A big thanks to One Hundred Dollars a Month reader, Holly, who passed along this little gem. Watch the video, it’s totally worth it, but here’s a quick summary, just in case you are pressed for time:
Apparently, Sweden is able to recycle 99 percent of their garbage–through traditional recycling and incineration that is then turned into usable energy. They have gotten so effective at sorting and burning the waste, they’ve started to import other countries’ garbage. Burning the garbage is still falling well below the environmental standards for pollution.
This is pretty freakin’ awesome if you ask me. Humans can be so ingenious sometimes. Now, if we could just get on board here in America.
~Mavis
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Sue M. says
That’s incredible! There’s so much we could learn from other countries…
Brooke says
This is amazing! Unfortunately, I don’t see this happening in the US. The energy companies would “lose money”. The same reason they are fighting solar so much
Stephnie says
My SIL lives there! Apparently, they also PRODUCE less garbage than we do in part because of packaging requirements. Over there, your concealer, facial cream, deodorant, etc. is found just sitting out on the shelves like our shampoo or pasta sauce is here. Here in the US, those things would be found inside boxes, probably with instructional inserts, and possibly even little cardboard “lifts” to help them reach the built in window of the box when all we’re really after is what’s inside the bottle that’s inside the box. On the other hand, I have to send her deodorant, baking soda, baking powder, & toothpaste because their’s is terrible or sold in inconveniently tiny packages.
Allison says
I recently moved to Indianapolis and was pleasantly surprised to find out that they actually do this! Trash incineration powers much of the downtown area. Covanta, the company that has the Energy from Waste facility, has several sites throughout the US.
http://www.indianalivinggreen.com/a-walk-through-covanta-where-trash-is-turned-into-energy/
Mavis says
That. Is. Awesome.