The municipal government of Stäfa, Switzerland, has announced that the old clothing collection point located next to the town cemetery at the intersection of Schmittenbachstrasse and Bülacherweg is being discontinued as of now, with the operator deciding not to install a replacement bin. Apart from old clothing collection, other collection services at the site are unaffected and continue as normal.

Key points

  • Last weekend the old clothing bin was vandalized beyond use, prompting the operator to decide against replacing it and to simply remove the collection point.
  • Over the past few months the site repeatedly saw container damage, soiling, and illegal dumping of items and garbage, steadily increasing the municipality's cleaning and disposal workload.
  • Stäfa residents can still drop off old clothing at the two remaining fixed collection points and the mobile collection vehicle. The fixed points are located at Werkhof Töbeli on Laubisrütistrasse in Ürikon and at Allenbergstrasse 43 in Ülikon.

According to the municipal government's notice, this collection point had already become difficult to maintain: over the past few months, damage and soiling occurred repeatedly, and incorrectly deposited items and garbage kept adding extra cleanup burdens, forcing the municipal department to arrange additional cleaning and disposal work frequently. Last week's vandalism was the final straw for the operator's willingness to continue — the operator ultimately chose not to provide a replacement container and to shut down the collection point entirely.

The municipal government said it had hoped to keep the old clothing collection point next to the cemetery and was willing to maintain its previous investment in the site, and it regrets that it cannot continue after another act of vandalism, but given the overall situation it understands the operator's decision. In its notice, the municipal government also apologized to residents for the matter, thanked the public for their cooperation, and urged them to drop off old clothing at the other collection points still in operation going forward.

From an industry perspective, this incident reflects the management challenges facing the community-level front end of recycling before manual sorting: open-air old clothing containers, if poorly sited or poorly maintained, easily become targets for illegal dumping, which in turn drives up operating costs and forces local recycling networks to shrink — placing higher demands on site selection, monitoring, and changing residents' disposal habits.

Source: Altkleidercontainer beim Friedhof Stäfa fällt weg · Originally published 2026-10-02