The case in summary: An enormously extensive and ongoing landslide is shaking Denmark. Large quantities of contaminated soil waste are in motion at the Nordic Waste soil sorting facility south of Randers in Denmark. The authorities fear that the landslide could, in the worst case scenario, bury the town of Ølst and flow into the river Ålling. New measurements show that the speed of the landslide is slowing down. Almost half a million tonnes of the soil comes from Norway, mainly transported by the company Envir AS. Nordic Waste, which recently went bankrupt, specializes in receiving and cleaning contaminated masses of soil and sediment. The debate is raging in Denmark about who will pay for the huge clean-up. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. An enormous landslide drama is about to unfold in slow motion in Denmark. For over a month, Danish authorities have tried to avert an environmental disaster, after several million cubic meters of soil began to seep at the Nordic Waste soil treatment plant south of Randers just before Christmas. The authorities fear that the landslide could, in the worst case scenario, bury the small town of Ølst and flow into the river Alling. The environmental authorities are now on alert. Today, news can tell you that close to half a million tonnes of the impure soil masses come from Norway. Cargo ship after cargo ship with contaminated Norwegian “urban soil” has left Norwegian quays and ended up in what may now become one of the biggest environmental scandals on Danish soil. DANISH IDYLLL: The village of Ølst south of Randers is dangerously situated. Behind lie millions of contaminated soil masses that the bankrupt Nordic Waste has deposited over many years. Now the masses are in motion. Photo: Bo Amstrup / Ritzau Scanpix On Monday this week, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen visited the landslide area. Video from dr.dk. clean these and sell them on to, among other things, the building and construction industry. Since the company received environmental approval to accept contaminated soil in 2018, a total of 3.8 million tonnes have been driven into the soil sorting facility, a compilation from Randers municipality shows, according to Danish Radio4. But only barely 5 percent of all waste is handled and sold on, writes Danish Radio4 måndag. Nordic Waste gave up control early on, handing over responsibility to Randers municipality. For many weeks, trucks have been shuttling round the clock to stabilize the landslide. This week, Nordic Waste went bankrupt. In Denmark, the debate is raging about who will pay for the enormous clean-up. Among the impure soil masses in the facility, 440,000 tonnes originate from Norway – and mainly from Western Norway. The company Envir AS has had an agreement on waste export to Nordic Waste since 2020. – Around 80 percent of the soil masses we have received at our facility in Laksevåg have been sent on to Denmark. In total, we are talking about around 400,000 tonnes. These are more easily impure masses, and not hazardous waste, says daily manager Kolbjørn Akervold of Envir. – First of all, I think this is terribly sad. Both for the local community down there and for the employees in the company. LOADING AREA: From this commercial area at Laksevåg in Bergen, Envir has loaded and shipped out 400,000 tonnes of unclean excavation materials. Contractors from the Bergen area have paid to get rid of the masses. Photo: John Inge Johansen / news Cleaning up Norwegian “urban soil” Envir profiles itself as a green industry partner, which accepts “large, problematic waste masses” and processes them for reuse in the construction industry. With today’s technology, they manage to convert just under 20 percent. The rest is transported south by cargo ship. Figures news has received from the Norwegian Environment Agency show that 17 ships with over 60,000 tonnes of soil were transported from the facility at Laksevåg in Bergen to the port of Randers in 2020. These are unclean masses that the company has received primarily from the building and construction industry in the Bergen region. – Our typical customer is a construction company that carries out assignments for a private or public developer. DAY-TO-DAY MANAGER: Kolbjørn Akervold in Envir. Photo: Envir AS Akervold refers to the soil masses as “urban soil”. These are mainly excavated masses from building and construction projects where the ground has been chemically affected for many years, and the soil cannot be used for new projects. He emphasizes that the soil they have sent to Denmark is categorized as slightly contaminated. Nordic Waste’s main task was to wash the unclean masses with water, and then take out gravel, stone and clean soil for use in new building projects. The pollution that remained could be landfilled. None of the licenses for the export of Norwegian soil apply to soil that is classified as hazardous waste. – These are masses you find everywhere, whether you are building housing, buildings or infrastructure. It is not highly polluted or dangerous waste, which for example originates from industry. – We have reduced exports to Nordic Waste recently, and this year we had not planned to send anything special. On 12 January, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency sent a message to Envir and the Norwegian Environment Agency about an interim stoppage in the transport of waste. It has no practical consequences for the company. – We are currently rebuilding our facility, so that we will be able to produce a significantly larger part of the excavating materials ourselves. That’s why we don’t accept so many masses from customers right now, but when the new facility opens in the summer, we believe we can win as much as 80 percent. The landslide in the north-east of Jutland has at most moved nine meters in the day. Now the speed has been reduced to around two metres. Randers municipality has been working hard to avoid unclean masses ending up in the Alling watercourse, and further into the fjord basin and the Kattegat sea area. Nordic Waste’s facility outside Randers. Video from dr.dk – Great interest in Norwegian soil Waste & Mineral Recovery is the second Norwegian company that has sent Norwegian soil waste to the Danish facility, according to the Norwegian Environment Agency. Figures show that in 2022, just under 40,000 tonnes of lighter, impure soil masses were sent. – The soil I have delivered has primarily been used for washing. They have been interested in Norwegian soil, because it usually contains a lot of stone, says chairman and day-to-day manager Trond B. Berg of the company. He also refers to the soil masses as more easily polluted. The company had no plans to export soil masses this year. – We have known about the Danish plant for a long time, a plant that has been considered an “up and coming” recycling plant for washing soil. I myself have been there several times and seen what they have done. It is a great shame for both the local community and the company that it ends this way. Here you can see how the earth moves slowly but surely over everything it encounters. The picture from 2021 shows a large warehouse building. In the picture from 2023, large parts of the building are gone. Aerial photo: sdfi.dk “Very, very serious” Already in Christmas, Environment Minister Magnus Heuncike (S) referred to the situation as “very, very serious” according to the Danish DR. COWI has estimated in a report that the clean-up and measures against further avalanche development could take several years. The bill could reach almost NOK 3.4 billion. Last week, the company estimated in a report that Ølst could be buried in five meters of soil. The avalanche then had a speed of nine meters a day. New measurements indicate that the work to stabilize the landslide now appears to be bearing fruit. Geotechnical expert Carsten Steen Sørensen from COWI tells DR on Monday evening that the speed of the landslide has now been reduced to around two meters a day. – We scared the residents with that report, but I think they can sleep well now. Water samples taken before Christmas showed particularly high concentrations of heavy metals, but since then the concentration has gradually decreased. According to DR, the soil at Nordic Waste still contains components that are above legal limit values.
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Norwegian soil threatens the Danish village after a landslide from the waste facility Nordic Waste – news Vestland
