Today, Sweden is processing 99 per cent of all waste. This country has become so well treated with waste that it is forced to import 700,000 tons of garbage from neighbouring countries to generate energy for its needs. How did they do that?

Today, there is little “musor” in Sweden. In one way, 99 per cent of all household waste is processed. This country has experienced this revolution in recent decades, with only 38 per cent of domestic waste being treated in 1975.
Today, processing stations are generally 300 metres away from any residential area. Most Swedes share all waste for processing in their homes and store it in special containers or take it directly to the recycling station.

Towards reprocessing

" Swedes can do more, given that about half of all domestic waste is incinerated, that is, becoming energy. " Weine Wiqvist considers the Director-General of the Waste and Disposal Association (Avfall Sverige).

He explained that reuse of materials or products meant less energy to produce. It's better than burning one and doing another from scratch.

We're trying to maximize reprocessing, not recycling.
Meanwhile, Swedish households continue to separate newspapers, plastics, metals, glass, electrical appliances, lamps and batteries. Many municipalities also encourage consumers to separate food waste. And all this is reused, processed or composted.

Newspapers are turned into paper mass, bottles are recycled or refilled into new elements, plastic containers become plastic raw materials; food is combined and become fertilizer or biogas. Musor trucks often work for processed electricity or biogas. Wastewater is purified to the extent that they can be drinking. Special trucks drive around town and take electronics and hazardous waste, chemicals. Pharmaceuticals accept the rest of the medicine. Dry waste, like old TV or broken furniture, Swedes are taken to processing centres on the outskirts of towns.