Here they found hazardous waste from Norway – Aftenbladet.no

The sight of women in India who sits on the ground and sorts Norwegian metal hands, without protection, shocked top management of Norwegian Recycling.

– After the trip to India we decided immediately to stop all exports of waste to that country. At that time we exported mixed metal there, said legal director Runa Opdal Kerr in Norwegian Recycling.

She was one of those who traveled around to see how the waste they sold further treated. She came back shaken.

– Women sat without protection and sorted waste with your hands. Hazardous waste was melted in open systems, where employees walked around in sandals with a small face mask. Moreover, much of the metal melted together, without proper sorting. Here it was dangerous gases and the health and environmental challenges, while the waste was not utilized as the resource it is, says Kerr.

Organised crime

Norwegian Recycling is the largest company in Norwegian waste industry. They collect 25 percent of all Norwegian commercial waste and returns 85 percent back to the industry in terms of raw materials and energy.

But when CEO Erik Osmundsen took over the helm in 2012, he got a real surprise.

– I started working in the company to travel around in a hundred days. When I was finished with the tour, I had to go directly to the owners and tell them how bad I thought this was, says Erik Osmundsen on a summer hot office at Lysaker.

The conditions in India is just one example of what Norwegian Recycling found when they started the review of the company.

– If you mix trust and relax junk shop mentality with organized crime, I am afraid we are facing something very dangerous, says Osmundsen.

He pulls strings directly to organized crime.

Found fake certificates

– When we saw how they were in the industry, we decided among other things that we should join with cash for metal, said Osmundsen.

They found namely examples of metal stolen from one of the Norwegian recycling plants, was sold to one of the other units in the same group. They also discovered that they had bought the metal from other thefts. This problem thinks they are greatly reduced for Norwegian Gjenvinning part after they stopped taking cash.

When Norwegian Recycling exporting waste to other countries, the waste must be accompanied by special documents and certificates. Here discovered Counsel a number of shortcomings.

– Now we check everything. The first thing we discovered was that the certificates came from fake e-mail addresses. Then it turned out that the inspectors stated that they had physically checked the containers before they went out of Norway. Both were able to disprove, says Kerr, who has introduced a number of measures to detect the fake players in the market.

Now, they want stricter control of waste traders in line with other leading EU countries. They have also introduced new procedures at the facility in Oslo. The cars will be weighed on the way in and out of the area, and everything gets under video surveillance.

– Yet we discover fraud. An actor claimed to have weighed 12 runs. On the video, it turns out that he has only weighed two runs. Such things are prosecuted, says Osmundsen.

The import amnesty

– In December 2012, we introduced an amnesty for all employees, he says, believe that amnesty is the smartest thing they have done.

– This was a crossroads for the company, and it was clear what was accepted and what was not there.

Since then, they have come across several major, serious matters.

– We needed unfortunately these came to light. We reacted immediately, and we have used issues such as how much it costs to clean up and that it is therefore important that we do things right from the start.

One case was discharge at Mongstad. When Osmundsen heard of this, the plant was closed almost immediately.

– It has well cost us two million a month in over half a year, says Osmundsen.

During the one This year the company spent 100 million in direct costs and losses on the cleanup project. In the 18 months also 44 percent of 70 top executives of the company ceased or been replaced.

Want more transparency

Although Norwegian Recycling has been working for several years to clean up , believes both the CEO and General Counsel that they are not finished. Yes, they have found much, but it can appear more.

– We hang laundry sink on the outside of the house to show what we do. We are not infallible, but this is a step to get better, says Osmundsen adding:

– By showing what we do, we also put pressure on the entire industry. We see that a few other big does the same thing, now it’s time that the rest of the industry cleans up and act responsibly.

Also, senior advisor Olaf Brastad Bellona believes it is important to verify a separate waste streams when these should recovered.

– The players that do not, is regarded as frivolous. Norwegian Recycling has done a great job with this, and I assume that the rest of the industry to do the same, says Brastad.