Norwaste has built extensive experience in analyzing and documenting litter, particularly in urban and land-based environments. We apply a clear professional approach to the issue of litter, and through proprietary methods, we have developed strong expertise in quantifying litter within defined areas and time periods. This includes measurements along roads (at both county and national levels) as well as in individual municipalities. The methods have been developed and tested through numerous projects—using both point measurements and area-based analyses—and the work has been carried out in collaboration with the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, Hold Norway Clean, and the Retail Industry Environmental Fund.
We have developed practical methods for measuring and monitoring littering in cities, natural areas, roads and other locations. The methods are adapted to the objective – for example, to provide a baseline before an intervention, or to track developments over time.
We conduct waste composition analyses of littered waste, where we sort and register what types of littered materials are found. This gives a clear overview of the products and materials that are most often littered.
Clear, concise, and actionable reports show what is causing litter, where it occurs, and what measures can be taken. With strong knowledge of regulations, producer responsibility, and support schemes, we provide advice that works. Assistance can also include the implementation and evaluation of measures, ensuring that efforts are measurable and effective.
Waste management is governed by extensive regulations. Different types of waste are handled within different value chains, some more effectively than others. What is waste to one entity can be a valuable raw material to another. To establish robust value chains, thorough insight, understanding, and expertise within waste, recycled materials, and the market are necessary. Norwaste will contribute to ensuring that your business can succeed, whether you aim to increase the value of your waste or by-products by turning them into recycled raw materials in a circular economy, improve your waste management, or develop new markets.
Waste management is a complex industry. New technology offers significant opportunities for creating new and improved value chains, whether it's in collection, sorting, treatment, or disposal. Norwaste possesses expertise in regulatory frameworks, technological solutions, waste value chains, and the market for recycled raw materials, enabling you to succeed in your business endeavours.
With our long experience of state and municipal decision-making processes, we can make a difference for authorities and municipalities and municipal waste companies, whether the need is related to regulatory development, municipal waste plans or other plans and procurements.
In many parts of the world, the challenges surrounding waste management are significant. Lack of collection and a sound and sustainable waste treatment cause plastic to spill onto the sea and is the largest source of marine waste globally. The need to put in place systems for collection and handling of waste resources is urgent. At the same time, the infrastructure is deficient, and a large informal sector is in many places the only contributor to recycling. Norwaste has the knowledge to understand complicated structures and to help projects succeed.
- Waste infrastructure and systems for waste collection are intended to counteract littering, but in some cases these solutions can be a source of littering itself, says Anja Stokkan in Norwegian Retailers’ Environment Fund. - This is the reason why Norwegian Retailers’ Environment Fund saw the importance of granting support for the implementation of this project. We want to increase our knowledge of the connection between waste infrastructure and littering, Stokkan explains.
Despite the fact that waste collection in public spaces is mainly done with traditional rubbish bins and collected at regular intervals, a number of parks, squares and collection points have in recent years installed more modern waste solutions. Examples of this are underground containers with a larger volume than ordinary waste containers. Self-compressing containers have been introduced in other areas. The advantage of both of these is that they can be emptied less frequently as they have a larger capacity. Some are also equipped with a sensor signalising when to empty. Different amounts of visits, affected by weather or activities at the places where the waste containers are placed, means that some containers unfortunately get overfilled - which leads to “leaks of waste” from the wastebin and ends up as littering.
- To avoid spreading litter from land and to marine environments, it is crucial to have good waste systems on land, says Terje Lilletvedt, City Engineer in Kristiansand municipality. Furthermore, Lilletvedt says: this is the reason why the coastal municipality of Kristiansand has procured several smart, self-compressing waste containers that are located in the city center.
Littering around waste containers and waste management in public spaces in Tromsø, Kristiansand and Oslo was investigated in the project. The waste containers were divided into 'traditional', 'underground' and 'self-compressing'. Picking analyzes of the waste in containers were also performed. In addition, interviews were conducted with relevant actors, as well as street interviews.
Results from the field work show that there is less littering around self-compressing and underground waste containers than around traditional waste containers. When comparing different inlet solutions, the results show that there is more littering around waste containers with an open inlet solution, than for those with a more closed inlet solution. Cigarette butts and snus make up a large proportion of the litter around the waste containers. This is especially true in areas where the surrounding tire consists of cobblestone where the cigarette butts remain over time. The results from the picking analyzes show that the waste from public spaces consists of an average of 25% by weight of single-use plastic.
- It is essential in the work against littering that Oslo prioritises a separate plastics team that works to reduce unnecessary use of single-use plastic and environmental problems related to plastic consumption, says Oslo Municipality's plastics coordinator Synnøve Fagerhaug Dalen. In my position, I have experience with how important it is to rethink the way municipalities work with littering to prevent rubbish ending up in the fjord. We are completely dependent on a good collaboration across the municipality as well as with external actors to find good and innovative solutions to plastics and littering problems, Dalen explains.
In my position, I have experience with how important it is to think anew about how municipalities work with littering to prevent rubbish ending up in the fjord, and we are here completely dependent on a good collaboration across the municipality as well as with external actors to find good and innovative solutions to plastics and littering problems, Dalen explains.
The report is available here (only in Norwegian)
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