In 1970 the only fraction removed before incineration was scrap metal.Today Vestforbrænding receives 29 different waste fractions for recycling through collection of bulky waste from households, from recycling igloos and recycling centres, where residents and businesses deliver waste for recycling.

Important environmental milestones in the Vestforbrænding history:

1970: Vestforbrænding starts incinerating waste. The plant has three furnaces with dust filter, the highest smokestack of Denmark of more than 150 meters, and cooling of heat.

1972: District heating supply to the nearby Hospital of Herlev starts

1975: First environmental approval of Vestforbrænding activities

1977: Furnace 4 is put into operation, and incineration capacity increases from 36 tonnes/hour to 50 tonnes/hour.

1982: The first of 24 recycling centres in our catchment area opens in the city of Farum

1987/88: Garden and park waste for composting increases from around 40,000 to today’s around 100,000 tonnes/year. This means that more industrial waste can be diverted from landfill to incineration.
 
1988: Establishment of state-of-the-art landfill with liners, leachate collection etc.

1990-92: Establishment of flue-gas treatment facility designed for future requirements

1994: Vestforbrænding publishes its first annual ”Green Accounts”.

1999: Plant 5 is put in operation. This is a power-generating plant with 8,000 operating hours per year, 26 tonnes of waste per hour, denox and dioxin filter for flue-gas treatment.

2005: Plant 6 is put in operation. Plant 6 is (at that time) the largest waste furnace in northern Europe with a capacity of 35 tonnes of waste per hour.

2003/4: Merger with the waste management companies of VEGA and AFAV means more activities in solving waste management assignments of our owner municipalities

2003: Environmental certification under ISO 14001 of the plant in the city of Glostrup

2003: Consumer service department and information activities are formalised and developed.

2007: Commissioning of flue-gas condensation gives far better utilisation of heat energy from incineration. 

2007/8:  Environmental certification under ISO 14001 of the plants in the cities of Frederikssund and Høje Taastrup as well as the six recycling centres operated by Vestforbrænding.

2008: Introduction of life-cycle based environmental assessment of activities

2007/10: Vestforbrænding expands the district heating grid substantially substituting the new costumers’ heating on fossil fuels

2010: More than 500 employees and their consorts celebrate Vestforbrænding’s the 40 year anniversary

2011: The education centre WasteLab is opened for the many guests from schools improving yet again the awareness of waste management and clever use of the resources in the waste.