Industry interviews
Øivind Østbø
Innovation and Development Director, Remiks AS
Please tell us something about yourself and your role at Remiks?
I work as the Innovation & Development Director at the Remiks office in Tromsø. My background in Law, Economics and IT gave me a broad starting point for working with R&D. At our department we work with both internal and external projects, always eager to improve procesess, efficiency and sustainability in what we do. Remiks has, as long as I know, been a forerunner and innovator in its field and to be able to be a part of that is and has been very rewarding.
How would you describe cooperation between the waste management actors in North Norway?
Regional cooperation has been intensified in the recent years by the north Norway Waste management cluster which gathers the local actors to discuss and develop new cooperation solutions. This is very important in our sparsely populated region with long distances.
What have you learned at the WANO project?
We have extended our regional and national cooperation network to the Nordic level, with several highly interesting cooperation partners ranging from waste sorting technology providers to digitalization experts.
Photo: Remiks
Line Dalhaug
Environment and Development Director, HRS IKS
Please tell us something about yourself and your role at HRS?
I live in Narvik and work as Environment and Development director at the HRS Narvik office. I took my university education at the University of Tromsø, campus Narvik, with focus on construction and environmental issues. I have worked at HRS for many years and held several positions such as operations manager, general manager in one of the HRS subsidiaries, and now I work with both internal and external projects.
What has changed in waste management?
Waste sorting, we have seen significant changes there. In fact, the waste management sector is constantly changing with new challenges, but also with new possibilities. In the North Norway region, we have achieved an increased cooperation between the waste management companies and together formed the company Rå Biopark.
Where do we find good practice in waste management?
The Netherlands have taken big steps in getting citizens to improve their waste sorting habits. The Nordic countries have been at the forefront regarding reducing of waste going to landfill. I have also learned through the WANO project that Oulu is an essential Nordic competence center for waste management.
What have you learned so far at the WANO project?
I have already been able to broaden my contact network, the know-who part, especially in the North Calotte region. We have had relations to Kiruna in Sweden, but additional east-west connections including north Finland would be highly welcomed in waste management. Perhaps we could do more waste sorting here in the North Calotte, too.
Photo: HRS