Waste & recycling

Do you wonder what to do with your waste? 
 

Household waste

Household waste is the waste left over after you have remo­ved the recyclable waste. Household waste must be placed in the black wheelie bin found next to your house or apartment.
 

Recyclable waste

Recyclable waste must be put in the recycling containers. Dependent upon your type of housing, you will either be provided with an individual recycling bin or have access to a communal recycling container, which are placed for your convenience at several locations in the area.

The following materials can be recycled:

• Clean paper: Newspapers, magazines, advertising materials, cardboard.
• Clean reusable glass: Bottles and jars.
• Clean cans: Beer and soft drink cans, tinned food cans.
• Hard plastic containers: Laundry detergent containers, fruit and vegetables plastic packaging, shampoo bottles and other similar types of plastic containers.
• Other types of recyclable waste must be delivered to a municipal recycling centre.

*Please be aware that pizza boxes, cardboard juice and milk containers, as well as plastic bags and other soft plastic products are not recyclable.

Bin colors

The bins you will have access to depends on the type of housing you live in. 

If you live in an apartment you will most likely have access to  the following mutual containers placed nearby the building:

• Black container for household waste
• Blue Container for clean paper. Either a blue wheelie bin or a light green mini-container for clean paper and cardboard.

And maybe also a

• Dark green container with a hole, for clean glass & cans. Either a dark green wheelie bin or a dark green mini-container for recyclable waste (clean bottles /glass jars – hard plastics – all types of metals).

If you live in a house you will most likely have the following individual bins placed at your household:

• Black bin for household waste
• Blue bin for clean paper
• Dark green bin for clean glass, cans and hard plastic
• Red environmental box for small electronics and dangerous waste (light globes, paint, gas canisters)

In addition you can order

• A green (light green) bin for garden waste at the municipality for a small fee

On collection day

Certain rules apply to how and where you place your waste bins, so that they can be safely and easily accessed on collection days.  

In general, your individual household waste containers must be:

• Placed on the street no later than 7am on collection days
• Positioned with the handles facing the street
• Must not be overfilled

For most households applies that waste bins must be placed by the street on collection day, since there in most cases are not tiled surfaces & space enough for a big truck to get into the driveway to park, still leaving accessible space to empty the bins.
 

Waste Collection

The municipality offers an online service (in Danish) to find out when your household waste and recycling will be collected. You simply provide your address (or the address of the applicable waste container/receptacle) and the next applicable collection dates will be provided.

Find your next Recycling & Household Waste Collection Dates

*Note that if you cannot find your own address, it is because you share a waste container with several households. You can find information on applicable waste collection by entering the address where the shared waste container is located.


A few useful words:

Vej – Street
Husnr. – House/building number
Tømningsdage – Collection days
Dagrenovation – Household waste
Genbrug – Recycling
Haveaffald – Garden waste
Papirspand – Waste container for recyclable paper and clean cardboard
Miljøkasse – Waste container for small electronics and dangerous waste (light globes, paint, gas canisters)

Often, your neighbours will already be familiar with the waste collection rules and may be able to offer some insight, or visit the municipality’s Household Waste or Recyclable Waste pages (in Danish) to find more information.