Ljungby

Ljungby Municipality is located in Småland, Kronoberg County, and has approximately 28,000 inhabitants. The municipality is characterised by its many lakes, a diverse business sector, and a vibrant cultural and community life.

Alvesta Municipality, with just over 20,000 inhabitants, is known for its beautiful natural surroundings, strong entrepreneurial spirit, and its role as a railway hub with excellent transport links in southern Småland.

Together, the municipalities have taken a significant step towards a more sustainable future by introducing optical sorting of household waste.

The aim is to increase recycling and make it easy for residents to sort correctly at source.

The system is based on households placing their waste in colour-coded bags for different fractions, which enables efficient and environmentally friendly management. Some of the reasons for choosing this method are:

• It is easier for residents: sorting is done directly at home, so there is no need to transport waste to recycling stations, resulting in fewer car journeys and lower emissions.
• Experience shows that when sorting is easy, more is recycled.
• The same refuse lorries and bins as before are used, which is cost-effective.
• It is a flexible system that can be expanded to include the sorting of additional types of waste in the future.

At the Bredemad Recycling Centre in Ljungby, there is a state-of-the-art sorting facility that was commissioned in 2019 (following test runs in late autumn 2018).

The facility is designed to handle 10,000 tonnes of waste per year, which corresponds to up to 42 tonnes per day.

A total of eight different fractions are managed: paper packaging, plastic, newspapers, metal, glass (coloured and clear), food waste, and residual waste.

The waste is collected in colour-coded bags: red for residual waste, green for food waste, blue for newspapers, light turquoise for clear glass, turquoise for coloured glass, grey for metal packaging, purple for plastic packaging, and beige for paper packaging.

With the help of advanced camera technology, the colours of the bags are automatically identified and sorted into the correct stream. The automation means that only one operator is needed to monitor the operation.

The green bags for food waste are made of biodegradable and compostable polyester, vegetable oils, and starch. The food waste is sent to a biogas plant where it is converted into valuable resources in the form of biogas and biofertiliser.

The other bags are made from recycled plastic that has already had many previous lives as various products. This means that no new plastic is added. Work is ongoing to develop alternative materials. As soon as bags that meet the required quality are available, the facility is ready to switch from plastic.