Here's how less than one percent of Sweden's waste ends up in landfills

Less than one percent of Sweden’s household waste winds up in a landfill. Where does the rest go? Roughly half the nation’s waste is recycled, but what’s more interesting and lucrative for the nation is what happens with the other half. Of the 4.4 million tons of household waste the nation produces each year, 2.2 million tons are converted into energy through an incineration process called waste-to-energy, or WTE.

Before the process begins, the waste is separated. Metals, light bulbs, batteries, hazardous wastes, along with recyclable materials like newspaper, are divided, some going into recycling, others into an incinerator, and a small subset into a landfill.

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