Tomra and Plastretur to build Norway’s first plastic packaging sorting plant

12 Jun 2023 --- Tomra and Plastretur are collaborating for a €50 million (US$53.8 million) joint venture to create Norway’s first dedicated sorting plant accepting municipal-sourced separated and mechanically recovered mixed plastic waste. The plastics will be sorted into seven types and processed into high-quality fractions to produce new packaging and other high-quality products. 

The partnership will be split as 65% for Tomra and 35% for Plastretur and will leverage Tomra’s sustainable technology and Norwegian producer responsibility organization Plastretur’s capabilities to achieve future recycling targets. 

“We aim to lessen the dependence on fossil fuels. For Norway to achieve the objectives of the [EU] packaging regulation on the content of recycled plastic in packaging while contributing to the ambitions of an increased recycling industry in Norway and shorter transports of waste, it is a fundamental prerequisite that we make a greater effort for the collection and sorting of plastic packaging for recycling,” Joachim Amland, senior vice president at Tomra Feedstock, tells PackagingInsights.

“After several decades of measures on an increased source separation in households, the proportion of source-sorted plastic packaging remains stable at around 40%, while 60% ends up in residual waste and is lost to material recycling.”

“To reach the waste regulations’ goal of 52% material recycling of plastic packaging, we must collect around 80% of plastic packaging from households due to losses in the recycling process. This plant is a significant step toward this goal.”

Rendering of the new Tomra-Plastretur joint venture plastic packaging sorting plant.Norwegian circularity
In the new venture, Plastretur will continue to take responsibility for sourcing plastic packaging waste from Norwegian municipalities, trade and industry and deliver this to the plant as input. Tomra will be responsible for grading the fractions based on the type and selling the plastic output.

“Plastretur knows the Norwegian market well and has the lead on sourcing. Technology, optimization and offtake is Tomra’s responsibility,” says Amland.

The total sorting capacity planned for the new site will be 90,000 metric tons of plastics per year, and it will be built in Holtskogen Næringspark, Indre Østfold Holtskogen, Norway. 

The capital investment consists primarily of machinery and equipment. The groundbreaking is planned to take place in mid-2023, and the plant is scheduled to be commissioned in Q4 2024 and fully operational by Q1 2025.

“This plant aims to enable circular plastics for Norway through leading-edge sorting solutions. It will provide a national offtake for mixed plastic fractions from [municipal solid waste] from pre-incineration sorting. Therefore, giving more incentives to sort out plastics from the waste before it is incinerated,” states Amland.

Pre-incineration sorting
Furthermore, he elaborates that Norway has a significant incineration capacity, but the country is planning for pre-incineration sorting. Currently, plastic packaging waste from Norway is sent to Central Europe for recycling.

“The plant will enable a national offtake for mixed plastics waste from pre-incineration sorting in Norway, thereby enabling circularity for the plastics ending up in the black bin – residual waste. This is a huge step forward for the circularity of plastics in Norway,” emphasizes Amland.

The company states that the Tomra investment seeks to close the gap in plastics recycling, where there is a strong and growing demand from recyclers for high-quality plastic fractions. 

“We are recovering material that would have been lost to incineration and using our existing Tomra technology, providing it to the market at very high quality, which has been missing until now,” adds Amland.

By Radhika Sikaria