The lack of rainfall in Switzerland has reached a critical point warned Swiss Meteo this week. Switzerland has had very little rain since the end of December 2021, said the weather service, something made apparent by the low water level in rivers. The authorities have called on the public to not throw cigarette butts or […]
Extreme weather brings worst grape harvest in Switzerland since 1957
A report this week shows how extreme weather led to Switzerland’s worst grape harvest since 1957. Switzerland’s grape harvest last year produced only 61 million litres of wine, 36% below the 10-year average of 95 million litres. In the canton of Valais, Switzerland’s biggest producer, the harvest was half of what it normally is. Some […]
Swiss skies turn orange
On 15 March 2022, people across parts of Switzerland awoke to strange orange skies. This phenomenon is caused by sand from the Sahara desert. It is a well known meteorological phenomenon that occurs roughly three times a year in Switzerland, typically during spring and autumn. The image above is from a Meteo Swiss webcam at […]
Swiss supermarket stops printing receipts
From Tuesday, 1 March 2022, Swiss supermarket Coop stopped automatically printing customer receipts. From now on anyone wanting a receipt will need to ask for one. This policy will apply to automatic and staffed tills, said the company. Already tested on self-service check out terminals, the company expects the move to save 400 tonnes of […]
Seven Swiss cantons do not have bomb shelter space for everyone
In Switzerland, every resident must have a place in an atomic bomb shelter within a 30 minute walk of their home. The distance is extended to a 60 minute walk in mountain regions. However, the rules on atomic shelters have not been followed in a number of cantons and municipalities, reports RTS. According to the […]
Oxo-degradable plastics banned in Switzerland from April 2022
Everything in the universe eventually breaks down and degrades. This means claims regarding biodegradability are easy to make. However, the real question is: how long does it take and what does it breakdown into? In some cases, materials pitched as being friendly to the environment often fall significantly short of environment friendly claims upon closer […]
City beehives destroying wild bee populations in Switzerland
There are too many domestic bees in Swiss cities, according to a study by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research (WSL). Beekeeping is booming in Swiss cities, but the uncontrolled increase in honeybees is putting increasing pressure on wild pollinators, threatening urban biodiversity, found the study. The results suggest that beekeeping […]
Switzerland’s large number of homeless
According to a recent report by the Federal Housing Office (OFL) there are an estimated 2,200 homeless residents in Switzerland and another 8,000 at risk of losing their homes. The authors of the report collected information from 616 municipalities across 22 cantons to compile the data. 616 municipalities covers around 28% of Switzerland’s total. Reasons […]
Swiss to vote on banning advertising tobacco to young people
Tobacco is big business. Its scale makes the industry a formidable foe for those hoping to spare people the damaging health effects of tobacco addiction. Most people start smoking when they are young so a group in Switzerland launched an initiative to ban tobacco advertising targeted at young people. Swiss voters will vote on the proposal […]
Swiss government forecasts 12 billion francs spending on roads
Switzerland’s federal government expects to spend CHF 8 billion repairing federal roads and another CHF 4 billion extending them between 2024 and 2027, it announced this week. Maintenance, noise proofing and other upgrades to the existing road network are expected to consume CHF 8.4 billion between 2024 and 2027, an average annual cost of CHF […]
