[rmshea]

I think it should serve as a wake up call for the rest of the world. Sweden has had incredible success with recycling in recent years, most notably touting the fact that they import other countries' trash to use in their recycling plants [1]. How can we recreate Sweden’s model in the US and have our own solution to the trash problem instead of giving it to China?

[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/sweden-s-recycling...

EDIT: Fixed wording and added source. Sweden is buying other countries' trash, not selling theirs.

[ars]

> Sweden has had incredible success with recycling in recent years

That line is more false than true. For the most part they are not recycling their trash, they are incinerating it.

Additionally Sweden is tiny. Trash there is brought to local recycling centers with 6 to 8 or more different bins, and people are expected to sort their trash.

How would you do that in the US? Trucks with 8 compartments? Where would you even keep that many different trash cans? The US is very large, you can't expect people to transport their recycling.

[pwg]

> The US is very large, you can't expect people to transport their recycling.

It is common in rural settings in the US for people to transport, themselves, both their trash and their recycling to a central drop off point. So there are lots of US residents that do exactly this periodically.

Curbside pickup is typically a system found in more urban portions of the US, but it is far from ubiquitous across the entirety of the US.

Edit: Adding this URL: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.0802698,-82.5981852,107m/dat...

This is a google satellite image of the local, central, trash drop off point in a very rural portion of southern Virginia.

[wool_gather]

> you can't expect people to transport their recycling

Why on earth not? The majority used to haul their own garbage to the town dump a just few decades ago (and some still do in smaller towns). Ubiquity of curbside pickup is relatively new -- doubly so for recycling. And recyclables are a heck of a lot more pleasant to carry in the car than rotting kitchen scraps.

[ars]

And if you don't have a car? Or are not strong enough to carry lots of trash?

Or the dump is far enough away to make transporting recycling counterproductive?

[netheril96]

> And if you don't have a car?

My impression has been that you can't live in the US without a car anyway. So this won't be any new requirements.

[leesalminen]

We have curbside trash but no recycling and are about 15 miles (+3000 ft elevation change) to the recycling drop off center. I’ve wondered if cranking the engine on the pickup is worth it in fuel consumption.

[jacobr]

> Additionally Sweden is tiny. Trash there is brought to local recycling centers with 6 to 8 or more different bins

Actually a lot of homes now have these bins: http://blogg.tyrens.se/avfallsblogg/files/2017/10/Fyrfackska...

Recycling is simply made very convienient. I never transport my trash more than 5 meters. There's even a box for light bulbs and batteries.

[ars]

> have these bins

Those bins looks pretty nice, although the balance between the comportments seems odd. (The paper compartment (2 of them?) is too large, as is the white one the right - is that for "other"?)

Not sure I'd be able to get that down my stairs though.

> I never transport my trash more than 5 meters.

How is it picked up? Curbside? Curious what kind of truck they use.

Also, do you keep that in your house? Do you go outside in the winter for each item? Or do you stage the trash in the house, and sort it later?

[jacobr]

I live in a house and each bin is emptied bi-weekly by a regular garbage truck. The two front-most compartments are actually not fixed to the bin, so the bin is lifted up, the front-most part is lifted and emptied (in a vertically split compartment), then the rest in another. (I used to watch this with the kids a lot...)

Apartments often have a similar setup but with one large bin per category in the basement. There is also another system where you are supplied with color coded garbage bags for each type of waste that you then throw in the same bin.

[thinkcontext]

> For the most part they are not recycling their trash, they are incinerating it.

Actually, they are doing both. They have an incredibly high recycling rate, what is left they largely burn. Over time they have increased their recycling to the point that they have large spare capacity. Which is why they now import a comparable amount to what they burn.

Really it's remarkable.

[seanmcdirmid]

Sounds kind of like Japan, but there seemed to be more than 10 bins. Japan is a lot less tiny than Sweden in terms of population.

[qqg3]

Am in the US, transport my recycling right now as there is no pickup in my county.

[ars]

How far are you traveling? It's very very very unlikely that what you are doing is actually good for the environment, unless you are making a trash run only every few months.

[LargeWu]

I thought Sweden was burning it for energy, not recycling it.

[reaperducer]

touting the fact that other countries in fact buy their trash. How can we recreate Sweden’s model

Isn't this exactly the problem? Sweden isn't taking care of its own trash, but instead selling it to China, just like the US and many other countries?

[sciyoshi]

I think GP meant to say that Sweden is buying other countries' trash: https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/sweden-s-recycling...

[rmshea]

Yes, thank you for the source. I've fixed my wording in the original post.