Renholdningsselskabet af 1898 (

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

for "The 1898 Cleansing Company"), commonly known as R98, is a

company owned by

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

and

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

municipalities. It serves the people there by collecting

waste Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste prod ...

(including garden waste, hazardous waste, clinical waste and

bulky waste Bulky waste or bulky refuse is a technical term taken from waste management to describe waste types that are too large to be accepted by the regular waste collection. It is usually picked up regularly in many countries from the streets or pavement ...

), recycling glass and

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distrib ...

, as well as other specialist waste services. R98 is a

non-profit company A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

and must therefore not make money on the handling of waste.

History

The company started in 1898 under the name ''Kjøbenhavns Grundejeres Renholdningsselskab'', shortened to KGR. Then its task was to empty and wash latrine buckets, in the jargon called "removal of

night soil Night soil is a historically used euphemism for human excreta collected from cesspools, privies, pail closets, pit latrines, privy middens, septic tanks, etc. This material was removed from the immediate area, usually at night, by workers em ...

". The buckets were carried to Amager, where they built a cleaning station. From this Amager got the unattractive

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

''Lorteøen'' (the shit island). In 1984 the container department Renoflex was eliminated from R98 because of problems with solutions for industrial waste and garbage collection outside the coverage. In 2003 tenders were invited for the collection of garden refuse and bulky refuse in containers. This was due to (for instance) dissatisfaction from other haulage contractors because the task without supplies was carried out by Renoflex, and they thought this was unfair. This led to a splitting up of the contract into two districts (north and south) that are served by two separate companies. In a 2005 case R98's 30-year contract with the municipalities for the collection of refuse was declared illegal. After this the planning of the call for tenders of this area started, and at the same time one agreed to that the service in the course of time was to be transferred to be a municipal task. Because of the size of the tasks, tenders were invited over a short period of years. The company should be finally eliminated and the necessary staff transferred to the two municipalities.

References

External links

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{{waste Waste management companies of Denmark Service companies based in Copenhagen Waste companies established in 1898 Danish companies established in 1898