Oslo
Public procurement
Plastic waste
Pursue efficient use of materials, energy, and water
Single-use plastics continue to be the cheapest option to individuals, businesses and government, as environmental costs are externalized to the environment. As Norway’s second largest public sector purchaser, the City of Oslo has considerable purchasing power that can have considerable impact on the consumption of single-use plastics.
The City of Oslo through their public procurement policies, has started to change their consumption behavior and reduce the unnecessary use of plastic in municipal bodies by supporting products that contribute to a circular economy, products that are designed for recycling and encourage reuse.
The City of Oslo has mapped all purchases of plastic products across the municipality, with particular attention on single-use plastics, to fully grasp the scale of use of plastic products in the municipality. By mapping plastic consumption, the City was able to identify which products were problematic and which agencies they needed to target.
The City is also working on building a culture of reducing the use of single-use plastic and disposable products by facilitating a process of change with a City manual on plastic smart purchasing. New procurement framework agreements will also include strict climate and environmental requirements, which focus on high rates of reuse, recycling, recovery and sharing.
The City is working on new purchasing agreements to include strict requirements that reduce the use of single-use plastics.
The City of Oslo has an ambition to phase out all use of unnecessary, single-use plastic articles in the canteens. They had a pilot project within one of the municipal bodies where they phased out all use of unnecessary single-use plastics within the canteen and office building. The pilot project was successful and based on the results, the City outlined a guidance document for plastic smart eateries with simple and effective measures that can be applied to all canteens in the municipal bodies.
City of Oslo. Agency for Urban Environment, Agency for Improvement and Development, Agency for Waste Management, Agency for Water and Sewerage Works, Agency for Planning and Building Services (including The urban ecology hub, “By Kuben”), and Oslo Port Authority.