Sweden Now Recycles a Staggering 99 Percent of its Garbage

Sweden now recycles or reuses an incredible 99 percent of its waste, an improvement on the already impressive 2012 figure of 96 percent. The country uses a waste management hierarchy system that focuses in descending order on prevention, reuse, recycling, recycling alternatives, and as a last resort, disposal in landfill. While only one percent of the average annual 461 kilograms of waste that each Swede produces winds up at the landfill stage, it is the "recycling alternatives" stage that is still causing controversy, as it involves the incineration of around two million tons of trash a year in the country’s Waste-to-energy (WTE) program.

by Beverley Mitchell

Full Story: http://inhabitat.com/sweden-now-recycles-a-staggering-99-percent-of-its-garbage/