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Why the Covid-19 pandemic led to record levels of rubbish in Norway

Norwegians threw away more stuff than ever in 2020. Industry representatives say that the Covid-19 pandemic is part of the reason for the uptick in trash.

Why the Covid-19 pandemic led to record levels of rubbish in Norway
Waste has hit record levels in Norway. Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash

Norwegians threw out more than half a tonne of rubbish per person last year, according to figures from Waste Norway revealed to broadcaster NRK

The amount of waste that gets thrown away rose from 489 kilos per inhabitant to 531, a record amount, between 2019 and 2020, according to the waste recycling association. 

In total, people in Norway binned 2,418,000 tonnes of waste in 2020, an increase of 6.3 percent from the previous year, according to Statistics Norway

The pandemic was in part responsible for the rise in waste, according to an industry spokesperson.

“People were put into home offices, and their lifestyle changed. Many used their free time to clear their basements and attics. They were many visits to recycling stations,” Lars Pederson, communications manager for Waste South, told NRK.

People working from home and those who had a lockdown clear-out weren’t the only ones responsible for the rise. 

READ ALSO: How has Covid-19 affected birth rates in Norway?

Cabin owners are also said to have contributed to the record levels of waste. 

It is not uncommon for many people to have holiday cottages or cabins in the mountains or by the fjords in Norway

“It’s really quite crazy, and we are seeing the same trend this year,” general manager of Adger Waste Disposal, Anita Aanonsen Jernquist, told NRK. 

Aanonsen added that a lot of the increase in waste from cabins was due to people spending more time at their country retreats during the pandemic.

Vegårshei Municipality, a popular cabin area in the southeast of the country Norway, reported a similar trend.

The majority of waste coming from cabins is from renovations, according to Dag Terje Rundholt from Vegårshei’s refuse service. 

“In the cabin areas, we collect much more rubbish than before. There is furniture, insulation, paint, and everything,” he said. 

Despite the rise in waste, there is some good news. According to Pedersen, while more is being thrown away, people are also getting better at sorting their rubbish. 

“We have managed to increase our recycling percentage to 50 percent,” he said. 

Pedersen also predicted that the amount of waste would go down again after the pandemic. 

He also told NRK that he believes waste would drop more if people opt to buy quality items built to last, rather than cheaper options that break more easily and need replacing more often. 

He also said that a ban on disposable plastics such as cutlery and straws would also have the desired effect of driving down waste. 

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BREXIT

How has the number of Brits in the Nordics changed since Brexit?

The UK leaving the European Union has been a headache for many British people living in Scandinavian countries. Here's what the data tells us.

How has the number of Brits in the Nordics changed since Brexit?

There’s been a marked difference in how the number of British citizens in the official statistics has changed since Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, with Denmark seeing a more or less steady increase and sharp falls in both Norway and Sweden.

The number of British citizens registered as living in Sweden has fallen from a peak of 19,965 in 2018 to just 14,158 in 2022.

Norway has seen a comparable, if slightly later fall, from a peak of 17,208 in 2020 to 15,683 in 2023.

Denmark, on the other hand, has seen the number of British residents fall much less dramatically, dropping from a peak of 19,086 in 2019 to 17,888 in the at the start of July this year.  

So has there been a mass exodus of Brits from Sweden and Norway?

It doesn’t look like it. 

Nearly 4,495 British people gained Swedish citizenship in 2019, and a further 2,150 gained it in 2020, with all of them then no longer classed as UK citizens in the official data, which only includes people who don’t also have Swedish citizenship.

Norway changed its laws at the start of 2020 to allow dual citizenship, with 1,600 British citizens becoming Norwegian in 2021 and a further 800 in 2022.

As it take nine years of residency to become a citizen in Denmark, the country has not seen this effect to the same extent. The number of British people getting citizenship rose from well under a hundred a year before the Brexit vote in 2016 to a peak of 692 in 2020, after which it slowly dropped off, with 546 getting citizenship in 2020 and 327 in 2021. 

How do the stats look for people of British origin? 

If you look at country of origin rather than current citizenship, the number of British people living in all three countries has been climbing steadily, with Sweden seeing the greatest growth as well as the highest overall numbers. 

The number of British-born people living in Sweden has risen from 23,341 in 2013 to 32,575 in 2022, an increase of more than 40 percent. 

Denmark has also seen a significant increase in the number of British-born residents, with the number rising 27 percent from 14,150 in 2013 to 18,098 in 2023. 

The smallest increase in the number of British-born residents has happened in Norway, where the number has risen just 16 percent from 18,634 in 2013 to 21,663 in 2023.

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