New focus on recycling

Newspapers in one rubbish bin, jam jars in another, pizza boxes in a third, empty plastic trays from the supermarket in a fourth, bottle caps in a fifth and aerosol cans in a sixth.

In short, private citizens need to start sorting their rubbish to a much greater extent than previously.

10 municipalities have already begun

A number of municipalities are already introducing new waste sorting schemes, requiring citizens to separate their rubbish into six different categories.

The aim of the scheme is to recycle far more waste to benefit both the environment and the economy. So far, about 10 municipalities have implemented or are about to implement a similar scheme, according to Local Government Denmark (KL).

Anders Christiansen, consultant from the Environment and Construction office at KL, told DR News that household waste sorting is part of the government’s new resource conservation strategy, which will be published in the near future.

The plan is for the individual citizen to sort their household waste, which is then recycled to conserve energy, said Christiansen.

Strategy is on the way

A number of municipalities – such as Gentofte and Ringsted – have already made preparations to implement the sorting scheme, and the rest had better get ready, according to Minister for the Environment Ida Auken.

“I expect all municipalities to face this challenge head on. Those that have already begun sorting their waste will of course be better prepared once the resource conservation strategy takes effect,” said Auken to DR News.

Government has advised that the resource conservation strategy will be published soon.