COVER STORY
19recyclinginternational.com | January/February | 2023
ticularly young people? ‘This part of
the world has so much more to offer
than cheap and clean energy alone,’
says Christoffer Svanberg of business
consultancy Node Pole who helps
investors pick the best location for
their production facilities. Major ener-
gy consumers such as data centres are
among his clients.
‘Obviously, most young people prefer
to live in a big city rather that a small
one in the north where the winters are
long and cold,’ he adds. ‘Skelleftea
may be a small city but it has plenty to
offer: it’s safe and clean and we have
a lot of space. What’s more, we have
beautiful nature and great facilities for
both winter sports and summer activi-
ties.’
…AND A COOL HOTEL
Meanwhile, Skelleftea itself puts a lot
of effort into being an attractive place
to live. With the wave of new inhabit-
ants, trendy bars and restaurants
offering international cuisine have
opened their doors. The biggest
game changer, and quite unusual for a
city of 75 000, has been the opening
of The Wood Hotel and Sara Kulturhus
in 2022. The latter, an almost 100%
wooden and energy neutral building
of 20 storeys has more than 200
rooms, a theatre, library and spa club
with a fancy Asian restaurant on the
top overlooking the city and the sur-
roundings.
‘MINDBLOWING SHIFT’
Change has come to the north of
Sweden and it has come fast, but that
has not been easy for the locals. ‘The
truth is that here in the north we were
not used to “fast”,’ says Karin Anqvist,
corporate responsibility manager at
copper smelter/recycler Boliden. ‘It’s a
mind-blowing shift. For the past 100
years, mining and wood processing
were our main activities. Now we are
entering a whole new era in which we
are challenged to be more creative,
innovative and willing to collaborate.’
Together, companies in the north have
to find ways to deal with this new
future and to succeed in their mission
to facilitate and realise the green tran-
sition, Anqvist believes. ‘Together we
need to find ways to get people from
outside to come here. Perhaps we
need to be a bit braver and faster.’
‘We simply have to make it happen,’
agrees recruiter Svensson. ‘100 000
extra people on a population of 450
000 is quite something, true. But you
cannot be part of this green revolu-
tion if you don’t succeed in bringing
new people in. The message is clear:
“Come to our region and help save
the world”.’
Northvolt’s giga factory near Skelleftea. © Northvolt
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