In Assens Municipality, Mayor Søren Steen Andersen, from the Venstre party, has a vision of revolutionizing waste sorting by eliminating the need for citizens to sort plastic waste. The mayor’s proposal is to collect all waste in one container and then let advanced sorting robots handle the separation. This idea arose after the mayor’s own challenges of dealing with several different trash cans at home. “It’s not the right solution,” he says about the current practice, where citizens have to separate plastic and milk cartons from other waste. According to research from the University of Southern Denmark, presented by Professor Henrik Wenzel, robots are able to sort plastic much more efficiently than humans. While humans can only correctly sort around 40% of plastic waste, robots can handle 80-85%. This not only improves the recycling rate, but is also more cost-effective and better for the environment. Previously, a majority in the Danish Parliament (Christiansborg) rejected the mayor’s proposal, primarily due to EU rules that require plastic for food packaging not to have been mixed with other waste. The Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Miljøstyrelsen) also supports this view, as they believe it will hinder the possibility of reusing plastic in food packaging.
Despite the resistance, Mayor Andersen is not ready to give up on his vision. “In my head, the idea is not dead,” he says, adding that he has support from his colleagues in other municipalities on the island of Funen. He hopes that the need for better sorting technologies will become more apparent when the focus shifts to how little plastic is actually correctly sorted by citizens. Environment spokesperson for Venstre, Erling Bonnesen, is skeptical, however, and points out that although the technology is promising, it is not yet reliable enough for national implementation. “The systems are not ready for it yet,” he says, but acknowledges that progress is being made in other countries such as Holland and Norway, where similar systems are already in use.
Mayor Andersen continues to push for his cause, hoping that technological advancements and political will eventually make it possible to implement his vision of more efficient and environmentally friendly waste sorting in Denmark.