Denmark is the Garbage Champion

According to the Danish newspaper, Kristeligt Dagblad, Denmark has been placed in the top of the list when it comes to the amount of trash being discarded. No other European country processes as much garbage as the Danes; however, Denmark is behind when it comes to recycling waste.

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Photo: Francis Dean

Danes made a European record in dumping household trash. While the European average was 503 kg, the average Dane discarded 718 kilograms of trash in 2011. This makes Denmark the leading country of waste dumping.

Nevertheless, the figures do not necessarily indicate that Danes contaminate more, but rather that waste is being collected more regularly. Denmark also stands out in terms of how the waste is processed. In fact 54 percent of Danish trash is being incinerated, which accounts for more than half of the EU average.

Despite Denmark’s overall green image, we still do not recycle our waste to as high a degree as compared to other European nations. Germany takes the lead here with 45 percent compared to 31 percent in Denmark. In Europe, however, the amount of recycled waste has increased from 27 to 40 percent from 2001 to now, which is a major step in the right direction of green efforts.

Source: The Embassy of Denmark in Malaysia

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