In Denmark we have tended to burn a lot of our plastic waste at our incineration plants. Another large portion of our plastic waste is exported to low-wage countries for sorting, reprocessing and incineration. None of these solutions are sustainable in the long term because resources are going to waste, rather than being recycled and reused.
There is now an increasing determination to burn less and recycle more. There is enormous potential in the circular way of thinking, which accounts for why circular economics, resource efficiency, sustainable consumption and production have appeared on the European agenda in recent years.