredding process.

Each year, 50,000-60,000 scrap vehicles go through such a recycling process in Switzerland. But some cars slip through the cracks and end up being exported – illegally – to countries that lack the means that Switzerland has to recycle this waste effectively.

Learn more about the global problem of waste trafficking in our related story:

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