Green Bin for Plastic

Only clean plastic goes into the green bin, both soft and hard plastics. Soft plastics include plastic bags, film, and bubble wrap. Hard plastics include plastic trays and other plastic containers of various kinds for cleaning products and food products, as well as foam plastic and smaller parts made of plastic.

All food and chemical residue must be cleaned from the plastics and the volume must be reduced before it goes in the bin. Metals, electrical appliances, batteries, hazardous waste, paper materials, and other waste materials should not go into the green bin. This lowers the recycling value of the plastic significantly.

Good sorting is a prerequisite for recycling.

Residents who choose to have recyclable plastics collected must order a green bin.

In Reykjavík, residents choose the most appropriate way to get rid of sorted recyclables. Some Reykjavík residents prefer to return sorted recyclables to drop-off centers or recycling centers that are close by or along their way, rather than having an additional bin at their home.

For information on the price of a green bin, please refer to the Waste Collection Fees.

These fees are included with property taxes, and in Reykjavík they vary based on the number of bins, container size, collection rate, distance to unload the container, and the type of waste. The fees will be updated the same week a request to change the bins is made.

Green bins are usually emptied every 21 days.

You can check the waste collection calendarto find out when your waste will be collected. This calendar is organized by City district.

Residents must request a green bin for plastic at their home. The green bin is delivered free of charge.

The green bin is usually emptied every three weeks or 21 days. Note that the collection is usually done with split vehicles so that two types of waste are collected at once.

Plastics account for about 20% of mixed waste that goes in the gray bins and thrifty bins, and half the volume, so it is foreseeable that the volume would be lower in the gray bin. In households where there is little mixed waste, for instance due to sorting, residents of a single family home can request a thrifty bin that is cheaper and half the size of the gray bin. Residents of multi-family dwellings can reconsider the number of gray bins and have fewer bins if warranted, thus paying lower fees.

The City of Reykjavík allows residents to choose the level of service that is right for them and to pay for the service accordingly. Residents can therefore choose whether to use the services of a drop-off center or recycling center, or whether they prefer recyclable waste to be collected at their homes.

At the top of the page you can find a calendar for waste collection at homes in Reykjavík.

If incorrectly sorted waste ends up in the green bin, it cannot be emptied as foreign substances can destroy the recyclables already in the waste collection vehicle. The incorrectly sorted material must be removed from the bin before it can be emptied. If you need it to be emptied before then, you must do one of the following:

1. Contact the City of Reykjavík and request an additional waste-collection pick-up according to the fee schedule
2. Take the plastic from the bin to the nearest drop-off center or recycling center. View the map of collection points in the waste collection calendar.

Sorting and returning plastics for recycling increases recycling of plastics and reduces the amount of waste in landfills. It is important to prevent plastic waste from ending in landfills from an environmental point of view, as that means we are wasting resources that would otherwise have been used. It also costs more to treat unsorted mixed waste than sorted plastic materials, so the green bin is cheaper than the gray bin.

SORPA bs. bags plastics that are returned for recycling in their collection and sorting center in Gufunes. The plastic materials are sent to Sweden, where the material is either recycled or incinerated for energy production. A large proportion of plastics can be recycled and incineration for energy production is a more optimal alternative to landfills in cases where recycling is not feasible for some reason. Sorting and return for recycling is the basis for this to be possible.

Plastics are one of the most common materials in our environment and their use is constantly increasing. Its share was 20% in mixed waste according to an analysis done by SORPA bs. in 2014, amounting to the second largest category after organic waste. A total of 18,085 tonnes of mixed household waste was generated in 2014, so an estimated 3,617 tonnes of plastic is expected to have gone to landfill in Álfsnes that year. Some 1,700 tonnes or more of plastic can be expected to be returned for recycling in Reykjavík, if comparable results are achieved as with the sorting of paper materials.

Clean recyclable plastics can be disposed of as follows:

1. Municipal green bins
   It must be ordered, and residents can usually start sorting for it as soon as it has been delivered.
2. Recycling center
   There are six such stations in the capital area and they also accept many other types of recyclables.
   View maps and information on recycling centers
3. Drop-off center
   There are 57 such stations within Reykjavík where, in addition to paper and cardboard, you can return plastic and, in some cases, returnable packaging and clothes.
   View map of drop-off centers