– This mask is placed in the waste that will become compost, but it does not rot, sighs Unni Ernstsen in frustration. With an iron rake, she weeds out the mask from the food waste. All summer, Ernstsen has been helping people sort the rubbish they bring to Vefa’s IKS waste facility at Stengelsmoen in Alta municipality. She believes that many people missort because they do not take source sorting seriously. – There is still a long way to go until most people understand what it is all about. Some are very clever, but the vast majority are probably of the opinion that this is not that important. Rolf Tore Berg sorts through sources as best he can. He hopes it will help prevent the tax on waste disposal from increasing. Photo: Jonas LØken Estenstad / news Altamannen Rolf Tore Berge is one of many who use the summer to clean. He stops by the waste facility to dispose of leftover wood materials. Berge says it is not always easy to sort correctly, and he is happy for the help from the employees at the facility. – I try my best to sort the waste. And it’s very nice that they have people here to make sure I’m doing it right. Photo: Jonas Løken Estenstad / news It will be expensive if we don’t source sort better From next year it will be even more important to sort correctly. Failure to do so will result in increased fees. The reason is that the EU has set strict requirements for how we should sort our rubbish. From 1 January 2023, food and plastic waste from all households across the country must be sorted. By 2035, 65% of all rubbish must be recyclable. Today, only 43% of Norwegian household waste is recycled. Hege Rooth Oolbergsveen, section leader in the Norwegian Environment Agency, says that good source sorting is a prerequisite for a high degree of material recycling, and for a good quality of recycled raw material. – It is particularly important to get food waste sorted at source, which contaminates other waste if it is mixed together. – Everyone must take responsibility Jørgen Masvik stands among large mountains of unsorted rubbish. He is managing director of Vefas IKS, which operates the renovation in large parts of Western Finnmark. He is not satisfied with how we sort sources in Norway. – People aren’t good enough at source sorting. And I would encourage everyone to take this seriously, both at home and at work. The consequence of poor source sorting is increased costs. Jørgen Masvik, managing director of Vefa’s IKS, says everyone must take greater responsibility for sorting sources correctly. Photo: Jonas Løken Estenstad / news The increased costs can come in the form of robotic facilities that sort our rubbish. Such a facility can cost up to half a billion kroner. In big cities like Oslo, the price tag can be even higher. That bill is pushed on the subscribers. Jørgen Masvik believes that everyone must take greater responsibility for sorting their rubbish at source. – If we can’t do it, we have no other choice but to build sorting facilities that can do that job for us. And that costs the shirt. I hope we don’t get there. Jørgen Masvik believes we must understand why source sorting is so important. – I think we have to go within ourselves and try to become more aware of what we are doing, and what it means for nature and ourselves. Climate and Environment Minister Espen bart Eide (Ap) wants it to be more profitable to reuse. Wants it to be profitable to utilize rubbish The EU not only wants us to be good at sorting at source, the rubbish must also be reused. Climate and Environment Minister Espen bart Eide (Ap) says that if we are to meet the EU’s requirement of 65% recycling of all rubbish, it must become more profitable to make new products from it. He therefore wants to change the regulations so that it becomes easier to make it economically profitable to utilize used products. – We have to create value chains for our waste, so someone wants the recycled plastic and can make new products from it, and someone can accept our food waste and use it to make biogas, for example, says Espen Bart Eide.
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Could be expensive if we don’t get better at sorting our rubbish at source – news Troms and Finnmark
