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

  Household waste

  Food waste

Recyclable waste must be emptied of food or product residuals and put in the recycling containers. Dependent upon your type of housing, you will either be provided with individual recycling bins or have access to communal recycling containers, which are placed in common areas.

The following materials can be recycled:

  Paper & cardboard:

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

Household waste and food waste will be collected from your property unless the containers are not easily accessible as per applicable regulations. Then you must place the containers at the curbside. Recycling 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 6:00AM in Esbjerg city center and on properties in the countryside. In the rest of the municipality, bins are emptied from 7:00AM.
• The containers must be positioned with the handles facing the street.
• The containers must not be overfilled.

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.

You can also register to receive SMS reminders for when your waste will be collected.

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.

Good to know:

• Recyclable containers of foods, cosmetics, cleaning or other products should be emptied before disposal. 
• Paper and cardboard that has come in contact with foods or cannot be wiped of other residuals should be disposed of in the general waste. 
• Expired medications and medical products can be delivered to your nearest pharmacy /apotek for disposal.
• Ignitable and highly flammable items and their containers, such as fire starter fluid/blocks, fuels, gas bottles, and fireworks must be delivered directly to a municipal recycling center - 'genbrugsplads'.

Useful terms:

'Vej' – Street
'Husnr.' – House/building number
'Tømningsdage' – Collection days
'Restaffald' – 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 used to create biogas  and natural fertilizer. Therefore, we need to separate food waste from household waste.

The food waste must be put in the green plastic bags and the bags disposed in the outdoor food bin.
If your household has its own bins, dispose food waste in the small compartment, in the two-compartment bin for household waste and food waste.
If your household share bins with others, it should go in the separate bin for food waste.

The food waste bin is emptied by the municipality every 2 weeks. 

Plastic bags for your food waste

If you have your own bin for food waste, you can get more food waste bags by tying a green food waste bag to the handle of the bin. 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 a property where you share a food waste bin with others, your caretaker/waste manager can order bags for everyone via the order form.

If you need more food waste bags at a different time than the other residents, you can collect bags at the recycling centers, citizen service centers, or libraries during staffed opening hours.

You can also collect the green food waste bags for free at all four municipal 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

Did you know that a portion of district heating is fueled by your general waste? Highly efficent waste burners help to warm the water for district heating. Removing food waste helps keep that efficiency optimised.