Plastic will be sorted from other rubbish from 1 March.

From 1 March, residents of Hafnarfjörður can put all plastic together in a sealed plastic bag directly into the grey bin (the energy bin). The plastic bags will be sorted separately from other rubbish and sent for recycling. Plastics sorting in plastic bags is a joint project between SORPU and four municipalities: Hafnarfjörður, Garðabær, Mosfellsbær and Seltjarnarnes. Care must be taken to keep the plastic separate from other waste in sealed bags so that SORPU's equipment can efficiently sort the plastic. No special bags will be required for the plastic; just standard plastic bags. This allows residents to use shopping bags and other plastic bags generated at home. The aim is to reduce the landfill of plastic and make better use of the raw materials in the plastic. 

,“This is an important milestone and makes it much easier for people to sort their rubbish at home,“ says Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir, chair of the town council and Hafnarfjörður's representative on the Sorpa board. "There has been a great environmental awareness in recent years, and more and more people are sorting plastic for recycling. The Sorpa board approved last spring that technology should be installed at the point of collection for the grey bin to sort the plastic, thereby improving the service for residents. It will be exciting to see how it turns out."

New equipment makes sorting easier 

In March, new equipment will be put into use at SORPA's reception and sorting centre, which will make it easier to sort plastic for recycling. It will then be possible to simply place clean plastic in a sealed plastic bag in the kerbside bin (the energy bin), and SORPA will then mechanically sort it from other waste and send it for recycling. The new equipment will assess the density of the plastic and blow bags containing sorted plastic away from other waste. No special bags will be required for the plastic, other than that they must be made of plastic. Residents can therefore use shopping bags or other plastic bags that accumulate in their households. The aim is to reduce the landfill of plastic and make better use of the raw materials in the plastic. 

It is the responsibility of us all to achieve better results in plastic sorting. 

In 2017, around 27 kg of un-sorted plastic per capita from the capital region went into the rubbish bin, according to a SORPU study of household waste, and thus ended up at SORPU's landfill site in Álfsnes. Only about 5 kg of plastic per inhabitant was sorted for recycling. Plastic is made from oil, a non-renewable resource, and it is important that it is utilised better than it currently is. Plastic breaks down slowly, if at all, in the natural environment and can cause harm to wildlife if it escapes into the environment. It is our collective responsibility to treat the Earth's resources with respect and to ensure that waste is channelled into a process where raw materials can be reused, rather than being wasted or causing environmental damage.Society needs to do better when it comes to plastic, and with new mechanical sorting equipment at SORPA's reception and sorting facility, it is simple to send it for recycling. It is more cost-effective for the municipality, and therefore its residents, for as much plastic, paper and cardboard as possible to go into the recycling stream rather than to landfill.

Significant environmental benefits 

Plastic sorting in a plastic bag is, as previously stated, a joint project between SORPA and four municipalities: Hafnarfjörður, Garðabær, Mosfellsbær and Seltjarnarnes. In the run-up to the project, residents of Seltjarnarnes took part in a pilot scheme for sorting plastic into a bag that could be placed in the rubbish bin. SORPU staff then sorted the plastic from other waste. The pilot project ran for just over a year, and during that time, the amount of plastic recycled by residents of Seltjarnarnes nearly increased sevenfold. The method is simple, cost-effective, delivers significant environmental benefits and is guided by the principle of enhanced service for residents.

Neighbourhood Gaps 

Until the plastic project begins on 1 March, residents can, as before, take plastic to neighbourhood bins where there are special containers for plastic, and they can also take plastic to SORPA's recycling centres. In Hafnarfjörður, there are neighbourhood bins in seven locations.  The locations in Hafnarfjörður are as follows: Hólshraun by Fjarðarkaup; Miðvangur by Nettó; Fjarðargata by Fjörður; Melabraut; Tjarnartorg by Bónus; Staðarberg by Iceland (formerly 10-11); and Sólvang.