Receipt of ordinary waste
NOAH receives around 400,000 tonnes of ordinary inorganic waste each year. This waste may contain contaminated soil or sediment. In other words, inorganic waste that cannot be incinerated and is non-biodegradable.
Under certain conditions, regular waste can be used to fill and restore nature that has been damaged by quarry and mining activities. An important prerequisite for this is the implementation of measures that ensure the prevention of contamination into the surrounding environment. NOAH’s goal with the treatment of ordinary waste is that the waste is to have value beyond its storage.
In 2020, NOAH used the ordinary waste received to rehabilitate Langøya off of Holmestrand after 100 years of limestone extraction activities. The ordinary waste received by NOAH on Langøya is lightly contaminated soil from major construction projects and sediment from port clean-up operations. The restoration of Slottsplassen and Stortinget and clean-up of Horten Harbour are examples of projects that delivered waste to Langøya in recent years.