The city of Naestved in Denmark’s Zealand region is embracing sustainable urban development by supporting a range of initiatives that reduce waste and energy consumption. The Sustainable Urban Development project also focuses on testing new methods and technologies for energy reduction and efficiency improvements in the city’s municipal buildings. The overall goal is to reduce the town’s CO2 generation.
- 29 July 2020
Often it is smarter to just do it than to sit and theorise on what to do next. In Sustainable Urban Development we do. And we do so by testing different SMART technologies and approaches to motivate sustainable behaviour.
The project is delivering waste prevention measures and waste handling initiatives in the town centre, where there is a special focus on recycling and reusing existing waste. Many players in the local community come together through the project to help the city become greener and more sustainable. They include the municipality, businesses, energy providers and property owners.
Practical innovation
Collaboration has delivered more than 10 initiatives that reduce waste that goes to landfill or that save energy. For example, a company called Danish Cellular Glass worked with Naestved Fjernvarme, the district heating company, to help local businesses improve their energy efficiency. Cellular Glass has developed a product called Durapor which can be used as insulation around heating pipes instead of gravel. Pipes insulated with this innovative material lose 50 % less heat than the alternative.
The city has opened a builders’ merchants called PlusByg that reuses waste construction material. AffaldPlus, Naestved’s waste management company, helped launch this initiative to repurpose debris, off-cuts and unwanted materials that would normally end up in landfill. Local building companies can bring their waste materials to PlusByg free of charge. These materials are sorted and resold at a reduced cost compared to regular builders’ merchants. The concept is essentially a thrift shop for building materials.
Meanwhile, a similar scheme has been developed where unwanted material from municipal buildings is reused in other restorations. The civic circular depository contains doors, windows and other fittings, which get a second lease of life instead of being broken up and dumped. Long-term, the project is exploring ways to reduce CO2 emissions in day-to-day activities across the town.
Team effort
Sustainable Urban Development is coordinated by Resource City, which works with other teams in Naestved Municipality, the local waste management company and district heating company. Two educational institutions in Zealand – Zealand Business Economics and the Technical University of Denmark – contribute their knowledge about the latest innovations and technologies for sustainable waste management and energy efficiency. They use the project as a case study in their courses.
In addition, the local business centre, Naestved Erhverv, contributes by linking the project with businesses interested in testing and adopting green and sustainable solutions.
The project is one of many initiatives for sustainable, green urban development being implemented in Danish towns and cities. The goal of this national effort is for settlements with over 30 000 inhabitants to become more energy and resource efficient.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Remarkable Naestved – Sustainable green urban development with Innovative waste solutions and reduction of energy consumption in Næstved” is EUR 1 519 545, with the EU’s European Regional Development Fund contributing EUR 838 477 through the “Innovative and Sustainable Growth in Businesses” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment falls under the priority “Environment and resource efficiency”.