Amazing - Sweden has run out of trash

[malaise]

http://www.pachamama.org/blog/models-of-sustainability-sweden-runs-out-of-garbage
<snip>
Due to Sweden’s innovative waste-to-energy program and highly efficient recycling habits, the Scandinavian nation faces an interesting dilemma. They have run out of trash.

Sweden’s waste management and recycling programs are second to none as only four percent of the nation’s waste ends up in landfills. By contrast, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, over half of the waste produced by U.S. households ends up in landfills.

Because the Swedish manage waste so effectively and then use what remains to partly power their country, they are now living an environmentalist’s dream; a shortage of garbage.
- See more at: http://www.pachamama.org/blog/models-of-sustainability-sweden-runs-out-of-garbage#sthash.R8DJfcqL.dpuf
-------------------
Go Sweden!! It's simple if you really care.

[jberryhill]

1. Well, they did stop making Saabs...

[malaise]

3. Bwaaaaaaaaah hahahahahha

My BIL had one for years

[Jackpine Radical]

53. Aw Jeez, just another

Saab story!

[malaise]

56. Another DUzy

[msanthrope]

6. Thread win on the first post. Well-played, sir. nt

[Agschmid]

12. Yup! True win...

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. lol. good one

[Arcanetrance]

21. I always had a secret love for saabs

[jberryhill]

22. I did too. Then I bought one.

Cured me of that right quick.

[Arcanetrance]

24. Maybe thats my problem never owned one in fact I have never owned a car lol

[jberryhill]

27. Owning a Saab is a lot like not owning a car

[Arcanetrance]

28. I've heard the same about Jags which of course my dream car is one the XJ220

[Heather MC]

72. I have heard Jags stay in the shop

[jberryhill]

79. It voids the warranty to take them out of the shop, I think

[Heather MC]

83. ha ha thanks I will stick with my great white horse, my mini Van. She's not p

as pretty as she use to be, but she gets the job done!

[Sirveri]

36. It is like owning a fighter jet, since that's what the were originally created to produce.

[Egalitarian Thug]

43. But with much higher payments/expenses.

I'm pretty sure it would be cheaper to meet all of your travel needs by limousine.

[7962]

67. Stop it! You're killing me!

[jberryhill]

78. Without a Saab, it's easier to walk out through your garage to the bus stop

Since you don't have to squeeze past a Saab to get out.

[7962]

81. Thanks for starting my weekend with a smile.

[NBachers]

60. My Saab hated and betrayed me from day one.

[DainBramaged]

66. DUzy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

perfect

[NV Whino]

2. How about harvesting the Pacific garbage patch?

[silverweb]

4. Seriously.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Wouldn't that be something?

[malaise]

7. LOL

Maybe they'll fight over it

[lordsummerisle]

10. This was my first thought as well

there's no shortage of garbage after all...

[snooper2]

23. because it's filled with particles about 1mm and smaller in diameter

the myth of an island is well, a myth

[NV Whino]

25. Not to worry, there are plenty of other garbage patches

[snooper2]

26. Yep, I would start with China and some countries in Africa

[tularetom]

33. They'd use more energy getting it to Sweden

than it would generate once it got there.

[Jenoch]

29. I don't think the Swedes are burning

plastic in their ebergy plants. The Pacific patch is mostly pieces of plastic and styrofoam particles. A teen has come up with a possible cleanup plan. Either a worldwide effort will be needed or a foundation with $1 billion plus will be needed to fund such an effort. Either that or there is a profit somewhere in the cleanup effort.

http://inhabitat.com/19-year-old-student-develops-ocean-cleanup-array-that-could-remove-7250000-tons-of-plastic-from-the-worlds-oceans/

[NV Whino]

54. It's looks quite do-able

[MADem]

32. Someone is gonna do it, eventually .... and I can't wait until they do!

That would be one helluva "Junior Year Abroad" experience for college kids....go out to the patch, spend a few weeks collecting and baling, pull into a nice port, see the sights, offload the bales for transport to...Sweden, say!... and then head back, doing the same collecting and baling on the way home.

Bill Gates oughta fund that, do a "semester at sea" type-experience for college kids. They could even teach a few "environmental" classes for credit and make it a real learning experience.

[matthews]

85. Probably be afraid they'd get some of the glow-in-the-dark Japanese

stuff floating around out there.

[NV Whino]

87. Ah, there is that possibility these days.

[Wilms]

5. I had a neighbor who marveled at how little trash I generated.

Simple. Recycling, composting, and not letting junk into the house in the first place.

I decided not to tell him that I marveled at HOW MUCH trash he sent to the curb.

[malaise]

8. It's amazing how one can reduce garbage

with relative ease

[7962]

69. I use the service so little i tried to opt out, but the city wouldnt let me,

so now I bring my girlfriends garbage home and throw it in MY container. If I'm gonna pay for it, they're gonna dump SOMEONES trash!
She lives in the country and doesnt have pickup; she'd have to drive to the dump. So now I fill my can with her trash.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Since this place implemented recycling it's a bag a week

It used to be four. At times I have to change it more ften...since it starts to smell.

I try to recycle as much as possible.

[Salviati]

18. If you get composting, its amazing how much that cuts into the garbage as well...

Plus, you're hardly throwing anything away that can smell anymore. Once we got yard waste bins, I dropped down to about a bag of garbage every three weeks or so.

[nadinbrzezinski]

30. Apartment living, or I would

[AllyCat]

55. Our family of four sets out 1.5 bags of trash a week

We used cloth diapers (when that was an issue), we recycle, buy in bulk to reduce packaging waste, and compost. Grow quite a bit of our own food. I feel badly about the stuff we throw out, but sometimes, I just can't figure out another way.

[NYC_SKP]

9. Yay!

[sheshe2]

11. Thanks malaise~

Recycling goes a long way!

[winter is coming]

13. Couldn't we send them Congress? n/t

[ProSense]

14. .

[malaise]

57. That's mroe trash than they need

[think]

76. They are short on garbage. Not toxic waste...

[KittyWampus]

16. The point being that energy should not be extractive. And needs to be generated as close to source

as possible.

By extractive, I mean extracting from earth, refining, shipping across long distances.

I've posted about this very issue so many times over many years on DU.

Thermal depolymerization.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/11/1125_031125_turkeyoil.html

http://discovermagazine.com/2003/may/featoil#.UfsgrODXEeU

[malaise]

20. Yes you have

and you're correct

[jberryhill]

19. Yeah, it's in all the IKEA stores here

They also ran out of Allen wrenches.

[dipsydoodle]

48. At least IKEA uses sustainable wood.

.

[caraher]

65. Or at least they say they do

Apparently it's hard to verify...

[Uncle Joe]

31. You go Sweden!

Thanks for the thread, malaise.

[malaise]

40. You're welcome

[SunSeeker]

34. Sweden does just about everything right.

Beautiful, progressive country. Too bad the weather sucks.

[Snake Plissken]

35. This only leaves us with only option

We need to carpet bomb those Terrorist Commie Bastards back to the Stone Age to keep the Baby Jesus from crying.

Sincerely Yours

David H. Koch

[Zorra]

37. Someone really needs to stop these anti-murican enviro socialist euro-trash burning hippie freaks.

Sweden's Socialist-Based Society Can Be a Model For America

Over the past several decades, Sweden has laid a strong economic foundation by committing to economic fairness and has positioned itself as one of the world’s strongest economies. Today, Sweden, along with the rest of Scandinavia, is among the leaders in terms of quality of life, enjoys one of the world’s highest GDPs, and not surprisingly, continually ranks as having the happiest people on the planet.

By contrast, American exceptionalism is declining as fast are our rapidly deteriorating middle class, in large part because of policies that are geared towards benefitting solely the wealthiest in our society.

Beginning with the Reagan era, Americans have bought into a notion that big government is bad, that taxes are wrong, and that rugged individualism trumps the what’s best for the collective society.
snip---
One reason for Sweden's sound economy and predilection for creativity is the country's premier education system. Sweden has more female university graduates per capita than any other country in the world, and Swedes are considered to be among the world’s smartest people in large part because public education is guaranteed by the state, which in turn is funded by the higher tax rate.

[HiPointDem]

39. the swedes started privatizing their education system in the 90s. they were early adopters

of the charter school model.

http://saveourschoolsnz.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/so-swedish-charter-schools-are-great-are-they/

[Egalitarian Thug]

42. Well, they are the right wing of Scandinavia. n/t

[Zorra]

74. It does not appear that Sweden has "privatized" it's educational system.

It appears that they made allowances for publicly funded primary schools or "free schools".

Education in Sweden

....The vast majority of schools in Sweden are municipally run, but there are also autonomous and publicly funded schools, known as "free schools". The education in free schools has many objectives in common with the municipal school, but it can have an orientation that differs from that of the municipal schools.[7][8] A handful of boarding schools, known as "private schools", are funded by privately paid tuition.
snip---
....Both upper secondary school and university studies are financed by taxes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Sweden#Primary_and_Secondary_School

Although the government of Sweden has recently moved to the right, Swedes still apparently overwhelmingly support their socialized system.

[HiPointDem]

75. you need to do more research. the majority of 'free schools' are private, for-profit.

One of Sweden’s largest for-profit school networks plans to gain a toehold in American public schooling by managing its first charter school in New York City this September—a possible sign of the times as U.S. educators and policymakers step up their focus on global competitiveness.

The transplantation process started with a name change, from the tongue-twisting Swedish Kunskapsskolan to Innovate Manhattan Charter School. The school’s charter is held by an independent board—a nod to the city’s restriction on for-profit companies directly owning or operating public schools—but Margaret “Peg” Hoey, the president of Kunskapsskolan USA, said the staff is working to ensure the core Swedish instructional model won’t be lost in translation.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/02/09/20swedish_ep.h30.html


How Sweden Profits from For-Profit Schools

Over the past two decades, Sweden and the United States have tried to address that problem in very different ways — with very different results. In the United States, philanthropists have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to replicate what they consider to be the best “charter schools” — semi-independent government schools. Sweden’s free schools system, by contrast, has allowed both for-profit and non-profit private schools to compete for the privilege of serving students.

http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/how-sweden-profits-profit-schools


Sweden’s Vouchers Are Charter Schools

Swedish kids can attend are essentially what we call “charter schools” in the United States, rather than true private schools with selective admissions. In effect, Swedish practice is like what exists in American states (Arizona, for example) with lots of charter schools and it’s quite similar to what the Obama administration (and I) are pushing. The big difference is that for-profit operators are allowed to run schools in Sweden...

http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2010/10/05/198729/swedens-vouchers-are-charter-schools/


She said Sweden is a good example of how charter schools develop. For-profit companies are allowed to operate charter schools there and they make up a substantial proportion of the school system... The Swedish model means companies are able to pay dividends to shareholders. About 65 per cent of Swedish independent schools take this form, the report says, suggesting that precluding for-profit companies from the system would reduce new entrants.

"There is a reason why the majority of Swedish independent schools are for-profit: The idealism and drive of those running non-profit schools cannot serve as an incentive to start schools for many people otherwise perfectly capable of doing so. The simple reason is that idealism is scarce and local."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/7994188/The-business-side-of-charter-schools

[0rganism]

38. perhaps a new export market has just opened up for us?

America's rampant consumerism could become Sweden's natural resource. I like it.

[Egalitarian Thug]

41. But we were just assured that this cannot be because Sweden is a radical, far-left, idealistic

fantasy land that would be just as bad as the U.S., if it did in fact exist, which it doesn't.

Good for the Swedes and here's to the remnants of sanity...

[spooky3]

44. If it weren't for all the cat litter, we'd be down to

A bag of trash a week or so.

Wish there was a better option.

[xoom]

45. Wow!! That's amazing!

[Le Taz Hot]

46. We could send them Ann Coulter.

[MisterP]

68. and John Tierney!

[Brigid]

84. Nope.

Like Congress, that would be toxic waste.

[dipsydoodle]

47. I hadn't noticed you already posted this.

I posted in the the Environment Forum too.

[malaise]

59. The more the merrier

Important subject

[trusty elf]

49. and the Dutch have run out of prisoners!

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/06/26/netherlands-prisons-close--lack-of-criminals-_n_3503721.html

[stonecutter357]

50. Shit I thought it was a Comrade Eddie thread.

Good job in Sweden.
Do you think Sweden can help with this

[Heywood J]

51. I guess we know where we can send that barge from NYC... (NT)

[Uben]

52. Howzabout we send em our trash?

Start with the republican party!

[Sunlei]

58. plasma gasification. all that trash is free energy and useable slag.

We have a couple pockets of use in the USA but looks like the USA will have garbage dumps forever. The USA has slid way back in the modern world in so many ways.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_gasification

[Crowman1979]

61. We could probably end the use of petroleum products for fertilizers.

If we considered using treated sewage and food waste.

[displacedtexan]

62. Here in San Francisco, we're at 80% recycling.

We have 10 units in our building, with at least 2 people in each unit... and at least 1 dog in each. We have 3 trash cans, 6 recycling bins, and 2 compost bins for the whole building.

[malaise]

64. That's pretty good

[Auntie Bush]

63. Maybe the US can send them some of our garbage. Remember the

barge that floated around looking for a place to dump their garbage?

[malaise]

71. I remember that well

[benld74]

70. Would they accept the trash the GOP creates????

[malaise]

73. Creates?

ReTHUGs are trash

[snot]

77. I'd like to know more about ALL the systems in the countries that are working better than ours,

especially

the governmental system, esp. are they two-party, how are candidates selected, how are campaigns financed, etc.

the media, esp. what if any restrictions on ownership, operations that might have an impact on bias, etc.

the educational system; is it public or private, etc.

That said, Sweden's cooperation with the US in rendition cases and w.r.t. Assange are NOT exemplary.

[BlueJac]

80. We are just a turd world country anyway.

We do not get it. Big money is always in our way.

[toby jo]

82. Back in the 80s' when I was working the horse tracks there was a training center in Florida

that had a good way of dealing with the Swedes. They put em in the back dorm, as far away from the rest of us as possible. Seems the woman had a habit of walking around shirtless. And braless.

Good looking people, the Swedes. And if you ever get to Nebraska, there's alot of em there, too. Tall, good-looking blonds.

[raging moderate]

86. For-profit operators ARE allowed to run schools in the US.

There have always been private schools operating in the United States, started and run by people who made a profit running them. That is not the controversy surrounding what we call "Charter Schools." The problem has been the recent efforts by some people to use charter schools to gut public education. Idealism has nothing to do with that effort.

[gopiscrap]

91. Exactly

[TVDS]

89. Factorys

Can anyone tell me what are the biggest recycling factories in Sweden?

[gopiscrap]

90. welcome to DU

[malaise]

92. No but I can join in welcoming you to DU