Sweden has a problem. A rather unique problem.

They want to create energy from their trash, but their citizens are far too eco friendly to create enough trash.

They produce biomass and biogas from this waste, which is used as energy.

Each swede produces just over half a ton of household waste every year. Thanks to the efficient waste management in sweden, the vast majority of this household waste can be recovered or reused. Only four per cent is landfilled, which has lead to a rather interesting problem and solution.

Rather than simply producing more trash and recycling less, they have begun importing trash from other countries; roughly 800,000 tons annually. And what’s more, they’re getting paid to take it. Norway have started exporting their rubbish to Sweden, and Bulgaria, Romania, and Italy are set to follow suit.

Just over two million tons of household waste is treated from waste to energy in swedish plants every year. These plants incinerate a similar quantity of waste from industries as well. Waste incineration provides heat corresponding to the needs of 810,000 homes, around 20 per cent of all the district-heating produced. It also provides electricity corresponding to the needs of almost 250,000 homes.

Sweden is currently the global leader in recovering the energy in waste.

Energy from Waste. What an excellent idea.

Sweden has had strict standards limiting emissions from waste incineration since the mid-1980s. Most emissions have fallen by between 90 and 99 per cent since then thanks to ongoing technical development and better waste sorting.

Energy from waste is an environmental, financial, safe and stable contribution to the country’s energy supply.

Waste to energy is a recovery method that provides a significant part of Europe’s energy needs. One example of this is that around 50 million tons of waste are processed through incineration every year throughout europe. This corresponds to the heat requirements for the populations of Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

In Sweden alone, waste incineration generates as much energy from waste to reduce carbon dioxide (Co2) emissions by 2.2 million tons per year. This is as much Co2 as 680,000 petrol-powered cars emit in a year.

Notice that the UK is left off the list of countries above, and that’s because we simply don’t create enough energy from waste yet.

Not in this particular sense at least.

There is another, popular, and domestic way to create energy from waste, and that’s with the use of a wood pellet boiler.

Wood pellets are manufactured from waste wood, such as off cuttings, and saw dust. It is then compressed and dried to create highly combustable and efficient heating fuel.

These pellets are added to a wood pellet boiler. They get transfered from the store to the boiler through the hopper, and are burned, just like you would burn any other fuel, to heat your home. This can be done on a home and industrial scale, and is financially rewarded by the renewable heat incentive.

So while the UK may be behind in creating energy from traditional landfill waste, we’re very much on the forefront when it comes to biomass, in the form of wood pellet boilers.

If you would like to know more about wood pellet boilers, this is a really thorough article for you to read.

And if you would like any more information, please contact us and we will be happy to help.