On-site collection
Recycling will be become easier as on-site collection is implemented for all residents in Skellefteå, starting in 2025. It means that in addition to food and residual waste, we will collect your packaging waste.
Different systems will apply, depending on what your housing situation is.
If you live in a single-family home
If you live in a single-family home you use the green container for residual waste and the brown container for food waste. In the new system, you will get two larger containers with several compartments. In addition to food and residual waste, you will sort out:
- Paper packaging
- Colored glas
- Clear glas
- Metal packaging
- Plastic packaging
- Newspapers and paper
Each container has a capacity of 370 liters, and is 110 centimeters high, 77 centimeters wide and 82 centimeters deep. The different compartments have different sizes. Below there is an image of the two containers. They are currently on display at Skellefteå municipality's town hall "Stadshuset", Trädgårdsgatan 6, Skellefteå.
If you live in a multi-family home
If you live in a multi-family home, such as an apartment building, or a townhouse, you will likely not get the new containers. If you already have a space where food and residual waste as well as all types of packaging is sorted and collected, you don't need to do anything.
If you don't sort packaging today, It's the property owner's responsibility (or if you live in a townhouse, there can be a local board that makes decisions) to arrange a space where you can do so, for example garbage rooms, underground containers or a specific location for outdoor containers. So if you're wondering what it will look like in your area, contact your property owner.
In addition to food and residual waste, you will sort out:
- Paper packaging
- Colored glas
- Clear glas
- Metal packaging
- Plastic packaging
- Newspapers and paper
It's also the property owner's responsibility to contact one of the approved contractors; Ragn-Sells, Stena Recycling or Allmiljö, to collect the packaging. We will compensate you for the collection cost.
Contact us if you have questions
If you have questions about what this means for you, read our Q&A below or contact Skellefteå municipality's customer service at 0910-73 50 00 (press 3) or kundtjanst@skelleftea.se.
Bakground
Since 1995, Sweden has had a producer responsibility for packaging. As a resident you have left your packaging at the producers' recycling stations. In the summer of 2022, the swedish government decided to pass the responsibility on to the municipalities in Sweden. That means we will be in charge to come and pick up your recycling. The producers will compensate the municipalities for this collection and recycle the packaging.
The reasons behind the decision:
- Meeting EU requirements and high targets for material recycling by 2030.
- Making waste management more efficient.
- Making it easier to do the right thing; experience shows that more packaging will be sent to recycling instead of ending up in residual waste.
Q&A about the new bins
Q&A about the new bins
There are two of them, each with a capacity of 370 liters. Each container is 110 cm high, 77 cm wide and 82 cm deep. The different compartments in the container have different sizes.
Container that gets emptied every two weeks: food waste 118 l, paper packaging 177 l, colored glass 30 l, newspapers and paper 45 l.
Container that gets emptied every four weeks: residual waste 140 l, plastic packaging 155 l, uncolored glass 45 l, metal 30 l.
You will be able to sort and dispose of food and residual waste, paper, plastic, glass and metal packaging and recycled paper. If you are unsure of what is what, we recommend that you read more here:
No, as soon as you get the four-bin containers, you will have to use them.
No, the containers come in pairs. You have to have both of them to get full sorting.
No. TMR is a private company that offered this service. If you have used this service, you may now, as before, take your packaging to a recycling station. Take the packaging with you when you go grocery shopping or run other errands. If you live in a one- or two-family house, you will get the four-bin containers.
It is possible to subscribe to extra containers. Since we are financed by fees and not by tax money, we cannot make exceptions or give grants. On the page with fees you will find the costs for extra containers.
No, that is not allowed. The garbage truck cannot empty the containers and must leave them empty. The garbage truck has four compartments for emptying which can't be mixed incorrectly.
One bin will be emptied every two weeks. The other is emptied every four weeks.
In the one that is emptied every two weeks, you will sort out food waste, paper packaging, colored glass and recycled paper (newspapers and paper).
In the container that is emptied every four weeks, you will sort out residual waste, plastic packaging, uncolored glass and metal packaging.
They will arrive in the areas where the municipality's own waste bins are emptied in the first quarter of 2025 at the earliest.
For other areas, we are estimating they will arrive in the late part of 2025. More information about this will come later.
For the four-bin containers in particular, the fee will increase by SEK 45 per year. On the other hand, the waste tariff will be increased if the council decides on what is proposed. Waste subscriptions have not been increased for many years and, like all other industries, costs are increasing for us too. Transportation and treatment costs for food and residual waste have increased significantly. Incineration costs have been rising for a long time and from 2023, waste incineration is also subject to emission rights, which further increases costs. The tax is something that is decided by our politicians in the city council.
Yes, as long as you have applied to the municpality's Environmental Unit and gotten your compost approved. Just leave the compartment for food waste in your container empty.
No, unfortunately it is not adapted to the four-bin container, only for the smaller brown food waste bins.
Yes, four-bin containers are currently used in more than 70 other municipalities, many have had them for serveral years. There is a lot of experience and knowledge to draw from.
Härnösand is the municipaltity farthest to the north that uses the containers.
You should put the containers in the same place as your current containers.
Q&A for multi-family homes
Q&A for multi-family homes
No. The four-compartment containers are not designed for multiple households, which means that apartment buildings need other solutions. For example, garbage rooms, underground containers or a specific location for outdoor containers. It is already the property owner's responsibility to provide space for waste management and this applies to the new system as well. So if you're wondering what it will look like in your area, contact your property owner.
The same requirements that apply to food and residual waste will apply to sorting packing, meaning it will be mandatory.
The property owner decides how the sorting requirement will be implemented - a common space in the property, bins in the yard, environmental house, etc. The municipality cannot make demands on the establishment of space, but on the nature of these spaces if the property owner chooses to establish space.
No, the owner of the building will have to hire one of the contractors that Skellefteå municipality has signed agreements with, Stena Recyling, Ragns-Sells or Allmiljö for the collection of packaging. Contact details will be added here later. The agreement states that the contractor cannot charge more than a maximum amount of SEK 1100 per apartment.
The municipality will continue to collect food and residual waste.
We have information sheets in Swedish and English that can be downloaded for free. We also offer also posters for garbage rooms. You can either print them yourself or contact one of the printing companies in Skellefteå, they all have access to these posters and can print them for a fee.
You can find more information here:
With the introduction of municipal responsibility for the collection of packaging, property owners (including tenant-owner associations) and community associations have to use one of the contractors procured by the municipality. These are Ragn-Sells, Stena Recycling and Allmiljö. The agreement is written so that the maximum fee they may charge is SEK 1100 per apartment.
For food and residual waste, it is still Skellefteå municipality you should contact for subscription and collection.
Property owners (including housing associations) or communities that do not currently collect packaging need to prepare and set aside areas for packaging collection (paper, plastic, metal and glass in two fractions) and preferably also for recycled paper. The areas have to be close to the food and residual waste containers. This has to be implemented by January 1, 2027.
No, you have take your packaging to a recycling station if there is no facility in the house where you live. The requirement to separate packaging waste has applied since 1995.
No, the collection needs to be handled by either the municipality or contractors approved by the municipality. If you own apartment buildings, you should contact one of these procured contractors: Stena Recycling, Ragn-Sells or Allmiljö.
You need to send a document to avfall@skelleftea.se where you specify:
- Which types of materials you have separated (e.g. plastic, paper packaging, etc.).
- How often you empty the containers (emptying interval).
- Size of the containers.
- Preferably also which contractor handles the collection of the packaging.
We will pay the compensation when we have received the go-ahead from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.