[Gmac]

Quote:

Due to Sweden’s innovative waste-to-energy program and highly efficient recycling habits, the Scandinavian nation faces an interesting dilemma. They have run out of trash.

Sweden’s waste management and recycling programs are second to none as only four percent of the nation’s waste ends up in landfills. By contrast, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, over half of the waste produced by U.S. households ends up in landfills.

Because the Swedish manage waste so effectively and then use what remains to partly power their country, they are now living an environmentalist’s dream; a shortage of garbage.
- See more at: http://www.pachamama.org/blog/models-of-...L8Lyw.dpuf

Read the whole article here:

http://www.pachamama.org/blog/models-of-...of-garbage

[Hotwheels]

Years ago an incinerator for garbage was built not far from my hometown.

Ran sporadically for a few years before the EPA bullshit became too much and it was shut down.

[DLZ]

That's cool that they found a way to make money by importing garbage. Gives other countries an incentive to reduce garbage output.

[BortimusPrime]

This happens every time I play Power Grid.

[pitt]

Impressing. These guys are beyond their years.

[Vicious]

EDIT: NVM, covered by the article.

[Handsome Creepy Eel]

If it weren't for rampant feminist bullshit, I'd say that Sweden is the ideal country and far ahead of the rest of the world precisely because of feats like this.

[CactusCat589]

This is really impressive. The Swedish have shown that humankind and the systems of enterprise, production, and consumption need not be at odds with sustainability. I didn't even realize they had achieved nearly 96% efficiency in recycling. Great for them.

[Samseau]

Actually we don't know the whole story behind this and it's just as likely that there monumental government largess supporting this.

Since the recycling plants of Sweden only make money when they recyle trash and sell the made-new-again parts back to businesses and consumers, this means if there's a trash shortage that the recycling plants are operating on a loss.

Thus although the environment may be clean, it's probably coming at a heavy cost to the taxpayers that isn't worth it.

[Sultan of Swank]

I say turn that technology loose on the countless mounds of trash/landfills in the US and in all the third world countries.

There's money to be made here.

[Vicious]

(07-29-2013 04:44 PM)Samseau Wrote:  

Actually we don't know the whole story behind this and it's just as likely that there monumental government largess supporting this.

Since the recycling plants of Sweden only make money when they recyle trash and sell the made-new-again parts back to businesses and consumers, this means if there's a trash shortage that the recycling plants are operating on a loss.

Thus although the environment may be clean, it's probably coming at a heavy cost to the taxpayers that isn't worth it.

Nah, you're just shooting from the hip now.

Most of the Swe waste management companies are private or owned by muncipalities. Their books are completely open. I know the local one, Renova made a profit of $5M USD last year.

The one burden the tax payers face are sorting their trash, most households (depends on the municipiality) are required to sort their trash in as many as 6 categories (paper, cartons, metals, food etc).

[cibo]

I haven't read the article so please forgive if my answer isn't already stated.

But, if you have a factory that is not running all the time, that is the definition of inefficiency. You might need to have slack capacity if demand comes in and out at uncertain levels but it's a cost none the less.

That said, you can still make a profit, you just have to charge for the slack in the price. When you go to a restaurant, there are empty seats. To account for down periods, the price has to include lack of full utilization of equipment and staff. I'm sure the plants have that included. Especially how efficient central Europe is; even if it's socialist as fuck.

I do feel there are some hidden costs somewhere in this energy production model because I'm a big believer if something made economic sense, it should have been done already.

[Icarus]

And in Sweden there are also buses running on biogas generated from human manure:

• Sweden turning sewage into a gasoline substitute (2008)
  

In the meantime, much of the rest of the world keeps fertilizing their rivers and seashores with human manure and synthetic fertilizer, and digging giant holes in the ground to bury recyclable / compostable trash.

[Bad Hussar]

Does anybody have any input on whether recycling is really energy efficient? Obviously it's great that plastics and so on do not end up in landfills, but it must take a huge amount of additional energy to convert rubbish into useful products. Wouldn't it be better just to "burn" all rubbish and feed the energy released into the power grid? Is there a way to do this without releasing toxic fumes?

[Bolthouse]

They're negotiating with Germany to start importing their garbage.

Insane how much more advanced some countries are compared to the US.