Page 14 - Stockholm-Exergi-2021-in-brief

Consumption produces residual waste and that is why there is a
need for companies like ours. It is not the other way around, i.e.,
residual waste is produced because we exist. This is a key point
for Stockholm Exergi. We offer a societal service that treats residual
waste that cannot be source-sorted – and we do this in some ex-
tremely smart ways.

With the help of incineration, we produce elec- less recyclable material that remains in waste,
tricity and heat from residual waste, known as the lower the cost for those who generate waste.
energy recovery. Incineration also enables us to Today, the cost of carbon dioxide emissions falls
remove substances from the circular cycle, such on us and our district heating customers in the
as heavy metals. form of emission rights, for example. With today’s
model, we do not eliminate emissions; rather,
The positive effect of our treatment service responsibility for fossil-based waste should be
therefore has a dual effect. Unfortunately, it also shifted earlier along the waste hierarchy – among
produces carbon dioxide. Society’s residual producers and consumers – because when it
waste, for example, contains substantial propor- comes to us, it is too late.
tions of fossil-based plastics. We do not want to
burn plastic and have therefore said that source In two exciting collaborations in 2021 – one with
sorting must increase to achieve a greater de- Swedish property company Stena Fastigheter,
gree of material recycling and less incineration and one with Fastighetsägarna Stockholm – we
of fossil-based materials such as plastic. Our focused on how household source sorting could
task should only be to treat residual waste that be increased. Through targeted information
cannot or should not be recycled. To do this, efforts in two of its properties, Stena Fastigheter
incentives and rules must be created to increase has, in a limited period, successfully reduced the
source sorting and to reduce the proportion of proportion of plastic by 40 per cent in tenants’
plastic that enters the circular cycle in the first residual waste. This clearly shows that it is possible
place. We believe that the simple logic should to achieve change.
be that the less waste that is generated and the

Emissions presented in new report for customers

At the beginning of 2022, our waste customers will receive a report from us which,
among other things, shows which carbon dioxide emissions the incineration of their
waste caused in 2021. We hope that our customers will use the information in the
report in their own climate initiatives and that they share the information to those who
have generated waste. Visibility is important and in order to reduce overall emissions,
all actors need to take their responsibility and try to exert influence where possible.

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