Reception and treatment of hazardous waste
Hazardous waste can potentially cause damage to nature and people and must therefore be collected, treated and stored safely. NOAH is one of Europe's leading companies in the safe handling of these fractions. For more than 30 years, NOAH has specialized in stabilizing industry's residual fractions and using it to backfill quarries.
Previously, hazardous waste was called special waste. A distinction is made between organic and inorganic hazardous waste. These are the inorganic fractions NOAH works with. It is what cannot be burned and does not break down biologically. Examples of inorganic hazardous waste are fly ash from incineration plants, highly contaminated soil masses, acid, waste from aluminum production, contaminated crushed concrete and other industrial waste.
From production and combustion
In a product's life cycle, such residual fractions can occur in two ways:
- As a by-product from the production of a product, such as heavy metals from the production of glass or aluminium.
- When incinerating residual waste containing heavy metals such as batteries and light bulbs.
Best available technology
Before the 1990s, these substances went into nature and led to acid rain and fish deaths, among other things. From 1993 onwards, the residual fractions have been collected and sent to, among others, NOAH. We have developed a technology which is considered by the EU to be the best available technology at the moment for stabilizing the waste fractions.
Stable and safe
Basic fly ash and acid sulfuric acid are chemically stabilized in a plaster, so that the heavy metals are not released. By comparison, the heavy metals in your mobile phone are harmless as long as they are stable in the product. NOAH's plaster has the same stabilizing properties, and makes the plaster well suited as a filling material for rehabilitating the quarries on Langøya outside Holmestrand.
The quantities are increasing
As a result of increased production and also increased knowledge about the chemical substances we surround ourselves with, the amount of hazardous waste that must be handled increases. This means that more of what is produced by heavy metals is captured and processed. At the same time, it requires NOAH and Norway's environmental authorities to obtain enough storage capacity for the future. NOAH wants to contribute its expertise and experience to solve this challenge.
NOAH is a member of the trade association Norwegian Association for Hazardous Waste (NFFA).