The United States continues to lag behind leading countries in pushing aggressive environmental programs to reduce pollutants and garbage. Two stories this week highlight the sharp and disappointing contrast. In Sweden, the government has made an incredible leap in reducing household garbage and appears close to attaining the impossible: a zero waste national objective for landfills. Currently, less than one percent of Sweden household garbage ends up in landfills. In the meantime, Germany (which continues to outstrip the U.S. on green policies while continuing strong economic growth) has announced that it will add one million electric cars on the road by 2030 and expects to drop greenhouse emissions from transportation by 26 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels.
Sweden has had astonishing success in reducing landfill waste which is notoriously bad for the environment from residual ground and air pollution as well as the failure to fully recycle trash. The Swedish government has pushed the concept of garbage as a commodity for recycling or fuel production. Swedish families now Produce just 461 kilograms of waste which is slightly below the half-ton European average, but the country does an amazing job in managing the trash.
One of the biggest reasons for the low level of landfill use is a law that I have often spoken about in some countries. In Sweden, producers are responsible for handling all costs related to collection and recycling or disposal of their products. This gives companies an incentive to reduce packaging and increase recycling.
As for Germany, we have previously discussed the incredible achievements of that country in alternative energy sources. Merkel’s government has now announced the plan to have the million electric cars on the road by 2020 and set the 26 percent drop as the goal. Germany is making these achievements while maintaining one of the strongest economies in the world.
These laws of course have the obvious value of not just reducing greenhouse gases but reducing pollution and improving public health. The garbage rules also force greater cost internalization for manufacturers rather than to allow them to simply externalize the costs of packaging and pollution.
Chimene, I also wash out my bottles and cans before putting them in the recyclables bin. My garbage goes only in a garbage bin, never the two shall be mingled.
Jon,
Check your email. I send one about a poster being uncivil and inviting a retaliatory response.
Long live Annie and Elaine.
EWW !?! — storing up recyclables that have not been cleaned FIRST? sheesh!
When I was a little kid we had to haul garbage from the country to town, and we ALWAYS cleaned the stuff we were collecting, while we were storing up!
It never occurred to me when I was a kid that everybody else did NOT wash the cans and take out the ends and stamp the can flat before it went into the can paper bag! Yeah, WWII-metal-drive style! OF COURSE we still rinse or wash all recyclable containers BEFORE they go in the roll can, now that it’s 60 yrs later and I live in town and have weekly recyclable pick-up.
As a matter of fact I was probably in my 30’s when I read a whinge in the paper about some woman who was being all “poor me, what I do so my child will have a better world” about having to take apart her disgusting first-collection-bag from under the kitchen sink, to separate the recyclables when they were all smelly and rotting and otherwise disgusting — because SHE hadn’t had enough common sense to clean things FIRST of the food scraps!!! That seemed then, and still does, like a pretty lame excuse for “poor me, recycling is SOOO hard”!
An easy, sure way to spot a paid or volunteer right-wing shill/troll is the tactics they all use when responding to information they don’t like but can’t refute.
almost all try to shoot the messenger, try to discredit the source, say something childish/silly, feign outrage, question the writer’s patriotism, act as though the message or messenger doesn’t deserve a response, deny there is such a thing as paid propaganda, cite a right-wing argument that may or may not make sense on its own, but is unresponsive to the issue at hand, act in a way that reveals their loathe for people and ideas that are unknown or just different than theirs, cite right-wing talking points from the vast right-wing conspiracy etc.
Mapping African immigrants in Sweden
Excerpt:
The Swedish immigration agency records (2009) show that 14% of the total population of Sweden comprises of people born outside Sweden. Out of these 20% are Africans largely from Africa South of the Sahara. Sweden has experienced the largest influx of African immigrants in the last decade, for instance in 2007 and 2008, about 9783 sought asylum; and a total of 10234 entered Sweden in 2008 alone. Current estimates put the population of African immigrants living in Sweden at 130,000, but these statistics do not include thousands of others who are ‘undocumented’ and therefore unaccounted for or ‘unknown’ to the system.
http://www.nai.uu.se/research/finalized_projects/mapping-african-immigrant/
Nick Spinelli: “LOL! She’s back to linking.” (say’s the oh, so civil one)
Some of us appreciate the links. They certainly beat a lot of the blather…
“Sweden Moves Toward Zero Waste Goal While Germany Moves To Drop Greenhouse Emissions By Over 25 Percent” – JT
Good thinking!
Linking is far more intelligent than making claims and not providing evidence to back it up. Keep linking Elaine, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!
DBQ, LOL!!! I thought the same thing.
Oops that should’ve been Oligarchy. Darn fingers.
Geez. Malmo sounds like Hell on Earth. I bet all the immigrants are just passionate about recycling. Probably one of the leading causes in their community. 😛
But, it looks like those Swedes put Muslim immigrants into ghettos. I doubt Malmo, Sweden is on many tours!
@ Annie
I would love to recycle and we do so for those things that I can such as vegetable matter, tree limbs which we chip up and use as mulch or burn for heat in the barn. It has nothing to do with ideology as much as you would like to make it so.
It is too costly for us to recycle cans, bottles, cardboard. There is no place to take the items. No…Place. No collection stations. NONE. Not to mention no incentive to do such a costly thing as drive about 100 miles one way to recycle. No garbage collection services in most of the area at all….period. So we go to the dump station once every other month. I’m not going to let recyclable garbage pile up for months in the vain hope that there will be a magic recycle fairy come by my property and clean up the piles So. I give the cans and bottles etc to the local 4H if they ask. Otherwise. Into the dump trailer they go.
If people want to have no garbage or complete recycling, and admirable goal, then they need to come up with solutions that will work for everyone’s situation and economic ability, not just for those in San Mateo or Sweden.
LOL! She’s back to linking. 90% Swedish. We’re talking about the COUNTRY, not one city! The COUNTRY is 90% Swedish.
Malmö, Sweden: Growing Muslim Influence
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2009/March/Malmo-Sweden-Growing-Muslim-Influence-/
Excerpt:
Swedish City’s Population One-Quarter Muslim
Massive immigration has made Malmö today one quarter Muslim, and stands to transform it into a Muslim majority city within just a few decades. One of the most popular baby names is not Sven, but Mohammed. Pork has been taken off some school menus. Want to learn to drive? You can attend Malmö’s own “Jihad Driving School.”
Los Angeles has a high proportion of Hispanics. Does this make the United States as a whole Mexican? Atlanta Georgia has a high population of Blacks. So?
It can work here Justagurl. IF we want it to. Some are simply so entrenched in their ideology they can’t be reasoned with even if it’s for a great cause they might have actually agreed with if only, lefties weren’t on board. So it goes, UNLESS enough people demand it and find a way of fighting the Oligraghy.
Syrian And Iraqi Refugees Are Half The Population Of This Swedish City
http://www.ibtimes.com/syrian-iraqi-refugees-are-half-population-swedish-city-1619232