Experiencing work at the maintenance depot in Banska Stiavnica

The municipality of Hünenberg has enjoyed a partnership with the Slovak town of Banska Stiavnica for 14 years. Recently an exchange of a different type took place, with two members of the maintenance depot, Josef Glanzmann and Hanspeter Huber (photograph), who undertook a 1,000-kilometre, 12-hour car journey to see how refuse collection and similar jobs were carried out there.

The pair set off on Saturday 21 April without too much preparation, other than packing their working clothes and downloading a language app. Indeed, as it turned out, communication was not always easy, with only a foreman there able to speak German.

On arrival they were both struck by what a beautiful town Banska Stiavnica was, though they had also noticed a Romany area, on the outskirts, separate from the main community, as if a sort of apartheid existed. They stayed in a boarding house, where they were warmly welcomed and given a hearty breakfast each morning.

One major difference between the organisation of the maintenance depots in the two countries the Swiss pair noticed was that refuse collection and recycling was not actually part of the town’s administration, unlike in Hünenberg, but run by a separate municipal body with around 60 employees. Daily working hours were also different; whereas Glanzmann and Huber normally start at 7am and continue until 5 pm, with a lunch break at noon, of course, in this former mining town their Slovak colleagues started at 6am and finished at 2pm.

When it came to experiencing the first working day, the pair had to wait some time before their host partner turned up so twenty minutes after the pre-arranged time they decided to call him, only to be told, “You Swiss, you really are impatient.” As the working day then started, it was noticed how rubbish was still sorted by hand, and by women only. The Swiss pair also helped on PET collection and with a rubbish press.

When not working, the Swiss pair had the opportunity to visit the mining museum and survey the local surroundings from a nearby viewpoint. They were also able to meet other locals over a beer in the evenings and noted what a lot the place had to offer on the cultural front.  “It was never boring,” Glanzmann confirmed.

As mentioned, the partnership between Hünenberg and Banska Stiavnica began in 2004, with the current president of the association, Richard Aeschlimann, being involved from the outset. He has visited the town no fewer than 34 times and now has a very good knowledge of Slovak. He mentioned what opportunities there were for exchanges, mainly involving school children, though not solely. It was thought that it would be good to try out something new, hence this visit to the maintenance depot.

Later this year, two workers from there will be coming over to see how the depot in Hünenberg operates, with Florian Bruder, the foreman here, already working on a programme and organising their accommodation in private homes. It was thought that, in this way, they would be able to get to know the local culture better.