Case: Rekstrarfélag 10-11 ehf., Iceland

IN-SHOP: Waste Prevention and Management

Who: Rekstrarfélag 10-11 ehf.

Country: Iceland

Objective: To reduce waste related costs, reduce the amount of waste to landfill and increase cost-efficiency.

Description of initiative: Before we had large pressure-containers with limited success in waste-separation. These were replaced by small compressors for cardboard and plastic and by small bins for other waste fractions.

All cardboard is now separated from other wastes, compressed to bales and sold for recycling. This resulted in some 70% lowering of transport costs.

All plastic waste is also sorted into special bags, baled in the compressor and delivered to recycling.

Small bins are used for organic waste, such as fruits and vegetables, which is forwarded to composting facilities.

Refunded deposit for drinking cartridges is handed over to the staff that uses the income for social activities.

Waste for disposal, i.e. non-recyclable waste, is now collected in one small container that can be emptied by the store, which again lowers the transport costs.

Effect of initiative: Experienced total cost-savings in waste management is around 60%.

Time period: February 2009 to present (Sept 2010)

Future work: Still more separation of waste (there is still some potential for improvements)

Figure 1. 10-11 Waste Related Costs Jan 08 – Sept 10 (in ISK), (actual and with a regression line). (1 EUR = 160 ISK)

More information: 

Contact: Gunnar Thor Gunnarsson: