The Singaporean Minister for Environment and Water Resources Visits Denmark

13 November 2017

Starting today, the Minister for Environment and Water Resources in Singapore, Mr. Masagos Zulkifli is visiting Denmark to tour facilities related to the Danish waste and water sector. As part of the visit, he will meet with the Danish Minister of Environment and Food, Esben Lunde Larsen. The Minister is accompanied by officials from the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR), the National Environment Agency and the Public Utilities Board in Singapore.

In addition to other Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs), Denmark and Singapore signed a MoU in 2014, which established a framework for the two ministries to cooperate within the fields of environmental and water sustainability. By inviting the Minister from Singapore to Denmark, the aim is to strengthen the two countries’ shared commitment to those interests.

The Minister's visit kicked off with a visit to State of Green's headquarters in Copenhagen, where he and the delegation heard a presentation from the Danish Environment Protection Agency about Denmark's national resource recovery and waste prevention strategy. This was followed up by a presentation from the founder of the Stop Wasting Food Movement Denmark, Selina Juul, who explained how the movement has helped Denmark reduce its food wastage by 25% in just five years. During the rest of the two-day visit to Copenhagen and other parts of Zealand, the high-level delegation will tour the slag treatment plant Afetek, Avedøre Wastewater Treatment Plant, Marbjerg Water Treatment Plant, DanWEEE Recycling’s production facilities and Amager Resource Centre, including the prize winning Copenhill (Amager Bakke) waste-to-energy plant. During the final day of his visit, Mr. Masagos Zulkifli will meet with the Danish Minister of Environment and Food, Esben Lunde Larsen.

By touring the different facilities and meeting Danish stakeholders, the Singaporean Minister and his accompanying officials will be introduced to Denmark’s resource policy strategy and gain useful knowledge of Danish solutions to the challenges related to wastewater, food waste, electronic waste, bottom ash from incineration plants, water loss and water efficiency.

The different site visits are intended to provide insight into how the Danish industry minimises food waste, utilises resources in bottom ash from incineration plants, recovers energy from wastewater treatment, ensures effective, clean water supply, minimises water loss from urban water leakages and handles electronic waste.

The Danish companies and organisations participating in the scheduled programme are Danish Waste Solutions, the Stop Food Waste Movement, Project VARGA, HOFOR, LEAKman and DanWEEE Recycling. The visit has been organised by State of Green in collaboration with the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food.