ReSource Denmark and IVAR IKS enter into a plastic waste partnership agreement

ReSource, Denmark’s first large-scale plastic waste sorting facility, and IVAR IKS waste handling and recycling facility in Forus, Norway, have signed a cooperation agreement which aims to strengthen both upstream and downstream activities between the companies.
Left to right: Rudolf Meissner, responsible for recycling at IVAR, Ingrid Nordbø, CEO of IVAR, Thomas Steenbuch Tharaldsen, board member of ReSource and Idar Alvestad, Lead Product Manager at Quantafuel

ReSource, Denmark’s first large-scale plastic waste sorting facility, and IVAR IKS waste handling and recycling facility in Forus, Norway, have signed a cooperation agreement which aims to strengthen both upstream and downstream activities between the companies.

This involves working towards a common goal in the future that enables ReSource to receive plastic from IVAR, and IVAR to receive ready-sorted plastic for washing and mechanical recycling.

The key goal for both parties is to increase the recycling of household plastics as well as ensuring transparency and traceability of recyclable plastic waste resources. ReSource, which is currently under construction and will be ready at the end of this year, will be the Nordic’s most modern sorting facility with a capacity to process 160,000 tonnes of plastic waste. It will feature a state-of-the-art high-tech sorting system separating the plastic waste into mono fractions suitable for all types of recycling facilities, including mechanical and chemical recycling. It will also use the latest technology to trace the plastic waste’s origins and utilisation by tapping into the big data streams generated in the sorting and recycling processes.

ReSource and IVAR will start their cooperation with information sharing to optimise production output and commercial value.

Thomas Steenbuch Tharaldsen, Board Member of ReSource says:

“We´re excited to join forces with IVAR and its highly competent team on a journey towards a clear and common goal of recycling as much plastic waste as possible. This cooperation signals to the plastic waste sector that sorting plants and recycling plants should work together across nations and ownership. A strong and cooperative waste sector is the only way we will be able to reach the ambitious EU-plastic recycling targets.”

Ingrid Nordbø, CEO of IVAR, says:

IVAR’s plant for washing and mechanical recycling of plastics is under construction, and we will benefit greatly from sorted plastics delivered by ReSource for further processing in our plant. We believe that the cooperation will be mutually beneficial for our respective professional communities within sorting and plastic recycling.”

Thomas Steenbuch Tharaldsen continues:

“When IVAR’s sorting facility was damaged in a fire last year*, it created a void in the Nordic plastic waste market, both on a process- and on a competence level. We hope that ReSource can help fill this gap on the process level by using Norwegian, mixed household plastics. We are also grateful for the state-of-the art competence IVAR’s team can contribute with and look forward to collaborating and contributing towards IVAR’s reopening.”

* IVAR’s sorting plant at Forus was damaged in a fire on 22 July 2022, and is temporarily out of service.