Sweden is so good at recycling that, for several years, it has imported rubbish from other countries to keep its recycling plants going. Less than 1 per cent of Swedish household waste was sent to landfill last year or any year since 2011.
Well, it's not quite so idyllic as that (it sounds as if they're incinerating), but it's far, far ahead of the competition. As reported in The Independent (from a solidly British perspective, naturally) :
Why are we sending waste to Sweden? Their system is so far ahead because of a culture of looking after the environment. Sweden was one of the first countries to implement a heavy tax on fossil fuels in 1991 and now sources almost half its electricity from renewables.
[...] Over time, Sweden has implemented a cohesive national recycling policy so that even though private companies undertake most of the business of importing and burning waste, the energy goes into a national heating network to heat homes through the freezing Swedish winter. “That's a key reason that we have this district network, so we can make use of the heating from the waste plants. [...]”
So they don't actually recycle, but they barely need landfills, and “In the UK, each local authority has its own system, making it difficult for residents to be confident about what they can recycle and where.” Sounds like the U.S., dunnit?
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @07:15PM
Oh, i've been mailing my trash there, because that's what sweden is.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday December 10 2016, @09:20PM
Yes, the Middle-East has been sending all their trash there. Too bad that a society with the world's best potential has been reduced to a garbage dump thanks to Islamic immigration. Merkel is ruining Europe and nobody is doing anything about it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 11 2016, @01:04AM
Thanks for your contribution Mr. Breivik, I didn't realize you had Internet access.
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Sunday December 11 2016, @12:13AM
i think the more interesting angle might be *HOW* does sweden incinerate their trash (presumably a high-temp situation) and capture 'all' (sic) the eee-vil stuff going up the smokestack...
we usaians pwomised to do that once upon a time in liverpool ohio, and i don't believe it ever achieved the filtration levels it promised...
(not to mention, okay, having captured all this eee-vil crap in some system, what do you do with it ? ? ?)
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 11 2016, @01:55AM
I don't think you know what "sic" means.
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Sunday December 11 2016, @02:37AM
"Sic may also be used derisively, to call attention to the original writer's spelling mistakes or erroneous logic"
in this case, i use it not exactly derisively, but that saying 'all' doesn't necessarily mean 'all'... it generally means 'acceptable limits of toxins', which is not really 'all', but we accept in a manner of speaking that below a certain threshold will constitute 'all'...
more importantly than the grammar policing, is WHAT ARE THE SWEDES DOING to get -*ahem*- 'all' (sic) of the eee-vil stuff out of the smokestack...
i also commonly use it when talking about "...'our' (sic) gummint...", because -ob- it ain't 'our' gummint at all... i guess theoretically you could say that is the original meaning of 'sic', as far as reporting it directly without correction : i *repeat without correction* the form of the state's propaganda that it is constantly inveighing the bromide of 'the people's (ie 'our') gummint', and am signifying both my (skeptical) repeating of that bromide, as well as my derisive take with the (sic) modifier... of course, i am also using it punnily as indicating 'our sick gummint'...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 12 2016, @05:29PM
Nice explanation - unfortunately, it just confirms that you don't know what the means and/or its purpose. '(sic)' is used when quoting something to show that it is an accurate quote of something incorrect, so you can't use it when introducing information for the first time. An example of an accurate use would be to quote your entire post and follow it with '(sic)'
(Score: 1) by Francis on Sunday December 11 2016, @02:00AM
They don't need to capture it to be carbon neutral. Most of the organic material in the waste was recently removed from the air. What's more, if they don't burn that to heat things, then how else are they going to heat things?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by theronb on Sunday December 11 2016, @03:27AM
Akron, OH tried it, too but had problems with the kiln exploding from time to time because of failure to remove various items in the waste stream - not munitions, but things like compressed gas cylinders and wads of solvent soaked rags. I don't know how they were doing with emissions controls but the explosions were troublesome enough that they shut down the system.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Thursday December 15 2016, @08:52PM
At least part of what they're burning in Sweden is refuse-derived fuel (RDF): after removing recyclable materials (such as gas cylinders) and non-flammable ("inert") materials, such as broken concrete, from a waste stream, the remainder is shredded and sometimes made into pellets. That's what goes into the incinerator--they don't just throw in everything higgledy-piggledy.
http://mswplant.com/msw-plant/ [mswplant.com]
Sweden has been getting shipments of RDF from Scotland and there are plans for Guernsey to start shipping it.
http://www.williamtraceygroup.com/latest/news/327_refuse_derived_fuel_shipment_bound_for_sweden [williamtraceygroup.com]
http://www.ciwm-journal.co.uk/guernsey-export-refuse-derived-fuel-sweden/ [ciwm-journal.co.uk]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refuse-derived_fuel [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Thursday December 15 2016, @08:59PM
After posting, I tried to read about the situation in Akron, and found this:
The city of Akron owns the incinerator, called Recycle Energy Systems (RES), which went on line in June 1979 at a cost of $56 million. This is a refuse derived fuel (RFD) incinerator, that shreds the garbage prior to feeding it into the boilers. This incinerator has suffered numerous explosions, and in 1984, one of the explosions killed 3 workers. The 1984 explosion was caused when toxic-contaminated sawdust in the garbage was ignited by the heat of the boilers [...]
-- http://www.americanhealthstudies.org/wastenot/wn245.htm [americanhealthstudies.org]
(Score: 5, Informative) by looorg on Saturday December 10 2016, @07:16PM
It is not really, only, amazing levels of actual recycling that are behind it. What they are doing is burning non-compostable or non-hazardous waste for heat in a district heating (fjärrvärme) system that most towns have. What they have done is that they have built systems that are a tad to large for their actual needs, leaving room to grow. But to reach optimal burn and efficiency they lack waste to burn. So what happens then with various recycling and composting efforts is that there is less normal waste to burn so they have to import it or they would have to burn other things such as (wood) pellets or natural gas. But as long as importing waste is cheaper then burning wood pellets that is what they’ll do.
That said tho there is large segment of the population that is quite into composting and recycling. I would think that a large part of it is also that companies are required by law to take back item when you buy a new large item such as a TV or a refrigerator. There are usually in most town several drop of points where you can drop of broken or obsolete items. There is also a large second-hand market for everything from electronics to clothing and furniture.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by XivLacuna on Saturday December 10 2016, @07:19PM
Assuming your paper products come from some fast growing source that requires a less intense bleach, you are better off just burning it for heat/energy rather than shredding it up, soaking it in water, bleaching it, and then mixing it in with new material to make paper products.
The problem is that we use wood as a paper source. It takes too long to grow meaning we have to dedicate more land just to satisfy our paper needs.
Modern paper recycling is just a racket to keep entrenched industries going at tax payer expense.
Plastic should only be used for sterile medical uses. It should in no way touch our food.
We'll be better off if we could reduce almost everything to just burnable or compostable trash.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @09:10PM
(((XivLacuna)))
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Saturday December 10 2016, @09:35PM
Stop that. It's juvenile.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @11:23PM
You want juvenile? Go look at (((XivLacuna's))) profile.
(Score: 3, Informative) by dyingtolive on Saturday December 10 2016, @11:50PM
I'm aware. Call that bullshit out when and where you see it. Chasing a person around repeating the things they've been guilty of back to them doesn't solve anything. It just makes the site look bad.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @07:20PM
Who gives a crap about Sweden. They are a backwater country. Did you know they force all of their citizens to have healthcare? The horror.....
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 11 2016, @02:18AM
I care. In recent years the number of rapes per year has increased exponentially.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 11 2016, @03:53AM
I think your confusing Sweden with Norway. Get lost.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @07:48PM
Better:
Start by avoiding excess stuff, such as packaging and useless toys. Reuse, repair, and repurpose when possible.
Once it is trash, the priority should be to separate out exotic valuable metals and toxic metals.
After that, the trash incinerator should look tempting. People with unusual trash could separate out unburnables (glass mainly) or compostables, but it isn't important. Considering things like foil-paper-plastic layered materials, metal is best recovered from the ash of an incinerator. It seems harder until you realize that normal metal recovery produces a result that is too contaminated with particles to ever make something like an aircraft.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday December 10 2016, @07:50PM
Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.
By Theophrastus [wikipedia.org]. There's a consequence to niggling little programs that waste everyone's time. It's not better environments.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @08:12PM
Not really. I have 2 bins. Recycle and not. Some people have 3 types. No real extra time spent by me.
I do suspect however (need to look) that my local dudes are just running a magnet over it and tossing the rest.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by fritsd on Saturday December 10 2016, @08:25PM
Yes, khallow, but that's because you are an *important person* ;-) .
I'm convinced most of our neighbours here in Sweden, and we ourselves, don't think like that. Tempo of life is lower.
We just separate the plastic, cardboard, paper, white glass, coloured glass, metal, and bring it to the local containers once a week.
Our compostable waste goes in paper bags in a container that they come to empty every two weeks, and our rest waste goes in a smaller container that they come to empty once every month. It's rarely full.
Tree waste we'll chop up for the fireplace or burn it outside (after consulting with the neighbours' washing plans).
Old batteries, paint, chemicals, and electronic waste is something we should bring to the city recycling center one day. Probably next year we'll get around to it.
And every year we can go to the loppis (flea markets) to see if they have nice books/clothes/DVDs, and one day we'll go hire a stand for $5 and sell our own old junk.
The recycling symbol has three arrows: reduce, re-use, recycle. Loppises are for the "re-use" part and for the social aspect.
I suspect it's a cultural thing. We don't think or bitch about it anymore, it's just something that we do.
Getting rid of your waste is something that occupies some of your time. Taking a shit is also something that occupies some of your time. That's life. Third law of thermodynamics, and all that.
I don't remember the last time I said to myself: "Oh no! I have to take a shit! That's going to cost *minutes* of my precious life-time!" :-)
(Score: 2) by tfried on Saturday December 10 2016, @09:16PM
I don't remember the last time I said to myself: "Oh no! I have to take a shit! That's going to cost *minutes* of my precious life-time!" :-)
Oh my, this is going to be my most anal post, ever, but similar thoughts are not unknown to me. In fact, my body seems to insist on timing my need to take a dump with the daily minutes of greatest haste, i.e. typically right after breakfast. This has in fact inconvenienced me to the point of planning ahead for the condition... During the same minutes, having to properly dispose of trash may indeed feel like a major hassle, and will occasionally be solved by simply dumping it (the trash!) in a corner and taking care of the mess later in the day. That's mostly due to the location and childproof closure of the next trashcan, though. Can't remember when I've last had to dedicate any perceptible mental or physical effort to the trivial task of separating my trash.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday December 10 2016, @09:37PM
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday December 10 2016, @09:10PM
I think that depends on which extremes you chose to go to. If you follow all the rules and recommendations then I do think it’s a bit of a waste of my time. I’m personally not going to stand around deconstructing packaging into paper, plastic and what not. I’m not going to peel of labels and I’m certainly not going to wash out containers. Those are producer problems in my mind and they should just learn to make better containers for their products. For me having to deal with this would indeed be a giant waste of my time so I flat out refuse to do it.
But with that in mind what I do do is that I do have separate bins for organic and other things. That doesn’t really steal any, or much, time from me. As I cook I just put the organic “extras” into the green bin and the packaging into the white bin. That is sort of the extent of my “recycling” effort and as much as I’m willing to commit to, I'm not going to put in more effort then this and if something by accident or other gets in the wrong bin I'm not picking it up.
The sanitation department in the town I live in produced statistics last year that said 8 out of 10 households used the green bag system of separating food stuff from non-food-stuff. From it they make biogas which in turn is used to run the city buses. What doesn’t get turned into biogas is sold to a company that uses it in the production of “green” cement. The rest is burned for heat in the city district heating system. So losing a minute or two or whatever it could amount to over an extended period of time shouldn't really be an issue.
(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Saturday December 10 2016, @11:34PM
As people have pointed out the tempo of life here in sweden is quite laid back.
However, in residental blocks (highrise and such) they tend to place the recycling bins near/at the parking lot. So if you just add a few more bins with liner bags in them the sorting will end up in your musclememory, and when something is full you just grab the liner bag on your way out of the appartment and chuck it on the way to your car and when you get home again you put in a new liner bag.
Once you get the routine down it will cost you less than two minutes per month (one drawback however is that it can take weeks to fill up the kitchen-garbage bin, so one tends to get in the habit of chucking that once a week as well).
The recycling of bottles/cans (the stuff you get a refund on) is a PITA however since it requires you to drag it to a grocery-store... and over here home delivery of food is getting common. (I can't wait for them to start adding bins for the refund-stuff as well - not worth the hassle for the refund [if I was that strapped for cash I would stop drinking sodas and refunds would be a moot point anyway] but it bothers me to not recycle).
Btw - the only way for you to get paper to end up in a landfill here is to visit a recycling-centre and sort it wrong (it goes either in paper or burnable) - much easier to either send it to recycling (in the way to the car) or waste-incineration (kitchen/household-thrash - anything not sorted get incinerated)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 11 2016, @03:45AM
USA == Oscar