2023.03.22
How Applia will get more people to recycle more
We see an increased interest in recycling, but what can actually be defined as recycling? Second-hand sales, review of broken/end-of-life products that are repaired, or sorting out components in end-of-life products that can be reused?
Yes, all measures can probably be seen as part of recycling. Should we then recycle all products that are possible to recycle? Well, there are products that are questionable whether they should be recycled from a sustainability point of view, as it can instead be counterproductive. For example, recycling products that do not have a good energy label can be such an example. A significant part of refrigerators and freezers that are over 30 years old and are recycled today also contain freon, which means that they were sold before the ban that came in the early 90s. This type of product should of course not be recycled.
But what can be reused should be reused. That is why Applia, together with El-Kretsen, is intensifying the work to ensure that more products can be reused. We are also looking at our neighbors in Norway, where in recent years there has been a large reuse of white goods within their "Ombrukt" (Recycled) system. Read more here.
In Sweden, however, the majority of recycling takes place primarily in IT and telephony, unfortunately the possibility of recycling is severely limited by the electronics tax, which currently means that a product that is to be recycled must be taxed once more with electronics tax. For a normal white good, this means that a recycled product is charged with another cost of just over 500 SEK. So far, this has made it basically impossible to handle these products commercially. The vast majority of functioning products that are nevertheless replaced for some reason and could be recycled are therefore recycled today, sold as second-hand or exported for sale there.
Applia and El-Kretsen work together to ensure that all collected products that can be recycled are given the opportunity to do so. It is important that all parties that contribute to any part of the recycling also report this to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency to ensure correct information about recycling and reuse, regardless of where they work on the issue. During the year, El-Kretsen has an open reporting module for all commercial actors working with recycling where they can submit information on the number of recycled products.
El-Kretsen also has a developed CO2 calculator where all affiliated companies can obtain their reduced climate footprint based on recycling and reuse of those that have been taken care of within producer responsibility. In other words, we continue our work for a more circular and sustainable society with even more force than before.
/Matts Spångberg, CEO Applia Sweden
