Sustainability

General Explanation  

The most common understanding of self-sustainability and sustainable development is that we return to the earth and environment in the same and better conditions than we got it in. 

Our explanation 

The simplest explanation of sustainability and sustainable development is that we leave the environment to the next generation, in as good or even better condition than it was in when we received it. 

Being sustainable means doing things in a way that helps us enjoy life without harming the environment, where you make sure that the environment is clean and the balance of nature is preserved, so that future generations can also enjoy nature and use it without damaging it. For example, it can be said that you received the earth as a gift. You need to look after it like a small child and return it to nature and in better condition than it was in when you got it. 

Self-sustainablilty in water purification-plants. 

The slam project involves students introducing themselves to Water purification-plants in Hrunamannhreppur and in Roskilde, Denmark.  

The purification plant in Hrunamannahreppur contains sludge collected from septic tanks in the area with a special sludge-purification car. And then the sludge is taken to a purification-plant and then it is poured into a Calcareous-machine. After that the sludge is mixed with Calcareous and grass-seeds. After this process the sludge is used for land reclamation in the highlands in the Flúðir area.  

The Water purification-plant in Hrunamannahreppur is the only one of its kind in Iceland.  

We sent three companies three questions regarding sustainability

1. Is your company sustainable?  

2. If yes, how is the company sustainable?  

3. If not, could you consider being sustainable in the future and what ways do you see in that regard? 

Answers from Þvottur and Lín

1. No we are not sustainable. 

3. Numerous ways are available to increase sustainability. A young company needs to take the pieces it can handle and little by little get to a point in the business where it is as sustainable as possible. What we will focus on to begin with, are among other things: 

- More environmentally friendly packaging of our own products. 

- Encourage environmental awareness among employees.  

- Guide and provide tools and ways to make it easier.  

- Celebrate diversity and equal gender. 

- Be a health-promoting workplace. 

- Reduce carbon footprint 

- Electrification of the company's Vehicles.  

-To sort garbage firmly.  

-Promote education and re-education.  

-Maintain sorting garbage's and customization as best possible. 

Obviously, many other things could be mentioned that will be worked on slowly. 

Answers from Flúðasveppir

1. Yes I would say so. 

2. But we do not have any current sustainability policy. We contribute to a natural cycle by returning to nature the material we take from it and at the same time making it better and richer for cultivation for future generations. We grow 150 hectares of coastal reeds every year, which binds the Co2 we emit into the atmosphere from our company. We sort our waste according to society's rules. We encourage our foreign staff to participate in society in order to promote it as a whole. But all this can be improved and done better. 

Answers from Límtré Vírnet

1. We don't really know because it is highly dependent on all kinds of assessments. We are working on a summary of the sustainability report for the company, where we try to assess to the best of our ability where we stand in terms of sustainability. Sustainability for our company is about us taking responsibility for our operations and having a constructive impact on the environment, governance and society. 

2.  We consider ourselves to be a responsible company that takes responsibility for our environmental footprint and we do our very best to supports our community and local environment as much as we can.  We are for example with a certified management system according to ISO 9001 and we will receive, if all goes well, environmental certification now in almost a year. 

3. For a company of our size, we are obligated to submit a sustainability report to the auditor, similar to other accounting documents. There are very big business opportunities for us to demonstrate that we are doing well in sustainability, and therefore it is natural to follow it closely, as we do today. 

Methane gas

Methane is the simplest combination of carbon and hydrogen that exists; the chemical formula is CH4. Methane is an odorless gas and is harmless when inhaled. It is lighter than air and evaporates very quickly when it meets the atmosphere. 

The energy contained in the methane is used by combustion, most often by combustion for heating but also for electricity production or even in industry or on vehicles. Methane is the mainstay of natural gas. Methane is a rare greenhouse gas, but combustion produces water and carbon dioxide. Although the molecule is the same (CH4), the main difference between natural gas and methane from organic matter is that by burning natural gas, greenhouse gases are being added to the atmosphere, but by burning methane from organic matter, carbon dioxide that plants took in is being returned the atmosphere of "yesterday". 

Methane gas experiment

We were given the task of cutting up potatoes and cabbage and we put them in a large bowl along with waste from chickens and a little water. After all the ingredients had been placed in the bowl, it was closed and a plastic tube with a plastic bag was attached to it. After a little over a week, the bag should be full of methane gas.

In order to see the action of the gas, the plastic tube was taken out of the bowl and connected to a stand. Once the tube was attached to the stand, we were given some matches and we were supposed to press the bag, which was full of methane gas, and place the lit match against the methane gas passing through the plastic tube. When the match was brought to the methane gas, a fire broke out as the gas flared up. Thereby we saw how methane gas can be used for energy production.