Glasaffaldet, elektronikaffaldet og det farlige affald står hver for sig.

The ending -et is the definite article for many Danish common-gender or neuter nouns, depending on the word. In English, you usually put the before the noun. In Danish, the definiteness is often attached to the end of the noun instead.

So:

• affald = waste
• affaldet = the waste

Because glasaffald and elektronikaffald are compound nouns ending in affald, they become:

• glasaffaldet = the glass waste
• elektronikaffaldet = the electronic waste / e-waste

This is very common in Danish.

This is because Danish uses a different structure when there is an adjective before a definite noun.

Compare:

• affaldet = the waste
• det farlige affald = the dangerous waste

When a noun is definite and has an adjective in front of it, Danish usually uses:

• a separate definite article: den / det / de
• the adjective in definite form
• the noun in its base form, not with the attached definite ending

So you get:

• det farlige affald not
• farlige affaldet

That would be ungrammatical.

So the pattern is:

• glasaffaldet = the glass waste
• elektronikaffaldet = the electronic waste
• det farlige affald = the dangerous waste

Because affald is a neuter noun in Danish.

Danish has two grammatical genders:

• common gender → usually uses den
• neuter gender → uses det

Since affald is neuter, the correct definite article is det:

• et affald is not normally used as a count noun in the singular in everyday speech, but grammatically affald belongs with det
• therefore: det farlige affald

So:

• den store bil = the big car
• det farlige affald = the dangerous waste

Because it is in the definite form.

In Danish, adjectives often change depending on whether the noun is:

• indefinite or definite
• singular or plural
• common gender or neuter

Here, the noun phrase is definite: det farlige affald.

So the adjective takes the -e ending:

• farligt affald = dangerous waste
• det farlige affald = the dangerous waste

This -e form is very common in definite noun phrases.

Yes, literally står means stands or is standing.

But Danish often uses verbs like stå, ligge, and sidde in places where English would just say is, are, or is placed.

So in this sentence, står suggests that the waste categories or containers are placed separately or set apart from each other.

It sounds natural in Danish, even if English would often phrase it differently.

Examples of this kind of usage:

• Bogen ligger på bordet. = The book is on the table.
• Kopperne står i skabet. = The cups are in the cupboard.
• Affaldet står hver for sig. = The waste is separated / stands separately.

Hver for sig means separately, each on its own, or apart from one another.

It is a fixed expression.

In this sentence, it means that:

• the glass waste,
• the electronic waste,
• and the dangerous waste

are kept or placed separately, not mixed together.

You can think of hver for sig as something like:

• each by itself
• one separate from the others

Yes. Danish uses compound nouns very freely, much like German.

So:

• glas
  • affald → glasaffald
• elektronik
  • affald → elektronikaffald

The last part usually tells you the basic category, and the first part tells you what kind.

So:

• affald = waste
• glasaffald = glass waste
• elektronikaffald = electronic waste

This is extremely common in Danish, and learners need to get used to reading long nouns as one unit.

Because the sentence is talking about three categories, each named in the singular definite form.

It is not saying several glass wastes or several electronic wastes. It is naming types of waste:

• glasaffaldet
• elektronikaffaldet
• det farlige affald

This is similar to English, where category labels are often singular too:

• glass waste
• electronic waste
• hazardous waste

So the grammar is singular for each item, even though the whole subject is a list of three things.

Because Danish verbs do not change form depending on the subject.

So the present tense form står is the same for:

• jeg står = I stand
• du står = you stand
• han står = he stands
• de står = they stand

That means even though the subject here is a list of three items, the verb still stays står.

This is much simpler than English in some ways, because Danish has less verb agreement.

The basic structure is:

Subject + verb + adverbial

Here:

• Glasaffaldet, elektronikaffaldet og det farlige affald = subject
• står = verb
• hver for sig = adverbial expression

So the sentence follows a normal Danish main-clause pattern.

A learner might expect something more like English punctuation-wise, but grammatically it is very straightforward: the list of items comes first, then the verb, then the expression meaning separately.

Yes. Even though the Danish uses står literally, a more natural English translation in context might be:

• Glass waste, electronic waste, and hazardous waste are kept separate.
• Glass waste, electronic waste, and hazardous waste are separated.
• The glass waste, the electronic waste, and the hazardous waste are kept apart.

This is a good reminder that you should not always translate Danish word-for-word, especially with verbs like stå.