Located in Holtskogen Business Park, Tomter, Oslo, the plant has been designed to process around 90,000 tonnes of plastic each year.
Currently, around one-third of Norway’s plastic packaging waste is recycled, with most of the remainder incinerated for energy recovery.
Tove Andersen, President and CEO of TOMRA, commented: “This facility has the capacity to receive and transform all of Norway’s household plastic packaging waste into recyclable fractions, essentially closing the loop for plastics.
“It is a cornerstone piece of infrastructure providing reliable offtake for mixed waste sorting facilities, and can help recover more resources from source separated material.”
‘Missing link in Europe’s circular economy’
Jointly owned by TOMRA (65%) and Plastretur (35%), the facility will process mixed plastic packaging waste into ten 10 polymer fractions, ready for mechanical and chemical recycling.
Following a period of commissioning earlier this year, the plant completed its commissioning phase in summer 2025, processing real waste for the first time.
The official opening brought together more than 300 guests, including municipal representatives, recyclers, brand owners, NGOs and policy experts, to mark the opening of what TOMRA described as “a missing link in Europe’s circular economy”.
Karl Johan Ingvaldsen, CEO of Plastretur, added: “Områ gives municipalities and the entire value chain a clear signal: there is now a scalable, high-quality route for plastic packaging.
“It provides the infrastructure needed to meet EU recycling targets and supports our shared ambition to build a truly circular plastics economy.”
Plastic sorting technology
The Områ facility employs TOMRA’s sensor-based sorting systems, enabling it to separate mixed plastic packaging into ten monofractions, including polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS) and other polymers.
Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor Sutco led delivery of the facility, working in collaboration with engineering consultant Mepex.
Sutco’s modular ProDigit platform has also been integrated into the facility, providing a digital backbone for real-time process control and system monitoring.
Through the platform, operators can monitor material flow, throughput rates, energy consumption and equipment performance, both on-site and remotely.
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