I was in Helsinki last year at a music festival with a friend.

The number of people begging for drinks cans and plastic bottles (to sell for recycling) was huge. Definitely in the hundreds. Sometimes we were asked to hurry up drinking, so the can / bottle could be taken.

We also saw many people scour parks for recycling.

I can't comment on the issue of homelessness, but I can comment on the huge disparity of wealth between the citizens of Helsinki.

On one hand the fact that recycling was being taken care of felt admirable. But the creation of an economic underclass felt a bit obscene.