Mixed waste
Mixed waste (e.g. dry waste, burnable waste)
Mixed waste comprises only... what exactly? When sorted carefully, only very little, but often in our everyday lives it ends up being quite a lot. Have you ever thought that maybe your rubbish bag contains things that might actually belong somewhere else?
Lajitteluohje
Tämä lajitteluohjesivu on eri kielellä kuin valitsemasi kieli. Voit palata karttanäkymään ja valita kierrätettävän materiaalin omalla kiellelläsi.
Always observe local and collection point specific instructions! The following are some general guidelines based on prevailing practices.
Yes
- materials that cannot be recycled, such as dirty paper and cardboard as well as plastic packaging, if no plastic packaging recycling is available
- incandescent and halogen light bulbs
- fuses
- cleaning waste and vacuum cleaner bags
- waste containing PVC plastic, such as inflatable toys, plastic tarps, wax canvas and rain clothes and so-called deep-drawn packaging such as tablet blister packs as well as toy and car accessory packaging
- aluminium-coated plastic, such as crisp bags and coffee packets
- ash and cigarette butts
- window glass, mirror glass, porcelain, ceramics, cut glass and heat-resistant glass (Pyrex)
- cassettes (VHS, audio cassette and empty ink cassettes)
- printer ink cassettes
- photos and negatives
- leather and rags
- rubber items, such as bicycle tyres and toys
- broken shoes and clothes
- grease from roasting and other liquid fat, packaged tightly sealed in e.g. a plastic bottle
- disposable nappies and sanitary pads
- normal and mineral cat litter
- pet droppings
No
- hazardous waste
- electrical appliances
- materials that can be sorted for recycling
Remember
Note! Disposing waste by burning at home is prohibited. Domestic fireplaces and ovens do not generate enough heat. The combustion is incomplete which causes harmful emissions. Rapidly combusting plastic can also damage the flue or get stuck on the grate and block the flue.
Collecting and transportation
Mixed waste is collected on-site at the households. In more remote areas the collection of mixed waste may be organize by area collection points.
Mixed waste is transported from the collection points to waste incinerators for energy recovery.
Handling
Mixed waste in incinerated in temperatures around 1 000 degrees. The steam is used to run generators. The products of an incinerator are electricity and district heat or steam for industry. The remaining gases are cleaned with modern cleaning technologies. Metal are separated from the ashes. Ashes are partly recovered in earth construction.
Recycling and recovery
Waste incinerator converts the mixed waste into energy and residues. The energy is converted into electricity and district heat or steam for industry. Energy recovery replaces the use of fossil fuels and mitigates climate change.
Recycling of mixed waste is at the moment technically, economically and ecologically impractical. Municipal waste management in Finland is based on the source separation. Recyclable waste fractions are created by source separation and separate collection.
Efficient source separation and separate collection ensures that only little recyclable materials and hazardous waste are left in the mixed waste. This also ensures that the energy recovery of mixed waste is efficient.
The energy content of the mixed waste is classified mainly as renewable. Energy recovery thus reduces the amounts of climate change gas emissions by replacing non- renewable energy production (usually coal plants).
Responsible organizers
Municipal waste management companies