Bag Crisis: Impacts & Consequences

Feilsortering:

Thin plastic bags that tear, and frying pans and cans in the food waste. More expensive shopping bags have had consequences for more than the wallet.

– It is still a challenge. Every day there are garbage bags that burst or have burst when they arrive at the facility.

This is what press contact Jørgen Bakke Fredriksen at the Renovation and Recycling Agency in Oslo Municipality tells Dagbladet.

As Dagbladet mentioned earlier in January, shopping bags costing almost seven kroner have caused people to use other alternatives when the goods are going home.

The largest grocery chains report a marked decline in sales.

This has led to other alternatives being used for residual waste. In line with increased bag prices in the shops, sales of plastic bags on rolls have increased.

The thinner the bags, the cheaper, and the greater the chance that the bag with your residual waste will tear and cause problems at the waste facilities, says Fredriksen.

– Which bags should people choose, then?

– Think about the thickness, he replies.

– It doesn’t have to look like a bag from Meny, but don’t choose the thinnest and cheapest ones. We ask that people spend five to ten kroner extra on a better roll. A roll at seven kroner for 20 bags is often not good enough.

– Destroys the machinery

He also has another clear appeal to people in Oslo:

– Don’t use the purple or green bags either.

In Oslo, purple bags are used to sort plastic, while food waste goes in the green bags. The use of these for residual waste and other purposes has also increased in line with more expensive shopping bags.

– It is to the greatest extent the green food waste bags that are used. The purple ones have some small holes for ventilation, so that’s probably why the green one is used the most, when people first try to use the wrong bag.

– It has major consequences for us, he adds.

Look for this

The green bags are separated from other rubbish and sent to the biogas plant at Romerike. The food waste is sorted in grinders, sieves and sieves, explains Fredriksen.

However, it is not only food that appears.

– We see textiles, frying pans, canned goods – everything can end up in those bags. It destroys the machinery, and takes time and money, he says.

Things can also get stuck – especially textiles.

– There has been a lot of textiles in recent years. It can take an hour to loosen a sheet, he says.

Fredriksen has a clear message for people who are sloppy with sorting and use the wrong bags or rubbish bags that are too thin:

– Before, you spent a few kroner on the shopping bag at the store. The difference now is that the money must be spent on a roll of bags instead. It is a small expense, he says.

Evaluates the scheme

In Oslo, residents can pick up rolls of purple and green bags for sorting plastic and food waste respectively at the store, completely free of charge.

This has been the case since source sorting was introduced in Oslo 15 years ago.

– Then the idea was probably that the system of free bags should stimulate waste sorting. We have received a lot of questions about whether we should now introduce another bag for residual waste, but there is currently nothing to indicate that we will do so.

– Could have gone much worse

Fredriksen elaborates that a scheme with free residual waste bags for Oslo people is estimated to cost 50 million a year. This would result in an approximately four percent increase in the waste disposal fee.

– And then we have taken into account that that bag had probably been used for many other things, and it is estimated that there would be 90 – 100 million bags a year.

The Swedish Waste Management Agency is also concerned that the free bags could lead to more bag use.

– Increasing the price of shopping bags is a measure to reduce the use of plastic bags. Then it is a bit difficult for us to initiate a measure that could lead to an increase in plastic bags. Therefore, we have chosen not to do so, and rather encourage people to follow the recommendations we have.

– More widespread than expected

Today’s free scheme for food and plastic waste bags is also up for discussion, says Fredriksen.

– We are looking at whether the number of rolls you can take with you should be limited in some way, and then the question of whether the rolls should cost a few kroner is up for discussion.

– Aren’t you afraid that it could lead to more missorting?

– Yes, exactly. There are advantages and disadvantages to all alternatives, so we have to find that out, says Fredriksen.