Clear bag for waste

From the beginning of February, the emphasis has been on sending paper, cardboard, textiles and clothing to a recycling stream instead of landfill. It is no longer permitted to dispose of black rubbish bags in the compactor, and only waste in clear bags will be accepted. A clear bag makes it easier for staff to guide customers on sorting, thereby reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill. 

Paper and clothes, a far too large part of the „rubbish“.“

Every year, a study is conducted on the waste sent to landfill by SORPU with the aim of examining where better results can be achieved, where recycling can be increased, and where there are opportunities to reduce the community's costs for waste management. Samples are taken, for example, from household mixed waste, and the proportion of different material types is assessed.

Increased amount of paper and cardboard for recycling

In recent years, considerable success has been achieved in reducing paper waste for landfill. Paper materials have decreased from around 301 TP3T of the grey household bin's contents in 2007 to just 111 TP3T in 2015. The Blue Bin, which is now available to all residents of the capital region for paper materials, is the single biggest driver of this. Between 2014 and 2015, the recycling of paper materials increased by over 51,000 tonnes. However, nearly 17 kg of paper-based materials per inhabitant still ends up in the grey bin annually, so there is an opportunity to do considerably better and reduce waste even further.

Less material sent to landfill from recycling centres

At recycling centres, an annual analysis is carried out on samples from container no. 66, which is for non-biodegradable waste for landfill. The proportion of paper materials there is even higher than in the grey household bin, at around 18%. Clothing and various textiles also make up a large proportion of what is received in bin no. 66 at the recycling centres, at around 15%.  The target for 2016 is to reduce the landfilling of textiles and paper materials from recycling centres. Landfilling these materials is a waste of raw materials, and their disposal costs the community more than if they were to be recycled. To achieve this goal, the „Less to Landfill from Recycling Centres“ project has been launched. This involves the introduction of clear bags and a cessation of accepting textiles and paper materials for landfill.

Clear bags lead to increased recycling

To make it easier for recycling centre staff to provide guidance on sorting and to increase recycling, customers are advised to stop using black plastic bags for mixed waste and instead use clear bags for waste that must be bagged. At the start of the year, SORPA will provide recycling centre customers with 100% recycled clear bags for promotional purposes. Thereafter, customers will be responsible for supplying their own clear bags.

A community project

Textiles and paper sent for landfill via the grey household bin and in container 66 at recycling centres in 2015 totalled around 7,000 tonnes, or over 30 kg per resident in the capital region. At all recycling centres, there are containers from the Icelandic Red Cross for clothes and all types of textiles. The Red Cross can accept all textiles, whether it is entire garments or worn-out ones, towels, bed linen or other similar items. What cannot be reused is recycled and becomes raw material for rags, blankets and more. Paper and cardboard sorted for recycling is sent to Sweden, where it is used as a raw material to produce newsprint, cardboard packaging, paper towels and various other useful products. Reusing these materials saves energy, water and other natural resources, as well as reducing the emission of greenhouse gases and pollutants. It is therefore our collective social responsibility to sort these materials and return them for recycling.