TRASH IS CASH

One company’s trash is another’s treasure at the Kalundborg Symbiosis park in Denmark, where companies collaborate to save resources. The Novo Nordisk facility pictured here makes half of the world’s insulin – used in diabetes treatment – through engineered yeast. Its would-be waste, ethanol and gaerfløde (yeast ‘cream’), are instead used in biogas and fertiliser production. In this image, an operator checks a pressure gauge while equipment is steam sterilised.

Also at the park is a power plant that was recently converted from coal-fired to biomass-fired: it runs on wood chips, supplying steam for industrial uses and heating for local homes and other on-site businesses.

“The main principle is that a residue from one company becomes a resource at another, benefiting both the environment and the economy,” explains Michael Hallgren, senior vice president at Novo Nordisk and chairman of

Kalundborg Symbiosis. He claims the partnership saves over 635,000kg CO2 and £21m in business expenses every year.