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It will be easier to recycle packaging waste. The municipalities must ensure that collections for plastic, paper, glass and metal are located in the vicinity of all households and in densely populated places.
It will be the municipalities that take over the responsibility for collecting packaging waste from households from 2024. From 2027, there will be a requirement for collection close to the property.
– We and many other municipalities view it positively. We already have the responsibility for food waste, residual waste and bulky waste and now you will be able to take a holistic approach, says Emma Hilmersson, project manager at Kretslopp och water in the city of Gothenburg.
“Should not have to fuss”
The government hopes that the new rules will help increase households’ propensity to sort rubbish.
“People should not have to travel far or take the car to the recycling and then be met by overcrowded, messy recycling stations,” says Minister of Climate and Environment Annika Strandhäll in a press release.
TT: Do you as a municipality think that it will have an effect?
– I think so, almost all studies show that when it is easy to do the right thing, you do it, says Emma Hilmersson at the City of Gothenburg.
TT: What will be the biggest change for the municipal residents?
– Those who live in a villa can have additional containers at their house where you leave packaging. How many, or if there will be vessels with several compartments, is something we are looking at now.
– Many apartment buildings already have containers for packaging in their garbage rooms, but for those who do not have them, there may be slightly different solutions depending on what space you have in your property. The recycling stations will probably remain, if only for the large “rare packages” that do not fit in containers.
Can be costly
But the takeover also entails some challenges for the municipalities in terms of establishing systems and cooperation with property owners and suppliers.
– It will be difficult for many municipalities that do not already have such a system today to build it up so quickly, says Ann-Sofie Eriksson, section manager at Sweden’s Municipalities and Regions (SKR).
– It would have been good if the municipalities had been given more space to decide how the collection should go. Different solutions are good for different forms of housing in Sweden – in cities, urban areas and in rural areas, she continues.
The packaging producers will continue to bear the costs even when the municipalities take over the collection.
– Our assessment is that it is uncertain whether all municipalities will receive cost coverage of the part that will be covered from the producers’ payment. The rest you then need to take from the inhabitants. The risk is that it affects municipalities where it is most difficult to solve the collection, for example due to geographical difficulties with larger areas, says Ann-Sofie Eriksson.
Facts
This is what the recycling plan looks like
The new regulations mean that the municipalities take over the operational responsibility for the collection of packaging waste. Today, the collection is handled by the producers. The transfer of responsibility will take place on 1 January 2024.
By 1 January 2027, collection close to the property must be introduced for households. The most common types of packaging (paper, plastic, metal and glass) must always be collected close to the property. Bulky packaging of paper and plastic must be collected at easily accessible collection points and other packaging materials (wood, ceramics, textiles and the like) at the municipality’s recycling center (ÅVC). Furthermore, it is proposed that the municipality must receive all packaging materials at an ÅVC.
The collection will be free for households. The municipalities must be reimbursed for their costs by the producers. The compensation will be determined on the basis of regulations that the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency will issue.
From 2026, the municipalities will also be responsible for ensuring that packaging waste can be recycled in a simple way in public places, such as squares and parks.
The government has also decided on simplifications for operations’ handling of packaging waste. The requirement for their obligations to sort and recycle will be clarified and they will be able to leave waste without volume restrictions at reception stations throughout the country.
Source: Ministry of the Environment
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