The City of Reykjavík is planning to measure up to many other municipalities around the country and encourage households to sort all domestic garbage. Special trash cans to that effect will soon be allocated to all homes in the capital.
Reykjavík City Hall. Photo by Páll Kjartansson.
In Akureyri, north Iceland, residents are asked to sort paper, plastic, glass, metals and biological waste from unrecyclable waste. A similar arrangement is in place in Ísafjördur, the West Fjords, and elsewhere, ruv.is reports.
Today, Reykjavík is not as far ahead in environmental issues but that is about to change. “Our goal is to give sorting containers to every household in the city next year, as early as January,” said Gudmundur B. Fridriksson, office manager of the city’s environment and transport division.
The new trash sorting system will be introduced in a few stages, neighborhood by neighborhood.
Fridriksson said that as a lower fee is paid for the collection of garbage that has been sorted, this new arrangement should not be more expensive for households than the current one.
“We are hoping to keep [the garbage collection fees] unchanged and ideally so that we can offer some beneficial encouragement for residents, the fee will be lower if you sort your garbage for recycling,” he concluded.
ESA
