In an attempt to get over my anger issues about the insane recycling here in Switzerland, I decided to try to find something positive about the obsessive compulsive recycling tendencies of the Swiss. You know, other than the whole "Save the Earth" aspect of it. That argument is wearing a little thin these days. So while having dinner with my friend Stacey a couple of weeks ago, she unintentionally gave me a solution to my "recycling sucks" attitude.
She pointed out some handbags that LOTS of people carry here in Switzerland called "Freitag" bags. After she pointed one out to me, I started seeing them EVERYWHERE. She had already bought one because they are such a "swiss thing" and something that she couldn't get back home in the States. They are kind of cool, funky looking bags, but when she told me what was so unique about them, I knew I HAD to have one.
The Freitag bags are made of 100% recycled materials. But not your typical purse materials. Only the Swiss would come up with the idea to make purses out of used truck tarps, bicycle tubes, and seatbelts. Are these people crazy, or what?!?!?! These geniuses actually charge a nice size wad of francs for handbags made of truck tarps, bicycle tubes and seat belts!!!! Their rules for recycling may still be inconvenient as hell, but you can't help but admire their dedication to it. Because they are made from actual used truck tarps, each bag has a unique pattern to it. So I decided as a reward for hours of recycling I have committed to the cause, I should run out and buy myself a Freitag. And this is when I discovered that there was no end to the recycling opportunities in the minds of these fondue loving, chocolate producing, wonderful Swiss people.
I hopped online to find the nearest Freitag store and quickly found one in downtown Zurich. I thought maybe I'd find a store on the Bahnhofstrasse which is kind of the "Michigan Avenue" of Zurich, but I couldn't have been more wrong. The store is in an industrial part of town and, get this, is build out of 15 old freight containers. Picture the freight container that carried all of our wordly possessions across the ocean to Switzerland, and this is what the store is built out of. It isn't pretty, or convenient to shop in, but dammit, it's recycled!!!
Stacey and I made a trip to the store this week, and as a peace offering to the recycling gods, I bought myself a Freitag purse. It wasn't cheap and I couldn't help but think that with all the bottles, cans, and cardboard I have recycled over the past 7 weeks, I should really be entitled to a free one, or at least a major discount. Recycling would be much more tolerable if I knew that with each trek to the recycling bins I was one step closer to earning a free handbag. Fortunately for Stacey, I didn't pitch my idea to the less than enthusiastic sales guy at the register. Plus E was with us and kept making a mess of their wallet display, so I figured it wasn't the time or the place.
So this is my final blog entry about recycling. Seriously. I know this will come as a big disappointment to many of you. Okay, so it will only disappoint my one Swiss friend back home, but still, I hate to disappoint. But if the Swiss are willing to lug bags of bottles around town, ruin their nails bundling their cardboard, and carry purses made out of used junkyard parts, then I should shut my cake hole and get over it. Like they say, "When in Switzerland...."
