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News | 2021-12-16
Avfallsdeponi i El Salvador. Projekt inom Smart City Sweden.

El Salvador wants to turn waste into energy with the help of Swedish solutions

Waste experts from IVL are currently in El Salvador to investigate the possibilities of improving waste management in the country. The project, which is run within Smart City Sweden, will reduce the amount of waste that is currently landfilled and instead build facilities where the waste is converted into energy in the form of electricity, heat or fuel for transport.

The capital city of El Salvador, San Salvador, is undergoing a fast population growth, which has put pressure on waste management in the city.

– During our visit to some of the landfills in San Salvador, we noticed that the landfills lack proper leachate treatment, which has led to groundwater contamination in nearby areas and health issues for the residents. The establishment of waste-to-energy plants will really improve the quality of life for the citizens, says Aditi Bhasin, waste expert at IVL and Head of Smart City Sweden Region East.

The platform Smart City Sweden, which is operated by IVL on behalf of the Swedish Energy Agency, demonstrates Swedish solutions for smart and sustainable cities and receives delegations from all over the world. That has led to the feasibility study that is now being started on the initiative the Government of El Salvador. The purpose is to investigate the possibilities of building waste-to-energy plants in the country.

During the week, representatives of Smart City Sweden have met with government and municipal officials in El Salvador, among them the Minister of Internal Affairs and Territorial Development, Juan Carlos Bidegain, and the Minister of Environment, Fernando Lopez. Smart City Sweden also met with mayors of 14 municipalities in the San Salvador Metropolitan Area and agreed on possible cooperation for the development of waste-to-energy plants.

The meetings were organised by El Salvador’s ambassador to Sweden, Patricia Godínez, who also led key meetings with government agencies and companies related to the issue to gather information on the processes carried out with waste.

– Sweden is a leader in sustainable development and offers some of the best technologies for converting waste to resources. The development of smart and sustainable cities is a priority for the Government of President Nayib Bukele, and therefore this project is very important for us. We hope that this project will lead to long-term cooperation between the two countries, says ambassador Patricia Godínez.

The study will provide a roadmap for the Government of El Salvador to establish waste-to-energy value chains in the country. The roadmap will include recommendations on technical, organisational and financing structures. The results of the study will provide a basis for eventual full-scale implementation.

For more information, please contact:
Aditi Bhasin: aditi.bhasin@ivl.se, +46 (0)10-788 67 08

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