Do you know what happens to your household waste?

The goal is to minimize waste generation and pollution and increase the lifespan of the planet’s resources

With an increase in inhabitants and increased consumption, it is important to consider sorting our waste so that it can be reused or recycled instead of landfilled. The circular economy is an economy where goods, objects and materials retain their value and usability for as long as possible. To recycle goods and raw materials, thereby increasing the lifespan of the earth’s resources. Household waste is the waste generated by households in their daily life and is collected separately and returned to waste containers, local containers or recycling facilities. Homeowners pay a garbage collection fee accrued through the property fees for having their household waste collected from their home, as well as to support  nearby operating recycling stations. But do you know what happens to your household waste?

What happens to your household waste?

Terra, a waste collection company based in Hafnarfjörður, collects waste from the municipal waste containers in dual waste collection trucks driven by methane. Two waste categories are disposed of at any given time, food scraps and mixed waste every 2 weeks and plastic packaging and paper/cardboard every 4 weeks according to the garbage collection calendar. From there, household waste is transported to Sorpa’s operating units in Gufunes and Álfsnes. Sorpa is owned by municipalities in the capital area, but their role is waste management in accordance with the statutory obligations of the municipalities. At Sorpa’s facility in Álfsnes, each waste category is discharged to an appropriate collection and sorting facility.

Waste categories

Food scraps go to GAJU, a gas and composting facility, and are reused for composting and methane production. The nutrition from the compost bin goes back into the cycle, and the methane, for example, drives Terra’s garbage collection trucks. Mixed waste is minced and metals mechanically sorted, then baled and landfilled at the landfill site in Álfsnes. Work has begun on sending combustible waste to Stena Recycling AB in Sweden, which is Sorpa’s recycling companion. By doing so, Icelandic waste will be used for energy production in Sweden instead of being landfilled in Iceland.

4 part sorting of household waste is mandatory for all residents

All residents of Hafnarfjarðarbær are required to put their household waste into appropriate waste containers near their home and deliver other waste to local recycling facilities. Residents of secondary dwellings that do not have a property number are also required to collect and recycle their household waste into four categories, but it is a matter of agreement between the landlord and the tenant, whether the tenant has access to the landlord’s waste containers or has their own container.

Local recycling facilities

Sorpa operates six local stations in Hafnarfjörður. All locations have containers for paper, plastic and glass, as well as clothing containers from RKI and bottle containers from the Scouts at some of the locations. A large metal container is located near the Fjörður station.

• Metals are shipped to scrap metal companies which sort it by type of metal and reduce volume, e.g. by pressing. Metals are exported abroad for melting and recycling.
• Glass is ground into smaller pieces and used as a filling material during construction. A pilot project is ongoing where glass packaging is sent abroad for recycling.
• Textiles are used by the Icelandic Red Cross, where volunteers sort the material for resale, recycling or redistribution where it is donated to those in need, both in Iceland and abroad. All proceeds from the sale of used clothing go to a relief fund that can be used for international relief efforts. Unwearable clothes are shipped abroad and recycled and from it produced, for example, rags and blankets.
• Deposit packaging is pressed into bales and shipped abroad for recycling. Used aluminium cans are recycled into new aluminium cans and plastic bottles produce, for example, polyester wool, a material useful in the clothing industry and carpet manufacturing. Residents can support the Scouts at local recycling stations, or receive a deposit for their cans and bottles at the various recycling sites. Sorpa operates a number of recycling facilities in the capital area, including Breiðhella in Hafnarfjörður.
• Garden waste is used as an overlay at SORPA’s landfill site in Álfsnes.
• Hazardous waste goes to authorised recipients of hazardous waste where they are properly sorted and handled to be destructed or recycled.
• Electrical equipment is dismantled by authorised processors. Substances hazardous to the environment are sorted separately and handled appropriately. Recycling materials, e.g. metals, are sorted out. Batteries, printed circuit boards, capacitors, etc. are removed from small electronic devices. After that, the electrical appliances are shredded and their metals and plastics sorted. Different materials are then recycled abroad.
• Timber is chipped in the timber shredder of SORPA’s recycling station and sorting station in Gufunes. It allows, among other things, the recovery of metal objects through mechanical sorting. The material is then used as a carbon source in the production of metallic silicon at Elkem and as a support material in GAJU.

If you are in doubt about how to sort your household and/or construction waste, a detailed search engine can be found on Sorpa’s website. It also allows you to see if, where and where the waste goes to recycling or reuse.

General information on the four categories of household waste

Specific information on waste collection in Hafnarfjörður

Buy a new container

Related news article, sale of the 240L waste containers

Waste sorting has exceeded expectations – Well done residents! | Hafnarfjörður (hafnarfjordur.is)

Thank you for sorting!