Free newspaper waste: publishers should pay

 The large number of free newspapers discarded on streets and in public squares results in additional cleanup costs that cities must bear. Cities are now demanding that publishers of free newspapers pay an advance waste disposal fee, as reported by the SDA. Littering in cities caused by free newspapers is becoming an increasingly serious problem, said Urs Geissmann, director of the Swiss Cities Association, on Wednesday evening during the Swiss TV program «10vor10.» However, a large portion of the disposal costs is not paid by those responsible but by taxpayers. New solutions are now needed. The disposal fee is estimated at around two rappen per copy. He hopes the publishers will voluntarily comply.
However, the Tamedia publishing group—which, together with the publishers of the *Basler Zeitung* and *Berner Zeitung*, publishes the free newspapers *20 Minuten* and *News*—rejects the demand. Tamedia spokesperson Christoph Zimmer explained on the television program that the company is already actively contributing to solving the waste problem.
With the launch of the free newspaper *News* on Wednesday, there are now five commuter newspapers in German-speaking Switzerland. According to SDA, the combined circulation of all five titles is 1.6 million copies.