Frequently asked questions

Yes. Our assignment includes cleaning the bins and the surrounding area if the litter is associated with the recycling station. If material or incorrect waste has been dumped outside the bins, normal cleaning is not enough and the cleaners might not be able to remove it. Then we have to order an extra operation from a contractor who will come and remove it. Would you like to know when we clean or empty a recycling station? Search for the station, and you will find information about when it was last cleaned and emptied, as well as the next date for cleaning and emptying. Find a recycling station Is there litter at a recycling station? Report it here

FTI is owned by four materials companies: Svensk Plaståtervinning, Returkartong, Metallkretsen and Svensk GlasÅtervinning.

The collection scheme is mainly financed by the packaging fees paid by our affiliated producers. We are a non-profit operation. We do not generate a profit from our activities or distribute profits to our owners. The idea is that the collection scheme finances itself. It should not burden the price of the goods any more than is necessary for the collection scheme to work.

The collection scheme is mainly financed by the packaging fees paid by our affiliated producers. We are a non-profit operation and do not distribute any profits to our owners. The cost of collection and recycling should have the least effect possible on the price of the goods.

No. The recycling stations do not have enough capacity for companies. Only households are permitted to drop off their packaging at recycling stations. If you manage an organization or a company, contact a contractor for assistance with the collection of your recyclables. It is also possible to leave your company's used paper, plastic and metal packaging at FTI's so-called drop-off points. You may leave a maximum of one cubic meter per type of material and occasion. The drop off-points only accept packaging waste. Drop-off points

Producer responsibility is a statutory obligation. Producer responsibility is based on the Polluter Pays Principle (PPP). The Swedish packaging collection and recycling scheme is based on producer responsibility. The basic idea behind producer responsibility is to reduce the amount of waste, but also to ensure that any waste that is generated is recycled and used to make new products.

Yes. You are an obligated packaging producer regardless of whether the product or packaging is from an EU or non-EU country.

Your company has producer responsibility if you:

• Fill or otherwise use a package (to protect, present or facilitate the handling and transport of an item)
• Bring a packaged item to Sweden
• Manufacture a package in Sweden (service packaging)
• Bring a package to Sweden (service packaging)
• From a country other than Sweden, sell a packaged product or a package to an end user in Sweden (this definition takes effect from 1 January 2023)

The fees are calculated using assumed packaging volumes in the Swedish market in FTI’s collection scheme, collection costs based on forecast collection volumes, recycling costs and revenues based on forecast collection volumes and estimated prices for recycled material. The principle is that every type of material should bear its own costs, with no cross-subsidization between the categories. Every type of material is handled competitively neutral.

If you manufacture or import packaging that is not service packaging, these must be reported by the filler (your customers). You only report the packaging you fill yourself and the packaging in which your imported goods are shipped.

Clear labels on packaging make it easier for consumers sort packaging for recycling. Our labeling system makes it easy because the same symbols are used at recycling stations, recycling centers and in recycling rooms. Incorrectly sorted waste compromises the quality of the material, which could mean that the facility won’t accept it and it will have to be incinerated instead of recycled.

No. In order to avoid that all stores, catering services, restaurants, pizzerias, hot dog stands, pastry shops, laundries, offices, growers, berry pickers, egg producers and more should become affiliated with us because they provide a point-of-sale packaging, special conditions are applied, in accordance with current legislation. These packages are filled at the time of sale and are called service packages. Common for them is that they are reported by the packaging manufacturer or importer. For other packaging, it is always the filler that has the producer responsibility and must report the packaging. Service packaging

FTI is owned by four materials companies: Svensk Plaståtervinning, Returkartong, Metallkretsen and Svensk GlasÅtervinning.

No, municipalities are responsible for collecting municipal waste. The producers that place packaging on the market are responsible for ensuring that their packaging is collected and recycled. Packaging is not classified as municipal waste. Soon, however, the municipalities' tasks will change. The government has decided that the municipalities will take over the collection responsibility for household packaging from 1 January 2024. You can read more about the change here.

The collection scheme is mainly financed by the packaging fees paid by our affiliated producers. We are a non-profit operation. We do not generate a profit from our activities or distribute profits to our owners. The idea is that the collection scheme finances itself. It should not burden the price of the goods any more than is necessary for the collection scheme to work.

The collection scheme is mainly financed by the packaging fees paid by our affiliated producers. We are a non-profit operation and do not distribute any profits to our owners. The cost of collection and recycling should have the least effect possible on the price of the goods.

All packaging that FTI collects is transported to recycling facilities that recycle as much of the collected material as possible. The material that can’t be recycled is sent for energy recovery and used as a substitute for fossil raw materials in industry.

There are several reasons for this. To begin with, it is a big problem that more than half of the plastic packaging is disposed of as household waste. It never gets the chance to be recycled. Therefore, it is important that households sort their plastic packaging to a greater extent than today. It is still not possible to recycle all the different types of plastic packaging, which is partly due to the fact that many have a complex composition, often with several different materials to protect, for example, food. But the development is fast and soon Svensk Plaståtervinning will be able to sort and recycle almost all types of plastic on the Swedish market. So sort all your plastic packaging - one day everything can be recycled. Svensk Plaståtervinning and the industry have set the sub-goal of recycling 55 percent of all plastic packaging that enters their systems by 2025. It's called Plastsprånget. In 2020, the figure was 15.4 percent. A lot will happen in the next few years!

Yes, it is a myth that sorting does not matter. All packaging that enters the recycling system is helping to develop recycling schemes, so that even more packaging can become new material in the future. Packaging that is not sent for recycling is incinerated. By sorting your packaging, you are helping to conserve natural resources and contributing to a circular economy. For example, CO₂ emissions are halved when you sort your plastic packaging instead of throwing it in the bin.

Many fresh food packages are made from cardboard with a plastic membrane on the inside and sometimes a plastic screw cap on the top. The plastic membrane is separated from the cardboard in the recycling process. The packaging should therefore be sorted as paper packaging, while the removable plastic screw cap belongs with other plastic packaging. The same thing generally applies for all mixed-material packaging. They should be sorted according to the material that weighs the most.

As a consumer, you don’t need to keep track of that. The plastics recycling process is constantly under development. The only thing you need to do is to send all of your plastic packaging for recycling. Our owner, Svensk Plaståtervinning, is working actively to ensure that more packaging can be recycled and is currently expanding its facility in Motala in order to recycle more types of plastic packaging.

No, that is a myth. All of the glass that is sorted at recycling stations or in recycling rooms is kept separate. It might look like the glass is being mixed when the bins are collected, but the trucks have two separate compartments on their platform. Colored and clear glass are kept separate throughout the entire process.

It's transported to a paper mill for recycling. Paper can be recycled up to seven times before the fibers become too short. Then the paper waste is incinerated to generate energy. Information about the recycling process

Producer responsibility for waste paper (newspapers, catalogs, flyers and so forth) ended on January 1, 2022 when municipalities became responsible for collecting newspapers. This means that producers are no longer responsible for collecting and recycling the newspapers that are placed on the market. This responsibility has now been handed over to municipalities.

No, that is a myth. All you need to do is make sure the packaging is empty. The reason why you should empty the packaging is partly for the sake of hygiene, but also because the automated sorting process for some types of material sorts packaging according to weight.

How the packaging should be sorted is usually set out on the packaging. Look for a symbol or written sorting instructions. Otherwise you can try the following test: Crumple the packaging. If it stays crumpled, sort it as metal packaging; if it unfolds, sort it as plastic packaging.

No, open the plastic bag and tip the contents into the bin. That makes sorting easier at a later stage of the process. Any plastic packaging that is inside a plastic bag cannot be sorted correctly and cannot, therefore, be recycled.

Yes. You don’t have to separate hard and soft plastic packaging, you can leave all plastic packaging in the same bin, since they are handled in the same facility. That reduces freight transport and increases the amount of material that is recycled.

Not all packaging is produced in a way that makes recycling possible. At FTI, we are constantly working to increase the proportion of recyclable packaging together with our affiliated producers. As a consumer, you don't have to think about what can be recycled today, development is moving forward quickly. The only thing you have to do is leave your packaging for recycling.

Non-recyclable material is incinerated and used for energy recovery.

Yes, a used plastic package that is sorted and recycled, reduces the climate impact by half, in comparison to it being thrown in the houdhold waste and incinerated. One kilo of recycled plastic reduces CO₂ emissions by 2 kilos. The plastic in packaging can be recycled over and over again. This means that we both reduce emissions from incineration and reduce the need for fossil raw materials, which are needed in the production of new plastic. If we recycle, new plastic is not needed to the same extent. From a climate point of view, it is important that the recycling is circular, with efficient and high-quality sorting and separation. Then the quality and functions of the material are retained. Svensk Plaståtervinning, which receives FTI's collected packaging, is the only player in Sweden that works with circular recycling with sorting in focus. Read more about the recycling process

All plastic packaging that is collected by FTI is sent to Svensk Plaståtervinning in Motala. It is already the most efficient facility, and Svensk Plaståtervinning is now building Site Zero, which will become the worlds biggest and most efficient facility for circular handling from households. At Svensk Plaståtervinning soft and hard plastic packages are fine-sorted in a high-tech process. Simplified, one can say that the soft plastic packaging is separated from the hard using fans that blows away the light soft plastic. The packaging is then sorted using infrared light, used to identify the different plastic materials. All different sort of plastic are separated from each other, in order to be recycled on its own in the following step. It is necessary in order to keep the quality and functions of the material, and makes it possible to recycle the plastic over and over again. After sorting and separating the differens plastic types are melted to small pellets, that are used to make new plastic products. Svensk Plaståtervinning drives and leads the development within circular plastic recycling.  

Sorting and sending your packaging for recycling is good for the environment and saves both energy and materials. When you sort your packaging, you are giving it a chance to be recycled instead of going directly to incineration. Swedish residents also have a legal obligation to sort waste paper, packaging, electronic waste, batteries and bulky waste and send them for recycling.

Recycling aluminum and steel saves a huge amount of energy compared with producing new raw material. Both aluminum and steel can also be infinitely recycled without any loss of material quality.

The extra transport required to sort and recycle waste is offset by the environmental benefits of recycling. In 2018, the environmental research and consultant Profu studied the climate gains generated by plastics collection and recycling via FTI. The results show that even though the recycled material is transported over long distances, using recycled plastic is still better for the climate than using oil to make new plastic products.

No, that is a persistent myth. The contractors who empty the bins receive compensation for the clean and sorted material they deliver. If they mix all of the materials together, the facility won’t accept them and the contractor will then have to take them to incineration or landfill — which they also have to pay for. Moreover, the packaging must be sent for recycling by law and our activities are continuously inspected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other authorities.

The statistics for material collected in the preceding year are usually presented in March. The recycling rates for collected and recycled material are calculated by the EPA, and then reported to us. This data is not usually available until late spring/early summer each year.

You only drop off packaging at a recycling station. The packaging can be plastic, paper, glass or metal. You can also drop off newspapers there in most municipalities. Recycling stations are for consumers and run by FTI. At staffed municipal recycling centers, you can drop off bulky waste such as green garden waste, household appliances, furniture, electronics and similar.

If the bin has already been emptied, there is not much you can do unfortunately. Call FTI’s Service Center on 08-566 144 00. After office hours, call 0200-88 03 11. You will need to give the station’s ID number and the type of material that was in the bin where you lost your item. That information is needed to connect you with the right collector.

Yes. Our assignment includes cleaning the bins and the surrounding area if the litter is associated with the recycling station. If material or incorrect waste has been dumped outside the bins, normal cleaning is not enough and the cleaners might not be able to remove it. Then we have to order an extra operation from a contractor who will come and remove it. Would you like to know when we clean or empty a recycling station? Search for the station, and you will find information about when it was last cleaned and emptied, as well as the next date for cleaning and emptying. Find a recycling station Is there litter at a recycling station? Report it here

To establish a new recycling station, we have to collaborate with the municipality or landowner. A suitable site has to be identified first. Then we need to obtain permission to set up a station on the site, as well as a building permit. Contact your municipality if you have a request.

Search for your recycling station. There you can find information about the emptying and cleaning schedule. You can also report here that the recycling station needs to be emptied or cleaned. Find a recycling station

This is mainly because the Producer Responsibility Ordinance stipulates that a party that places packaging on the market is also responsible for ensuring that the packaging is collected and recycled. To make this work, politicians have to define what packaging includes, and define who is responsible for organizing and financing the collection. This is known as “producer responsibility” and all types of packaging are subject to producer responsibility requirements. Another reason is that different types of material are used for different types of products, even when the basic material (such as plastic or glass) is the same. If packaging materials are mixed with other products, the quality of the new raw material may be compromised. Glass packaging, for example, must not be mixed with any other type of glass. The type of glass used for window panes and beverage glasses has a different chemical composition from the glass used for glass packaging. If they are mixed, the quality of the new glass will be compromised.

Our aim is that the contractors empty the bins according to the needs of each station. We review the emptying frequency on an ongoing basis in order to prevent littering and overfull bins. We are trying to avoid unnecessary freight transport, and you can help us by flattening and folding your packaging. That frees up more space for packaging in the bins, and the collection trucks won’t need to carry air. See when each type of material is collected from your station here.

Batteries are covered by producer responsibility for electronics, and are handled by El-Kretsen. FTI collaborates with El-Kretsen and offers a battery collection service at most of our recycling stations. For more information about where you can drop off your batteries, visit El-kretsen’s website (www.elkretsen.se). If the battery recycling bin is full or broken, you can report it to FTI’s customer service.

No. The materials dropped off at recycling station are the property of the producers. Taking goods from a recycling bin is technically considered theft.

We plan recycling stations on sites that a municipality has allocated to us and for which they have issued a building permit, and that are easy to access for consumers as well as the contractors who will be emptying and cleaning the stations.

The Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (Boverket) decides on the size of the slot apertures. The design and measurements have been set to stop people from getting into the bins and injuring themselves. How to use the slot apertures when you are dropping off large packaging:

Municipalities are responsible for the recycling centers and their opening hours. For more information about municipal waste management and recycling, visit www.sopor.nu.

Recycling rates increase when recycling is easier for consumers. A survey conducted by SIFO on behalf of FTI shows that 69 percent of residents sort more of one or more types of packaging after curbside collection has been introduced.

If you own, or live in, an apartment building, your collection contractor will pick up all your packaging. If you live in a house, your municipality’s collection contractor will pick up your packaging. Regardless of whether you live in a house or an apartment building, your packaging is transported to a recycling facility that collaborates with FTI.

Multi-family building

FTI pays compensation for the collected material. The more packaging collected, the higher the compensation. The tenant-owner association or property owner pays for the collection point, bins, cleaning, maintenance and information to residents. The agreement with the contractor sets out exactly what is included and the costs.

House or vacation home

You pay for curbside collection via your waste disposal fee. Curbside collection is decided and managed by your municipality. Do you live in a house or vacation home that does not have curbside collection? Then your municipality has not introduced the service yet.

It’s up to your property owner or tenant-owner association to decide whether curbside collection should be introduced in an apartment building. Contact your property owner or tenant-owner association. They can engage a contractor to pick up household packaging. Curbside collection is introduced by entering into an agreement with a waste management contractor. If you fill out the registration of interest form for property owners, one of our contractors will contact you.

Curbside collection (CC) means that you drop off your packaging for recycling close to your home. The packaging is then picked up by a waste management contractor who transports the material onwards for recycling. Curbside collection serves as a complement to recycling stations and makes it easier for you to sort your packaging because it is closer to your home.

If we want to achieve the government’s recycling targets, more households need to sort more of their packaging for recycling. Curbside collection improves accessibility and provides a higher level of service. Quite simply, curbside collection makes it easier to send packaging for recycling. Sampling shows that packaging accounts for some 30% of all household waste.

We’ve gathered our best tips here.

You can find all of our information on the curbside collection page.

That is subject to agreement with the contractor that is engaged.

The municipality will be responsible for collection from and including 2024 and the collection will then be carried out by contractors selected by the municipality. It will be the municipality that receives compensation from the producers according to the ordinance from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. As for how the change affects costs for condominium associations and property owners, this is a question for each municipality to answer.

As of 2024, the municipality will take over collection responsibility, please contact the municipality for more information about collection contractors who have the task from 2024.

You should contact the municipality's waste department to get clearer information about what the ordinance means for you from 2024 onwards.

Producer responsibility for waste paper (newspapers, catalogs, flyers and so forth) ended on January 1, 2022 when municipalities became responsible for collecting newspapers. This means that producers are no longer responsible for collecting and recycling the newspapers that are placed on the market. This responsibility has now been handed over to municipalities.

Recycling rates increase when recycling is easier for consumers. A survey conducted by SIFO on behalf of FTI shows that 69 percent of residents sort more of one or more types of packaging after curbside collection has been introduced.

If you own, or live in, an apartment building, your collection contractor will pick up all your packaging. If you live in a house, your municipality’s collection contractor will pick up your packaging. Regardless of whether you live in a house or an apartment building, your packaging is transported to a recycling facility that collaborates with FTI.

Multi-family building

FTI pays compensation for the collected material. The more packaging collected, the higher the compensation. The tenant-owner association or property owner pays for the collection point, bins, cleaning, maintenance and information to residents. The agreement with the contractor sets out exactly what is included and the costs.

House or vacation home

You pay for curbside collection via your waste disposal fee. Curbside collection is decided and managed by your municipality. Do you live in a house or vacation home that does not have curbside collection? Then your municipality has not introduced the service yet.

It’s up to your property owner or tenant-owner association to decide whether curbside collection should be introduced in an apartment building. Contact your property owner or tenant-owner association. They can engage a contractor to pick up household packaging. Curbside collection is introduced by entering into an agreement with a waste management contractor. If you fill out the registration of interest form for property owners, one of our contractors will contact you.

Curbside collection (CC) means that you drop off your packaging for recycling close to your home. The packaging is then picked up by a waste management contractor who transports the material onwards for recycling. Curbside collection serves as a complement to recycling stations and makes it easier for you to sort your packaging because it is closer to your home.

If we want to achieve the government’s recycling targets, more households need to sort more of their packaging for recycling. Curbside collection improves accessibility and provides a higher level of service. Quite simply, curbside collection makes it easier to send packaging for recycling. Sampling shows that packaging accounts for some 30% of all household waste.

We’ve gathered our best tips here.

You can find all of our information on the curbside collection page.

That is subject to agreement with the contractor that is engaged.

The curbside collection compensation that producers used to pay for collected newspapers was phased out when producer responsibility was introduced. It’s up to municipalities to decide whether or not they pay compensation for newspapers collected via curbside collection.

As of January 2022, municipalities are responsible for collecting and recycling newspapers. Contact your municipality if you have any questions about the curbside collection service for newspapers.

Our aim is that the contractors empty the bins according to the needs of each station. We review the emptying frequency on an ongoing basis in order to prevent littering and overfull bins. We are trying to avoid unnecessary freight transport, and you can help us by flattening and folding your packaging. That frees up more space for packaging in the bins, and the collection trucks won’t need to carry air. See when each type of material is collected from your station here.

Batteries are covered by producer responsibility for electronics, and are handled by El-Kretsen. FTI collaborates with El-Kretsen and offers a battery collection service at most of our recycling stations. For more information about where you can drop off your batteries, visit El-kretsen’s website (www.elkretsen.se). If the battery recycling bin is full or broken, you can report it to FTI’s customer service.

No, that is a myth. All of the glass that is sorted at recycling stations or in recycling rooms is kept separate. It might look like the glass is being mixed when the bins are collected, but the trucks have two separate compartments on their platform. Colored and clear glass are kept separate throughout the entire process.

How the packaging should be sorted is usually set out on the packaging. Look for a symbol or written sorting instructions. Otherwise you can try the following test: Crumple the packaging. If it stays crumpled, sort it as metal packaging; if it unfolds, sort it as plastic packaging.

Recycling aluminum and steel saves a huge amount of energy compared with producing new raw material. Both aluminum and steel can also be infinitely recycled without any loss of material quality.

FTI is owned by four materials companies: Svensk Plaståtervinning, Returkartong, Metallkretsen and Svensk GlasÅtervinning.

No, municipalities are responsible for collecting municipal waste. The producers that place packaging on the market are responsible for ensuring that their packaging is collected and recycled. Packaging is not classified as municipal waste. Soon, however, the municipalities' tasks will change. The government has decided that the municipalities will take over the collection responsibility for household packaging from 1 January 2024. You can read more about the change here.

Producer responsibility for waste paper (newspapers, catalogs, flyers and so forth) ended on January 1, 2022 when municipalities became responsible for collecting newspapers. This means that producers are no longer responsible for collecting and recycling the newspapers that are placed on the market. This responsibility has now been handed over to municipalities.

The statistics for material collected in the preceding year are usually presented in March. The recycling rates for collected and recycled material are calculated by the EPA, and then reported to us. This data is not usually available until late spring/early summer each year.

We plan recycling stations on sites that a municipality has allocated to us and for which they have issued a building permit, and that are easy to access for consumers as well as the contractors who will be emptying and cleaning the stations.

Municipalities are responsible for the recycling centers and their opening hours. For more information about municipal waste management and recycling, visit www.sopor.nu.

Recycling stations are solely intended for household packaging. Schools, preschools and other companies and organizations should contact a contractor for assistance with the collection of their recyclables. Any organizations that want to teach about sorting and recycling – such as preschools, after-school care groups, rehab facilities, Swedish as a foreign language classes, etc – are welcome to visit our recycling stations to sort their packaging in our designated bins.

As of January 2022, municipalities are responsible for collecting and recycling newspapers. Contact your municipality if you have any questions about the curbside collection service for newspapers.

It's transported to a paper mill for recycling. Paper can be recycled up to seven times before the fibers become too short. Then the paper waste is incinerated to generate energy. Information about the recycling process

There are several reasons for this. To begin with, it is a big problem that more than half of the plastic packaging is disposed of as household waste. It never gets the chance to be recycled. Therefore, it is important that households sort their plastic packaging to a greater extent than today. It is still not possible to recycle all the different types of plastic packaging, which is partly due to the fact that many have a complex composition, often with several different materials to protect, for example, food. But the development is fast and soon Svensk Plaståtervinning will be able to sort and recycle almost all types of plastic on the Swedish market. So sort all your plastic packaging - one day everything can be recycled. Svensk Plaståtervinning and the industry have set the sub-goal of recycling 55 percent of all plastic packaging that enters their systems by 2025. It's called Plastsprånget. In 2020, the figure was 15.4 percent. A lot will happen in the next few years!

As a consumer, you don’t need to keep track of that. The plastics recycling process is constantly under development. The only thing you need to do is to send all of your plastic packaging for recycling. Our owner, Svensk Plaståtervinning, is working actively to ensure that more packaging can be recycled and is currently expanding its facility in Motala in order to recycle more types of plastic packaging.

How the packaging should be sorted is usually set out on the packaging. Look for a symbol or written sorting instructions. Otherwise you can try the following test: Crumple the packaging. If it stays crumpled, sort it as metal packaging; if it unfolds, sort it as plastic packaging.

No, open the plastic bag and tip the contents into the bin. That makes sorting easier at a later stage of the process. Any plastic packaging that is inside a plastic bag cannot be sorted correctly and cannot, therefore, be recycled.

Yes. You don’t have to separate hard and soft plastic packaging, you can leave all plastic packaging in the same bin, since they are handled in the same facility. That reduces freight transport and increases the amount of material that is recycled.

Yes, a used plastic package that is sorted and recycled, reduces the climate impact by half, in comparison to it being thrown in the houdhold waste and incinerated. One kilo of recycled plastic reduces CO₂ emissions by 2 kilos. The plastic in packaging can be recycled over and over again. This means that we both reduce emissions from incineration and reduce the need for fossil raw materials, which are needed in the production of new plastic. If we recycle, new plastic is not needed to the same extent. From a climate point of view, it is important that the recycling is circular, with efficient and high-quality sorting and separation. Then the quality and functions of the material are retained. Svensk Plaståtervinning, which receives FTI's collected packaging, is the only player in Sweden that works with circular recycling with sorting in focus. Read more about the recycling process

All plastic packaging that is collected by FTI is sent to Svensk Plaståtervinning in Motala. It is already the most efficient facility, and Svensk Plaståtervinning is now building Site Zero, which will become the worlds biggest and most efficient facility for circular handling from households. At Svensk Plaståtervinning soft and hard plastic packages are fine-sorted in a high-tech process. Simplified, one can say that the soft plastic packaging is separated from the hard using fans that blows away the light soft plastic. The packaging is then sorted using infrared light, used to identify the different plastic materials. All different sort of plastic are separated from each other, in order to be recycled on its own in the following step. It is necessary in order to keep the quality and functions of the material, and makes it possible to recycle the plastic over and over again. After sorting and separating the differens plastic types are melted to small pellets, that are used to make new plastic products. Svensk Plaståtervinning drives and leads the development within circular plastic recycling.  

The extra transport required to sort and recycle waste is offset by the environmental benefits of recycling. In 2018, the environmental research and consultant Profu studied the climate gains generated by plastics collection and recycling via FTI. The results show that even though the recycled material is transported over long distances, using recycled plastic is still better for the climate than using oil to make new plastic products.

FTI is owned by four materials companies: Svensk Plaståtervinning, Returkartong, Metallkretsen and Svensk GlasÅtervinning.

The collection scheme is mainly financed by the packaging fees paid by our affiliated producers. We are a non-profit operation and do not distribute any profits to our owners. The cost of collection and recycling should have the least effect possible on the price of the goods.

The statistics for material collected in the preceding year are usually presented in March. The recycling rates for collected and recycled material are calculated by the EPA, and then reported to us. This data is not usually available until late spring/early summer each year.

The municipality will be responsible for collection from and including 2024 and the collection will then be carried out by contractors selected by the municipality. It will be the municipality that receives compensation from the producers according to the ordinance from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. As for how the change affects costs for condominium associations and property owners, this is a question for each municipality to answer.

As of 2024, the municipality will take over collection responsibility, please contact the municipality for more information about collection contractors who have the task from 2024.

You should contact the municipality's waste department to get clearer information about what the ordinance means for you from 2024 onwards.

Multi-family building

FTI pays compensation for the collected material. The more packaging collected, the higher the compensation. The tenant-owner association or property owner pays for the collection point, bins, cleaning, maintenance and information to residents. The agreement with the contractor sets out exactly what is included and the costs.

House or vacation home

You pay for curbside collection via your waste disposal fee. Curbside collection is decided and managed by your municipality. Do you live in a house or vacation home that does not have curbside collection? Then your municipality has not introduced the service yet.

It’s up to your property owner or tenant-owner association to decide whether curbside collection should be introduced in an apartment building. Contact your property owner or tenant-owner association. They can engage a contractor to pick up household packaging. Curbside collection is introduced by entering into an agreement with a waste management contractor. If you fill out the registration of interest form for property owners, one of our contractors will contact you.

Curbside collection (CC) means that you drop off your packaging for recycling close to your home. The packaging is then picked up by a waste management contractor who transports the material onwards for recycling. Curbside collection serves as a complement to recycling stations and makes it easier for you to sort your packaging because it is closer to your home.

If we want to achieve the government’s recycling targets, more households need to sort more of their packaging for recycling. Curbside collection improves accessibility and provides a higher level of service. Quite simply, curbside collection makes it easier to send packaging for recycling. Sampling shows that packaging accounts for some 30% of all household waste.

We’ve gathered our best tips here.

You can find all of our information on the curbside collection page.

That is subject to agreement with the contractor that is engaged.

The curbside collection compensation that producers used to pay for collected newspapers was phased out when producer responsibility was introduced. It’s up to municipalities to decide whether or not they pay compensation for newspapers collected via curbside collection.

As of January 2022, municipalities are responsible for collecting and recycling newspapers. Contact your municipality if you have any questions about the curbside collection service for newspapers.

All packaging that FTI collects is transported to recycling facilities that recycle as much of the collected material as possible. The material that can’t be recycled is sent for energy recovery and used as a substitute for fossil raw materials in industry.

There are several reasons for this. To begin with, it is a big problem that more than half of the plastic packaging is disposed of as household waste. It never gets the chance to be recycled. Therefore, it is important that households sort their plastic packaging to a greater extent than today. It is still not possible to recycle all the different types of plastic packaging, which is partly due to the fact that many have a complex composition, often with several different materials to protect, for example, food. But the development is fast and soon Svensk Plaståtervinning will be able to sort and recycle almost all types of plastic on the Swedish market. So sort all your plastic packaging - one day everything can be recycled. Svensk Plaståtervinning and the industry have set the sub-goal of recycling 55 percent of all plastic packaging that enters their systems by 2025. It's called Plastsprånget. In 2020, the figure was 15.4 percent. A lot will happen in the next few years!

Yes, it is a myth that sorting does not matter. All packaging that enters the recycling system is helping to develop recycling schemes, so that even more packaging can become new material in the future. Packaging that is not sent for recycling is incinerated. By sorting your packaging, you are helping to conserve natural resources and contributing to a circular economy. For example, CO₂ emissions are halved when you sort your plastic packaging instead of throwing it in the bin.

Many fresh food packages are made from cardboard with a plastic membrane on the inside and sometimes a plastic screw cap on the top. The plastic membrane is separated from the cardboard in the recycling process. The packaging should therefore be sorted as paper packaging, while the removable plastic screw cap belongs with other plastic packaging. The same thing generally applies for all mixed-material packaging. They should be sorted according to the material that weighs the most.

As a consumer, you don’t need to keep track of that. The plastics recycling process is constantly under development. The only thing you need to do is to send all of your plastic packaging for recycling. Our owner, Svensk Plaståtervinning, is working actively to ensure that more packaging can be recycled and is currently expanding its facility in Motala in order to recycle more types of plastic packaging.

No, that is a myth. All of the glass that is sorted at recycling stations or in recycling rooms is kept separate. It might look like the glass is being mixed when the bins are collected, but the trucks have two separate compartments on their platform. Colored and clear glass are kept separate throughout the entire process.

It's transported to a paper mill for recycling. Paper can be recycled up to seven times before the fibers become too short. Then the paper waste is incinerated to generate energy. Information about the recycling process

No, that is a myth. All you need to do is make sure the packaging is empty. The reason why you should empty the packaging is partly for the sake of hygiene, but also because the automated sorting process for some types of material sorts packaging according to weight.

How the packaging should be sorted is usually set out on the packaging. Look for a symbol or written sorting instructions. Otherwise you can try the following test: Crumple the packaging. If it stays crumpled, sort it as metal packaging; if it unfolds, sort it as plastic packaging.

No, open the plastic bag and tip the contents into the bin. That makes sorting easier at a later stage of the process. Any plastic packaging that is inside a plastic bag cannot be sorted correctly and cannot, therefore, be recycled.

Yes. You don’t have to separate hard and soft plastic packaging, you can leave all plastic packaging in the same bin, since they are handled in the same facility. That reduces freight transport and increases the amount of material that is recycled.

Not all packaging is produced in a way that makes recycling possible. At FTI, we are constantly working to increase the proportion of recyclable packaging together with our affiliated producers. As a consumer, you don't have to think about what can be recycled today, development is moving forward quickly. The only thing you have to do is leave your packaging for recycling.

Non-recyclable material is incinerated and used for energy recovery.

Yes, a used plastic package that is sorted and recycled, reduces the climate impact by half, in comparison to it being thrown in the houdhold waste and incinerated. One kilo of recycled plastic reduces CO₂ emissions by 2 kilos. The plastic in packaging can be recycled over and over again. This means that we both reduce emissions from incineration and reduce the need for fossil raw materials, which are needed in the production of new plastic. If we recycle, new plastic is not needed to the same extent. From a climate point of view, it is important that the recycling is circular, with efficient and high-quality sorting and separation. Then the quality and functions of the material are retained. Svensk Plaståtervinning, which receives FTI's collected packaging, is the only player in Sweden that works with circular recycling with sorting in focus. Read more about the recycling process

All plastic packaging that is collected by FTI is sent to Svensk Plaståtervinning in Motala. It is already the most efficient facility, and Svensk Plaståtervinning is now building Site Zero, which will become the worlds biggest and most efficient facility for circular handling from households. At Svensk Plaståtervinning soft and hard plastic packages are fine-sorted in a high-tech process. Simplified, one can say that the soft plastic packaging is separated from the hard using fans that blows away the light soft plastic. The packaging is then sorted using infrared light, used to identify the different plastic materials. All different sort of plastic are separated from each other, in order to be recycled on its own in the following step. It is necessary in order to keep the quality and functions of the material, and makes it possible to recycle the plastic over and over again. After sorting and separating the differens plastic types are melted to small pellets, that are used to make new plastic products. Svensk Plaståtervinning drives and leads the development within circular plastic recycling.  

Sorting and sending your packaging for recycling is good for the environment and saves both energy and materials. When you sort your packaging, you are giving it a chance to be recycled instead of going directly to incineration. Swedish residents also have a legal obligation to sort waste paper, packaging, electronic waste, batteries and bulky waste and send them for recycling.

Recycling aluminum and steel saves a huge amount of energy compared with producing new raw material. Both aluminum and steel can also be infinitely recycled without any loss of material quality.

The extra transport required to sort and recycle waste is offset by the environmental benefits of recycling. In 2018, the environmental research and consultant Profu studied the climate gains generated by plastics collection and recycling via FTI. The results show that even though the recycled material is transported over long distances, using recycled plastic is still better for the climate than using oil to make new plastic products.

No, that is a persistent myth. The contractors who empty the bins receive compensation for the clean and sorted material they deliver. If they mix all of the materials together, the facility won’t accept them and the contractor will then have to take them to incineration or landfill — which they also have to pay for. Moreover, the packaging must be sent for recycling by law and our activities are continuously inspected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other authorities.

You only drop off packaging at a recycling station. The packaging can be plastic, paper, glass or metal. You can also drop off newspapers there in most municipalities. Recycling stations are for consumers and run by FTI. At staffed municipal recycling centers, you can drop off bulky waste such as green garden waste, household appliances, furniture, electronics and similar.

This is mainly because the Producer Responsibility Ordinance stipulates that a party that places packaging on the market is also responsible for ensuring that the packaging is collected and recycled. To make this work, politicians have to define what packaging includes, and define who is responsible for organizing and financing the collection. This is known as “producer responsibility” and all types of packaging are subject to producer responsibility requirements. Another reason is that different types of material are used for different types of products, even when the basic material (such as plastic or glass) is the same. If packaging materials are mixed with other products, the quality of the new raw material may be compromised. Glass packaging, for example, must not be mixed with any other type of glass. The type of glass used for window panes and beverage glasses has a different chemical composition from the glass used for glass packaging. If they are mixed, the quality of the new glass will be compromised.

Recycling rates increase when recycling is easier for consumers. A survey conducted by SIFO on behalf of FTI shows that 69 percent of residents sort more of one or more types of packaging after curbside collection has been introduced.

If you own, or live in, an apartment building, your collection contractor will pick up all your packaging. If you live in a house, your municipality’s collection contractor will pick up your packaging. Regardless of whether you live in a house or an apartment building, your packaging is transported to a recycling facility that collaborates with FTI.

Yes, it is a myth that sorting does not matter. All packaging that enters the recycling system is helping to develop recycling schemes, so that even more packaging can become new material in the future. Packaging that is not sent for recycling is incinerated. By sorting your packaging, you are helping to conserve natural resources and contributing to a circular economy. For example, CO₂ emissions are halved when you sort your plastic packaging instead of throwing it in the bin.

No, that is a myth. All of the glass that is sorted at recycling stations or in recycling rooms is kept separate. It might look like the glass is being mixed when the bins are collected, but the trucks have two separate compartments on their platform. Colored and clear glass are kept separate throughout the entire process.

No, that is a myth. All you need to do is make sure the packaging is empty. The reason why you should empty the packaging is partly for the sake of hygiene, but also because the automated sorting process for some types of material sorts packaging according to weight.

No, that is a persistent myth. The contractors who empty the bins receive compensation for the clean and sorted material they deliver. If they mix all of the materials together, the facility won’t accept them and the contractor will then have to take them to incineration or landfill — which they also have to pay for. Moreover, the packaging must be sent for recycling by law and our activities are continuously inspected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other authorities.

The statistics for material collected in the preceding year are usually presented in March. The recycling rates for collected and recycled material are calculated by the EPA, and then reported to us. This data is not usually available until late spring/early summer each year.

The municipality will be responsible for collection from and including 2024 and the collection will then be carried out by contractors selected by the municipality. It will be the municipality that receives compensation from the producers according to the ordinance from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. As for how the change affects costs for condominium associations and property owners, this is a question for each municipality to answer.

As of 2024, the municipality will take over collection responsibility, please contact the municipality for more information about collection contractors who have the task from 2024.

You should contact the municipality's waste department to get clearer information about what the ordinance means for you from 2024 onwards.