In 2014, Oslo began turning household food waste into biogas; the plant was designed to process 50,000 tonnes a year and fuel 135 city buses

A plant in Norway was developed near the capital city Oslo to convert household food waste into biogas. The Romerike Biogassanlegg (RBA) plant was opened in Nes, in the Romerike region near the Norwegian capital. It was officially opened in 2014. However, it has been operational since 2012. It started with converting household food waste into liquid biogas fuel to run the city’s 135 buses. The result of this was impressive.

How much waste was it designed to process?

The plant near the Norwegian capital was designed to treat 50,000 tons of food waste per year to produce around 14,000 cubic meters per day of biomethane. The liquefied biogas was then efficiently transported for use as fuel.

The original announcement stated that it will convert household food waste into liquid biogas in volumes great enough to fuel 135 buses.


The result of that would be that CO2 emissions will be reduced by 10,000 tons each year. The announcement also claimed it would lower particulate emissions and noise as well.

Jannicke Gerner Bjerkås, Director Communications for Oslo's Waste-to-Energy Agency, had at that time said, "This plant will mean that 135 Oslo region buses will be able to run on biogas. As a result, the air will be cleaner and noise levels will be reduced, benefits that everyone in the region will enjoy."

According to reports, despite being designed to process 50,000 tonnes per year, it could not consistently receive enough food waste to operate at its intended capacity. It was reported that it had collected less household food waste. So, the plant reportedly was underused, and Oslo said running it in that situation automatically became an expensive task and also environmentally inefficient.

It was later decided to sell it rather than continuing the operations.

What happened to the plant?

The facility was eventually sold to Alltec. The transaction was completed in 2026. The divestment was formally approved by Oslo's City Council (Bystyret) and the transaction closed on 30 June 2026.