SwediSh waSte management |2011 - Avfall Sverige

Swedish waste management 2011Waste minimizationPreventing waste generation is the top step ofthe EU’s waste hierarchy. It is also a priority inthe national environmental objectives and inthe national waste plan.In Sweden we are good at recovering material,energy and nutrients from waste, whichprovides major environmental benefits. Butwe can achieve even more. The environmentalbenefit is greater if a product is never producedthan if it is produced, used and ultimatelyrecycled.Swedish municipalities have accepted alarge responsibility to reduce waste and thequantity of hazardous substances in the wastethat is generated. A report from Avfall Sverige– Swedish Waste Management 1 provides ahost of examples of measures that have actuallysucceeded in substantially reducing wastequantities:• Kretsloppsparken Alelyckan in Gothenburgprevents 360 tons of waste annuallybecause products can be reused instead ofdiscarded.• Kiruna reduced food waste in school cafeteriasby eliminating food trays – pupils canno longer take as much food each time.• Bjurhovda School in Västerås received anaward for its efforts to reduce the amount offood thrown away in the school cafeteria.When the project began, the school threwaway ten kilograms of food daily; one yearlater the figure was down to 6.8 kilogramsdaily. Averaged over one year, food wastewas reduced by 640 kilograms, resulting inboth economic savings and lower environmentalimpact.• Gästrike Återvinnare is heavily engaged in awaste reducation campaign. All municipalitywaste collection vehicles paraded throughthe center of town to demonstrate theamount of waste generated in Gävle.• Gävle is also running the Hållbara familjer(Sustainable Families) project, in which severalfamilies are tasked with changing theirlifestyle in a more environmentally awaredirection for one year. The project focuseson energy, food, travel and recycling.• Gothenburg is running a similar project,Leva livet (Live Life). Families reduced foodwaste by one quarter, newspapers andmagazines by one tenth and ordinary trashby about 40 percent over the course of theproject.Waste minimization is a top priority for themembers of Avfall Sverige – Swedish WasteManagement. This philosophy is exemplifiedby the long term vision – “Zero Waste” –adopted at the 2011 annual meeting. Thevision includes two long-term goals for 2020:a) to break the relationship between wasteand growth and b) to achieve clear, strongupward movement in the waste hierarchy. Themunicipalities are key players and the visionstates that the municipalities are the driver inthe transition and the guarantee for long-termsustainable waste management.The vision and the long-term objectives for2020 are the result of a project that membersparticipated in for one year.Avfall Sverige – Swedish Waste Managementis also the national coordinator of the EUproject “European Week for Waste Reduction”,which is also supported by the SwedishEnvironmental Protection Agency. The projectruns in November with organized activitiesthroughout Europe aimed at reducing wasteand the quantity of hazardous substances inwaste. The project began in 2009 and endedin its current form in 2011, but will be replacedby a new project that will run until 2015.1 U 2011:05 Good Examples of Waste Prevention in Municipalities A compilation of ideas for more sustainable production and consumption5