Waste and recycling

With an arena that can accommodate up to 11,000 spectators per events naturally generate a lot of waste, and we have a significant focus on source sorting, both among visitors and our own employees.

In addition to concerts and shows, Oslo Spektrum also hosts various fairs and conferences. Here we facilitate waste sorting for visitors by setting up waste sorting stations. Such events can often generate some surplus food. In collaboration with the organizers, we try as far as possible to donate surplus food to charities in order to reduce food waste.

At open public events such as concerts, shows, stand-up, musicals and theatre, we continuously work to find good solutions for source sorting. For serving beer and cider, we use plastic glasses made of recyclable plastic, the same type of plastic used in depositable soft drinks and water bottles. Through a collaboration with Infinitum, we sort out the recyclable plastic glasses and send them in for recycling.

As an event with us can generate a lot of waste, we depend on the public’s help to get it sorted as well as possible. As a measure to improve our source sorting rate, we introduced an environmental tax in the autumn of 2023 for the purchase of beverages served in recyclable plastic glasses. The first time you buy a unit, you pay an environmental tax of NOK 10. If you are going to buy a new unit later, you will not have to pay a new environmental tax if you take the glass back to the bar. The purpose of the measure is to get more members of the audience to bring glasses back from the hall and prevent them from ending up on the floor and being stepped on, so that we can more easily sort at source and send as many glasses as possible for recycling.

The income from the environmental tax goes to cover costs related to our environmental work. This may apply, for example, to the purchase of equipment and personnel costs. Any surplus from the fee will be used to further develop our work with environmental measures.

One of our further objectives is to replace all plastic glasses we use for serving with recyclable plastic during the spring of 2024.