Nordic Waste A/S gets approval for upcycling contaminated soil

A whole new method: As the first company in Denmark, Nordic Waste A/S can upcycle contaminated soil to secondary raw materials

By Nordic Waste A/S | [email protected]

9 June 2022

Traditionally, construction companies have been digging up contaminated soil during new construction projects, and disposed the contaminated soil into noise barriers, landfills or waste deposits, and then picked up new raw materials from a quarry at another location. A waste of resources, according to sales manager Kim Lange from Nordic Waste A / S.

For the first time in Denmark, it is possible to remediate and recycle soil from construction sites and bringing secondary raw materials from the same – now remediated – soil back to the construction sites. A method made possible by a new approval called “Criteria for recycling”, which Nordic Waste A / S has received from Randers Municipality.

The secondary raw materials are already being used in A. Enggaard’s projects in the Sydhavnskvarteret and Åbogade in Århus.

“There is no reason to use new materials when we can clean and recycle the ones we have. It is a new way of working for us, as an industry, and it requires that we have an open mind. That is why we are happy with the method that we and Nordic Waste have come up with here, ” says Anders Jørgensen Project Manager at A. Enggaard.

Kim Lange adds:

The planet’s raw materials are not renewable, so it is important to recycle them. This is what we can help with at Nordic Waste A/S. We can clean contaminated soil so that it can be used again, for example in the construction industry.

More specifically, it works so, that A. Enggaard can now drive contaminated soil from the construction site to Nordic Waste A/S near Randers in Jutland, where it is remediated in the company’s washing plant, which is the only one of its kind in Denmark. In the same embrace, A. Enggaard gets clean secondary raw materials back to the construction site, which can be used immediately.

Anders Jørgensen says that in the past, people usually dug a basement for new construction projects and disposed the contaminated soil from there to a landfill or a noise barrier, depending on current legislation.

“The new method makes the whole process easier while being environmentally friendly. The haulers now make sure to drive with loaded loads back and forth instead of half-empty trucks, so that way we also save CO2 in the transport part,” says Anders Jørgensen, who also says that this solution is cheaper for them, as they should not dispose of land as before.

Nordic Waste A/S’s mission is to recycle previously contaminated soil and make its way within the circular economy, and the company’s sales director Kim Lange hopes that many more companies in the future will use this climate-friendly method.