Sigtuna is a small town located on the continent of Europe and is located between Stockholm and Uppsala, Sweden. This small town was built in the 10th century or about 980 AD, by someone named Viking King Erik Segersall of Sweden (Erik the Victorious).
Sigtuna is the oldest city in Sweden and consists of narrow winding streets, there are also dozens or even hundreds of well-lined wooden houses and handicraft shops.
Although the city is very small the city is categorized as an eco-municipality city for more than 17 years. This small town is also very concerned about environmental care movement and always do conservation.
Prior to joining the Swedish Energy Agency program in 2008 with the aim of making the city sustainable, the city has already designed an environmentally friendly city. The way to do this is by providing green spaces, implementing energy efficient buildings, using environmentally friendly transportation system and water and waste management properly.
The city also belongs to Fair Trade City. Just like the cities of Rome, London and Brussels, the city is a fair and ethical state of consumption. This indicates, Sigtuna does have a number of large stores and businesses that comply with the Fair Trade requirements for the procurement category as well as providing environmentally friendly products.
This small town also has an enormous forest area, parks, special fields for farm animals, a very important water environment and historic buildings. Most of these areas are protected by nature reserves.
The city also has a unique motto, which is “No one can walk more than ten minutes in the green area”. The motto is also always voiced by the environmental community in this small town to all their community.
In addition to having a variety of green areas that are protected by the nature reserve, the city also has an environmentally friendly airport. Stockholm Arlanda Airport is the first and only airport in the world to have a carbon emissions cap that has received environmental permission from the local government. The airport has also managed to reduce the number of carbon emissions.
The buildings of the airport also have district heating from biofuels and have the electric power that comes from wind, biofuel and wind power. The fleet used is also gradually replaced into an environmentally friendly vehicle.
Stockholm Arlanda Airport also cooperates with all airlines that will take off to this airport, as well as encourage to use modern aircraft. The airport also requires all airlines to replace old fleets and switch to new and modern aircraft as carbon emissions from modern aircraft are fewer than those of older aircraft. In addition, it can also reduce noise to avoid noise pollution.
The wastewater at the airport is also recycled into fertilizer. Water used car washing and water workshop accommodated and then treated well by removing pollutants and filter the levels of metal and oil. The water is then reprocessed so that it becomes fertilizer for plants around the airport.
Said to be the world’s first eco-friendly airport, Stockholm Arlanda Airport gets the world’s first award given by Airport Council International (ACI), this award is due to good work achievements and an innovative approach to environmental management.
Not only has the airport is environmentally friendly, the city also has a beautiful water park and clean. This park performs biological water purification. The performance of this garden filters dirty water by making a pond system, which consists of rocks, plants, gravel and then flows back naturally to become clean and fresh water.
A farm in Sigtuna also creates and offers employment opportunities for people who immigrate to Sweden. They also told how to work in the countryside and to explain exploring the area without destroying nature.
Sigtuna has been applied in various ways to become the first environmentally friendly city in Sweden. Though a small town, the city has challenged the three largest cities in Sweden, such as Gothenburg, Malmo, and Norrkoping to make eco-friendly cities with clean carbon dioxide emissions. Not only for these three cities, it is a challenge as well as motivation from Sigtuna for cities in any part of the world to follow this footstep.
