Sortere.no – a web based recycling guide for consumers
Sortere.no is a unique web based guide for consumers on waste separation and recycling. On Sortere.no consumers can search for information on how to sort and recycle thousands of products and find collection points in their municipality on a map.
Sortere.no is a database for sharing information about sorting and recycling nation-wide. With the help of municipalities, EPR (extended producer responsibility) companies, Waste Norway and various govern-mental institutions it is made sure that the information is correct and up to date. The collection of household waste varies quite a bit from one municipality to another, but on Sortere.no all Norwegians can find correct local information whether they are at home, visiting another part of the country, or if they have just moved to a new place.
Information from Sortere.no is very flexible and currently several forms of data exchange are available, e.g. APIs (application programming interface) and an adjustable iframe solution.
The main objective of Sortere.no is to contribute to more and better source separation and recycling of waste through:
• increasing knowledge and sharing information about source separation and recycling of waste
• motivating consumers to act more environmental friendly, mainly through recycling their waste
• making source separation easier for consumers
• making sure that the information shared is accurate and up to date
The LOOP foundation promotes recycling in Norway, among consumers, kindergartens, schools and businesses. LOOP`s vision is “We create good habits” (Vi skaper gode vaner). Sortere.no was published in 2009 and was officially opened by the Minister of Environment. Since then, the website has constantly been up-dated and improved. For example, in 2015 a massive project to optimize the website for mobile phones was carried out.
Sortere.no is a shared database for national and local information. All Norwegian municipalities can access and edit information in the Sortere Database. Thus, Sortere.no has 200 local administrators in 76 municipal waste companies all over the country, who provide the correct local information for their region. In addition, Sortere.no cooperates with the EPR companies, Waste Norway and various governmental institutions to ensure that the information is kept up to date.
Sortere has developed APIs (application programming interfaces) for information exchange, which allow third parties to use the information on their own website, in apps, map services etc as open data. An adjustable iframe solution is also available, enabling municipalities and waste managements to implement a local version of Sortere.no on their own website. These tools make the information on sorting and recycling widely spread, so people will find it whether they search on Sortere.no, their municipality's website, on Yellow Pages or other websites. The first API was developed together with the largest web portal in Norway (finn.no).
Media campaigns are also an important way to reach people. Waste Norway, the interest organisation for private and municipal waste management companies, gathers all its members to participate in biannual national campaigns. Sortere.no has on two occasions (2012 and 2014) represented the common voice of all Norwegian waste companies in these campaigns. Each campaign has a theme. For example in 2014, the national campaign was about hazardous and electronic waste. There have also been PR activities in national press (e.g. battery campaigns).
Sortere.no also has an active presence on social media, mainly in Face-book, but Twitter and Instagram are also used on occasion. Cooperation with all collaborators of Sortere.no and other companies also helps to get media attention. Examples of such cooperation are an ongoing campaign with Green Dot Norway and the campaign from 2014 about WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) and hazardous waste in collaboration with Avfall Norge (Norwegian Waste Management and Recycling Association), EPR companies and municipalities.
The Sortere.no team has a continuous focus on improving the quality of information. This involves communication with the 200 local administrators, via Facebook, newsletters and meetings.
During spring 2016, Sortere.no will launch a recycling guide for companies (Sortere Bedrift). The guide will include:
• Practical information on how different types of waste should be handled and a possibility to search among thousands of products
• Overview of waste companies, including map overview
• Information about what different laws and regulations mean for companies in practice
• Information of benefits and incentives of recycling
This is a major project that has been in the pipeline for some years. It will help companies to understand for example what waste they can deliver for free, how do reduce waste, and how to embrace the concept of circular economy. The guide can be used by all enterprises, but has a focus on small and medium sized enterprises. The guide will be published with the help of partners and financial contributors from the private waste sector, municipal waste management companies, interest organisations and EPR companies. Success Factors
The shared database enables Sortere.no to share information widely and still be sure that the source of information is correct and up to date. The success depends both on the accuracy of the information and on the large reach. The first one is important in order for Sortere.no to appeal to consumers. The second one is important to partners financing the site, which again makes it possible to run and keep up the site also in the future.
The popularity of Sortere.no is also a success indicator. The website visits have increased yearly. As the information is also spread to many other different websites through data sharing via APIs, the number of calls to the database is tracked, which is also showing an increase.
Novelty
Sortere.no has gained a wide reach in the population and the usage of information provided through it is increasing. 76 municipal waste companies have signed up to and are using Sortere.no as a tool to communicate nationally about recycling. Through their participation, Sortere.no has covered over 90 % of the population. Sortere also serves as a common voice in national campaigns.
The result of the collaboration is that all contributors can use high quality material in their own communication. This especially benefits the small and medium municipalities and waste management companies, as they often lack resources to do this on their own.
Sustainability Impacts
Sustainability impacts of Sortere.no have not been verified yet, but the amount of visitors is followed-up regularly. Sortere.no has increased visits year on year, e.g. by 57 % from 2014 to 2015. In 2015 Sortere.no had 130 000 unique users (verified through google analytics). In 2015 the number of calls to the database reached 1,6 million, an increase of approximately 50 % from 2014. The objectives of Sortere.no – to contribute to better source separation and recycling of waste – seem to interest Norwegians.
Challenges and potential for further development
Funding is always a challenge. In addition, continuous development of the website, e.g. keeping up with the standards of a good website, is a challenge itself.
Even though Sortere.no is quite comprehensive, there are areas for further development. For example, the whole database and website are only available in Norwegian. An English version of the website is something that LOOP will investigate further and search for financial partners to carry out the translation.
The LOOP foundation has no means to measure the direct effect Sortere.no has had on individual recycling behaviour or amounts of waste produced. However, there are many initiatives, for example locally and at EPR companies that can influence the behaviour and the way people recycle.
External source(s)
Supporting document(s)
sortere.no_explained.pdf
Download

