One year of Områ: Norway’s national plastic sorting facility proves its model

Since operations began, Områ has received more than 55,000 tonnes of mixed plastic waste - equivalent to 10 kg of plastic waste for every person in Norway. That is an important contribution towards the country’s plastic recycling targets.

Plastic packaging flowing to the facility from more than 350 municipalities is sorted into ten different polymer fractions, creating cleaner material streams ready for recycling. At full capacity, Områ will be able to handle up to 90,000 tonnes a year.

Områ receives plastic waste material from source separation in Norwegian households, and recently also from the country’s two mixed waste sorting facilities, ROAF (near Oslo) and IVAR (near Stavanger). Still, Norwegian plastic packaging recycling rates are lagging European recycling targets – as is the case for most other countries on the continent.

Source-separated plastic waste collection is an important and effective mechanism for recycling plastic, but it is not enough on its own. Additional mixed waste sorting capacity is needed to be able to unlock the true potential for plastic recycling.

Områ is built to handle all of Norway’s household plastic packaging waste, but as long as only half the consumed volume is collected through source separation, it will be impossible to reach the recycling targets of 55% by 2030. Unlocking its full impact will require more upstream sorting infrastructure, continued optimization and strong value-chain partnerships.

Områ: A model for optimizing plastic recycling

Områ is a practical proof point for how technology, industrial operations, producer responsibility collaboration and commercial offtake can work together to recover more plastic and support closed-loop recycling.

“Områ demonstrates what becomes possible when advanced sorting technology is combined with strong value-chain partnerships,” says Joachim N. Amland, SVP and Head of TOMRA Feedstock. “It helps turn material that is too often incinerated or landfilled into a usable resource for recycling.”

In its first year, Områ has also become an important reference site, welcoming around 60 stakeholder visits. Recent high-level visits, including from the Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment, have helped show how plastics can move from residual waste to material feedstock ready for optimized recycling.