Norway - a successful waste collection system

Norway's system for eco-friendly collection, disposal and recycling of waste is one of the most successful systems known today. The level of recycling and recovery is very high for several of the waste categories, for some more than 90 percent.

Voluntary agreements
The system was initially rolled out in the early 1990s, and came as a result of a joint effort between the Norwegian government and the industry and commerce. The authorities, industry and commerce set the targets for level of recovery and recycling of the different waste categories together, and the industry and commerce has the responsibility of reaching these targets. Each waste stream is represented by a producer responsibility organisation, and we have 13 such organisations in Norway today.

Packaging waste
The producer responsibility organisations for packaging waste are mainly constructed as membership organisations for packaging manufacturers, packers and fillers and retailers. The organisations, which are non-profit, are owned by the industry and commerce, and financed through licence fees based on membership agreements. These organisations arrange the collection, sorting and recycling of each packaging waste category. The producer responsibility organisations have the responsibility to inform their user groups, whether it is consumers or industry and commerce, of the benefits of recovering and recycling packaging waste.

The level of recovery among these waste categories in Norway is very high and the good results provide great support for the model based on voluntary agreements between the authorities and the industry and commerce. The Norwegian system works well and represents innovative methods for collection, sorting and end-use. This can for an example been seen in that Norway is the only country to have metal and glass collected in the same container. The sorting of the two fractions is done in the factory, using locally developed technology.

The producer responsibility organisations for packaging waste have formed a separate organisation, called Materialretur, to handle the challenge of ensuring that the business community participates in the financing of the recovery and recycling of used packaging, through packaging license fee.

Electronic & Electrical Equipment (WEEE), discarded batteries and tyres
These producer responsibility organisations are constructed as membership organisations for manufacturers and importers of goods that create these waste streams. The producer responsibility organisations are fully owned by trade organisations, and are also in agreement with the Norwegian authorities and the systems. The system is based on the industry taking the responsibility for the waste they generate (producers responsibility). Norway became the first country in Europe to pass legislation setting up free take-back provisions for all discarded electronic and electrical (WEEE) products. The Norwegian waste management scheme for WEEE waste is a great success and Norway collects more than three times as much WEEE waste per capita than what is demanded following the new EU regulation. This is not only possible because of the legislation, but is also a result of an industry sector taking responsibility for its own disposable products.

LOOP - common platform for commercial information
The producer responsibility organisations have formed a common platform, an organisation called LOOP, where they all invest in common communication resources. LOOPs task is to inform consumers, industry and commerce of the benefits of recovery and recycling waste. LOOP represents the common attitude that waste is a resource, containing material and energy that can be profitably recovered or recycled. LOOP publishes shared information in newsletters and on a common web site (www.loop.no), in addition to information projects targeting schools, local government, industry and commerce. Among the main projects is a waste guide on the Internet. This is a national database covering all counties in Norway, and provides the user with information on what waste fractions can be delivered where.