Danish companies are Europe's cleanest

Danish companies are European champions at making clean profit, a new study on industrial waste revealed on Wednesday.

The average Danish company typically generates only 68 kilos of waste products for every USD 1,000 they create in value, according to a study conducted by the European Topic Centre on Resource and Waste Management for Danish industry daily journal Idag.

In contrast to the Danish figures, Poland tops off at more than a ton of trash for every USD 1,000 it creates, while Portugal produces 262 kilos and France 271 kilos for the same value.

'The explanation is that Denmark's production companies mainly produce knowledge-based products, since low-tech production usually is unprofitable here. High-tech products typically grow in value without generating many waste products,' said Lars Aagaard, the head of the Confederation of Danish Industries' environmental department.

The reason behind Danish companies environmentally friendly performance can also be attributed to political pressure directed early on to companies to limit waste production, according to Birgit Holmboe, department head at Waste Centre Denmark.

'Waste production is essentially a waste of resources, and Danish companies realised that at an early stage,' she said. 'In contrast to many other countries Danish companies also have a tradition of using an environmentally friendly profile to promote themselves.'