Commercial waste

Commercial waste is waste from service, trade, office and manufacturing companies. Depending on which industry your business belongs to, there are different types of commercial waste. It can be, for example machine shops, auto repair shops og electronics companies.

As a business, you need to make sure that your waste is sorted and disposed of properly.

Which waste must be sorted?

All companies must sort their waste so that waste that can be recycled or reused is not landfilled or burned.

By 31 December 2022 at the latest, all companies must have systems that enable staff to sort the company's waste into the same categories as households:

1. Glass waste
2. Metal waste
3. Plastic waste
4. Paper waste
5. Cardboard waste
6. Food waste
7. Garden waste
8. Wood waste
9. Textile waste
10. Food and beverage carton waste
11. Recyclable hazardous waste, including batteries and electronics
12. Recyclable PVC waste
13. Other waste suitable for material recovery

Collection equipment must be equipped with the national waste pictograms.

Where should I drop off recyclable waste?

Companies must have agreements with a registered collector or a receiving facility for handling their sorted commercial waste. As a company, you must be able to document that your waste is handled correctly. So save your invoices and the receipts for delivering waste.
Companies can deliver their waste to all the municipality's recycling sites, but only with cars under 3.500 kg. 

Payment to the recycling center is made by license plate registration. If you deliver commercial waste to the recycling center in a car that is registered to a private person, you must report the commercial waste to the recycling center staff.

Impregnated wood for Skodsbøl Sorteringanlæg, Nybølnorvej 26, Broager

Se opening hours, price lists by www.SONFOR.dk.

Companies that have little waste can use Sønderborg Municipality's food waste and recycling scheme. The offer applies to the emptying of one 240 liter container for food waste every fortnight and one container for each sorting type emptied every four weeks. Companies can choose between: 

240 and 370 liter containers for either:

• Plastic & metal
• cardboard, paper & glass
• plastic
• cardboard & paper
• metal 
• glass

660 and 770 liter containers for either:

• plastic
• cardboard & paper

Registration for the pick-up scheme can be done here

Where should I deliver incinerable waste?

Unpolluted and slightly contaminated combustible waste that can neither be recycled nor handed over to a recycling plant must be incinerated on:

Sønderborg Cogeneration Plant
Vestermark 16
6400 Sønderborg

Opening hours:
Mon-Thurs: 9.00-15.30
Friday: 9.00 am - 13.00 pm

Where should I drop off landfill waste?

Unpolluted and slightly contaminated waste that can not be incinerated, recycled or delivered to a recycling facility (including all eternit) must be disposed of at:

Skodsbøl Landfill
Nybølnorvej 26
6310 Broager

 

Opening hours:
Mon-Fri: 8.00-16.00

The waste must declared electronically, before it is driven to the landfill. See which types of waste can be delivered to Skodsbøl Landfill (positive list). 

If your waste types do not appear on the positive list, you must contact Business and Waste at +45 88 72 40 83 and get specific instructions.

Where should I drop off hazardous waste?

Companies can deliver hazardous waste to Sonfor Kemi or to an approved collector who is registered in The Danish Environmental Protection Agency's Waste Register.

Sonfor-Kemi manages Sønderborg Municipality's collection scheme for non-recyclable hazardous waste. Sonfor Kemi has two types of waste management:

• en service arrangement, which collects small amounts of hazardous waste at fixed intervals, including agricultural pesticide canisters and medicine residues
• en arrangement for large loads of hazardous waste, which can be picked up when needed

Companies that produce non-recyclable hazardous waste must register with the scheme at Sønderborg Forsyning or apply for exemption.

Read more about the various collection schemes on Sønderborg Forsyning's website

Companies that only have small amounts of hazardous waste can advantageously hand it in to the recycling site or sign up for Sonfor-Kemi's Service Scheme.

Remember to store hazardous waste properly and according to the rules in the municipality's regulations - Regulations for the storage of hazardous waste and chemicals.

Where should I drop off clinical hazardous waste?

Clinical risk waste is medical waste, medicine packaging and waste that may be infected, such as waste from animal husbandry, animal hospitals and the health sector (hospitals, maternity clinics and treatment institutions, nursing homes, home care schemes, medical and dental clinics, practicing midwives, acupuncturists, tattoo artists and more).

Companies that produce clinical risk waste must be registered with Sonfor Kemis Pharmacy scheme or apply for exemption and use an approved collector of this type of waste.

Smaller amounts of clinical hazardous waste must be delivered to the pharmacy at least once a year. It can also be picked up in Sonfor-Kemi's service scheme.

Dead animals must be handed over to DHAKA.

If you are a large producer of clinical risk waste, you must contact Erhverv og Affald at +45 88 72 40 83 and get specific instructions.

Can I export waste out of the country?

Companies are welcome to export their waste, but the export must follow The Danish Environmental Protection Agency's rules. As a company, you yourself are responsible for registering the export in the waste data system. It is usually easiest to export recyclable waste. Export of landfill or combustible waste is only permitted if the waste cannot be burned or deposited in Danish facilities.

Sønderborg Municipality is helpful in categorizing your commercial waste prior to possible export. Contact Business and Waste at +45 88 72 40 83 or erhverv-affald@sonderborg.dk.

How should construction and civil engineering waste be handled?

During demolition, renovation and new construction, all waste must be handled correctly so that the waste does not harm the environment or the health of the neighbours. Therefore, there is a requirement that contaminated bricks and concrete must be environmentally remedied, so that paint, varnish, oil, soot and grout residues etc. are removed before demolition or renovation of the building or building parts, e.g. walls, ceilings and floors.

Notification of construction and demolition waste

The client must report construction and demolition waste from demolition or renovation to Sønderborg Municipality if:

• the construction work results in more than 1 ton of waste
• double-glazed windows that may have been manufactured in the period 1950 - 1977 are replaced

The notification of construction and construction waste must go through the self-service solution no later than 2 weeks before the work starts. The notification must contain information about the developer, year of construction and year of renovation, a map of problematic substances in the parts of the building that are removed, an estimate of the expected types of waste and an overview of who will receive the waste, or whether the waste will be used on own land.

Read the instructions on construction and demolition waste, where you can read more about notification, building mapping, waste classification and disposal. 

Requirements for building mapping

The notification of construction and construction waste must contain a building survey, which examines the building for the content of problematic substances, e.g. PCBs, chlorinated paraffins, PAHs, asbestos and heavy metals in paints and building components. Experience shows that most painted surfaces contain contaminated substances and must be investigated. 

In production halls and workshops, the client must examine the walls and floors for the substances, e.g. mercury, mineral oils and other special substances, which have been used in the production processes that have been in the building.

In connection with the mapping, samples must be taken of all the different types of paint, varnish, glaze, joint materials and oil stains etc. that are found in the building. The mapping must contain descriptions which explain to the municipality and contractors which building parts the individual analysis represents, so that there can be no doubt as to how each building part must be environmentally treated and how the waste from it must be handled.

Sønderborg Municipality recommends that the mapping report simultaneously describes and ensures the working environment-related conditions that the handling of the problematic substances in the building parts give rise to.  

PCBs, asbestos and heavy metals

Sønderborg Municipality classifies construction waste based on the following limit values.

On metal and wood, Sønderborg Municipality assesses whether the pollutants must be cleaned off, or whether the waste can be incinerated or recycled.

See also the Environment Agency's guidance for the classification of hazardous waste.

Sønderborg Municipality likes to classify the construction waste based on the building mapping, so that the developer knows the municipality's requirements for waste management before the demolition task is tendered. Contact Business and Waste at +45 88 72 40 83 or erhverv-affald@sonderborg.dk.