Nordic Trek: One Man's Trash = Another Man's Treasure

6-21-12

This morning's trip took us out of the city to Vestorbraending Recycling and Waste Treatment Plant. I was a little wary as to why I had traveled all the way to Denmark to visit an incinerator, but I was really impressed by the presentation on recycling and the consequences of consumption. The plant included an interactive educational facility for schools to bring students and educate them on waste. According to the plant, waste is a resource that can be recycled or turned into energy. Danish families sort their trash to go to three locations: the recycling center, the incinerator, and the landfill. Recycling is free, but customers are charged for hauling away the other two materials. Materials going to the landfill cost the family/business more than double what goes to the incinerator. By using this tiered payment system, the Danish government is creating incentives for its citizens to reduce their waste.

The presentation emphasized the "hidden flows of consumption" around the world, or in other words the waste and pollution that are a direct consequence of the production for our consumer products. For example, the aluminum for one soft drink can results in one kilogram (two pounds) of polluted red clay. The weight of a cell phone is 100 grams (less than one pound), but the hidden flow is 75 kilograms (165 pounds) of waste. In addition, a single cell phone contains several hard metals (including gold) that are dangerous to put into landfills.

We learned about landfill and urban mining. Several countries, including Belgium and Japan, are now digging through their landfills searching for electronics, metals, plastic, and minerals to reclaim. Urban mining searches for resources that are sitting unused in storage in people's homes. Recycling is not only about saving landfill space; it is also about reusing resources.

After the presentation, we donned safety vests and hard hats for our tour of the facility. We started with the trash, moved into the control room, saw the incinerator and turbines, and wrapped up at the "smokestack." I put that term in quotes, because 99.5% of what exits that stack is steam. I learned something new about myself on the tour: I can dry heave from only a smell. While the smell of the garbage was really getting to people, I thought it was manageable. But then we passed through a small corridor that was sealed by two sets of doors, where the air was warmer and more stagnant and the odors of that trash was left to pervade every cranny and fester, and it really hit me.

I was really struck by the effects of our consumption and waste. It makes me want to be much more conscientious about what I buy--making sure I purchase things that I need and that are high enough quality that I will not have to repurchase. I also want to be conscious of what I am throwing away. I do not want my trash to be leaching harmful materials into our soil and water.

Check out their website: http://www.wastelab.dk

This diagram shows how far all the materials that make up a knapsack travel before it is sold in Denmark. Total distance: 180,945 km (112,434 miles)

Hard hats and safety vest: ready for the tour

Trash drop-off

This diagram shows the workings of the plant. (1) Trash comes in on the lower left; (2) big claws lift it up and drop it into the incinerator; (3) the trash is burned, heating up large pools of water; (4) steam from the water turns a turbine on the roof, which produces energy that is sent by power lines into the town; (5) the hot water is sent by pipes into homes where it is used for radiant heating; (6) trucks take away sludge left over by the burning process, much of it is used to pave roads.