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From Town Tools. For the current version, visit https://www.towntools.org/vestmannaeyjar-southern-region-is/flokkun
Type what you’re throwing out — it tells you which bag or cart it goes in.
(last month)
Four bins at the house — food, paper, plastic and mixed — plus two container sites for metal, glass and textiles. Type what you are holding and this says which one it goes in. Everything here is Vestmannaeyjabær’s own list; items are named in English with the Icelandic in brackets on the bins, so searching either word works.
The streams
Food waste (matarleifar)
Kitchen scraps, in a paper bag. The bags are sold in any grocery shop here — food waste should not go in loose, and never in a plastic bag.
Paper and card (pappír og pappi)
Clean, dry paper, cardboard and cartons. It only recycles if it is clean, so anything with food or grease on it belongs in mixed waste instead.
Plastic packaging (plastumbúðir)
Empty, rinsed plastic packaging. A tub with food left in it is mixed waste, not plastic.
Mixed waste (blandaður úrgangur)
What is left: things that cannot be recycled, are too dirty to be, or are made of different materials stuck together. This is the dearest bin on your property bill, so it pays to keep it small.
Grenndarstöð (málmur, gler, textíll)
Metal, glass and textiles are not collected at the house. They go to the containers at Eyjahraun 1 and 3, or at Tangagata.
Deposit return (skilagjald)
Drinks containers marked with skilagjald carry a refundable deposit. They are worth returning to Endurvinnslan rather than putting in any bin — in a bin the deposit is simply lost.
Depot or pharmacy only
Hazardous waste, electricals and batteries must not go in any household bin. Medicines and their packaging go back to a pharmacy.
The full list, bin by bin
Food waste (matarleifar)
Fruit and vegetable scraps
Pasta and potatoes
Bread
Rice and other grains
Coffee grounds and coffee filters
Cooked fish leftovers
Cooked meat leftovers
Eggshells
Teabags
Toothpicks
Cut flowers
Kitchen paper — Kitchen roll goes in with the food waste — but paper hand towels and napkins do not; those are mixed waste.
Paper and card (pappír og pappi)
Newspapers
Magazines
Office paper
Notepaper
Paperback books — Hardback covers come off first — the cover itself is mixed waste.
Envelopes
A bin that blows away is the householder’s liability
Vestmannaeyjabær’s rule is plain: you are responsible for anything that can blow away inside your own boundary, bins included. Stórhöfði is one of the windiest measuring stations in Europe, so a lid that is not latched and a bin that is not secured are a real risk here in a way they are not most places — and if one goes and damages something, that is on the household.
Where the bin has to stand on collection day
Within 15 metres of where the lorry can stop, on the street side of the house, and without the crew having to carry it up or down steps. Since 1 April 2025 the municipality may charge a step fee (skrefagjald) where bins stand further than 15 metres. Fastenings need to be workable with gloves on, in the dark and in frost — which is most of the collection year here.
Food waste goes in a paper bag
Not loose, and not in a plastic bag. The paper bags (bréfpokar) are sold in any grocery shop on the island.
Sorting is the cheaper option, not just the tidier one
Waste charges are collected with your property tax and are set by how many bins you have, how big they are, how far they have to be carried and what is in them. The paper, plastic and food bins are cheaper than the mixed-waste bin, so moving waste out of mixed lowers the bill.
Not the curb — these go to a depot
The two grenndarstöðvar — Eyjahraun and Tangagata
Metal, glass and textiles are not collected at the house. Vestmannaeyjar has two container sites that take them: at Eyjahraun 1 and 3, and at Tangagata.
The reception station, for everything the house bins will not take
Open weekdays 10:00–18:00, Saturdays and Sundays 11:00–16:00. Phone 535-2500, or write to sorp@vestmannaeyjar.is — the same address for a bin that is broken, missing, or if you need another one.
Hazardous waste, electricals and batteries
Spilliefni, raftæki and rafhlöður are named on the municipality’s own list as things that must never go in the mixed-waste bin. They go to the reception station.
Medicines go back to the pharmacy
Apótek take leftover medicines and their packaging, including blister packs. Not any household bin.
Cans and bottles with a deposit are worth money back
Drinks containers marked with skilagjald carry a refundable deposit, so they are worth returning to Endurvinnslan rather than dropping in the plastic bin or a grenndargámur. Endurvinnslan lists its reception points at endurvinnslan.is.
The last word
The four-bin system comes from the circular-economy act; the municipality’s page is the last word on what goes where, and it also carries the current sorphirðugjöld and the sorting leaflet.
— Cartons have their own recycling route, so they belong here. You do not need to pull the plastic cap or the foil off, though rinsing them out matters.
Cardboard packaging
Cardboard tubes
Egg boxes
Corrugated boxes
Pizza boxes — Only if there is no food or oil on them. If the box is badly soiled, tear the clean half off for this bin and put the greasy half in mixed waste.
Plastic packaging (plastumbúðir)
Plastic trays
Plastic bags
Plastic bottles and canisters
Plastic cups
Cold-cut and cheese wrappers
Squeeze pouches
Crisp packets
Plastic plates
Plastic lids and caps
Plastic tubs with lids
Mixed waste (blandaður úrgangur)
Paper hand towels
Napkins
Cotton pads
Cotton buds
Disposable gloves
Dirty packaging — This is the rule behind half of this list: packaging only recycles if it is clean, so anything you cannot rinse out belongs here rather than in paper or plastic.
Nappies
Period products
Baking paper
Chewing gum
Vacuum cleaner bags
Large bones — Small cooked scraps go in the food bin, but large bones do not.
Leftover cosmetics
Cat litter and animal droppings — Never the food bin, even though it looks organic.
Ring binders — Ruled out of both the paper bin and the plastic bin — the metal rings and the board are stuck together.
Hardback book covers
Package straps and tape
CDs and DVDs — Ruled out of the plastic bin — the disc is layered materials.
Grenndarstöð (málmur, gler, textíll)
Aluminium foil — The test the municipality gives: crumple it. Plastic springs back out, aluminium stays crumpled — so this is metal, and metal goes to a grenndarstöð.
Glass bottles
Jars
Tins and food cans — Food tins have no deposit, so the grenndarstöð is right for them. Drinks cans are different — check for the skilagjald mark first.
Metal lids
Clothes
Bed linen and towels
Deposit return (skilagjald)
Drinks cans — If it is marked with skilagjald — most drinks cans sold here are — it is worth money back at Endurvinnslan.
Plastic drinks bottles — Deposit-marked bottles go back to Endurvinnslan. A plastic bottle with no skilagjald mark goes in the plastic bin.
Glass drinks bottles with a deposit — Deposit-marked glass goes back to Endurvinnslan. Glass with no deposit mark — jars, and anything that never held a drink — goes to a grenndarstöð. If you are unsure, look for the skilagjald mark on the label.
Depot or pharmacy only
Hazardous waste — Explicitly ruled out of the mixed-waste bin by the municipality.
Electrical appliances — Explicitly ruled out of the mixed-waste bin.
Batteries — Explicitly ruled out of the mixed-waste bin.
Toys with batteries — The battery makes it an electrical, so it goes to the depot rather than the plastic bin.
Packaging that held hazardous waste
Pill blister packs — Ruled out of the plastic bin. Medicines and their packaging go back to a pharmacy.
Leftover medicines — Back to the pharmacy — apótek take both the medicine and its packaging.
Toothbrushes — A plain toothbrush is mixed waste; an electric one is an electrical and goes to the depot.