What is the project about?

The Watt-a-waste project is a cross-border collaboration across the Baltic Sea (South Baltic) and stems from the region's need to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. The project works to facilitate the integration of energy production based on waste fractions that are difficult to reuse or recycle, through more advanced energy technologies than conventional waste incineration.

WAW focuses on developing and testing advanced technologies that can be integrated into regional and local energy systems through pilot-level test facilities. The installations are to serve as test facilities for the problematic fractions that, among others, BOFA handles on a daily basis, such as difficult mixed plastic fractions.

Through three pilot trials, WAW will explore the potentials of two different energy technologies, as well as the opportunities presented by advanced pre-treatment methods based on both biological and physical methods. Through the three pilot trials, WAW seeks to facilitate energy production with the lowest possible CO2 emissions and the cleanest possible residual products.

The two energy technologies are, respectively, a dry reforming technology at relatively low temperatures and a plasma-based technology.

BOFA's role in the project is partly to identify and facilitate relevant waste fractions that can be used as source materials for the experiments, partly to identify and address the potentials and challenges at policy and societal level in using the energy technologies, and partly to facilitate cross-border collaboration and dialogue concerning waste fractions and handling methods.

What value does it give BOFA and Bornholm?

As part of Vision 2032/Zero Waste Bornholm, BOFA's existing incineration plant on Almegårdsvej in Rønne is being decommissioned, and while the vision and goal for BOFA is that as much waste as possible is reused and recycled either locally or on the mainland, an advanced energy technology for energy production may be of interest in Bornholm's energy system for several different reasons.

It is important to explore the development work regarding energy technologies based on waste fractions for which BOFA and the national and international waste management sector cannot find methods of reuse or recycling. This is partly because energy production may be the most environmentally and socially meaningful way to handle these fractions, and partly because WAW's perspective is smaller decentralised regional and local production units, which fits Bornholm's situation as a small and relatively isolated island community.

The project's need for a deeper investigation into specific waste fractions can provide BOFA with important information and learning regarding the options available for managing difficult waste fractions, as well as uncover potential cross-border collaborations and thereby further contribute to the realisation of Vision 2032.

Coordinator/partners

Coordinator: Gdansk University of Technology (PL), which is in charge of preparing experiments with dry reforming technology.

Other partners: Klaipeda University (LT), Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (DE), Gumeko sp. z o.o. (PL), Linnaeus University (SE), SweHeat and Cooling (SE) and BOFA (DK).

Project type: Interreg South Baltic

Duration: 36 months