Insinkerator has supplied food waste disposers to a sustainable housing project in Oceanhamnen in Helsingborg, Sweden. The project aims to be an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable urban development.
The project is at its first stage and has 350 residential apartments and three offices. By the end, there will be 1,200 residential apartments and 40,000 square metres of office, a hotel and other services like shops, a dentist and GP surgery.
One of the critical areas of the project is the sewerage system that collects waste through three separate wastewater streams. This is where Insinkerator’s waste disposal units come into play, as the food waste from the drains will be direct their food waste to RecoLab, a specially designed wastewater treatment facility. With this system, there should be a reduction in greenhouse gases in the area by 50%.
Using waste disposals is said to help reduce greenhouse gases forming in a landfill. It also keeps food waste from lingering in kitchens.
Anne Kaarlela, marketing communications and customer service manager, Europe, InSinkErator, said: “We are thrilled to be part of the Oceanhamnen project, providing residents with a hygienic and sustainable solution to managing their food waste while also ensuring the food waste generates biogas instead of producing methane in landfill.
“It’s important to us at InSinkErator to participate and support projects that aim to enhance consumers’ lives through innovative, sustainable developments and we hope that the positive outcomes from the Oceanhamnen project influence and encourage future sustainable housing developments.”
NSVA (Nordvästra Skånes Vatten och Avlopp/North West Scania Water and Waste Water) conducted an independent survey of the project’s residents and found that 96% would want to own a waste disposer again.
93% would recommend the product to others, and 79% are enthusiastic and proud to show visitors their food waste disposer. In addition, 70% of those surveyed are satisfied with using a food waste disposer, compared to the alternative of collecting waste in paper bags and taking it to the basement of the building.
Hamse Kjerstadius, the development engineer at NSVA, said: “Present day sewerage systems are not built for recovery, they are built to remove nutrients and they do that very well, however, the systems that we have installed in Oceanhamnen are actually designed to recover products from wastewater.
“The main advantage is the separation of flows with a high concentration of nutrients and organic matter (food waste and sewage). Once we have separated them, we can apply much better technology at the treatment plant. And that’s the reason why we can increase the nutrient recovery so much.”