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Ticino votes to adopt bin bag tax

The Local
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Ticino votes to adopt bin bag tax
Taxed rubbish bags in Vaud. Photo: vaud-taxeausac.ch

Voters in the Italian-speaking region of Ticino voted to copy other Swiss cantons in bringing in a tax on rubbish bags, leaving the canton of Geneva as the only place in the country not to follow suit.

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Over 58 percent of voters in Ticino said ‘yes’ to the proposal, which will harmonize the situation across the region. Currently around half the communes in Ticino apply a bin bag tax while others do not. 
 
From now on a 35 litre official bin bag will cost between 1.10-1.30 francs across the canton, reported news agencies
 
As a result of the new bags, other annual taxes relating to rubbish disposal will be reduced.
 
Harmonizing the system across the region will reduce so-called ‘rubbish tourism’ where people travel to a different commune to dispose of their rubbish where there is no bag tax, said supporters. 
 
Only the cantons of Geneva and Valais now don’t use the bag tax system, though Valais is due to introduce it in 2018. 
 
According to broadcaster RTS the measure is effective in increasing recycling. In Lausanne, a year after the bag tax was introduced the amount of rubbish had decreased by 40 percent while recycling increased. 
 
The introduction of the taxed bags is usually accompanied by stricter rules about recycling and fines for those who do not comply.
 
Last year a Neuchatel politician was fined for placing his rubbish in untaxed binbags.

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