Waste sorting at Klemetsrud Plant is done with the aid of a fully automated optical sorting process for household waste, restaurants, shops, etc. Here the green bags with food waste and blue bags with plastic packaging are carefully separated from the residual waste and sent to material recovery. The residual waste is then incinerated using very high temperatures in the furnaces to recover energy. Steam from the incinerators is sent through a turbine that generates electricity.

In addition to processing residual household waste, the plant processes hospital waste and waste that requires immediate and secure destruction which varies from confiscated tobacco and piracy goods to narcotics and confidential documents. Among customers with special waste needs are the Customs, the Police and the Norwegian Armed Forces.

The sorting plant for plastic and food waste at the Klemetsrud facility has capacity to process 50,000 tons of waste per year, equivalent to roughly 120,000 house­holds. In 2014, the plant received 296,931 tons of waste in total, including 2,000 tons of hospital waste sent directly for incinera­tion. By 2017, it is expected that the plant will increase waste recycling capacity to 440,000 tons.

Unique expertise of Klemetsrud plant gained international coverage through a feature article by BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24209185

Impact on air and water:

Klemetsrud plant meets very strict environmental requirements in its operations, in fact stricter than the requirements imposed by the authorities. This, combined with an ongoing upgrade of the facilities, result in very low emissions to surrounding air and water. Flue gas emanating from the incinerators at Klemetsrud undergo an extensive cleaning process involving several stages, in order to ensure the proper removal of all pollutants and the lowest possible emissions. After the thorough cleaning process, the smoke that emanates from the chimney is 99.78% pure water vapour.

Efficient waste management

Overall, the plant contributes to the environment by processing residual waste that may otherwise end up at landfill sites and converting it into eco-friendly energy. A major advantage of the source-sorting system utilized by the plant is that bags with different types of waste can all be dumped into the same bin and transported in the same vehicle to the waste management plant. This further reduces CO2 emissions on transport and saves space in urban areas, since it becomes unnecessary to have several different waste containers for the various waste categories.

Reduced methane emissions

The plant receives and processes landfill gas from Grønmo, an old landfill site close to the plant. This is a substantial envi­ronmental initiative introduced to reduce Grønmo’s emissions of methane gas, a heavy climate gas that compounds the GHG effect. Using this methane gas for incineration has dual benefits- any harm to the atmosphere is avoided while the gas is utilized for non-fossil fuel based energy production.

Reduced carbon impact

It has significantly increased the share of green district heating, resulting in a corresponding decline in use of oil-powered heating. The biogas produced at Klemetsrud contributes to reduction in NOx and CO2 emissions from traffic in Oslo. EGE’s energy production, plastic sorting and biogas and biofertiliser production provide a total reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 260,000 tons CO2 per year. Moreover, local air pollution from heating is reduced by the production of district heating and electricity.