A delegation of city leaders from Boras, Sweden, visited Savannah July 12-16 to share their methods in using municipal waste to produce energy.
Members of the group, which included Boras Mayor Ulrik Nilsson, toured housing developments and waste-disposal sites. They also provided advice on processes Savannah can use to reduce waste and build profitable new enterprises.
Boras Energy and Environment, the city-owned waste management company that spearheads efforts to turn trash into heating and cooling energy, electricity and bio gas for Boras, has more than 140 employees and made a $4 million profit on $80 million in revenues during 2009, news services reported.
Delegation members met with top Savannah government and economic development officials. They also visited five surrounding counties to conduct seminars on waste-to-energy technology, which has reduced by 10 times the amount of trash in Boras’ landfills.
The parties represented in the delegation are a part of Waste Recovery in Boras – International Partnership, a consortium of city, education and business leaders that teaches partner cities about Boras’ success in turning waste to energy.
Savannah and Boras first kindled their ties in 2009 during the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce‘s annual Entrepreneurial Days business conference in Savannah.
At the conference, Savannah signed a sister-city partnership with Vaxjo, Sweden. While attending a green building conference in Vaxjo last year, Savannah leaders including Mayor Otis Johnson made a stop in Boras, a town of 60,000 people in western Sweden.
See GlobalAtlanta‘s reporting on Edays: http://edays.globalgeorgia.com/
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