Norway to establish a "Forum for circular economy in the Norwegian wastewater industry" in 2019. The forum is open to industry, Norwegian municipalities, and others who work with sewage and sludge management and will facilitate communication and competence development. This will be done through seminars and information sharing. This website shows the status of key players in Norway and internationally, and points to some different paths forward for increased circular economy in the wastewater industry.

The Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) has more than 30 years of experience in the field of circular economy and how to reclaim and recycle resources from the domestic to the agricultural domain. This has materialized in the EU-project “Sino-European innovative green and smart cities - SiEUGreen” where NMBU will further refine and demonstrate circular economy in practice as support for urban and peri-urban agriculture.

Today many wastewater companies in Norway, including HIAS (Hamar interkommunale avløpsselskap), VEAS (Vestfjorden avløpsselskap, Oslo), and NRA (Nedre Romerike avløpsselskap), are looking for new technologies to upgrade or rebuild their systems to be able to recycle more of their resources in a safe way. SiEUGreen is demonstrating a decentralized system that will complement the existing large-scale systems at current centralized treatment plants. The competence gathered at NMBU and NIBIO and practiced through SiEUGreen is valuable for both centralized and decentralized systems. By creating a network for “Circular economy solutions in Norwegian wastewater management” we believe that we can accelerate the shift of Norwegian waste management towards circular economy. The forum will be open to all Norwegian municipalities and their waste and wastewater treatment organizations and facilitate communication and building of competence. This will happen through seminars, sharing of information on the web and by providing seed money for investigation of key issues raised by the practitioners.

Primary:

Create a forum for sharing of information, research and awareness regarding circular economy in Norwegian wastewater management

Secondary:

• Inspire planners and owners of wastewater treatment plants and companies to use new ideas and opportunities provided through Circular economy
• Provide research facilities and competence for the Norwegian wastewater treatment community
• Provide a basis for new regulations regarding organically derived fertilizer products

Below are examples of large treatment plants and wastewater companies that have put circular economy high on the agenda. You can read more about the status and plans by searching the website (NO).

Projects/Other:

Macro - Mat i sirkulære robuste systemer (SWE)