Stadler helps Nordic recyclers make great strides

Norwegian recycler Ivar has contracted Stadler to design and install a new municipal waste sorting plant in Stavanger.

Stadler says the new ‘state-of-the-art’ facility will have a processing capacity of up to 40 tonnes of waste per hour. It will be completed in early 2027. It is one of many projects the tech provider is working on to advance recycling across Scandinavia.

Norway’s plastics focus

Stadler observes that Norway is focussing on reducing plastic waste and encouraging advanced recycling techniques. It cites the Roaf sorting plant near Oslo as a recent best practice example of ‘a new industry standard’. The automated facility sorts mixed household waste and recovers plastics and bio-waste using optical sorting technology.

Stadler also reflects on a fruitful plastic recycling partnership with Veolia PET Norge in Fetsund. It installed a high-performance sorting system for PET beverage bottles from take-back systems. The plant integrates screening and sorting technologies, ensuring high purity and maximum efficiency.

Nordic frontrunner

The tech provider also recently delivered a recycling facility in Helsinki, Finland. Developed in collaboration with Remeo Oy, the facility features artificial intelligence (AI) technology to recover materials from commercial, industrial and construction & demolition waste.

With an annual capacity of up to 180 000 tonnes, it supports Finland’s 70% recycling target by 2030.

Stadler also brought its expertise to Malmö, Sweden, in 2021. It helped realise the world’s first fully automated textile sorting plant, which uses near-infrared technology to separate different textiles. ‘This closes a gap in the fashion and textiles industry,’ Stadler says.

One line at the Malmö hub has a capacity of up to 4.5 tonnes per hour. Incoming material is delivered in bales, typically weighing 350-500 kg. The feedstock includes both pre- and post-consumer waste. 

Additionally, Stadler partnered with Dansk Retursystem in Denmark to create an automated high-capacity plant in Taastrup. The site targets PET bottles and aluminium cans collected through the country’s advanced deposit return system.

It processes around 55% of Denmark’s cans and bottles, accounting for more than 25 000 tonnes of material per year, thanks to the high level of automation and flexibility.