Sweden offers innovative solutions and extensive know-how in waste collection and recycling. We are the global leader when it comes to dealing with and recycling waste. The waste-to-energy systems we have developed have given waste a value.

 

 

Sweden has extensive and efficient waste management systems in place and municipal waste in landfills is almost non-existent. About 99,3 % of all household waste is recycled or recovered as energy, putting Sweden at the top in this area.

Waste as a resource

Our waste is treated in integrated systems and recycled as district heating, electricity, biogas, biofertilizer and materials. Different treatment methods are used depending on the nature of the waste so as to make it possible to use the waste as a resource.

Incineration is a method ideally suited to waste that cannot be recycled in any other way. It is an efficient and environmentally safe method for recovering energy from waste, and provides both district heating and electricity in Sweden.

Sweden recovers more energy from each tonne of waste than any other country.

Our waste management systems are being developed continuously, and are the result of long-term, persevering work, in particular on the part of municipalities and their companies in cooperation with private players. It has required risk-taking to develop new technologies and taken courage to make large, but essential, investments in infrastructure.

Sweden’s vision of ‘zero waste’ by 2020 permeates all levels of its waste management and the collection of source-separated food waste.


Related Best Practices

Sweden’s Largest Biofuel Heat and Power Plant Is Fossil-Free Energy Hot Spot

Sweden’s Largest Biofuel Heat and Power Plant Is Fossil-Free Energy Hot Spot

Värtahamnen harbour is home to Stockholm’s largest biofuel-powered combined heat and power (CHP) plant. The plant produces enough energy to heat approximately 190,000 average-size apartments.

Extended Producer Responsibility in Sweden: Towards better waste management

Extended Producer Responsibility in Sweden: Towards better waste management

Extended Producer responsibility (EPR) is a governmental policy and a Swedish law that aims to better waste management and collection. The Swedish system shifts the waste management cost or physical collection fully from local governments to producers. The policy applies to different goods such as packaging, newsprint, electronic products, batteries, tires, end-of-life vehicles, pharmaceutical waste, stray radioactive products and radioactive sources.

Gryaab – Works for a cleaner ocean

Gryaab – Works for a cleaner ocean

To stop eutrophication of the sea, Gryaab treats the Gothenburg region waste water. The residue, sewage sludge, is turned into soil, fertilizer and a climate-friendly vehicle fuel.

Umeå’s CHP Plant Sets New Standard in Turning Waste into Power

Umeå’s CHP Plant Sets New Standard in Turning Waste into Power

The generation of both district heating and electricity almost entirely from waste makes the Dåva CHP (combined heat and power) plant extremely energy efficient and environmentally sustainable. Its renewable sources include sorted waste and forest industry residues.


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