Every year, millions of tons of urban waste from countries like Norway, the United Kingdom, and Italy are transformed into electricity and heat within Swedish homes. This is not a green slogan but a consolidated infrastructure: Sweden has been building a model for decades where waste is not buried underground but converted into energy.
In 2024, the country received 3,860,000 tons of imported waste, a figure that has been growing since 2010 in parallel with the closure of landfills in Europe and the increase in incineration with energy recovery.
Does Sweden need to import waste?
The claim circulating on social media—that Sweden imports waste because it doesn’t have enough of its own—is partially true. The country does import waste and uses it as fuel, but it does not depend on it to survive energetically.
In 2022, 20.2 million tons of domestic waste were processed, of which 6.68 million (33%) were used as fuel in cogeneration plants. According to the national association Avfall Sverige, if the flow of imported waste were reduced, the plants could operate with biomass or other fuels.
The key is economic and logistical: Sweden does not buy waste because it needs it, but because other countries pay to dispose of it, and the country has a very efficient network of plants to process it.
Kraftvärmeverk: cogeneration plants
The facilities where waste is burned are called kraftvärmeverk, cogeneration plants that produce electricity and capture residual heat to feed urban heating networks.
- More than half of Swedish households receive heating through this system.
- In 2024, around 10% of the country’s electricity came from these plants.
- In winter, when thermal demand spikes, their role is even more critical.
A billion-dollar business
Besides the energy value, there is the economic benefit. In 2013, Swedish companies earned about 798 million Swedish kronor for incinerating foreign waste. With similar import figures, today that amounts to more than 1 billion kronor a year.
Sweden also exports waste such as complex plastics and electronics to countries better equipped to recycle them. What is burned is mainly what no longer has a recyclable outlet.
Environmental benefits
The Swedish model reduces landfill use to almost zero, avoiding:
- Methane emissions.
- Toxic leaks.
- Land occupation for decades.
At the same time, it replaces part of the use of fossil fuels in urban heating, especially in cities where millions depend on centralized hot water.
Limitations and indirect effects
It is not a perfect system: incineration emits CO₂ and pollutants, although with strict filtering. The difference is that these are controlled emissions compared to the chemical chaos of open landfills.
Moreover, the model generates an indirect effect: it forces exporting countries to pay for their waste, creating economic pressure to reduce and recycle it better. When disposal costs money, prevention starts to make sense.
Sweden demonstrates that waste can be turned into energy and an economic resource, integrating into a system that combines efficiency, landfill reduction, and urban heating for millions of people. Although not free from emissions, the Swedish model marks a pragmatic path towards sustainable waste management and energy transition.
