Initial Impressions: A Forward-Thinking, Windswept Nation

Hello there! I’m Iben, a long-time creator and communication designer for Farm Table. I’m currently on a four-month tour of Europe, exploring agricultural innovation and renewable energy, particularly as it relates to farming.​

So far, my impressions of Denmark are that it’s green, humid, and windy! Even before landing at Copenhagen Airport, I spotted offshore wind farms generating power for Copenhagen and its surroundings. The airport itself is located near the Middelgrunden offshore wind farm, which is a prominent landmark for arriving travellers.

After landing, I learned that Copenhagen Airport has installed a battery system for storing green power. This initiative to integrate battery systems and smart energy management is part of ‘ALIGHT’, an EU project. The project seeks to determine how electrification and diverse energy sources can be incorporated into future airports, with aircraft, vehicles, and buildings all powered by 100 per cent renewable energy.

When I arrived at our house for the summer, I was amazed to see four large rubbish bins, each with separate compartments, lined up neatly in our driveway! It immediately became clear that we had arrived in a truly forward-thinking country, far more advanced than many other places we’d visited recently. We quickly learned that Danes are incredibly proud of their recycling efforts, meticulously sorting their waste to recycle as much as possible.​ Bottles and cans, for example, are always recycled, and you always get your deposit back when you return the empty containers.

Denmark has very clear rules for waste sorting, which everyone, from households to workplaces, follows.

The main idea is to sort waste into ten different categories:

• Food Waste: This includes all your food scraps, fruit and vegetable peelings, and even coffee grounds.
• Paper: Think newspapers, magazines, cardboard, loose paper, and envelopes (just make sure there’s no plastic).
• Cardboard: This is for packaging and cardboard boxes (remember to remove any tape or polystyrene).
• Metal: Clean tins, lids, and foil go here.
• Glass: Bottles and other glass items (without their lids or stoppers).
• Plastic: All your plastic packaging and bottles (they need to be clean too).
• Food Cartons: Such as milk or juice cartons.
• Textile Waste: This covers clothes, shoes, and curtains, whether they’re in good condition or a bit worn out.

I find it fascinating that the most captivating part of Denmark’s recycling system is what happens to their organic waste. Bioenergy is Denmark’s leading renewable energy source, accounting for over 75% of the country’s total renewable energy consumption. In my next article, I’ll dive deeper into how organic waste becomes a crucial resource for generating biogas, which is then refined and added to the natural gas network, or used to produce heat and electricity at Denmark’s many biogas plants.

More about Danish Biogas plants here.