Everyone is talking about Sweden鈥檚 recycling system. It鈥檚 so good, says the press reports, that the country can even import waste from overseas to deal with. As one writer put it, 鈥淲e can only dream of such an effective system in the UK.鈥�
This puzzles me. As someone whose job involves delving through mounds of statistics on waste, and is very familiar with what the various countries of the EU do to manage their waste, I am struggling to understand why Sweden is being painted as some sort of nirvana. In fact, in some parts of the UK, we are outperforming Sweden on recycling rates. So what is going on?
Sweden鈥檚 recycling rate is high at 49.8 percent, but it has been flatlining since 2006. It is ahead of the UK鈥檚 recycling rate 鈥� 44.6 percent 鈥� but not dramatically so, and considerably less than Wales. Thanks to bold policy initiatives from the devolved administration in Cardiff, Welsh councils achieved close to 60 percent recycling in 2015.
The confusion that has led to everyone looking at Sweden through rose-tinted spectacles seems to stem from the way incineration of waste is being categorised. Reports praising the country include incineration as a form of recycling, but it isn鈥檛. Indeed, too much incineration capacity can hinder recycling.
Yes, Sweden landfills a much lower proportion of waste than the UK 鈥� but that鈥檚 mainly because it incinerates a much greater proportion. The country incinerated 49.5 percent of its municipal waste in 2014-15; the UK figure was just 27.1 percent.
Sweden鈥檚 incinerators were built partly in response to bans on landfilling that were introduced in the 2000s. At that time, many in Sweden worried that building too much incineration could suppress recycling: come what may, the capital-intense incinerators would need to be fed with waste.
Fortunately for Sweden, at the turn of the last decade, a European restriction on the export of 鈥渞esidual waste鈥� (the stuff that can鈥檛 be recycled) was partially lifted. Suddenly, incinerators that met certain energy-efficiency standards could import waste from abroad.
Several countries 鈥� including Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden 鈥� started importing waste, not least because they were keen to develop recycling rates further without undermining the viability of their incineration plants. In fact, the majority of residual waste exported from the UK is sent to Dutch incinerators, which in turn means that Dutch local authorities and businesses can press on with improving their recycling performance without leaving their incineration plants starved of waste to burn.
It was hoped that the UK would learn from the experience of Sweden and other countries by taking care not to overinvest in incineration. But that鈥檚 not the case either.
For the last five years, Eunomia Research & Consulting has monitored the amount of residual waste the UK generates, as well as the capacity of the incinerators we have 鈥� those in construction, and those being planned 鈥� to deal with it. If the whole of the UK was to follow Wales, by the end of the decade, there will be more incineration capacity than waste suitable to feed them.
To read the full story, visit .