The aim of this project is to understand where recycled plastic should be used. The project will analyze the environmental impact from using recycled plastics in product applications with different lifetimes. For example, how beneficial is it to recycle packaging material (short lifetime) in furniture products (longer lifetime). The project will also study the impact of different recycling systems on these results. Which type of products should be recycled in closed loops rather than open loops? Or are reuse solutions preferred? A better understanding of these dynamics will help policy makers and companies to make well-informed decisions when designing new circular systems.

NORSUS will, on behalf of Matvett, carry out the project "A system for food waste in the public sector", which, as the title suggests, will develop a system for receiving food waste data from the public sector. In addition to looking at the way in which food waste should be mapped in business, and the means by which data should be reported, it will develop a system for receiving the data and for upscaling it to national food waste statistics.

To meet ambitious recycling targets for plastic packaging, there is an urgent need to solve scientific and technilogical challenges to meet both the legislative food safety requirements and the plastic packaging recycling requirements, while enabling the use of recycled plastics in food packaging. The project investigates the promising options of closed loop polyolefin recycling and the use of recycled plastics in food packaging with a functional barrier. NORSUS will carry out an environmental assessment of the case products and recycling systems. In addition, LCA will be used to quantify the projects’ contribution towards the sustainable development goals.

If retail businesses are to succeed in the future, it is crucial that they navigate the transition from today's linear to tomorrow's circular economy, by developing attractive reuse-based products and services. New business models and technologies are required which facilitate circular design, production, and delivery, as well as the processes of replacement and repair.

In this project, NORSUS is researching the climate and environmental benefits of reuse systems. How is one to decide if a product should be reused or recycled? Technology is key to operationalising the system, and climate and environmental analyses will be carried out to ensure a sustainable high-tech reuse system.

The project focuses on the reuse of furniture, but the method to be developed will be transferable to other sectors.

Prosjektet skal levere en livsløpsvurdering (LCA) av produktet Webex Desk Pro. LCA-en skal øke Ciscos forståelse om produktets miljøprestasjon. I tillegg kan videokonferanseproduktet bidra til redusert reiseaktivitet lokalt og globalt. Produktets miljøprestasjon skal derfor sammenlignes med relevante alternativer som jobbreiser og flyreiser.

Dette prosjektet skal undersøke hvordan man beregner sirkularitet for aluminium og andre materialer.

På oppdrag for Quantafuel skal NORSUS studere materialstrømmen av plast til gjenvinning fra Norge til det ender opp som kjemikalie til bruk i nye produkter. Det skal kvalifiseres hvilke mengder som på denne måten kan gå til materialgjenvinning og også gjøres en miljømessig livsløpsvurdering (LCA) av behandlingssystemet.

The Exilva project is a part of Borregaard’s set-up and running of the first industrial scale plant for producing microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) in addition to develop advance market segments for the use of this product. It is funded under the BBI JU program of EUs Horizon 2020 effort, and Exilva MFC is produced at the flagship factory in Sarpsborg. In this project, NORSUS has used life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool to scrutinise the social and environmental properties of microfibrillated cellulose and the applications to which Exilva MFC is used as ingredient. MFC can be used in a wide range of products, and it can enhance properties like rheology, surface area and water holding capacity.

Analyses of the climate change emissions from cradle to grave for products with and without Exilva MFC shows that the burdens are reduced by using MFC. The reductions are mainly caused by reductions in the use of chemicals, and because one can replace some ingredients with water. This leads to reduces emissions along the whole value chain, and especially for transport.

The reports from the EU project are confidential, however preliminary results were presented by Ingunn Saur Modahl and Ellen Soldal at the Tappi Nano conference in Wisconsin in 2018 . Ingunn presented results for MFC used in several applications . and Ellen focused on use of MFC used in beverage containers .

In this project, NORSUS has also published four LCA datasets in publicly available databases. In general, there are few LCA datasets available for free, and as of today no datasets for microfibrillated cellulose have been available at all. Hence, it is progress for the LCA society to have publicly available LCA data for MFC. This will make it possible for LCA practitioners to make their own models of product systems containing MFC, which can be useful for research and product development. Hopefully this can lead to reduced environmental burdens for several products in the future.

The EU funded Exilva project started in May 2016 and ended in April 2020. The research was supported by funding from the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 709746.

Biobe har en ledende posisjon innen produksjon av deler og komponenter i termoplast og glassfiberforsterkede komposittmaterialer. Markedet omfatter flere kundesegmenter i inn- og utland inkludert festeanordninger og isolatorer til jernbanesviller. Årlig har Bane Nor behov for å skifte ut store mengder isolatorer, noe som igjen genererer store plastavfallsmengder.

I dette prosjektet skal Biobe ta i retur de opptil 30 år gamle isolatorene fra BaneNor og se på mulighetene til å produsere nye isolatorer. Det skal søkes å teste løsninger og evt. finnes samarbeid for større skala granulering og evt. kompoundering av gjenvunnet isolatorer. I tillegg skal prosjektet bidra til å bygge kunnskap om kundekrav, hvilke tekniske krav og mulighetsrom som finnes for å produsere jernbanesviller i av resirkulert plastavfall.

Prosjektet er et samarbeid med ReTurn AS som står for nødvendige laboratorietester og NORSUS som har prosjektledelse og er ansvarlig for miljøvurderingene. Prosjektet er finansiert av Oslofjordfondet gjennom kvalifiseringsstøtteordningen.

I juni 2017 signerte norske myndigheter og en samlet matbransje en bransjeavtale om reduksjon av matsvinn. Formålet med avtalen er å halvere matsvinnet i Norge innen 2030, i tråd med FNs bærekraftmål 12.3, der halveringen skal oppnås gjennom delmålene 15 % reduksjon i 2020 og 30 % reduksjon i 2025, og 2015 danner referansebanen. Partene i avtalen er forpliktet til å rapportere på utviklingen i mengde og sammensetning av matsvinn. I Matsvinnkartleggingen 2019 analyseres tallene og utviklingstrendene for matbransjen fra 2015 til 2019. I tillegg inkluderer prosjektet en årlig forbrukerundersøkelse som kartlegger norske forbrukeres adferd, holdninger og kunnskap relatert til matsvinn.