Find Swedish best practice

In the small village, Kivik, in the southeast of Sweden, you find the new residential area, Tvärpilen, where the Beautiful, the Sustainable and the Responsible come together in perfect combination.

The Swedish island of Gotland has experienced a severe water crisis in recent years, negatively affecting tourism and local businesses. To address this problem, innovative circular water solutions are being tested and evaluated in the area of Storsudret in southern Gotland.

In Kristianstad, one of the most polluted areas in southern Sweden has been decontaminated as part of a project to achieve a toxin-free environment. Toxins were reduced by 99.9% and the area is now the development site for a new residential district.

The new city district of Oceanhamnen in Helsingborg has created a solution for separating and recovering different kinds of waste water and food waste at source. This leads to sustainable reuse of resources through Sweden’s first recovery plant, Reco Lab.

The Augustenborg district in Malmö was ambitiously rebuilt to manage flooding problems and socioeconomic challenges. As a result of solutions based on ecosystem services, the area is now an attractive neighbourhood and an example of a successful sustainable makeover of an urban district.

Increased efforts in environmental technology is crucial to achieve a more sustainable use of society’s resources. MTC in Umeå specialises in the implementation of emerging environmental technologies, focusing on waste, contaminated water and contaminated soil.

Two pilot projects in Sweden are using algae cultivation to achieve a number of sustainable effects. Besides reducing carbon dioxide emissions and purifying waste water to minimise over-fertilization, the algae cultivation produces energy-rich algae mass that can be used for biodiesel and animal feed.

Järven Ecotech designs and installs complete treatment plants for purifying and collecting surface/storm water, leachate, industrial water and sewerage water. For example, Järven Ecotech’s totally unique floating walls/baffles can replace conventional surface/storm water purification solutions on the market, such as dug/excavated surface water basins, sedimentation tanks and filtering solutions.

District heating, district cooling, electricity and wood pellets in a smart combination for the next generation.

Purification of wastewater in Borlänge

Fågelmyra is Borlänge municipality recycling center. This is where bulky waste is placed. Borlange residents sort their waste into containers or as hazardous waste. All containers are signposted and marked to facilitate the sorting.

Within Umeå municipality there are a total of 19 wastewater treatment plants. The largest, Umeå Wastewater Treatment Plant, takes care of wastewater from households and various businesses in Umeå and surrounding villages. Every year, it receives about 13 million cubic meters of waste water, containing about 3000 tons of organic material and about 80 tonnes of phosphorus. The process of cleaning water demands a lot of energy, but the plant also produce biogas which gives 23 000 kWh per day.