There will soon be 50 completely new options for handing over waste on the way.
A pilot project will use non-traditional methods to collect more of one type of waste.
Aalborg Municipality participates in the project in collaboration with Homerunner, Huset Venture Nordjylland and Nordværk.
Right now parcel boxes have been set up around Aalborg and Nørresundby, and here it must, among other things, in addition to picking up packages, it will be possible to hand over hazardous waste. Today, a collection solution has not been rolled out for the apartment buildings, unlike single-family houses, which have a red box for the purpose.
Right now, 32 of the gray parcel boxes are set up around Aalborg and Nørresundby, but 50 have been purchased.
Photo: Henrik Bo
– We will run the project for the next three years and will actually try to test different things. We will also look into whether it can be used for recycled packaging, says project manager Martin Quintero Hansen from Aalborg Municipality.
Hazardous waste includes spray bottles for hairspray and shaving foam, batteries, light bulbs, chemicals, cleaning agents, paint and oil residues.
Renting in
– Nordværk has rented the bottom two doors in the package boxes, where it is possible to hand in this hazardous waste. The other doors are intended for packages, says Martin Quintero Hansen.
Specifically, there is a QR code on the doors to the waste rooms that you scan.
Inside the packing box, the hazardous waste must go into a red box, which is the box given to single-family houses in the municipality.
Archive photo: Henrik Louis
– Then the door opens and inside there are red boxes that the households have been given, into which you hand over the waste, close the box and put it back in place.
So far, 32 out of 50 parcel boxes have been set up.
It is intended that all the freight companies must be able to use the boxes in an open system, and so far, e.g. DAO ready.
– It is built in such a way that we can change the composition, and we can add a section to a box if that is what we want.
Multiple factions
In the long term, there may be more waste fractions, for example the option of handing in textile waste or as a swap box for other recyclables or packaging.
The overall project Mobility Logistic Hubs project (MoLo) is a logistics project that focuses on reducing CO2 by coordinating driving in the city and testing different transshipment solutions (Hubs) in major European cities.
The project consists of 13 partners from 5 different countries: Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Belgium and Denmark. Waste in packing boxes is, however, completely new territory.
Better utilization
– It is not something with which there is experience from other areas and countries. We are the first to try to think of a better use of these packing boxes.
As mentioned, the block of flats have lacked a solution for hazardous waste, apart from the fact that they can use the recycling sites like everyone else. There are buried containers for the other waste fractions such as residual waste, cardboard/paper and plastic/metal.
– Therefore, we think that it is difficult to have to dig more into the ground, so the alternative would be environmental cabinets that stand in a backyard. Aarhus and Copenhagen Municipality have it and it works fine, says Martin Quintero Hansen.
Receiving stations
The parcel boxes must therefore function as receiving stations for hazardous waste around apartment buildings. Politically, there are great expectations for the project, which also entails an environmental benefit as the parcel boxes must help to reduce home deliveries and thus reduce a lot of stopping and driving in the city centre.
– It should both save driving for those who have a car, but it should also make it easier for those who don’t have a car, so that you might be able to get more recycling, because they can get rid of it in an easy way without throwing it in the bin, says climate and environment councilor Anna Aaen (EL), who also points out that most people know where the packaging boxes are located but not necessarily the waste bins.
Climate and environment councilor Anna Aaen (EL) sees great perspectives in the parcel boxes.
Stock photo: Bo Lehm
She sees great perspectives in the new solution and describes it as part of a burgeoning circular economy.
– There are very high expectations for this, and that there really is something to come following, says Anna Aaen, who believes that different waste fractions should be tried with the packing boxes.
At Nordværk, division manager for collection and customers, Jens Boye, is looking forward to the project.
– I actually think that it is a really good idea to have it tested precisely because many feel that this is where hazardous waste is problematic, says Jens Boye.
More collection
The hope is to get more of the hazardous waste out of the other types of waste.
– If we make it easy and user-friendly for people, then that is one of the most important preconditions for it to succeed, says Jens Boye.
The target for hazardous waste in the test areas is to collect an average of 2-4 kilos of hazardous waste per household per year in the areas included in the project.
2024-03-04 18:06:53
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