Travel and recycle in Scandinavia

With cheap ferry fares and spectacular scenery, Scandinavia is becoming an increasingly popular holiday destination for summer travelers from the UK. The government recently launched a campaign to help get tourists recycling even while on vacation.

Most bottles and cans in Scandinavia have a recycling symbol on the container which indicates that the container can be recycled. Not only does the symbol indicate that you shouldn’t put it in the trash, but it also indicates that a refund is available upon recycling.

In Denmark, these marked bottles and cans are worth DKK3.00 each (£0.32) and in Sweden, each bottle or can recycled pays out SEK 4.00 (£0.34). Norway also participates in a similar recycling scheme, paying out NOK 2.50 (£0.25) for every large bottle or can recycled.

Recycling in Scandinavia is easy. Large recycling machines are located at most gas stations and shops. Travelers have only to put the bottle or can into the machine and collect the print out. Cashiers in the shop will pay you from the cash register the amount on the slip, even if you are not a customer.

Perhaps because of the ease of recycling, it is very popular throughout Scandinavia, where recycling rates are impressively high. In Norway, an estimated 92 per cent of all cans and 82 per cent of plastic bottles are recycled.