{"id":17904,"date":"2014-09-04T15:01:35","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T19:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=17904"},"modified":"2014-09-04T15:01:35","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T19:01:35","slug":"sweden-recycling-99-garbage-really-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sweden-recycling-99-garbage-really-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweden Recycling 99% of its Garbage – Really? [Video]"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, I’ve told people that “reduce, reuse, recycle” is more than an alliterative phrase; it’s also a hierarchy for how to deal with waste. Repurposing, upcycling<\/a>, and recycling are all great practices that we want to encourage… but, first, we should focus on reducing the amount of waste we create<\/a>. One country has taken that concept to heart: according to The Huffington Post<\/em><\/a>, Sweden has made the “reduce, reuse, recycle” hierarchy national policy, and, in doing so, is able to keep 99% of its waste out of landfills.<\/p>\n

Now, wait a minute – that’s not the same thing as Sweden recycling 99% of its waste… is it? Well, there’s the catch: a sizable portion of the country’s waste goes into the next step down on the hierarchy, “recycling alternatives.” And what does that mean? In short, burning trash. That’s right: Sweden sends a lot of its trash – after separation – to “waste to energy” plants that burn it for heat and energy for many of the country’s residents.<\/p>\n

Swedish Waste Management makes both environmental and efficiency arguments for the practice of burning waste; furthermore, waste-to-energy keeps the rate of landfilled trash to less than 1%. Spend a few minutes with the video below that details the country’s efforts with trash (which include disposing of a few other countries’ waste), and then let us know what you think. Is waste-to-energy an acceptable means of dealing with disposables… or just a shift of environmental impacts?<\/p>\n