Sweden, like its neighbors Norway and Finland, is one of the countries that are different from other countries in many ways - not just the climate, but the fact that they have always strived for neutrality, but they have also detected and eliminated all the bad elements that do not allow society to thrive. I am thinking primarily of bribery and corruption, and of creating an honest political system in which politicians work in the interests of all people, and not, as is usual, first for themselves and then for their like-minded people.
Garbage is a very valuable raw material for many, but the main problem is how to convince people to sort it and how to properly manage such waste afterward. Swedes understand this very well, from the ordinary child to the highest office in politics, and therefore turn their garbage into energy - most other countries in the world are very far from moving in that direction mostly because they lag far behind in some other elementary things.
What I know from EU policy towards such things is that those countries that do not separate/recycle waste are sanctioned financially, and they are forced to make changes in that direction. I personally separate most of the waste for many years because it is my legal obligation, but people do not adhere to it and often mix waste, so there can be very embarrassing situations when waste is collected.
Topic: How Sweden Sends Just 1% of Its Trash to Landfills (Read 136 times)
The bio plants exists but there are more problems than solution for the same. There is huge cost set up for these plants since incineration itself will need to be validated for the PUC certification i.e. Pollution Under Control. Imagine the amount of harmful air getting released from the chimneys where they would be burning the whole trash. The air index could drop drastically in nearby areas if go to the level of powering up the millions of homes.
There have been trials of using plastic to build the roads.
However, burning plastic creates toxic gases like dioxins, furans, mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (better known as BCPs) which means its not really viable to process large amount of plastic in building the same.
There are issues with expansion of same in high heated zones and vice versa.
There are many solutions, but none of them proven success.
Now imaging generating electricity on mass level and getting those gases released in the air.
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Isn't it advance countries have developed eco-friendly, biodegradable packaging since the 80's. The problem is that majority of the nation around the world is poor and underdeveloped and they didn't used this at all. That's why in the last 30 years or so, garbage disposable become a huge problem for everyone. But thanks to country like Sweden. But I guess it will take years before this could be the norm and maybe it's going to be too late for humanity.There have been trials of using plastic to build the roads.
However, burning plastic creates toxic gases like dioxins, furans, mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (better known as BCPs) which means its not really viable to process large amount of plastic in building the same.
There are issues with expansion of same in high heated zones and vice versa.
There are many solutions, but none of them proven success.
Now imaging generating electricity on mass level and getting those gases released in the air.
Sweden is a leader in waste recycling. But recycling does not lead to the complete destruction of waste. But the most beneficial option for the environment is the reuse of waste. This is non-recyclable and uses less energy. Some types of plastic are not recyclable and poison the environment. Sweden is a leader in this field, but we all need to reduce waste. Hundreds of tons of garbage are in the ocean and kill many animals. We need to stop this and develop eco-friendly, biodegradable packaging.
Isn't it advance countries have developed eco-friendly, biodegradable packaging since the 80's. The problem is that majority of the nation around the world is poor and underdeveloped and they didn't used this at all. That's why in the last 30 years or so, garbage disposable become a huge problem for everyone. But thanks to country like Sweden. But I guess it will take years before this could be the norm and maybe it's going to be too late for humanity.
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The tricky part about this is that the majority of people nowadays are selfish and does not care for anyone but themselves and are mostly nearsighted. As long as they are not the ones who suffer, then it doesn't matter which is such a disgusting mindset. And the worse part is that the people who actually does or promotes the right things are being ridiculed or being laughed at. That is how toxic people are nowadays. You do wrong, you're cool. You do the right thing, you're boring.
And the government? Well, some may be pushing such ideals but most would not prioritize it since most of the governments just cannot unite having personal issues with political parties and all. Plus personal interests and greed. That's just how the world is today and it is eating up most of the countries and their resources. Sad part is that it has become the norm and would probably just worsen over the years.
Again, until the effects are overly massive and directly affects our daily lives, I doubt that people would really take this issue seriously. Only thing we can do is start the change with ourselves and do not get discouraged even when the world does not care. Because some people lose motivation when they see that their efforts have too little to no effect. Trust me, your efforts matter. Another person doing the right thing is what the world critically needs today. One way or another people near or around you will get influenced by you and that itself is a huge difference.
Sweden is a leader in waste recycling. But recycling does not lead to the complete destruction of waste. But the most beneficial option for the environment is the reuse of waste. This is non-recyclable and uses less energy. Some types of plastic are not recyclable and poison the environment. Sweden is a leader in this field, but we all need to reduce waste. Hundreds of tons of garbage are in the ocean and kill many animals. We need to stop this and develop eco-friendly, biodegradable packaging.
This should be followed by all of the countries, how dare us to live in a planet that gives us clean air and at the end destroy it ourselves. This is an eyeopener, polluted sea will leave us diminished. Everything in the ecosystem have it's contribution to the welfare of all, only humans messed up. Sooner or later if we don't take action and make a move, our planet will be destroyed, and it includes us and everything in it. Global warming is real, we should start within our selves, our family, our community. A small act of putting trash on its right place makes a difference. We wanna give the next generation to have a clean earth to live in don't we? Hat's off to Sweden and it's environment friendly and loving people.
Sweden is really amazing to actually be able to pull this off. Just shows how much the country values nature, most countries wouldn't even prioritize solving the problem with garbage.
The technology isn't really that much of a secret, most of the countries out there are capable of doing this or gaining such technology if they really wanted to. It's just that most of the countries right now are more focused on growth and strength which makes them ignore these problems. I am guessing people would only take garbage management seriously when the effects are already too large to ignore and are too severe to even solve or reverse. -Classic human nature.
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The technology isn't really that much of a secret, most of the countries out there are capable of doing this or gaining such technology if they really wanted to. It's just that most of the countries right now are more focused on growth and strength which makes them ignore these problems. I am guessing people would only take garbage management seriously when the effects are already too large to ignore and are too severe to even solve or reverse. -Classic human nature.
If only half of the number of countries are practicing this method, garbage problems would be reduced tremendously.
The technology is readily available, but only few are willing to follow this path.
And you may be right, people will just act if they are seeing the impact of it is already massive.
But the discipline starts from ourselves if our government is not up for it.
We can still make a difference on our own. Plant tress, less plastic consumption, reduce waste, and much more.
and not something that do touch about political aspect which is bullshit. Its true that people would only act out when its too late or we are already on the verge of big problem without even thinking
that they should have done that earlier so that we could able to avoid on what are the biggest problems that we might be facing on considering that trash or garbage is one of the reasons
on why we do have global kind of problems.
Sweden is really amazing to actually be able to pull this off. Just shows how much the country values nature, most countries wouldn't even prioritize solving the problem with garbage.
The technology isn't really that much of a secret, most of the countries out there are capable of doing this or gaining such technology if they really wanted to. It's just that most of the countries right now are more focused on growth and strength which makes them ignore these problems. I am guessing people would only take garbage management seriously when the effects are already too large to ignore and are too severe to even solve or reverse. -Classic human nature.
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The technology isn't really that much of a secret, most of the countries out there are capable of doing this or gaining such technology if they really wanted to. It's just that most of the countries right now are more focused on growth and strength which makes them ignore these problems. I am guessing people would only take garbage management seriously when the effects are already too large to ignore and are too severe to even solve or reverse. -Classic human nature.
If only half of the number of countries are practicing this method, garbage problems would be reduced tremendously.
The technology is readily available, but only few are willing to follow this path.
And you may be right, people will just act if they are seeing the impact of it is already massive.
But the discipline starts from ourselves if our government is not up for it.
We can still make a difference on our own. Plant tress, less plastic consumption, reduce waste, and much more.
Sweden appears to generate power for 1.4 million out of its 10 million residents using this format.
The article talked about supplying heat for about 1.4 million homes and electricity for 780k homes. With an estimate household size of 2, that would mean heat provided for 2.8 million residents and electricity for 1.56 million.I'm not certain on the cost per watt of garbage incinerator generated electricity. Wouldn't it be cool to mine bitcoin from energy produced by burning trash. Essentially, it would be collecting and burning garbage to produce digital gold. There will always be piles of human generated trash to dispose of, and so the potential energy generated from it, may be philosophised to be endless and infinite in nature.
This would be a cool concept and environmentally friendly, further invalidating the idea that Bitcoin damages the environment, even if it contributes a percentage to the total energy from mining.I'm also wondering if this can be used to power electric cars, and if this is something Tesla would consider.
A very good solution that solves several problems at once. If indeed CO2 emissions are no more from landfills, then this is bingo! Recycling waste into energy will help reduce dependence on other sources supplied from other countries. Russian gas no longer has an advantage in Sweden!
Sweden is really amazing to actually be able to pull this off. Just shows how much the country values nature, most countries wouldn't even prioritize solving the problem with garbage.
The technology isn't really that much of a secret, most of the countries out there are capable of doing this or gaining such technology if they really wanted to. It's just that most of the countries right now are more focused on growth and strength which makes them ignore these problems. I am guessing people would only take garbage management seriously when the effects are already too large to ignore and are too severe to even solve or reverse. -Classic human nature.
~
The technology isn't really that much of a secret, most of the countries out there are capable of doing this or gaining such technology if they really wanted to. It's just that most of the countries right now are more focused on growth and strength which makes them ignore these problems. I am guessing people would only take garbage management seriously when the effects are already too large to ignore and are too severe to even solve or reverse. -Classic human nature.
I could never have a trip to this country but from my friend who is living there I could understand that Sweden is one of the cleanest countries in the world where they really care about the country's management and how to produce less trash while unfortunately in many other countries they only care about technological progress and the factories are always producing lots of trash, I hope other countries learn from Sweden about how to manage the trash they produce so we will have clean earth to live because doing this will also make a country grow economically.
Just imagine if they can share this technology to 3rd world countries, for sure this will really help us alot to dispose nearly all the garbage around us.
I remember reports other countries sending tons and tons here, for obvious reason they don't want their garbage. But our government send them back to them. And if by chance we can have this recycling techniques by the Swedes, and then generate electricity, we will improved a lot.
I remember reports other countries sending tons and tons here, for obvious reason they don't want their garbage. But our government send them back to them. And if by chance we can have this recycling techniques by the Swedes, and then generate electricity, we will improved a lot.
Already Sweden is the on the top list of cleanest country in the world based on the highest Environmental Performance Index score. The country focus much on sustainability and it is among the list of low carbon dioxide producing country. Cleaner countries have higher life expectancy compared to other countries. Sweden have low airborne pollution which is good for human health. Sweden is much into the usage of renewable energy sources. Destroying garbage to generate electricity is really good and as now it should have plans to limit the emission of carbon dioxide to the environment.
this is a very good step because then it can solve two problems at once ... but the concern here is how Sweden is able to handle the residual gas produced from the incinerators ... they are very good at managing this,, because otherwise this will cause new problems that more complex
I think sweden had always been the torchbearer of a greener future.
The developed countries who are reluctant to fulfill global emission goals, need to learn from Sweden
We will be doing great favour to our future generations by generations..
The developed countries who are reluctant to fulfill global emission goals, need to learn from Sweden
We will be doing great favour to our future generations by generations..
Quote
The country incinerates nearly half its garbage to create the energy that powers its homes and buildings.
In the vast majority of countries, landfills are growing at an unsustainable rate. According to the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), 40 percent of worldwide waste ends up in open, uncontrolled dumpsites. As many as 38 of the 50 largest landfills threaten to pollute the sea and coastal areas, while 64 million people are directly affected by them, often with severe health problems. Perhaps worst of all, landfills’ decomposing trash spews climate-altering methane into the atmosphere. “At the current rate, at least 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions will come from the world’s landfills by 2025,” reports the ISWA.
As the world seeks out ways to shrink its open mountains of garbage, Sweden, a country that sends less than one percent of its waste to landfills, offers an alternate path. Much of Sweden’s success in reducing landfill waste can be credited to its high recycling rates: between recycled solid waste and composted organic matter, Sweden recycles nearly half of what it throws away.
What it does with the other half is what sets Sweden apart from much of the world. Nearly all of Sweden’s non-recycled waste is burned to generate electricity and heat. It’s a method that, while emitting CO2, is far better for the climate than sending garbage to landfills, according to the Swedish government and proponents of waste-to-energy technology. “Energy recovery is the best available technology for treating and utilizing the energy in different residual wastes that can’t easily be recycled,” says Klas Svensson, a waste-to-energy technical advisor at Avfall Sverige, Sweden’s waste management association. “For many other countries in Europe, it represents an opportunity to both replace Russian gas, and at the same time phase out landfilling.” It also happens to earn Sweden a good deal of money.
Sweden was an early adopter of waste-to-energy. Its first plant started operating amid a post-war home-building boom in the late 1940s. The new houses were connected to district heating networks, which generate heat at a central location and pump it out to individual homes, rather than each house having its own boiler. Over the years, more of the energy powering these district heating networks was supplied by waste-to-energy power plants, with major expansions beginning in the 1970s. Today, Sweden has 34 waste-to-energy plants supplying 1,445,000 households with heat and 780,000 households with electricity — impressive figures for a country with a population of only 10 million.
One of the largest of these power plants is called Sysav. It is among the most efficient plants in the country, burning around 600,000 tons of waste annually, enough to cover 60 percent of the heat requirements of Malmö, a city of 300,000 inhabitants. Yet overall, waste-to-energy plants provide a relatively small proportion of Sweden’s power, over 80 percent of which comes from a combination of hydro and nuclear energy. Their main benefit is keeping trash out of landfills. In many countries, such as the U.S., landfills are one of the largest sources of methane, a greenhouse gas that is far more toxic to the climate than carbon dioxide. Over a 20 year period, methane is at least 84 times more potent than CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere, according to the UN Economic Commission for Europe.
This is why waste-to-energy advocates argue that, despite their CO2 emissions, such plants are far less harmful than methane-oozing landfills, and why the rest of the EU, which sends 24 percent of its waste to landfills, should adopt the Swedish model.
To some degree, they have. There are 492 waste-to-energy power plants across Europe, burning 96 million tons of waste annually to supply almost 20 million people with electricity. Probably the best-known is not in Sweden, but a few kilometers from the Swedish border in neighboring Denmark. The Amager Bakke waste-to-energy plant on the outskirts of Copenhagen — which aims to become the world’s first zero-emissions city by 2025 — has received international attention for a ski slope made of green plastic that descends from its roof, plus a climbing wall, a park, a café and an environmental education center. The plant collects waste from 600,000 inhabitants and 68,000 companies, burning it to produce steam, which drives turbines to generate electricity or is fed directly into Copenhagen’s district heating network.
Some 10 percent of the energy provided to European district heating networks comes from waste-to-energy plants. Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, the UK and Denmark have all recently opened new ones. At the same time, older ones have been modernized. “Some of the older plants have been embarking on interesting innovative projects of CO2 capture and storage/use, hydrogen production, or energy efficiency,” says Agne Razgaityte of the Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy (CEWEP).
In Wuppertal, Germany, for example, in a region formerly dominated by the steel and coal industries, the district heating network was connected to a waste-to-energy plant in 2018. This replaced heat that had previously come from a coal-fired power plant, now decommissioned, in the Wupper Valley. Moreover, the Wuppertal municipal utility recently began operating a hydrogen filling station for 20 local public buses using electricity from the waste-to-energy power plant.
Not everyone in Europe sees waste-to-energy power plants as a good thing, however. “We believe that the current system for dealing with residuals, i.e. waste-to-energy incineration, is outdated and broken,” says Janek Vahk from the NGO Zero Waste Europe. “Waste-to-energy prevents proper recycling and makes climate change worse.” Vahk is also skeptical about the plants’ safety. “Our recent report found high levels of persistent organic pollutants like dioxins or furans around waste incinerators in three countries.”
To mitigate some of their worst effects, since the mid 1980s Sweden has developed increasingly stringent standards to reduce power plant emissions, and is working on CO2 capture and storage at waste-to-energy plants. In addition, Sweden follows the European Union’s prioritization of waste prevention, reuse and recycling — in that order — with advanced waste separation, a dedicated tax on single-use products and repair services at waste centers. The country has brought its share of recycled municipal waste to 37 percent. And by 2025, food and residual waste is expected to be just one quarter of what it was in 2015. (Ironically, thanks to efforts like these, Sweden has less waste to burn these days, and for this reason, waste-to-energy output has fallen by eight percent.)
The country still has more to do to increase its recycling rates in order to hit the EU’s recycling target of 65 percent by 2035. Nevertheless, Klas Svensson of Avfall Sverige is sure that waste-to-energy “will be a necessary part of Swedish waste management for years to come.” Used diapers, hospital waste or packaging made from composites will not be recycled anytime soon. Even items made from recycled materials end up in the trash sooner or later. And some materials, like paper, can only be recycled a limited number of times.
In fact, Sweden has already run short on trash to fill its own waste-to-energy plants, so other European countries now pay Sweden to take their garbage and burn it — 1.9 million tons per year, which Sweden uses to keep its houses warm and brightly lit, while raking in $100 million a year for the privilege.
This hints at the fact that, at some point in the future, if Europe’s waste-reduction and recycling strategies pan out, there will probably be fewer waste-to-energy power plants. There simply won’t be enough trash to keep them all running. And that would be good news, too. Except for fans of year-round green plastic ski slopes, like the one at Amager Bakke power station.
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/waste-to-energy-sweden-power-plants/
In the vast majority of countries, landfills are growing at an unsustainable rate. According to the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), 40 percent of worldwide waste ends up in open, uncontrolled dumpsites. As many as 38 of the 50 largest landfills threaten to pollute the sea and coastal areas, while 64 million people are directly affected by them, often with severe health problems. Perhaps worst of all, landfills’ decomposing trash spews climate-altering methane into the atmosphere. “At the current rate, at least 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions will come from the world’s landfills by 2025,” reports the ISWA.
As the world seeks out ways to shrink its open mountains of garbage, Sweden, a country that sends less than one percent of its waste to landfills, offers an alternate path. Much of Sweden’s success in reducing landfill waste can be credited to its high recycling rates: between recycled solid waste and composted organic matter, Sweden recycles nearly half of what it throws away.
What it does with the other half is what sets Sweden apart from much of the world. Nearly all of Sweden’s non-recycled waste is burned to generate electricity and heat. It’s a method that, while emitting CO2, is far better for the climate than sending garbage to landfills, according to the Swedish government and proponents of waste-to-energy technology. “Energy recovery is the best available technology for treating and utilizing the energy in different residual wastes that can’t easily be recycled,” says Klas Svensson, a waste-to-energy technical advisor at Avfall Sverige, Sweden’s waste management association. “For many other countries in Europe, it represents an opportunity to both replace Russian gas, and at the same time phase out landfilling.” It also happens to earn Sweden a good deal of money.
Sweden was an early adopter of waste-to-energy. Its first plant started operating amid a post-war home-building boom in the late 1940s. The new houses were connected to district heating networks, which generate heat at a central location and pump it out to individual homes, rather than each house having its own boiler. Over the years, more of the energy powering these district heating networks was supplied by waste-to-energy power plants, with major expansions beginning in the 1970s. Today, Sweden has 34 waste-to-energy plants supplying 1,445,000 households with heat and 780,000 households with electricity — impressive figures for a country with a population of only 10 million.
One of the largest of these power plants is called Sysav. It is among the most efficient plants in the country, burning around 600,000 tons of waste annually, enough to cover 60 percent of the heat requirements of Malmö, a city of 300,000 inhabitants. Yet overall, waste-to-energy plants provide a relatively small proportion of Sweden’s power, over 80 percent of which comes from a combination of hydro and nuclear energy. Their main benefit is keeping trash out of landfills. In many countries, such as the U.S., landfills are one of the largest sources of methane, a greenhouse gas that is far more toxic to the climate than carbon dioxide. Over a 20 year period, methane is at least 84 times more potent than CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere, according to the UN Economic Commission for Europe.
This is why waste-to-energy advocates argue that, despite their CO2 emissions, such plants are far less harmful than methane-oozing landfills, and why the rest of the EU, which sends 24 percent of its waste to landfills, should adopt the Swedish model.
To some degree, they have. There are 492 waste-to-energy power plants across Europe, burning 96 million tons of waste annually to supply almost 20 million people with electricity. Probably the best-known is not in Sweden, but a few kilometers from the Swedish border in neighboring Denmark. The Amager Bakke waste-to-energy plant on the outskirts of Copenhagen — which aims to become the world’s first zero-emissions city by 2025 — has received international attention for a ski slope made of green plastic that descends from its roof, plus a climbing wall, a park, a café and an environmental education center. The plant collects waste from 600,000 inhabitants and 68,000 companies, burning it to produce steam, which drives turbines to generate electricity or is fed directly into Copenhagen’s district heating network.
Some 10 percent of the energy provided to European district heating networks comes from waste-to-energy plants. Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, the UK and Denmark have all recently opened new ones. At the same time, older ones have been modernized. “Some of the older plants have been embarking on interesting innovative projects of CO2 capture and storage/use, hydrogen production, or energy efficiency,” says Agne Razgaityte of the Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy (CEWEP).
In Wuppertal, Germany, for example, in a region formerly dominated by the steel and coal industries, the district heating network was connected to a waste-to-energy plant in 2018. This replaced heat that had previously come from a coal-fired power plant, now decommissioned, in the Wupper Valley. Moreover, the Wuppertal municipal utility recently began operating a hydrogen filling station for 20 local public buses using electricity from the waste-to-energy power plant.
Not everyone in Europe sees waste-to-energy power plants as a good thing, however. “We believe that the current system for dealing with residuals, i.e. waste-to-energy incineration, is outdated and broken,” says Janek Vahk from the NGO Zero Waste Europe. “Waste-to-energy prevents proper recycling and makes climate change worse.” Vahk is also skeptical about the plants’ safety. “Our recent report found high levels of persistent organic pollutants like dioxins or furans around waste incinerators in three countries.”
To mitigate some of their worst effects, since the mid 1980s Sweden has developed increasingly stringent standards to reduce power plant emissions, and is working on CO2 capture and storage at waste-to-energy plants. In addition, Sweden follows the European Union’s prioritization of waste prevention, reuse and recycling — in that order — with advanced waste separation, a dedicated tax on single-use products and repair services at waste centers. The country has brought its share of recycled municipal waste to 37 percent. And by 2025, food and residual waste is expected to be just one quarter of what it was in 2015. (Ironically, thanks to efforts like these, Sweden has less waste to burn these days, and for this reason, waste-to-energy output has fallen by eight percent.)
The country still has more to do to increase its recycling rates in order to hit the EU’s recycling target of 65 percent by 2035. Nevertheless, Klas Svensson of Avfall Sverige is sure that waste-to-energy “will be a necessary part of Swedish waste management for years to come.” Used diapers, hospital waste or packaging made from composites will not be recycled anytime soon. Even items made from recycled materials end up in the trash sooner or later. And some materials, like paper, can only be recycled a limited number of times.
In fact, Sweden has already run short on trash to fill its own waste-to-energy plants, so other European countries now pay Sweden to take their garbage and burn it — 1.9 million tons per year, which Sweden uses to keep its houses warm and brightly lit, while raking in $100 million a year for the privilege.
This hints at the fact that, at some point in the future, if Europe’s waste-reduction and recycling strategies pan out, there will probably be fewer waste-to-energy power plants. There simply won’t be enough trash to keep them all running. And that would be good news, too. Except for fans of year-round green plastic ski slopes, like the one at Amager Bakke power station.
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/waste-to-energy-sweden-power-plants/
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Incinerating trash to generate electricity is currently being touted as an alternative to russian gas in europe.
Landfills are major producers of methane and greenhouse gases. Large quantities of decomposing plant and animal matter in landfills are environmentally unfriendly.
Sweden appears to generate power for 1.4 million out of its 10 million residents using this format. Its mainly used to reduce climate change damage from landfills. Whether or not this precedent can scale to suit the needs of larger nations like america with its population of 300 million or china with 1.4 billion remains to be seen.
I'm not certain on the cost per watt of garbage incinerator generated electricity. Wouldn't it be cool to mine bitcoin from energy produced by burning trash. Essentially, it would be collecting and burning garbage to produce digital gold. There will always be piles of human generated trash to dispose of, and so the potential energy generated from it, may be philosophised to be endless and infinite in nature.
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