Urban pollution strongly contributes to global warming and Zurich is working to lower the amount of pollutants it produces.

Zurich, Switzerland, was ranked number one as the least polluted city in the world in 2021. The popularity of their public transportation system and the use of bicycles helps keep the city’s pollution levels lower than others. Their waste management is controlled as well, with people being able to track their carbon footprint and when it gets recycled. 

In the past, much of Zurich’s pollution was caused by cars and other vehicles and wood burning in the winter to keep people warm. The air pollution in 2010 was bad enough that it cost the city 296 million Swiss francs, the equivalent to over $310 million. Traffic was the main producer of pollution since it was a year round problem, unlike the wood burning, but with the improvement of trains and subways and the increased frequency of cycling, the pollution caused by vehicles has decreased. The city is committed to creating policies in order to reduce the amount of cars in the city and lower the overall air pollution from traffic. They promote a cleaner vehicles and public transportation, as well as cycling and walking. Limits to high polluting vehicles such as cars that require diesel, trucks and machines for construction have been implemented. Of course, cities will be exposed to other pollutants outside of their control, but they can limit how much pollution they cause. 

In addition to the air pollutants caused by driving, Zurich aims to lower the amount of waste. They have systems in place that encourage and incentivize people to recycle and reduce their general waste. Switzerland actually has one of the highest rates of waste produced in the world, but they have a very efficient and effective recycling system. They have a 50% recycling rate, and a lot of waste is also sent to incinerators so they can be converted into energy. 

One of the ways they are trying to reduce the waste they produce is by raising awareness of the issue and taxing people for their waste. The more waste people produce, the more they get taxed. Also, the government ensures that there are many accessible recycling plants. If citizens are disposing of their belongings correctly, they can do this for free.

Switzerland is also careful about their incineration methods. Incineration is much more harmful to the environment than it seems. Switzerland does use the energy produced from incineration and generates it for other purposes, and then they extract the metal from the ashes and dispose of the remaining waste into special landfills designed to prevent pollution. As such, incineration does not eliminate the need for landfills, and it causes more pollution than coal powered plants. Their dedication to public transportation, cycling and walking shows that Switzerland does want to decrease the amount of air pollution they cause, and their incinerations have machines created to catch the carbon dioxide emissions from them. There are risks, and it is not a perfect solution as they need to find a place to store the captured carbon dioxide, but Switzerland wants to place it under the ocean as an effort to create underwater carbon reserves.

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Katherine is an undergraduate student at Vassar College studying English literature and Italian. She loves both reading and writing, and she hopes to pursue both in the future. With a passion for travel and nature, she wants to experience more of the world and everything it has to offer.