People are footing the "garbage" bill

“If you look at recent municipalities’ calls for special collection and other waste management, the cost is increasing and in some cases significantly.” This is reflected in minutes of the meeting of the Icelandic Association of Municipalities’ project managers for the interests of waste management. “We are trying to figure out what the scope is,” says Heiða Björg Hilmisdóttir, chairperson of the council.

Never meant to pay for this

It is clear who will pay for it. The garbage collection fees will rise over the next year and people are footing the bill. “It was not the intention of the introduction of the circular economy.” Hilmisdóttir says that the waste producers and importers were supposed to pay for its management. “Creating incentives to manage the value of many things we have discarded and even landfilled so far is a good thing. I think the population was never meant to pay for this. It is still unclear how we should have to prevent rising garbage collection fees.”

New legislation and policies on waste management took effect in June 2021 and requirements for the municipalities contained therein were implemented on January 1, 2023. The country’s municipalities have varying degrees of waste management, so their increase in costs will vary. “In some places it is quite high. We are trying to compile this and people are making their budgets for next year. The local authority’s financial conference will discuss the matter later this month.