In the presence of the Danish Minister for Environment and Food, DONG Energy has recently entered into a cooperation agreement with Cenviro, one of Malaysia's largest players within waste management. The parties will now test DONG Energy's REnescience technology, which uses enzymes to convert food waste and other organic household waste constituents into biogas.
Thomas Dalsgaard, Executive Vice President in DONG Energy, said:
"Malaysia is a very interesting market for our technology, as there's a growing need for exploiting the resources in the increasing waste volumes. A REnescience plant can produce large quantities of biogas from the very wet Malaysian household waste."
Today, the majority of Malaysian waste ends up in landfill sites, which is a huge environmental challenge, and none of the resources are utilised. At the same time, waste volumes are increasing – in Malaysia and worldwide. According to the World Bank, waste volumes worldwide will have increased by 70% by 2025 compared to 2012. There is therefore a need to find new solutions to handle the waste.
The Danish Minister for Environment and Food, Esben Lunde Larsen, attended the signing of the agreement. He was in Malaysia to talk with his Malaysian counterpart about Denmark's experience and competences within the area of waste management.
Esben Lunde Larsen said:
"Denmark has been working closely with Malaysia for a number of years on environmental and waste legislation. I'm pleased that preliminary steps are now being taken towards commercial cooperation. Malaysia is working hard to grow its economy in an eco-friendly manner, and this agreement will hopefully help bring Malaysia closer to this goal."
Waste is increasingly seen as a resource rather than a problem. And Denmark has unique competences in the field of waste management.
Karin Klitgaard, Environmental Policy Director at the Confederation of Danish Industry, said: "Waste can be recycled and used in new products. It can also be converted to fuel, heat or other types of energy. Modern waste management not only helps improve the environment; it also helps us utilise a valuable resource which can create development and contribute to increasing wealth."
As the content of waste differs considerable from country to country, DONG Energy is now shipping a mobile version of a REnescience plant to Malaysia. The mobile plant is to test the potential of the technology in a Malaysian context. DONG Energy is planning to send the mobile plant to other Asian countries to test whether there is an export market for it.
DONG Energy is in the process of constructing its first full-scale REnescience plant. Located near Manchester in the UK, it will be capable of handling 120,000 tonnes of waste a year. The plant is expected to be operational at the beginning of 2017.