General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmazing - Sweden has run out of trash
http://www.pachamama.org/blog/models-of-sustainability-sweden-runs-out-of-garbage<snip>
Due to Swedens innovative waste-to-energy program and highly efficient recycling habits, the Scandinavian nation faces an interesting dilemma. They have run out of trash.
Swedens waste management and recycling programs are second to none as only four percent of the nations 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 environmentalists dream; a shortage of garbage.
- See more at: http://www.pachamama.org/blog/models-of-sustainability-sweden-runs-out-of-garbage#sthash.R8DJfcqL.dpuf
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Go Sweden!! It's simple if you really care.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)malaise
(267,801 posts)My BIL had one for years
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)Saab story!
malaise
(267,801 posts)msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Agschmid
(28,749 posts)Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)Arcanetrance
(2,670 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Cured me of that right quick.
Arcanetrance
(2,670 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Arcanetrance
(2,670 posts)Heather MC
(8,084 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Heather MC
(8,084 posts)as pretty as she use to be, but she gets the job done!
Sirveri
(4,517 posts)Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)I'm pretty sure it would be cheaper to meet all of your travel needs by limousine.
7962
(11,841 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Since you don't have to squeeze past a Saab to get out.
7962
(11,841 posts)NBachers
(17,001 posts)DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)perfect
NV Whino
(20,886 posts)silverweb
(16,402 posts)[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Wouldn't that be something?
Maybe they'll fight over it
lordsummerisle
(4,649 posts)there's no shortage of garbage after all...
snooper2
(30,151 posts)the myth of an island is well, a myth
NV Whino
(20,886 posts)snooper2
(30,151 posts)tularetom
(23,664 posts)than it would generate once it got there.
Jenoch
(7,720 posts)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
(20,886 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)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
(497 posts)stuff floating around out there.
NV Whino
(20,886 posts)Wilms
(26,795 posts)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
(267,801 posts)with relative ease
7962
(11,841 posts)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
(154,021 posts)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
(6,002 posts)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
(154,021 posts)AllyCat
(16,035 posts)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.
sheshe2
(83,334 posts)Recycling goes a long way!
winter is coming
(11,785 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)malaise
(267,801 posts)think
(11,641 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)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
(267,801 posts)and you're correct
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)They also ran out of Allen wrenches.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts).
caraher
(6,276 posts)Apparently it's hard to verify...
Uncle Joe
(58,111 posts)Thanks for the thread, malaise.
malaise
(267,801 posts)SunSeeker
(51,367 posts)Beautiful, progressive country. Too bad the weather sucks.
Snake Plissken
(4,103 posts)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
(27,670 posts)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 worlds strongest economies. Today, Sweden, along with the rest of Scandinavia, is among the leaders in terms of quality of life, enjoys one of the worlds 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 whats 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 worlds smartest people in large part because public education is guaranteed by the state, which in turn is funded by the higher tax rate.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)of the charter school model.
http://saveourschoolsnz.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/so-swedish-charter-schools-are-great-are-they/
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)Zorra
(27,670 posts)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
(20,729 posts)The transplantation process started with a name change, from the tongue-twisting Swedish Kunskapsskolan to Innovate Manhattan Charter School. The schools charter is held by an independent boarda nod to the citys restriction on for-profit companies directly owning or operating public schoolsbut Margaret Peg Hoey, the president of Kunskapsskolan USA, said the staff is working to ensure the core Swedish instructional model wont 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. Swedens 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
Swedens 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 its 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
(23,855 posts)America's rampant consumerism could become Sweden's natural resource. I like it.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)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
(34,302 posts)A bag of trash a week or so.
Wish there was a better option.
xoom
(322 posts)Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)MisterP
(23,730 posts)Like Congress, that would be toxic waste.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)I posted in the the Environment Forum too.
malaise
(267,801 posts)Important subject
trusty elf
(7,348 posts)stonecutter357
(12,682 posts)Good job in Sweden.
Do you think Sweden can help with this
Heywood J
(2,515 posts)Uben
(7,719 posts)Start with the republican party!
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)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
(3,844 posts)If we considered using treated sewage and food waste.
displacedtexan
(15,694 posts)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
(267,801 posts)Auntie Bush
(17,528 posts)barge that floated around looking for a place to dump their garbage?
malaise
(267,801 posts)benld74
(9,888 posts)malaise
(267,801 posts)ReTHUGs are trash
snot
(10,478 posts)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
(7,838 posts)We do not get it. Big money is always in our way.
toby jo
(1,269 posts)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
(4,281 posts)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
(23,674 posts)Response to malaise (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Can anyone tell me what are the biggest recycling factories in Sweden?