Waste is a big problem all over the world. It is estimated that about 37 % of the waste generated globally end up in landfills*, creating problems such as water pollution, methane emissions and spreading of diseases. The Swedish company EFO wants to help countries to reduce the amount of generated waste and turn it into energy.
In the past decades, Sweden has managed to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill by a series of actions and today, less than 1 % of Swedish waste ends up in landfills. One of the solutions to reduce the amount of waste has been to incinerate the waste and turn it into energy for heating, cooling and electricity, which at the same time helps to detoxify the society.
EFO, a Swedish importer of waste, wants to help other countries to close the waste loop and generate energy to Swedish households. In combined heat and power (CHP) plants, EFO incinerates residual waste to create heat and power.
Together with their more than 20 international partners, EFO is able to make about 350 shipments every year, in total relocating about 800,000 tonnes of fuel annually. To get the most out of the resources used, EFO closely measures and monitors every relocated fuel batch. By importing waste, EFO solves several problems at the same time: the increasing amount of waste in the world and the need for energy sources.
Responsible shipping
EFO is one of the founders of the Responsible Shipping Initiative, (RSI). Together with some of Sweden’s largest charterers of dry cargo vessels, EFO works to secure the quality and increase the standard of the vessels and working conditions onboard the large number of ships that daily sails in the Baltic sea.
Looking for international partners
At the moment, EFO is mostly looking for partners in Europe but are hoping to expand globally further on. EFO is currently working with countries all over Europe, such as Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Finland and Poland. Thanks to a developed logistics infrastructure, EFO are able to transport waste from most parts of Europe with train, containers, trucks or bulk cargo ships.
* The World Bank