About the project
Waste and other residual materials from industries and households are of increasing value in today’s economy. Substances that have long represented a cost to the economy are becoming a valuable resource, due to changes in technology that enable a greater share of their potential to be extracted. Still, Norway incinerates almost 58 per cent of what is currently defined and registered as wet-organic and wood waste and use, by comparison, less than 3 per cent of these waste resources og to produce biogas and fertilizer (Source: Statistics Norway).
The manufacturing sector produced approximately 48 per cent of this waste, followed by households with only 25 per cent; and this constituted over 20 per cent of the total waste production Norway. The numbers do not include materials that are at present directly reintroduced into the natural environment, e.g. sludge from fish farms and waste dumped by fishing vessels. This shows that volumes are substantial while valorisation is low and points to the role of industrial sources.
The project will address the potential for value added and improved sustainability in the valorisation of organic waste streams, residual feedstock and by-products (short: OW) – by analysing value chains inside and across different sectors of the bioeconomy. We will analyse a number of industrial cases from different parts of the bioeconomy and collaborate with highly relevant industry actors (e.g. TINE, Cambi, Nortura/Norilia) and technology experts (e.g. Østfold Research, Forestry & Landscape, LTH).
The project will integrate multiple disciplines and theoretical approaches. The project runs 2015-2018. For more information, see the full project description.
Objectives
The project will help policymakers better govern and regulate the OW industry and the industry actors to identify and exploit new opportunities in the bioeconomy.
Cooperation
The work will be based on interdisciplinary collaboration between research groups specializing in innovation (NIFU, TIK, Circle, Centre for Innovation Research), environmental research (LTH, Østfold Research, Forrest & Landscape), value chain analysis and relevant technologies (DTU, NIFU, Østfold Research), located in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The project is led by NIFU.