A Swedish industry association said the country may have to start importing waste from other countries to keep its power plant incinerators in operation.

Swedish Waste Management said the 30 waste-to-energy incinerators in the country currently burn about 6.06 million tons of garbage each year, and planned expansions indicate the country would have to start importing 1.76 million tons of garbage from other countries each year to keep them in operation, The Local.se reported Thursday.

Catarina Ostlund, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, said officials have come concerns about importing garbage.

"We've been very clear in our national waste plan. Reuse, materials recycling, and waste reduction are what we've called for," she said.

However, Ostlund said incinerating the garbage may be a better plan than leaving it in a landfill.

"The trash that is left in a landfill isn't put to any good use," she said.