Sweden: The Country That Imports Wastes To Generate Power

Sweden import trash
Sweden import trash

When it comes to keeping wastes out of landfill sites, Sweden leads the way in the world. It recycles what could be reused and bums what can be safely incinerated to provide power for a quarter of a million homes.

Sweden however faces a big problem, and the problem is that Swedes are too environment-conscious and therefore aren’t throwing away enough waste to feed the incinerators.

Sweden's waste incineration plant
Sweden’s waste incineration plant

As a result of this nagging threat to the country’s power, the Scandinavian nation imports some trash from neighbouring countries to keep up with demand at power plants.

“Sweden plans to import nearly 800,000 tonnes of waste each year to satisfy its waste-to-energy plants — waste conscious Swedes have been recycling so efficiently, the country doesn’t have enough of its own trash to burn. According to an environmental advisor, it could spell the beginning of a future where garbage actually becomes worth something,” wired.co.uk had reported on October 29, 2012. The country is importing wastes already.

Nigeria is a country with insufficient power generation and with a lot of rubbish as well. How about we also start making use of the abundant waste to increase power generation?