Waste Management in High North - new cross-border business opportunities

The international consortium led by NORCE Norwegian Research Centre has been awarded a research grant of NOK 7,5 M by the Research Council of Norway for a three-year project WANO to study cross-border business and innovation opportunities in waste management in the Barents Region and High North. Waste management in the northern latitudes is often more challenging than in the more central regions. The waste management companies need to address technological issues of sustainable processing av waste, in an Arctic context. Furthermore, the sustainable waste management includes co-operation with Arctic local communities, These challenges are not limited to one country, and are to a large extent shared by the northernmost regions in all Arctic states. This also creates opportunities for knowledge and experience sharing and collaboration on region-tailored solutions, including new business possibilities. The need for in-depth examination of such opportunities has been the primary motivation behind the project Waste Management in High North - new cross-border business opportunities (WANO) that has been awarded funding by the Norwegian Research Council NFR for the years 2021-2023. Special focus will be given to the analysis of municipal and industrial waste management in the neighbouring regions of Troms and Finnmark in Norway and Murmansk Oblast in Russia. Data on waste management collected in Northern Norway and Northwest Russia will be analysed together with Nordic benchmarking, including cases from Finland and Sweden. NORCE is the Lead Partner of the WANO project. Other research partners include Kola Science Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Apatity, Russia and the Nordregio in Stockholm. Remiks and RaskRetur, waste management practitioners in Troms and Finnmark, provide their valuable expertise and networks to the WANO project and actively participate in project implementation.

Waste Management in High North - new cross-border business opportunities (WANO) 2021-2024 is a project which studies cross-border business and innovation opportunities in High North, applied to the field of waste management. The study analyses cross-border business opportunities in the Barents Region and High North but also highlights specific geopolitical characteristics, as well as social aspects of cross-border waste management cooperation in High North. The study develops an analytical framework to study cross-border business and innovation cooperation and applies it to the field of waste management (municipal and industrial waste). The project applies the analytical framework to the regions of Troms, Finnmark, and Nordland , with a focus on the cross-border opportunities in the North Calotte region (North Norway, North Sweden, North Finland). NORCE is the Lead Partner of the study. Other research partners include the Nordic research institute Nordregio (Kola Science Center in Apatity, Russia was research partner for the year 2021). The interdisciplinary research team analyses processes that drive waste management in the Arctic communities while taking into account the national and international and national context. The non-research organisations have an important role especially in the empirical part of the study. Remiks (2021-2024) , RaskRetur (2021-2022), and Hålogaland Ressursselskap (2023-2024), waste management practitioners in Troms and Finnmark & Nordland ,provide their expertise and contacts to WANO project and actively participate in project implementation. Besides providing an analysis framework to study cross-border business and innovation, the WANO project collects and analyzes relevant data on Arctic waste management, complemented with Nordic benchmarking analysis. New cross-border business opportunities in Arctic waste management will be developed, taking into account the specific international and geopolitical context in the Barents Region and broader High North