Waste

Oslo, Norway

Waste management system

Summary

Oslo has an integrated waste management system that is based on the Waste Management Hierarchy. In 2006, more than 200,000 tonnes household waste was collected and of this 1% was reused, 27% material recovered, 67% energy recovered and only 5% went to landfill. 58,000 tonnes of CO2 were avoided through use of waste to generate energy for the city’s district heating system.

What is it?

The municipality has had sole responsibility for the collection of all household waste since 1932, with citizens paying a mandatory annual charge of between US$ 150-370 that finances Oslo Municipal Waste Management.

Since 1993, this organization has outsourced services with commercial waste operators carrying out collection services on 5-year contracts. In 2005, two waste-to-energy plants were established within a new agency, The Waste-to-Energy Agency.

From 2006-2009, the city has a Waste Management Strategy that, for example, sets ambitious targets for sorting of plastics and organic waste. This strategy aims to establish a “recycle and reuse” society.

How does it work?

The new Waste Management Strategy (WMS) builds on national strategies and promotes the waste management hierarchy. This hierarchy says the priorities are:

1. Waste reduction - prevent production of waste
2. Re-use of objects
3. Material recovery
4. Incineration (Waste-to-Energy), and the least preferred way of handling waste
5. Landfill (for inert waste only).

Incineration and landfill are seen as the least desirable forms of waste management and represent the last resort within Oslo’s strategy. As such, a large part of the WMS concentrates on the behavioural habits of citizens – an attitude change must take place, if citizens are to carry out waste reduction and reuse and prevent landfill and incineration.

Sorting of materials must take place not only at recycling stations, but also in kitchens, living rooms and offices. Collaborations with voluntary organisations, awareness raising campaigns and tools such as a well-used website, and the extension of the local collection site network, all aim to enable citizens to implement the strategy.

In addition, the city is encouraging developers to install pneumatic waste collection services and thus reduce the need for truck-based collections. The “producer pays” principle is also being promoted with regard to consumer packaging.

Application

Household waste is sorted by citizens - in their own homes – into various fractions. Since 1997, paper and drink cartons have been collected by the city after separation in households, whereas glass and metal packagings are delivered by households to the 537 local collection sites around the city.

Oslo has two large recycling stations and plan to build another one. In 2006, the recycling stations had about 500,000 visitors. By 2009, ten local recycling stations will be established, creating more convenient facilities for communities. Around 50 environmental waste stations, located at gasoline stations, are collection points for hazardous waste.

Norway has banned the deposition of biodegradable waste in landfills from 2009, yet in Oslo, this target was met in 2002. Since then, the city landfill site has concentrated on waste sorting and recycling and will close in 2007. Landfill gas from earlier deposits is collected and fed into the waste-to-energy plants, delivering energy for district heating and production of electricity.

Two waste-to-energy plants incinerate residual waste from the city, with a capacity of 260,000 tonnes of waste per year. The energy is used for district heating (hot water) and electricity and meets the need of 10% of the households in the city. Energy production is 550GWh per year and 70GWh p.a. for electricity.

CO2 emissions reduction

The Waste Management Strategy 2006 – 2009 aims to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emission by several actions. Organic waste will be treated in a biogas plant, and the plan is to transform the biogas into fuel for city buses. Material recovery of plastic packaging will reduce CO2 emissions by reducing production of new plastic from oil.

Methane gas from the landfill is collected and delivered through pipes to the Waste-to-Energy plant where it is transformed to electricity. More recycling stations (one big and 10 local) will reduce the transportation distances from the households. All new contracts are based on cost efficiency and environmental efficiency.

Energy efficiency

The two Waste-to-Energy plants delivered energy for district heating to about 10% of the households in the city in 2006. The incineration of waste produces the same energy as combustion of about 36,000 tonnes oil. In 2006 the district heating from waste incineration saved the emission of 58,000 tonnes CO2.

Costs

The households in Oslo finance the waste service by paying a mandatory fee. Each inhabitant pays US$ 100 per year on average. The operation costs per tonne of household waste collected is US$ 225.

Management/staff costs is about US$ 5.5million. The total operational costs were US$ 55 million in 2006, with this sum met and exceeded by around US$ 750,000 in sales income. Investments in new recycling stations are estimated to be approximately US$ 75 million in the period 2008-2011.

Results

In Oslo, 292,000 households generate annual waste of more than 200,000 tonnes – of this, more than 140,000 tonnes of residual waste and 50,000 tonnes of paper is collected. In 2005, around 410 kg of waste per person was produced, of which about 30% was recovered. The city wants to increase the percentage of material recovery to 50%. If energy recovery is factored in, the city has today a total recovery rate of 82%.

Every week, the city empties 128,000 bins – 6 million per year – using 70 collection trucks, 12 of which collect only paper and drink cartons. By 2009, 50 new local collection sites will be added, meaning every citizen will be able to deposit their waste responsibly within 300 metres of their front door.

Next steps

The City Council’s Climate and Energy Programme, from 2005, aims to reduce greenhouse gases and to encourage the use of more sustainable energy sources. One vision is that by the year 2030, Oslo’s climate gas emissions will be reduced by 50% compared to 1990.

From 2006-2009, the city will attempt to move to a new phase of waste management, where landfill and incineration is minimized and reuse and recycling takes over. The Waste Management Strategy sets ambitious targets and will increase the percentage of material recovery of household waste to a minimum of 50% within year 2014.

From 2009, citizens will be encouraged to sort plastic packaging for material recovery, in order to achieve a target of 10 kg plastic packaging per person per year in Oslo – a total of 5500 tonnes for the city. 2 kg of oil per kg of plastic is recovered and reused.

In addition, organic waste will be sorted and delivered for biological treatment in a biogas plant. The Waste-to-Energy Agency is building two new sorting plants and a biogas plant to achieve sorting rates of 60-70% for organic waste – 21,000-30,000 tonnes a year.