Finns recycled record amount of plastic

In 2020, Finnish households donated 29,000 tonnes of plastic packaging for recycling.This is 40 percent more than a year earlier.

Anja Räisänen from the Jätekukko training center reports that the Finns are really on fire with recycling plastic waste.This is clearly indicated by both fast-filling containers for collecting plastic waste and waste that ends up in mixed waste bins.

– Since it became possible to throw plastic, glass and metal into separate containers, it has become noticeablehow little trash is left when you exclude these three positions.

At the same time, scientists from the University of Eastern Finland say that food particles often remain on food packages, which become a favorable breeding ground for dangerousfor human bacteria.Therefore, they consider it questionable to recycle such waste as raw materials for making new food packaging.

Recycled plastic is not currently used in food packaging

Plastics recycling energy company Fortum considers the scientists’ concerns to be groundless, as recycled plastic is not used to create new food packaging.

“Our food safety legislation prohibits such use,” comments Mikko Koivuniemi from Fortum.

Earlier, Koivuniemi mentioned that containers for collecting plastic waste empty so quickly that dangerous bacteria do not have time to grow on packages.