Sweden to import 800,000 tonnes of trash to burn for energy


Sweden plans to import nearly 800,000 tonnes of waste each year to satisfy its waste-to-energy plants -- waste conscious Swedes have been recycling so efficiently, the country doesn't have enough of its own trash to burn. According to an environmental advisor, it could spell the beginning of a future where garbage actually becomes worth something.

"I would say maybe in the future, this waste will be valued even more so -- maybe you could sell your waste because there will be a shortage of resources within the world," said Catarina Ostlund, senior advisor for the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. As it stands now, countries will actually pay Sweden for the service. 

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Sweden began incinerating its trash in the 40s and now, each year, it sends a paltry four percent of its waste to landfills. This has been made possible by the tightening of restrictions on waste disposal -- landfilling of organic waste was outlawed in 2005 -- and the fact that the incineration process has become a cleaner, greener alternative in recent years, with most harmful byproducts of the conversion destroyed.

Currently, 20 percent of Sweden's heat supply is produced by incinerating garbage -- that's 810,000 homes -- with the remaining energy providing 250,000 homes with electricity. To make up for the lack of litter generated by its diligent citizens (the country's plants can process two million tonnes of household waste), Sweden will mainly be importing trash from Norway. Not only will Norway be paying Sweden to destroy its waste, the only thing it will get back in return will be a pile of ash, rich with heavy metals and harmful dioxins that will need to be deposited in landfills. Despite this added burden, it is still the most economical way for Norway to dispose of its household waste.

Sweden is ahead of the curve when it comes to meeting the EU's 2020 sustainability directives, and well ahead of other nations when it comes to its waste-to-energy plan. According to a Eurostat report, municipal waste in Sweden was landfilled at a rate of seven kilograms per inhabitant in 2009 -- compare this to figures for the UK, a hefty 260kg per inhabitant. Conversely, Sweden incinerates 235kg of municipal waste per person, and the UK, just nine kilograms. Countries like Estonia, Greece, Romania and Turkey still do not operate any waste-to-energy plants, and could present future partnerships for Sweden.

Incineration has also become far greener since the 80s in Sweden, when limits on emissions were tightened. According to a report released by the country's waste management association, Avfall Sverige, since that time incineration emission levels have dropped by between 90 and 99 percent because of better waste sorting technologies. 

Byproducts of incineration include ash and flue gases, which both contain harmful substances like dioxin. These are now largely cleaned out, however. Dust is passed through an electrostatic precipitator to give the particles a negative electric charge. These are then attracted to positively charged metal plates, shaken off, collected and taken to an ash silo. The gases are washed out with water that contains lime -- this reacts with the gases and removes them. This is done several times to remove different things -- first heavy metals, then acids, sulphur dioxide and the remainder. Finally, a catalytic convertor removes nitrous oxides by passing the remaining flue gases through a porous material and converting them to nitrogen. The idea is that mainly carbon dioxide and water are released and, under the terms with Norway, anything else will be deposited in landfills.


  1. oh that some day this might be our problem . . .  

    mary jean
    Nov 10th 2012
  2. This is truly inspirational. How would it be to actually live in a country where people care more about the earth and sustainability than "stuff"? Actually taking the time to compost, reduce waste and recycle. Sigh. The sad part is that we (the United States) will likely never take their best practices and put them to functional use because of our corporate rule.  

    Malinda Bills
    Nov 13th 2012
  3. Fabulous! Wake up and get smart, my fellow Americans.

    Nov 15th 2012
    1. In reply to nadia

      My fellow american. Spokane, Washington started this in 1991. Today an average of 720 tons of trash per day are turned into 141,000 MWh/year in electricity. This is not the only power plant around. Its just getting exposure because of the lack of environmental consciousness in Europe until recently.Case and point: I would drink from the faucet in New York City. Would you in Paris, London, Rome?  

      Feb 18th 2013
  4. ithink we can supply this quantity of waste from mumbai

    suniel lahori
    Dec 30th 2012
  5. Interesting, how mutch Norway pay to Sweden`s to accept they waste per tone?
    Would be great get more info about it please.  

    Jan 5th 2013
  6. very Interesting....!! incineration technology without harmful emission &amp; left over ash is the future of solid waste management......soon ash will also be useful to make concrete products.  

    Jan 7th 2013
  7. Imagine if the rest of the world would follow their example.. the Swedes got their priorities right!  

    Jan 10th 2013
  8. So, the toxic/dioxin ash is put in the ground where it will leak into the soil and water ways putting health at risk. Hmm, turn it into toxic concrete..which will be disposed of less carefully in the future and repeat the environmental posioning cycle. The answer...stop producing non-natural products and oversized packaging for EVERYTHING! The realist- enjoy your time on earth before Mother Nature shakes us off like fleas.

    As long as corporate greed and generational wealth keep the old ways rolling and they are afforded the ability to vacation away from the shit holes they create, we are banging our heads against a brick wall...red clay I hope.

    Norway is having a grand old time shipping their waste to Sweden and having ash returned to them. Wait until all that ash starts to seep through landfill liners and start showing up in waterways which supply life to everything. How toxic is it? Perhaps the reporter of this article can break down "ash". And, maybe an article on how a landfill is designed and how they fail...dig deeper Starling deeper.  

    just business
    Jan 15th 2013
  9. As a Swede, I'm not convinced. Instead of importing trash for energy we should be building windturbines or solarpanels. If countries are paying us to take their trash, we should invest that money in environmentally friendly energy alternatives. Alternatively, the countries should invest in a recycling system worth bragging about. Also, one reason we need to import waste to burn for energy, is that we need more energy than we produce, which is... oh, what's the word? Oh yeah: unsustainable.  

    Feb 8th 2013
  10. this article is from wired uk NOT wired US. Everybody SHOULD know that burning waste is BAD! Why don't you understand?  

    Feb 8th 2013
  11. Waste to energy in the United States is not a new phenomenon. Spokane, Washington has a waste to energy plant that consumes 720 tons of waste per day and generates over 141,000 MWh/Year in electricity. Ironically, it also produces 600,000,000 pounds of CO2 per year. I'm republican and even I know thats bad a bad trade off.

    You know what else is bad. Citizens of the US trashing Citizens of the US without knowing all the facts. How about getting involved in a conversation after you actually know what is going on rather than commenting on something you have know knowledge of. Come on people, it doesn't matter if you democrat, republican or other...........please arm yourself with knowledge and if you still hate the US.......exersize the freedom people died to give you.  

    Feb 18th 2013

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