The factory director has already been hired. And although he was present when the construction site held a moving party on Tuesday afternoon, Lars H. Kristensen has not yet fully started.
- I will not start until next Monday, and my last day at my old job was yesterday, says Lars H. Kristensen, who in several ways is entering something he has extensive experience with.
The chemical engineer comes from a position as operations director at Fortum Waste Solutions in Nyborg, or as he himself says, the old Kommunekemi.
- I have produced plastic myself before, and I spent time getting to know it, he says.
The plant can sort 160,000 plastic waste every year, and that is ample capacity for now. Currently, there are officially 60,000 tons of plastic waste on an annual basis in Denmark – with an increasing trend. So in the near future, plastic waste will be imported to ReSource Denmark's waste sorting facility just south of Esbjerg. The infrastructure here is top-notch, because on one side is the motorway as a neighbor, and on the other side the railway.
Working at the port
But it is not only road and rail that will be used, because a large part of the plastic for recycling is expected to come by ship to the Port of Esbjerg. From here it will then be driven the few kilometers to the facility in the Esbjerg district of Veldbæk. This is something that the director of the Port of Esbjerg, Dennis Jul Pedersen, is already sure of.
- Part of the plastic that comes here for recycling will come across the quay. It also helps that we have the railway extended because we have become a NATO port, explains the port director.
He also has no doubt that the travel allowance heralds a beginning.
- This shows part of the future, and it is part of the circular economy. It is exciting, and it is a great resource with recycling, says Dennis Jul Pedersen.
It is already clear that the first 20,000 tons of plastic waste will come from Finland. Negotiations are even underway to receive plastic waste from the northern German border region. However, the goal is that it will primarily be Danish plastic waste, even though not enough of it is yet produced in Denmark.
Organization building
The task of obtaining plastic for recycling is not one of Lars H. Kristensen's areas of work. The factory manager will have his focus somewhere else.
- Now we need to set up a team so that we can train the employees. Then the training can begin, says Lars H. Kristensen, who can look forward to the modern waste sorting plant arriving after Easter from the German company Eggersmann Recycling Technology.
For the factory manager, there is not much new in the technology itself.
- It is a bit the same as what I dealt with when I was educated as an engineer here in Esbjerg in 1994, although it is more modern, he says.
Lars H. Kristensen lives in Horsens, and for the time being he expects to have to commute to Esbjerg, even though he has a summer house in Blåvand.
This is what Resource Denmark's waste sorting plant will look like when it is completed in January 2024.
Article updated 13.04.23. at 10:47.
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