Over 1.5 millions tonnes of wet organic waste

Just over 1.5 million tonnes of wet organic waste were generated in Norway last year. Around 1.4 million tonnes came from fisheries, private households and industry. Most of the waste was used in the production of feed or ended up in landfills or was dumped. The amount of wet organic material has risen in the 1990s, but the increase appears to have halted in 1996.

The amount of wet organic waste generated in Norway is estimated for the years 1990-1996. Fish waste dumped by foreign fishing vessels in Norwegian waters is not included. The amount of wet organic waste was on an upward curve until 1995, but no increase was registered from 1995 to 1996. This is mainly because the amount of wet organic waste generated by industry has declined.

The figures are from Statistics Norway's waste accounts, in which two different methods of calculation are used. A number of different sources of data are used, and the figures are to some extent extremely uncertain. Based on the supply of commodities the quantity of wet organic waste was estimated at just over 2.0 million tonnes in 1996. This indicates that 1.5 millions tonnes is a minimum estimate and that the amount is probably somewhat higher. In terms of quantity the largest contributions to the commodity supply of wet organic matter are fish catches, grain crops and imports of food and feed. All of these vary over time, thus contributing to the relatively big variation in the amount of wet organic waste estimated from the supply of commodities.

New Statistics

Waste accounts for wet organic matter, 1996.
Methods and earlier calculations for the statistics are found in Rapporter 98/3 "Avfallsregnskap for Norge - methods and resultater for våtorganisk avfall" ("Waste accounts for Norway - methods and results for wet organic waste"). For more information, contact oystein.skullerud@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 52 29 or olav.skogesal@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 51 65.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 26, 1998