Norway – Refuse disposal and treatment – The collection, transportation and treatment of bio waste.

The Contracting Authority Avfall Sør Husholdning AS is a part of Avfall Sør konsern, which is owned 100% by Kristiansand and Vennesla municipalities in Agder. The company provides waste and sanitation services to all inhabitants in the owner municipalities and serves approx. 55,500 residential units with dunk sanitation, 5,000 residential units with buried systems and 3,700 cabin subscribers. In addition, the company operates three recycling stations and a large waste facility at Støleheia with various treatment activities such as sorting, composting, tiling and depositing. Avfall Sør Husholdning AS is the contracting authority for this competition. Read more about Avfall Sør at: www.avfallsor.no Background Avfall Sør Husholdning AS is currently collecting food and bio waste from households in the owner municipalities. The waste is transported to Støleheia, where it is composted in a separate facility. The finished compost is to be refined to soil products that are traded for various purpose. From 1 September the new supplier will take over the collection of household waste on behalf of the contracting authority. The collection routes are thus altered and the collection frequency for food and bio-waste is changed from weekly to collection every two weeks. The change is a part of Avfall Sør ́s work with increasing the sorting of food and bio waste. Analyses show that there are still significant amounts of food waste in the residue waste, and the aim is to move a greater share of this to the bio-waste scheme. At the same time, garden and park waste makes up a significant part of the total amount of bio-waste. In 2025, this fraction accounted for about 20 percent of the total tonnage. Avfall Sør also handles municipal commercial waste on behalf of the owner municipalities. This waste flow is mainly equivalent to composition and quality as bio-waste from households, but normally contains a lower portion of garden and park waste. The new manure products regulation, which came into force in 2025, sets strict requirements for businesses that produce natural fertiliser products of organic origin. Amongst other things, the requirements for quality assurance, documentation, traceability, internal control and product responsibility have been strengthened. Fulfilment of these requirements would require considerable investments in infrastructure, process installations, quality systems and further development of the composting facility. After a combined assessment of investment needs, operational finances, regulation requirements and future treatment systems, Avfall Sør Husholdning AS has therefore decided to discontinue separate composting of bio waste. Instead, the collection, transport and treatment of the bio-waste will be outsourced so that the waste can be treated at an external facility with the necessary capacity and competence to meet the current requirements. This solution is considered the most cost efficient and robust in the long term, while ensuring that bio-waste is treated in accordance with current regulations and can be utilised as a valuable circular resource. Description of the assignment The contracting authority needs a robust and environmentally responsible system for handling bio-waste (food and garden/park), from households and business customers. The procurement shall ensure continuity in the receipt, transport and treatment of waste, and contribute to the waste being used as a resource through material recovery and/or energy recovery. The aim of the procurement is to establish a contract with a tenderer who can safeguard the entire value chain from collection at the contracting authority ́s waste facility at Støleheia, until final treatment. The system shall support the contracting authority ́s work on sustainable waste management in the region around Kristiansand and contribute to predictable operation in the contract period. The procurement is particularly important in order to ensure sufficient treatment capacity, stable logistics and a system that fulfils the current environmental requirements as well as requirements for proper handling of the bio waste. The contracting authority may also receive and process bio-waste from both households and commercial customers on behalf of other municipalities in the region around us. These volumes will then be able to flow to this contract and are taken into consideration in the competition ́s value limitations. The contract will be valid for 1 year, with an option for the contracting authority to extend the contract for 1 year at a time for up to 3 years, so that the maximum total contract period is 4 years.