Amagerforbrænding

Last night, I went to listen to a speaker from a Renewable Energy company called Amagerforbrænding. He talked about his job, what his company does, and some of the environmental laws in Denmark. 


First of all, some stats on Denmark's waste. They recycle 70% of it, incinerate 20% (for heat, as mentioned before), landfill 5%, and the final 5% is Chemical waste that must be disposed of in a special way. Danes are not doing too differently over here that their waste isn't comparable to ours- which means we COULD be disposing of our waste in a similar manner. 


For some reason beyond my knowledge, bottles are easier to recycle than cans. There used to be a law in place that all drinks that came into Denmark had to be in glass bottles and the Danes were happy living in a can-free world. However, several years ago soda companies started requiring that Denmark accepted a mixture of both bottles and cans, or lose their soda fix all together. And thus, there are now cans sold in Denmark. However, rarely is a Dane seen drinking from a can (my opinion is that it is their passive aggressive way of revolting against all soda companies). 


In 1997, it became illegal in Denmark to landfill waste that could be incinerated. That was 2/3 of my life ago! How has this not caught on to America (or most other countries for that matter)?!?! 


Denmark uses a very manipulative (and Brilliant!!) way of teaching Danish people to recycle and care for the environment. Amagerforbrænding employees spend a lot of time going to children's classrooms to talk about how to be more environmentally friendly. By doing this, it 1. teaches children from a very young age the proper way to do things (instead of trying to teach an old cat new tricks), and 2. forces the parents to set a good example (I know I wouldn't want to be the parent that stares down at cute little pigtails and answers the question of why I'm not recycling the milk carton!). 


Education through children is definitely something we need a lot more of in America. That, and some sense of concern for the environment.