This year each resident of the Helsinki region will have produced an average 170 kilos of mixed household waste. In spite of improved opportunities for sorting and recycling, the amount of mixed waste this year is about 20 kilos more per capita than in 1985.
A study by the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (YTV) analysed 180,000 kilos of trash thrown away by households. The experts studied both the amount and composition of the garbage.
Many apartment buildings have separate bins for biological waste that is collected for use as compost. However, the average household in the Helsinki area throws out 65 kilos of biological waste in its mixed waste, comprising about 38% of the content of the trash bin.
The average annual personal mixed waste output also includes 34 kilos of cardboard and paperboard - about 20% of the total.
With the present collection network it would be possible to reduce the amount of mixed waste to as little as 70 kilos.
The greatest amount of mixed waste per capita is produced by semi-detached houses - 230 kilos a year. The least amount, 114 kilos per person per year, is put out in apartment buildings where the apartments are owned by the residents.
Larger residential buildings are legally obliged to allow for the sorting of household waste, which reduces the amount of mixed waste.
Detached houses had the least amount of paper and paperboard in their trash. One of the people involved in the study noted that interest in sorting and recycling are sure to increase when it has a direct impact on the rubbish collection bill.
YTV project chief Riitta-Liisa Hahtala sees information as the key to increase willingness to sort and recycle household waste.
However, Hahtala notes that even a 100% recycling rate is not perfect.
"The environment benefits when no new waste is produced", she says.
