Sweden recycles an astounding 99 percent of locally-produced waste, thanks to the sensitiveness of its citizens to the environment and sophisticated collection techniques.

Sweden has a state-of-the art waste collection system with recycling stations located no more than 300 metres from residential areas. There are also pipelines under roads that vacuum garbage which is sent by households to the stations. The waste collection system helps to get rid of the smell of rubbish from neighbourhoods thanks to the use of underground deposits, it also means the rubbish does not occupy any space at street level. Swedish company, Optibag, owns the machinery that can separate different coloured bags from each other. The machine sorts these bags automatically, which solves the problem and cost of sorting stations.

The Swedish community is well educated in sorting garbage for recycling and the government has strong strategy for its collection and re-use to supply energy. Swedes commonly separate all rubbish in their homes and deposit it in separate containers according to type, such as metal, glass, plastic or food. The percentage of recycled waste by households has increased from 38 percent in 1975 to at least 99 percent today. In the nordic country, prominent musicians record songs and commercials are televised to encourage people to return used bottles for recycling. People deposit bottles and cans in exchange for money, in a practice called panta.

Of the household waste produced in Sweden in 2017, around 15.5 percent was used for biological recycling, 33.8 percent for material recycling and 50.2 percent went to energy recovery. Although burning waste is kinder to the environment,the recycling process in Sweden does not end at the burning stage. The remaining ashes constitute 15 percent of the waste volume before burning. Metals in these ashes are recycled again, with the rest used in road construction. Moreover, the smoke from burning the waste is filtered through dry filters and water. And the dry filters are used to refill abandoned mines.Moreover, the smoke from burning the waste is filtered through dry filters and water. And the dry filters are used to refill abandoned mines.

With calls for large-scale social transformations and staying within planetary boundaries it is easy to forget that change usually starts with ourselves. Most of the environmental problems we face today are rooted in human behaviour and even seemingly small efforts such as recycling and reducing food waste can have large, positive impacts on the global resource use when aggregated.