With the official opening yesterday of the new Områ sorting facility near Oslo, Norway has significantly expanded its capacity for recycling plastic packaging. The plant is expected to process 90,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year, closing an important gap in Norway’s circular economy, according to majority owner Tomra. Commissioning at the Holtskogen site began in May.
Områ is a 65:35 joint venture between Tomra Systems and Norwegian producer responsibility organisation (PRO) Plastretur. According to a statement by Tomra on the Linkedin, the investment totalled NOK600m, equivalent to just over €50m. More than 300 guests attended the opening ceremony.
According to Tomra, the modern facility is designed to sort all types of plastic packaging waste, including grades that have until now largely been sent for energy recovery. Using sensor-based sorting technology, including 33 near-infrared (NIR) sorters from Tomra, up to ten separate monofractions can be produced, including PE, PP, PET and PS.
Tomra chief executive Tove Andersen described Områ as "the missing link" in Europe’s circular economy, stressing that for the first time, all plastic packaging generated in Norwegian households can now be processed into recyclable fractions. The plant is also intended to provide municipalities and waste management companies with reliable offtake for plastics from automated mixed-waste sorting.
At present, about one third of plastic packaging in Norway is recycled, while the remainder is sent for energy recovery. By 2030, the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) will require that at least 55 per cent of packaging waste to be recycled and, Områ is expected to make an important contribution to achieving this goal. Plastretur's CEO Karl Johan Ingvaldsen called the project “a scalable, high-quality route for plastic packaging” which supports the shared ambition of building a circular plastics economy.
The name Områ means “to reflect” and “to care” in Norwegian and is meant to reflect a deliberate commitment to resource stewardship and conscious decision-making in the use of plastics, Tomra explained.
