While we're trying to figure out how to keep our landfills from overflowing with trash, the capital of Norway has the opposite problem: It's run out of garbage.
This is important because half of Oslo and most of its schools are heated by burning trash — viewed as a renewable energy that reduces the use of fossil fuels — including household trash, industrial waste and toxic waste, according to the New York Times.
In fact, Oslo and other parts of Northern Europe have resorted to importing this "commodity," referred as such by a senior advisor to the city's waste recovery program. Northern Europe simply can't keep up the demand, producing only 150 million tons of waste each year when its plants can handle more than 700 million tons. So now the city of 1.4 million people has its sights on America.
“I’d like to take some from the United States,” said Pal Mikkelsen, in his office at a huge plant on the edge of town that turns garbage into heat and electricity. “Sea transport is cheap.”
All this is even more fascinating when you put into context that Norway is among the 10 largest exporters of oil and gas. Not to mention, it has more than 1,100 hydroelectric plants and abundant coal reserves.
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