Do we know what goes into the ovens at Gärstad?

Everyone can see the smoke coming out of the waste plant in Gärstad. How many people know what goes in the oven? Many people know that we incinerate municipally graded waste. Few people also know that garbage comes from many municipalities in the country.

However, there is one thing that many people know, but few want to talk about. We receive large volumes of long-distance waste from Northern Europe. Garbage gives us a lot of income, but also creates CO2 emissions here, and enough of the traffic here. The largest climate footprint in the county and the largest in Sweden. 100,000 tons of CO2. How many people know that boats come across the Baltic Sea from England with unsorted waste to reload at Norrkoping harbour? Oversized trucks from Oslo. A few may be mentioned. They dump CO2 with us and go emission-free at home. We thank you for the cash flow. It’s going so well now, as Peter sings!

So good that we can take energy and heat streets. It replaces homes or supplies steam to power turbines. Are there no environmental benefits then? Yes, says the municipality’s environmental manager. Landfills in the home country produce methane gas, which has an even worse impact on the environment.

Can’t these countries learn to sort garbage and incinerate it with good treatment? So unique to Linkoping? No, it is not unique, but it will cost huge investments, and then the city hall will not have money. Peace on both ends. The environment is said to be hit by huge emissions when boats are towed by ships that burn tar and emit particulates. A picture of northern Nigeria emerges from among the clouds of smoke. Those who can afford it buy it for free.

The future then? Cities should charge well to teach how to build their own carstat. Work on the lines up to Karstad to get the garbage by train. Finally, we need to stop heating the streets. People can get spikes in their shoes and bicycle tires.

“Behind the Smoke Screens”

Answer from Technical Jobs:

We at Techniska Vergen believe that our handling of waste from Linköping residents, other municipalities and abroad is good for the resource and the climate. Linköping accepts its responsibility to help those who do not have good conditions to manage their waste. From our side, we are happy to talk about it more often. For us, energy recycling is a sustainable business that creates globally reduced greenhouse gases.

The fantastic infrastructure we have built in the form of our district heating networks makes Technikska Vergen in Linköping one of the most suitable actors in Europe for energy recycling (burning) waste. In our combined heat and power plants, we use all the energy in the waste. We generate electricity and district heating around the clock, even on cold and dark December nights.

All the waste we get should be sorted for energy recovery. But how to reduce the climate and environmental impact of plastic is one of the biggest challenges facing our society. The best thing for the climate and the environment is to dispose of all plastic waste at the top of the waste ladder. The most important step is to reduce consumption, followed by reuse and recycling of material. From our side, we are actively working to reduce the amount of plastic waste recycled for energy, and we explore new technological possibilities to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions.

Unnecessary traffic should definitely be avoided. Foreign waste to Gärstad usually goes with ships and trucks, for example, with goods exported from Great Britain or Norway, which otherwise return empty.

We are proud of our activities that contribute to living and working in a resource-efficient region. Among other things, we regularly invite to open houses at Gärstadverken and receive many inspection visits both nationally and internationally every year. We spread knowledge and inspire others to see waste as a resource.

Charlotte Bilgren is Head of Sustainability at Technical Works in Linköping