– I think it is far too crazy to put everything in the residual waste. We must try to make an effort for the environment. Anne Brit Hatlem has a proven relationship with where her plastic waste ends up. Anne Brit Hatlem. Photo: Odd Rune Kyllingstad / news – I collect plastic in a separate container and deliver it in this container. Hatlem believes that people must make an effort to track down where the environmental stations are and put them to use. She points out, however, that there could have been more cans in the neighbourhood. – Then more people would probably have put the plastic in there. A car from the renovation is in the process of emptying the residual waste it has collected in the incineration plant at Ivar in Forus. It contains large amounts of plastic. Now the residual waste trucks can no longer drive into the sorting facility due to the fire at Ivar’s in July last year. – Then we won’t be able to sort out the plastic anymore, says Tord Tjelflaat, assistant department head for recycling at Ivar. Last year, the garbage facility worth NOK 650 million was totally damaged in a fire at Forus. Photo: Arild Eskeland / news Worst in the country for recycling Around a year ago, the municipalities that own Ivar were the best in the country for recycling. Now they are among the worst in the country. In the hope of improving the situation, Ivar has given the municipalities an offer to facilitate an offer of waste sorting for the residents. The twelve owner municipalities have chosen different solutions for the residents to start sorting out the plastic again. Many municipalities have set up environmental stations and return points. Others have gone back to arrangements with plastic bags that are collected from households in the same way as residual, paper and food waste. At the start of the year, Ivar received around three tonnes a month. Now they bring in around 18 tonnes a month. – But it is far less than the sorting facility which sorted out around 20 times more with 330 tonnes a month, says Tjelflaat. Not satisfied with the plastic collection When the post-sorting facility was in operation, it sorted out around 4,000 tonnes of plastic a year. Then they saved the environment 10,500 tonnes of CO₂. – Now that the residual waste contains the plastic and goes to incineration here, that amount of CO₂ will be released into the atmosphere, says Tjelflaat. He is clear in his speech about what the citizens must do: – Make use of the waste sorting systems that the municipalities have offered and live the space there. We will then ensure that it is sent for recycling. – Do you think the collection arrangements for the municipalities are good enough? – In 2018, before the sorting facility was in operation, residents sorted approximately 220 tonnes a month. Then a collection rate of 18 tonnes a month is not much. In order to bring in larger quantities of plastic, the municipalities should probably assess whether the source sorting offers are good enough and whether the information about the offers has reached them, says Tjelflaat. Tjelflaat expects that the building itself will be completed in 2025. After that, a machine park will be installed. – If everything goes according to plan, the new sorting facility should be ready for testing in autumn 2026. Politically approved, Sola municipality has put in place a system for plastic recycling after the fire, where they hand out bags where households can throw away plastic. They have not chosen that solution in Stavanger. SV is one of the parties that reacts to this, even though they help decide in the municipality, and state that they will send a written inquiry to the mayor to get the same solution as in Sola. Section leader for waste disposal in Stavanger municipality, Tor Martin Larsen, says that the politicians have adopted an annual plan for water, sewage and waste disposal in the municipality. It states that the residual waste must be delivered directly for incineration until the plant reopens in 2025. – Residents can deliver plastic packaging to return points in all parts of the municipality. In addition, plastic packaging can be delivered to Ivar’s recycling stations. We are also now allowing plastic packaging in sacks to be picked up at home via the municipality’s solid waste scheme, he says. According to Larsen, starting a new system for plastic collection, and then reversing it in not too long, is challenging. – We and other municipalities have chosen to establish a temporary reception service for plastic, which is of course far worse than Ivar’s sorting facility, says Larsen. He says that it would be natural to reassess the offer if the plant is not ready by 2025.
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Big fire caused Rogaland municipalities to go from best to worst in sorting plastic waste – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
