We’ve crossed the 9 month mark as Swiss residents, so I though I’d share what I’ve learned while living here. Disclaimer: I am not a citizen, I don’t know all of this stuff for fact, so I definitely should not be used as a reference for any of these interesting things that I have observed or heard.

Underground bunkers: Since the 1960s, the Swiss have built enough underground bunkers to accommodate about 115% of the population. This was enacted as a law, so if you are a resident of Switzerland (which we officially are), you have a space in a shelter somewhere. A lot of buildings constructed since the law was enacted have a fallout shelter in their basements. However, there are supposedly shelters in the mountains, in some underground tunnels, and in other undisclosed locations. I’ve read that there is a 7 story underground shelter near Luzern that can house 20,000 people, however the logistics of actually hauling that many beds into the space when needed were so difficult that they changed the plan to fit 2,000 people instead.

Trash disposal and recycling: This was a tough set of rules to learn, and we’re still not sure we have it all right. First, trash disposal can only be done in special bags that you buy from the grocery store. In Zürich they are called Züri Sacks, and they cost 20CHF for a roll of 10 bags. The cost of the bags is like a disposal tax that you pay. Züri Sacks can only go into containers marked specially for them. Our garbage is picked up once a week. Recycling is also required for all items that they have on their list. Every other Monday, we put out either paper or cardboard recycling with the garbage. It must all be broken down, stacked, and tied with twine. If it’s deemed incorrectly bundled or too large for pickup, it will be left behind. For metal, oil, glass, and all other items there are recycling dropoffs within walking distance from your location. In addition, most grocery stores have special recycling dropoff for special stuff like batteries and PET (plastic). If a store sells an item that is required to be recycled, that store also has to collect it for recycling. There is also a recycling tram/train that runs once a month or so. On the designated date you can take the listed (usually large or electronic) items to the tram/train and put it on to be taken away.

Also, this is unverified, but I have heard that at the Züri Sack disposal site where all the garbage is taken, they go through the bags and if they can identify items that should have been recycled, they will search for identifying information in the garbage sack to find the person to send them a fine in the mail. I read that somewhere (probably on a blog) during my extensive research about all the garbage rules, so it may or may not be true. We haven’t actually heard of anyone getting a garbage fine.

Rules, rules, rules: The Swiss love rules. And if you do not follow the rules, they are not shy about telling you off. For example, if you don’t bundle your recycling properly, they may come knock on your door and tell you so. Or if you dump your empty Hello Fresh boxes in the basement, management will send a letter out to ALL the tenants. (I promise, it wasn’t us!) I think it’s a little exaggerated about how much they love rules, but it does keep you in line to be respectful of your neighbors at all times, which IMO is not a bad thing.

Health insurance: Switzerland does NOT have universal health care. They DO, however, have a law that requires everyone to buy private insurance. Employers are not legally allowed to pay for health care, so it is totally independent of employment. All of the insurance companies have a basic health insurance policy that they are required to sell to any citizen/resident who seeks it. There are further supplemental health policies that you can get, but we have found that they do not want to sell them to people of our age (rude). But we’ve also heard from coworkers that the basic level insurance is very good. It doesn’t cover dental or eye care, those are supplemental policies. From what I can tell, most people, instead of having supplemental policies, put a bit of savings aside to cover the additional stuff like a dental checkup or eye exam. I’ve had both, and they are not any more expensive than they are in the US. This system reminds me a lot of the health care exchange that we have in the US. We’ve got 2 kids who now have health insurance through the health exchange (bc Cass isn’t a US employee any more), and the coverage and cost is pretty close to the same.

Low taxes: I’ve read that Switzerland has some of the lowest taxes in Europe. Probably in large part because they don’t have universal health care. This is very generalized, and I DEFINITELY don’t know what I’m talking about regarding taxation, but from what I read the federal tax rate is around 11.5%. In addition to federal tax, you also pay cantonal/municipal taxes, and they vary by canton. Some cantons have higher tax rates than others. For example, Zürich cantonal taxes are higher than Zug (which is the canton just to the south). A lot of people live in Zug and work in Zürich to take advantage of the lower taxes. We’ve also heard that in paying Swiss and US taxes, we only pay the US if the Swiss tax is lower than what we would pay in the US - and that people generally have to pay the US. I guess we will find out sometime this year.

Sundays: Sundays are quiet. It varies by canton, but by law stores aren’t allowed to be open unless they are located in a train station. However, the laws are slowly being interpreted differently to allow more things to open. You’re also not supposed to do anything that creates noise on Sunday. So don’t plan to go dump all your glass bottles in the recycling bins, because you might get told off. Again, there have been unverified reports (on blogs) of people being fined 250CHF for recycling on Sunday. However, it’s more about the noise than anything.

Sweden: Switzerland is, in fact, not Sweden. (You know who you are!)

Oh, that’s another fun fact. The flag of Switzerland is meant to be square, not rectangular. It’s only allowed to be rectangular for sport or when it is used on the water.

Canton count: 9 (of 26) Zürich, Bern, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Luzern, St. Gallen, Basel, Ticino, Graubünden