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 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.
• Clean and dry textile waste: Destroyed clothing, socks with holes in them and worn out linens, sheets, pillows, curtains, table clothes, yarn and fabrics. 
• Plastic: Plastic bags, plastic sacks, plastic foil, plastic film, bubble wrap,laundry detergent containers, fruit and vegetables plastic packaging, shampoo bottles and other similar types of plastic containers.
• Small electronics and hazardous waste can be disposed of in the red environmental box. Contact the Waste Office on 76 16 16 16 if your household does not have an environmental box.
• Other types of recyclable waste must be delivered to a municipal recycling centre.

*Please be aware that pizza boxes are not recyclable.

Food & drink cartons can be handed in for recycling at recycling centres.

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 or to containers dug into the ground:

• Black container for household waste
• Black container with brown lid for food waste.
• Either a blue wheelie bin or a light green mini-container for clean paper and cardboard.
• Blue container or a dark green mini-container for recyclable waste (clean bottles /glass jars –plastics – all types of metals).
• Black bin with pictogram for textile waste.

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

• Black bin for household waste
• Black container with brown lid for food waste.
• Blue bin for clean paper and textile waste.
• Dark green bin for clean glass, cans and 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

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

We empty residual waste and food waste from your property, unless the containers are not accessible according to applicable regulations. Then you must place the containers at the curbside. The recycling waste containers are emptied from the curbside unless you have a country property with a fixed site.

Be aware that:

• On collection days you must place the containers at the curbside no later than 06:00 am in downtown Esbjerg and on country properties. In the rest of the municipality, we empty from 07:00 am.
• The containers must be positioned with the handles facing the street.
• The containers must not be overfilled.

If you are not sure what applies to your address, please contact Affaldskontoret through this contact form or phone: 76 16 16 16.

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.

'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.

Why do we separate food waste?

Food waste is just too good to throw out. It can be recycled and made to into Biogas or natural fertilizer. Therefore, we need to separate food waste into its own wheelie bin. The regular garbage will still go to the regular bin for household waste.

The food waste must be put in the green plastic bags and in the outdoor food bin - black bin with a brown lid.

We empty the outdoor food bin every 2 weeks. 

Plastic bags for your food waste

If you have your own bin for food waste, you can get more trash bags for food waste by tying a green food waste bag to the handle of the food bin on the day where your bin is emptied. The garbage collector will then put a roll of bags on the lid after it is emptied.

If you live in a housing association, you must contact your janitor when you need bags.

If you live in an apartment building and share a food bucket with others, we continue to deliver bags for food waste once a year. Contact the Waste Office on 76 16 16 16 to find out when.

You can also collect the green food waste bags yourself collect for free at all four recycling sites and at libraries and citizen service centers.

You can also order extra plastic bags at our webshop here. The bags are free, but you will be charged for delivery. 

Tie a knot on the plastic bag

We suggest that you tie a double knot on your plastic bag. It is important that you close your bags very well to avoid smell and maggots. If the bag is closed really well, the smell will not attract flies. It is important to avoid that flies lay eggs in your food waste, because it will later turn into maggots.

This is how you separate your food waste
Yes to:

Meat and fish waste, also bones
Sauces, kitchen grease and frying oil
Dairy products
Eggs and shells
Bread and dessert leftovers
Fruit and vegetables, also peelings and cut-offs
Rice and Pasta
Coffee grounds, Tea leftovers as well as used filters
Paper towels used with food products

No thank you to:

Animal excrements and feces
Packaging
Hay and straw used for animals
Animal hair and fur