Annual survey finds littering easing in Switzerland; 16% say a lot of waste is improperly disposed

Littering in Switzerland is steadily decreasing, according to an annual survey by the Swiss Competence Center against Littering (IGSU). In 2024, 16% of respondents said that a lot of waste in Switzerland is not disposed of properly, down from 25% when the survey was first conducted in 2015.

This year’s poll questioned 2,277 people at 34 locations across the country. In a press release issued on Tuesday, IGSU said 0.2 percent more respondents than in the previous year reported there was “rather little” or “little” littering in their local area. Just 8.3% of those surveyed judged the place where they were interviewed to have “a lot” or “rather a lot” of littering.

“We are very pleased that the measures against littering are working,” IGSU Managing Director Nora Steimer said in the statement, adding that politics, business, associations and media coverage have helped raise awareness of the issue in recent years. The latest results, IGSU said, show the situation is continuing to ease.

Regional and demographic differences persist. According to the survey, Italian-speaking Switzerland rates both local littering and littering nationwide as significantly less serious than other language regions. People over the age of 65 generally perceive a negative change in the situation, while all other age groups see an improvement.

IGSU conducts the survey annually to track how the littering situation is perceived across the country and to assess whether anti-littering measures are gaining traction.