The national Danish pictograms for waste sorting were developed in 2016 in a joint initiative between Circular Denmark, Local Government Denmark and the Danish Environmental Protection Agency together with design and innovation consultancy Futu.

During all development processes thorough stakeholder involvement was conducted thus paving the way for early commitment by a large number of municipalities, companies, producers, events. etc. to implement the pictograms already when launched. Additional pictograms (for recycling centers) were developed in 2017 and 2018.

Since 2018, the number of users have continuously increased, and all municipalities have implemented the pictograms on either kerb side collected waste bins or on recycling stations – or both. Several food and packaging producers, supermarkets and retailers are using the pictograms on their packaging. In addition, the pictograms are used by many companies guiding employees in waste sorting.

By law, waste bins for household waste and commercial waste (from shops, offices etc.) have to be labelled with the pictograms by 2023.