Some Finnish municipalities reach the Swedish level of re-use, while in others the vast majority is simply dumped in landfills.
The official government target is for 80 percent re-use by 2016. There was a previous attempt to reach a rate of 70 percent by 2005 -- which utterly failed.
Although Finland remains far short of the next goal, some areas have already surpassed it. For instance in many municipalities in the south-central region of Päijät-Häme, less than one-tenth of waste goes to dumps.
All households in the area have five containers in which to sort their waste. Since 2009 all waste that it unsuitable for recycling has been incinerated as an energy source.
In Ostrobothnia, the Ekorosk system owned by Kaustinen, Kokkola and nine other municipalities recycles or re-uses 90 percent of all garbage. The system includes one recycling centre for every 600-700 residents.
The Ekorosk municipalities collect metal, glass, cardboard and plastic.
Meanwhile in Tervola, southern Lapland, nearly half of all households do not even participate in any municipal waste collection system.