The City of Oslo’s waste management is based on the philosophy of ‘cycle-based waste management’, where all household waste that cannot be recycled is energy-recovered. Food waste is recovered and transformed into bio-fertilizer for the agricultural industry and into biogas used as fuel. Plastic waste is recovered into new plastic products, and the residual waste is incinerated and used in production of environmentally-friendly district heating and electricity. This philosophy enables the City of Oslo to efficiently utilize all its waste resources, while simultaneously reducing the use of fossil fuels.
Klemetsrud Plant is the largest waste-to-energy operations in Norway. It produces district heating and electricity by recovering waste from both households and industrial actors. The plant is strategically located to be easily accessible, thus reducing both transportation costs and emissions. For every tonne of garbage processed at an energy-from-waste facility, roughly a tonne of emitted carbon-dioxide equivalent in the atmosphere is avoided. In addition, the incinerated trash doesn’t generate methane, as it normally would at a landfill.