Trash and recycling in Finland

Something really exciting that happened recently is that our neighborhood got curbside plastic recycling! You could always take it yourself to a depot, but curbside is obviously much nicer. If I understood the Finnish in the letter we received about recycling, it is now law for plastic recycling to be available curbside in Finland (also if I understood correctly, bio waste has to be offered as of a year or so ago). So here's what trash/recycling looks like in Finland. From left: trash, trash, plastics, metal, glass, biowaste, paper, and cardboard.

My favorite is bio waste. Most Finnish under-the-sink cupboards have sliding racks or drawers for recycling bins. We put our bio waste in a special compostable bag in one of those bins and then tie it up and take it out when needed. It keeps the trash free of stinky food scraps so you don't have to take it out as often.

Plastics help with that, too! Right now we have the plastic recycling in our house in a medium-sized bin, but we might end up switching it with the trash bin if it fills up faster on a regular basis.

Finland is not quite as neurotic about trash as Germany was, but I do like having all these options since I take great satisfaction from recycling (growing up in Oregon will do that to you)!