Food Waste and the Circular Economy – Experience from Denmark
Denmark has a long legacy as an agricultural producer and exporter, with a strong national interest in maintaining healthy soil and clean water. The capture and use of nutrients in food waste and animal manure is on the rise especially over the last several years with the growth of centralized large-scale anaerobic digester (AD) facilities.
As communities in Denmark look to divert more food waste from incineration, the production of ‘bio-pulp’ for delivery to AD plants for renewable energy and fertilizer production continues to grow. The quality controls and regulations around digestate use on croplands in Denmark has led to development of systems designed to limit contamination. These could serve as a model for the numerous de-packaging systems that have been deployed in the US.
The webinar provides an overview of the multi-faceted policy framework that has been put in place over the last 20 years to allow for continued growth of the agriculture sector with a decreasing environmental footprint.
This webinar was part of CAV’s ICAW 2020 program.
Panelists:
Bob Spencer, Windham Solid Waste Management District
Claus Mortensen, Agro Business Park
Dr. Rasmus Eisted, Circular Economy and Waste Management, Danish Environmental Protection Agency
Lars Ravn Nielsen, Gemidan Ecogi A/S
Moderator: Chris Voell, Senior Commercial Advisor at the Embassy of Denmark in Washington, DC, where he was heading the Waste, Recycling & Biogas Advisory.
Video time stamps:
0:00-2:54 Intro to CAV/ICAW
2:54- 8:26 Intro to webinar
8:26-20:18 Bob Spencer
20:18-36:39 Claus Mortensen
36:39-54:57 Dr. Rasmus Eisted
54:57-1:10:53 Lars Nielsen
1:10:53-1:25:08 Q&A
Slide decks from our panelists:
