The cargo ship Nordersand is docked in Oslo and unloads a cargo that most of us call garbage. It looks like hay bales, but it smells like hay and has been sailed all the way from Warrenpoint in Northern Ireland. The green bales are loaded onto a large semi-trailer and driven to the combustion and district heating plant Hafslund Oslo Celsio. Imported waste heat Oslo Inside the incineration hall there is a large mountain of combustible residual waste transported by ship all the way from Northern Ireland. SØPPELBERG: A mountain of bales of residual waste from Northern Ireland in the reception hall at the incineration plant at Klemetsrud. Photo: Snorre Tønset / news Here the waste is burned together with other imported waste from London and residual waste from households and businesses in Oslo and the neighboring municipalities. When the waste is burned, energy is created that is used to create district heating and hot water that meets the needs of every fifth household in Oslo. IRISH COFFEE: It is completely normal sorted residual waste from Northern Ireland in the green plastic balls. which is sent to Oslo. Photo: Snorre Tønset / news Doubled imports Now in the cold of winter, the plant at Klemetsrud is completely dependent on imported waste to utilize its capacity and produce enough district heating. MISSING: Hafslund Oslo Celsio collects 1/4 of the waste that is burned at Klemetsrud from abroad, says communications manager Kristin Paus. Photo: Snorre Tønset / news – Last year, 14 percent of the residual waste that was incinerated at Klemetsrud was from abroad. This year it will be twice as much, says Kristin Paus who is communications manager at Hafslund Oslo Celsio. The company estimates that 90,000 tonnes, or over 1/4 of the waste incinerated at Klemetsrud this year, comes from other countries. The furnaces are full FULL FURNACE: Oslo municipality’s incineration plant for waste at Haraldrud could accept the waste that goes to Sweden, but here the incinerator is full, according to the Renovation and Recycling Agency. Photo: Snorre Tønset / news Nine kilometers away, at Haraldrud, the situation is completely different. Oslo’s second incineration and district heating plant is located here. Here they have more than enough Oslo rubbish. The incineration plant is located in the middle of a large cluster of private companies that collect and recycle waste. One of them is Franzefoss. Inside their facility is a huge pile of residual waste for incineration. – Purely hypothetically, we could accept the load from Franzefoss, but our furnaces are already full, writes Hans Petter Karlsen, director of the Renovation and Recycling Agency in Oslo, in an e-mail. Waste and district heating in Oslo In Oslo, there are two large plants for waste incineration and the supply of district heating. Klemetsrud: Run by Hafslund Oslo Celsio where 2/3 of the shares are owned by Oslo municipality. Burns approx. 330,000 tonnes of waste a year both from households and businesses. . In 2022, 48,000 tonnes of waste was imported. In 2023, the estimate is 90,000 tonnes of import Haraldrud: Operated by both the Clean-up and Recycling Agency in Oslo municipality and Oslo-controlled Hafslund Oslo Celsio. Burns approx. 120,000 tonnes of residual waste from Oslo’s households and some commercial waste Together, the two facilities supply district heating that covers 20% of the need for heating and hot water in Oslo. At Fransefoss, small trucks are constantly driving in and constantly emptying new loads of rubbish onto the pile. And a steady stream of semi-trailers drives in, fills up and drives out again with the residual waste. GARBAGE IN GARBAGE OUT: Small trucks deliver residual waste to Franzefoss at Haraldrud. Large semi-trailers are filled with waste that is sent to Sweden. Photo: Snorre Tønset / news Each semi-trailer can take well over 20 tonnes of waste. We follow one of them – a Polish-registered semi-trailer with Norwegian, Danish and Swedish flags on the trailer. It is not going to the incineration plant, which is only 400 meters away. It will take much longer. Import and export of rubbish According to the Norwegian Environment Agency’s waste plan 2020-2025, Norwegian incineration plants do not have the capacity to cover the need for burning residual waste from households and businesses. Therefore, more than half a million tonnes of residual waste has been exported to Sweden annually. According to the Norwegian Environment Agency, much because Swedish plants have had spare capacity and offered competitive prices for receiving waste for incineration. At the same time, the import of waste from Great Britain almost quadrupled from 2013-2021, which are the latest official figures published by the Norwegian Environment Agency. A number of Norwegian companies have permission from the Norwegian Environment Agency to export or import so-called reportable waste. It can be hazardous waste, or quite ordinary mixed residual waste from homes and businesses. Franzefoss has three export permits for combustible residual waste to Sweden. Over the course of three years, they are allowed to send over 150,000 tonnes there. A total of 6,700 semi-trailers – or six every single day – with waste for incineration. Burned in Sweden The semi-trailer continues south. After 9 kilometres, the huge pipes at the Klemetsrud plant appear right next to the E6. This is where they lack waste and have to import large quantities from the UK. – We have capacity and Franzefoss can certainly deliver its waste to us, says Kristin Paus in Celsio. PASSING: The incineration plant at Klemetsrud can accept more waste than they can handle, but Norwegian trailers drive past and send the waste to Sweden instead. Photo: Snorre Tønset / news But the trailer isn’t going there either. It turns east along the E18, and we follow until it passes the border with Sweden at Ørje and enters the customs office. It is probably going to Linköping or Stockholm. It is transported 540 kilometers instead of 400 metres. Franzefoss has applied for and received permission to export. The reason is capacity problems in Norway and price. Franzefoss will neither let us film inside their facility nor do interviews. – We adhere to the rules laid down by the Storting, writes Franzefoss in an e-mail. Norwegian industry: – Must dare to go through the entire policy again Norwegian Industry speaks for the private companies that handle waste. Outgoing director Stein Lier-Hansen sees that the current system is the result of a waste policy that was established in the 90s. TØRRE: – We must dare to go through the policy again, says Stein Lier-Hansen. Photo: Snorre Tønset / news – We must dare to go through the entire policy again, but the market that was established in the 1990s has served us well, we must not forget that. He understands that questions can be raised as to whether it is good for the climate with so much long-distance waste – It is clear that in a larger climate policy debate that is coming full circle, new questions will probably be asked about how this should work in the future, says Lier-Hansen. Blame on the CO2 tax Norway has a goal of reducing climate emissions by at least 50% by 2030. All stones must be turned over to reach the goals. Incineration of waste also produces climate emissions. Therefore, two years ago, a CO2 tax was introduced on the emissions from waste incineration to encourage more sorting at the source. Several district heating players news has spoken to believe that the tax does not result in lower climate emissions. TAX: The CO2 tax means that many operators would rather send rubbish to Sweden, according to Kristin Paus, communications manager at Hafslund Oslo Celsio. Photo: Snorre Tønset / news – Many Norwegian waste players send their waste to Swedish waste incineration plants, where they get these services at a lower price, says Kristin Paus in Hafslund Oslo Celsio.Paus. She blames a lot of the incineration tax. – Much of the reason (the waste companies state (ed. note)) is the waste incineration tax which the government has proposed to increase by 85% next year, says Paus. Doesn’t affect the tax The Minister for Climate and the Environment is concerned with facilitating the most responsible and efficient handling of waste in a European market. He says it is not appropriate to touch the CO2 tax on waste incineration. GOOD: – That the CO2 tax increases on waste incineration is good, says climate and environment minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen (Ap) Photo: Siri Vålberg Saugstad / Siri Vålberg Saugstad – That CO2 taxes increase is good. It is one of the most important measures we have to reduce climate emissions. This is a change that everyone must be involved in going forward, including the waste incineration industry, says Climate and Environment Minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen (Ap) – But when the waste is transported far, there are also CO2 emissions. What do you think about it? – All types of transport have a footprint. It applies to all goods that are imported and exported. And yet it is not the case that it is always efficient for us to either produce the product or, in this case, handle the waste here in Norway, says Bjelland Eriksen.
ttn-69
Filling the ovens with imported rubbish at the same time as our own waste is sent to Sweden – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
