Helsingborg has been working strategically with environmental issues for many years. The result is brilliant. Helsingborg has been named Sweden´s most environmentally friendly municipality for the fourth year in a row by Swedish media company Aktuell Hållbarhet. Gävle in the east part of Sweden takes the second place and in third place is the capital Stockholm.
According to the city’s Head of the Environment, one of the success factors is that Helsingborg has a programme for the quality of life that combines environmental and health issues. Another key factor is the municipal plan for climate and energy, which states that Helsingborg is to be climate neutral no later than 2035. The third success factor is that the city actively engages citizens and local businesses in pushing forward the sustainability agenda.
Helsingborg has several cutting-edge facilities to visit. Vera Park is a landfill-turned-circular innovation park, where demand-led solutions for collecting household waste have been developed along with other smart solutions for waste handling. The site includes both a recycling plant and an incineration plant.
Another interesting place to visit in Helsingborg is Reco Lab at the new residential area Oceanhamnen (The Ocean Harbour). The apartments in the area all have three separate wastewater pipes; one vacuum pipe for toilets, one for food waste and a third pipe for the remaining greywater (showers, dishwashing and sinks). The separation of wastewater at the source enables recovery of resources from wastewater at Reco lab, Sweden’s first recovery plant.
Helsingborg is a mid-sized city with about 150 000 citizens. It is situated in the south of Sweden on the coast to Öresund, the narrow sound between Sweden and Denmark – just across from Hamlet’s castle in Helsingor.
