Innovation and test beds
Illustration: Tobias Green
Environmental profile H+
H+ is the name of the largest city development project in Helsingborg’s modern history. Helsingborg city has a clear vision to be a leader within environment and sustainability. In particular, the city aims to be an example for sustainable urban development both economically, socially and environmentally. To be able to reach this goal, the city has developed an environmental profile for H+. The ambition is to capture today’s and tomorrow’s challenges based on the knowledge we currently have and to be a natural part of every sub-project and development stage in the area. The environmental profile H+ is supposed to act as a framework and joint support for all actors involved in urban renewal projects, so that planning, building and management of the new city areas leads to a strong and credible environmental profile. Aside from
H+, Helsingborg City has initiated a collaboration with Öresundskraft, NSR and NSVA. The purpose of this collaboration is to analyse existing systems and operations; to work collectively to improve them and give suggestions on future systems and solutions within energy, waste, water and sewage. This co-operation led to the globally unique sewage system called “Three pipes out” at Oceanhamnen. The overall goal is to collect and use the waste as a resource to produce bio-gas and fertilizer in a safe way. In other words, the system will contribute to Helsingborg’s city environmental goal for H+, but also to the climactic and environmental work being carried out at on a national level.
Read more on hplus.helsingborg.se
RECO LAB – a test bed for research and development
To take care of the three different flows from the new sewage system at Oceanhamnen, a new facility is being built at the purification plant. The new facility is to be open and accessible to companies, researchers and public agents. The plan is to open a show-room and a test bed next to the new facility. The test bed will enable research and development throughout the whole process, from collecting and treating waste streams to communicating with users. The aim of the test bed is to develop techniques and services that contribute to Oceanhamnen becoming a sustainable part of the city.
Vera Park – industrial park and cluster
NSR AB (Nordvästra Skånes Renhållnings AB) has opened up its facilities around the region and together with Sustainable Business Hub, has wanted to shift its focus from rubbish dump to an arena for modern environmental tech. Vera Park serves as an industrial park and test ground from a waste and recycling perspective. They work with management and development of systems and products for the future of waste disposal management and recycling. The goal is that Vera Park is to become Europe’s leading centre for circular economy.
Vera Park is a collaboration between public agents, the business world and academia. In Vera Park today, there are 16 companies including NSR.
Read more on Vera park here…
Test bed, Vera Park
In the Vera Park test bed, new solutions for waste disposal and recycling are being tried out. Both researchers and corporations can test their ideas directly in the physical environment of the facility.
Work is being done to get the most out of the resources already plucked from the earth by creating circular flows. This could be about finding business models for recycling, finding new areas of use for existing waste or developing completely new products that could, for example, replace the use of fossil fuels.
Some of today´s projects at Vera Park
– Development and tests for different methods of creating a sturdy wooden composite using alternative fossil-free binding agents and wood-waste instead of formaldehyde. A patent application has been filed.
– Development of hygiene pads that are entirely renewable, biologically degradable and compostable.
– Landfill mining, i.e. excavating bio-cells in landfill to see if one can use landfill waste in a better way and for longer, from an energy perspective.