Waste and recycling
Kópavogur municipality is responsible for collecting household waste from private properties, i.e. general household waste, paper and plastic.There are neighbourhood containers at twelve locations in the town as well as Sorpa’s recycling station at Dalvegur.
The town’s policy is to ensure that the quality of waste collection from residents is of a level considered best in the Greater Reykjavik area. All homes in Kópavogur should have two bins; a blue bin for plastics and paper, and a grey bin (energy bin) for general household waste.
Neighbourhood containers in Kópavogur can be seen on Kópavogur‘s webmap or on the website Sorpa.
Blue bin
Items that may be put in the blue bin: cardboard, e.g. packaging from fast food and biscuits, corrugated cardboard, e.g. packing boxes, newspapers, milk cartons, egg trays, office paper, soft plastic such as plastic film and hard plastics, such as cleaning material bottles and skyr tubs.
All of the above can be put directly into the bin. The material will subsequently be sorted once it arrives at a sorting station.
Recycling
Plastics: Plastic containers are baled and sent by container to Swerec in Sweden, one of the largest and most advanced plastic recycling companies in Europe. The plastic is sorted, washed and ground and then sold to plastics companies that manufacture new goods from the plastic. The plastics that cannot be recycled for some reason is sent for energy production where the energy from the plastic is used for heating or electricity production. This ensures that all the plastic containers that we put in the bin is used in one way or another for recycling and does not end up in a landfill where it can lie for hundreds of years without biodegrading.
Paper: Paper is exported for recycling. There it is sorted, recycled as far as possible and the rest used for heating or electricity production.
Grey bin (energy bin)
The energy bin is the old grey bin. All household waste may be put in this bin, as well as loose metals.
No batteries, hazardous waste or electrical appliances may be put in the bins. These shall be brought to the nearest recycling station.
