Sweden recycles so much that they don’t have enough to burn to generate electricity and heat. So, they will be importing garbage.
Sweden only sends about 4 percent of its waste to landfills. To put that into perspective, the United States landfills about 67 percent of its waste. While that is great for Sweden’s environment, it isn’t so good for their Waste-to-Energy program.
Why are we so wasteful here in the States? Sweden generates 20% of their heat from burning trash. We could be doing that too. More and more I’m seeing that we talk a really good game here about recycling and renewable energy yet more than a few other countries are way ahead of us.
From a Waste-to-Energy PDF
Just over two millions ton of household waste is treated by waste to energy in Swedish plants every year. These plants incinerate a similar quantity of waste from industries as well. Waste incineration provides heat corresponding to the needs of 810,000 homes, around 20 per cent of all the district-heating produced. It also provides electricity corresponding to the needs of almost 250,000 homes.
Seriously? Every calorie and KWH we generate from burning trash displaces oil or coal. That means someone in an important board room gets a little less money. It sounds like Sweden may have a grip on economic and climate realities. But here in the U.S., we don’t just coddle our fossil fuel industries – we subsidize them with taxpayer money.