Norway is celebrating its official opening of Områ, its new national facility for sorting all types of plastic packaging waste. This includes plastic, which previously had no other option but incineration. Jointly owned by TOMRA (65%) and Plastretur (35%), the facility can process 90,000 tonnes of plastic per year, transforming plastic packaging waste into uniform polymer fractions ready for recycling.
TOMRA
Norway opens new national plastic packaging waste sorting facility, Områ
Områ will utilise advanced sensor-based technology to sort mixed plastic waste into ten separate mono-fractions, including:
- Polyethene (PE).
- Polypropylene (PP).
- Polyethene terephthalate (PET).
- Polystyrene (PS).
- And others.
This closes the loop for plastics, representing one of the most advanced installations of its kind globally.
“Områ is more than a facility — it’s a missing link in Europe’s circular economy,” said Tove Andersen, President and CEO of TOMRA. “This facility has the capacity to receive and transform all of Norway’s household plastic packaging waste into recyclable fractions, essentially closing the loop for plastics. It is a cornerstone piece of infrastructure providing a reliable offtake for mixed waste sorting facilities and can help recover more resources from source-separated material.”
Located just outside Oslo, the facility will serve as a reliable offtake solution for municipalities and waste management companies looking for automated mixed waste sorting (MWS), which helps to increase recycling rates without depending solely on household source separation.
“Områ gives municipalities and the entire value chain a clear signal: there is now a scalable, high-quality route for plastic packaging,” said Karl Johan Ingvaldsen, CEO of Plastretur. “It provides the infrastructure needed to meet EU recycling targets and supports our shared ambition to build a truly circular plastics economy.”