10 min read
In recent years, Trondheim Municipality has invested in large-scale circular economy, and reuse has now become a natural part of the municipality's property management. With the help of their reuse warehouse at Nyhavna in Trondheim and the digital reuse platform Loopfront, the municipality has an overview of all materials that can be reused in various projects.
Bjarne Berntsen, who is a reuse operator in Trondheim Municipality, has not only influenced how his own department operates, but also set an inspiring example for others in the industry. Today, Bjarne is the most active user of the Loopfront platform. We interviewed Bjarne about his methods and strategies, to share valuable insights for property companies that want to succeed with reuse.
Works with reuse full time
“My role is to take in materials for reuse from demolition projects or from operations staff who want to get rid of surplus, and make them available to others in the municipality,” says Bjarne Berntsen. He has worked with reuse in Trondheim Municipality for almost three years, and says that he enjoys the job and is proud of the results they are achieving. “I start my workday by opening Loopfront and checking whether any orders have come in,” says Bjarne. “Then I see whether there are orders from our storage, and I contact those who have ordered and ask whether they want the items now or later. It is therefore important for me to receive the materials and make them available as quickly as possible. It would be silly to let them sit in the warehouse for several weeks before I do anything with them. I often get feedback on how fast the process is."
When someone in the municipality contacts Bjarne because they have items that can be reused, he often drives over with an electric car and brings them to the storage. In some cases, he asks the operations staff to send photos and information about what they have, so that Bjarne can list it directly on Loopfront and deliver it straight to others in the municipality who order it. This way he saves both transport and storage space in the warehouse.
Bjarne, who is responsible for the storage, keeps track of the municipality’s reuse Warehouse. He says that things are coming into the warehouse all the time, and that there is never any downtime. Everything that comes in, he registers in Loopfront with a systematized overview of what is to be placed on which shelf, so that it is easier to find again when someone orders it.
On other days, Bjarne works with dismantling in demolition projects before the contractors start tearing down. Here he removes everything from LED lights to panel heaters, which he photographs while they are still in use, and then posts them on the municipality’s internal marketplace in Loopfront right away.
"LED lights are something many schools and nursing homes will want to replace over time; it’s also a saving to switch to LED. LED lights are a bit fun to post on Loopfront – they get ordered immediately by the operations staff. In a couple of days, they’re gone. The operations staff sit and follow Loopfront to catch the treasures,” says Bjarne.
“We have almost a thousand users in the Loopfront system.
The goal is to get everyone into Loopfront.”.
- Bjarne Bertnsen - reuse operator in Trondheim Municipality
Bjarne shows Trondheim's inventory in Loopfront in 2022; now they have a larger volume of materials available on the marketplace.
High demand for used materials in the municipality
There is growing engagement for reuse across the municipality’s departments. Bjarne receives enquiries from, among others, building operators, teachers at schools, kindergartens, health centres, welfare centres, activity centres, cultural units, sports facilities, maintenance groups and municipal housing.
Bjarne says there is great interest in structural timber in the municipality. Most of the materials that are ordered go to schools. Primary and lower secondary schools have received a large surplus of wood for craft classes, so they do not have to buy new materials.
“The schools don’t have much money, so they like to get things for free, and they get really happy when they receive materials. We have also collaborated with the county authority on upper secondary schools, where there have been larger construction projects; among other things, they have built lavvus at Tiller Upper Secondary School and Charlottenlund Upper Secondary School. We have also had painting of steel waste containers as school projects, as well as refurbishing old benches that were actually going to be thrown away, but were sent to North of Trøndelag instead,” says Bjarne.
A lot of loose inventory also goes to the municipality’s health centres, such as hospital beds and furniture. They have also supplied structural timber to the Pstereo festival in recent years, which they have received back after the festival was over, and which has later been reused again at Lohove kindergarten.
“We want everyone in the municipality to take part in reuse. We get emails almost every day from people who want access to Loopfront, and then I invite them.”
Economic, environmental, and social sustainability
“It’s important to mention that we also have two people from Stavne Dagsverk who have worked with me for a long time. Viktor Woldseth and Siw Espnes wash roof tiles and materials here, and we see that they really thrive and look forward to coming to work. If we had more employees, we could have taken in more people and contributed more to society – that is also social sustainability.”
Viktor Woldseth and Siw Espnes wash roof tiles and materials in Trondheim Municipality’s reuse storage.
Expands with a new warehouse for furniture and inventory
The success Trondheim Municipality has had with the Reuse storage for building materials has proven that it is both possible and profitable – and, not least, that there is strong demand for reuse.
The Reuse Centre for furniture and inventory at Granåsen. Photo: Bergersen Arkitekter
“Bodil Nilsen Gylland and Ilse Angelo are sitting in the office with me now, but soon they will move to Granåsen, where we will have the official opening of the Reuse Centre for furniture on 21st of June. There will be a large warehouse with shelving like this, so we’ll be able to store furniture there that we haven’t had room to store here until now.
“In the long term, we also need more space for storing stone. We should have had a large outdoor storage area. We store some things outside here, and at Hegstadmyra where there are a lot of roof tiles and cobblestones. Reuse of outdoor materials and park equipment is something we are doing more and more of. There is high demand for cobblestones, or large paving stones,” says Bjarne.
Bjarne’s 10 success factors for succeeding with reuse
1. Start early – “Now is the right time to invest in reuse. We should have started earlier. I think we need to think about the environment so that our children get a better future. Don’t assume something can’t be reused before you’ve tried.”2. Look at the possibilities – “It’s not rubbish for everyone; for many others it can be very usable. You have to look at everything as reusable.”
3. Get an overview – “It’s important to keep things tidy and have a system so you know where things are. You waste a lot of time and unnecessary resources by not having an overview. Every janitor has a storage room that they can survey themselves and post in Loopfront, so others can use what they don’t need themselves.”
4. Find dedicated people – “Find the right people to work with reuse, and keep the focus on reuse all the time. We now have more employees working on this, and by increasing capacity I’m sure we can increase the savings.”
5. Internal communication – “Petter Nerbye, who is the area manager for reuse in the municipality, presents the reuse warehouse and shares information around the municipality. Petter has built the large network and the theoretical insight about the Reuse Warehouse, while I have done the practical work. An important strategy is to have internal communication.”
6. Good and fast service – “Good and fast service gives a positive experience from the start. Then people see that it’s actually easy to get hold of reused goods and that it pays off. They have been very positive and praise the fact that it’s much faster than ordering new.”
7. Show the benefits of reuse – “If you order something new, the janitors get invoices and follow-up office work. But when we deliver internally in the municipality, there’s no invoice or admin work afterwards. Most janitors are people who like to work hands-on and not do office work, and they avoid that when they work with reuse.”
8. Build a network – “Build a network and get to know operators around the municipality. They know what wears out in the buildings and what parts are needed. Then they can contact me if there is something I have in stock. The same goes for project managers for maintenance, who can get in touch if they are going to renovate something. They send photos, and I am invited to site meetings to look at reusable products.”
9. Collaborate within the municipality – “If there are products that are too big for me to pick up in my car, I can get help from the transport and service group in Trondheim Municipality. We have also had help from external parties who have done surveys for us, including Asplan Viak. We also collaborate with demolition contractors. SG Entreprenør had two demolition projects where we cooperated well on deliveries to us, and the materials look good and have been dismantled in good condition, so they are suitable for reuse.”
10. Collaborate with others – “More collaboration on reuse between municipalities would be very good. I have actually delivered to Namsos and Fosen. We set the price at half of the new price, but we should probably set it lower or make it free, since we save so much waste.”
Results from Trondheim Municipality’s investment in reuse
- Started the initiative in 2021 and today has 4 employees working with reuse.
- In 2023, Trondheim Municipality saved NOK 12 million in purchasing costs through reuse. With warehouse, staffing, and operating expenses of NOK 5 million, they saved NOK 7 million last year.
- Reuse in the municipality in 2023 resulted in savings of 300 tons of waste and 250 tons of CO₂ equivalents through avoided purchases.
We have followed Trondheim Municipality ever since the start of their reuse journey, and we would love to help your organisation invest in reuse!
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