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NOGA 38.21 Materials recovery
Activity from the Swiss General Classification of Economic Activities (NOGA 2025), published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). The full dataset (NACE 2.1 + ISIC 4 cross-walks) is included in Classifications (399 CHF).
3821Multilingual description
NOGA 2025 provides the official designation in the four languages used by the Swiss federal authorities, alongside their European equivalents.
| Language | Designation |
|---|---|
| Français (fr) | Récupération de matériaux |
| Deutsch (de) | Verwertung von Werkstoffen |
| Italiano (it) | Recupero dei materiali |
| English (en) | Materials recovery |
NOGA hierarchy
The NOGA code 38.21 sits within the following hierarchy (from broadest to most specific).
Direct sub-levels
This code breaks down into 1 more specific sub-level.
| Level | Code | Designation |
|---|---|---|
| subclass | 38.21.00 | Materials recovery |
Official cross-walks
Equivalence of NOGA code 38.21 in the European (NACE) and international (ISIC) standards, from the official FSO and Eurostat tables.
| Standard | Code | Designation | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| NACE Rev 2.1 | 38.21 | 38.21 Materials recovery | exact |
| NACE Rev 2.0 | 38.21 | Materials recovery | exact |
| ISIC Rev 4 | 3821 | Treatment and disposal of non-hazardous waste | exact |
| NOGA 2008 | 38.21 | Récupération de matériaux | exact |
| NACE Rev 2.1 | 38.21 | 38.21 Materials recovery | exact |
| NACE Rev 2.0 | 38.32 | Landfilling or permanent storage | exact |
| ISIC Rev 4 | 3821 | Treatment and disposal of non-hazardous waste | exact |
| NOGA 2008 | 38.32 | Mise en décharge ou stockage permanent | exact |
| NACE Rev 2.1 | 38.21 | 38.21 Materials recovery | exact |
| NACE Rev 2.0 | 38.31 | Incineration without energy recovery | exact |
| ISIC Rev 4 | 3821 | Treatment and disposal of non-hazardous waste | exact |
| NOGA 2008 | 38.31 | Incinération sans récupération d’énergie | exact |
Type exact = strict 1:1 equivalence. partial = partial overlap. multi = one source code maps to several target codes.
Neighbouring codes
NOGA codes close to 38.21, within the same parent group or at the same hierarchical level.
| Code | Level | Designation |
|---|---|---|
| 38.22 | class | Energy recovery |
| 38.23 | class | Other waste recovery |
| 38.12 | class | Collection of hazardous waste |
| 38.11 | class | Collection of non-hazardous waste |
| 38.31 | class | Incineration without energy recovery |
| 38.32 | class | Landfilling or permanent storage |
| 38.33 | class | Other waste disposal |
| 39.00 | class | Remediation activities and other waste management service activities |
Activity examples
Company profiles typically classified under NOGA code 38.21.
A company whose main activity falls under "Materials recovery" is classified under NOGA code 38.21.
This category covers all companies whose main economic activity matches this description, whatever their size: sole traders, SMEs, large companies, branches and Swiss establishments.
The code is assigned on the principle of the main economic activity: if an entity has several activities, the one generating the most value added determines the classification.
How this code is used
NOGA code 38.21 is used by the Swiss federal authorities to classify companies by their main economic activity, notably:
- Federal Statistical Office (FSO): business and establishment register (BER), censuses and structural statistics.
- OASI compensation funds: classification of the employer's activity at registration.
- Federal Tax Administration (FTA): VAT profiling, net tax debt rates and sector statistics.
- Commercial register: "activities" field when registering a new legal entity.
- SUVA and accident-insurance funds: pricing of accident-insurance contributions by risk class.
- SECO and labour-market statistics: sector analyses and targeted support measures.
Official source
This page reproduces information from the NOGA 2025 standard published by the Federal Statistical Office. For the official version:
bfs.admin.ch — NOGA — General Classification of Economic Activities
Complete dataset
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