During this year's ONS, SAR focused on one of the most important issues for our industry: How can we work together to create more sustainable waste streams and, where possible, more circular value chains?
ONS 2026 has Courage as its main theme, a theme about challenging established truths, making bold choices, and finding new solutions in the face of major transitions. For SAR, this courage is also about collaboration: daring to think long-term, sharing knowledge, and developing new methods across roles, companies, and value chains.
For our customer event in Stavanger, we invited clients and partners from various parts of the value chain. The goal was to look at the bigger picture and discuss how the entire chain can contribute to better resource utilization, safe processing, and higher value in waste streams.
Pictured from left: Geir Ove Røed (Business Development Manager, SAR), Øyvind Sandve (Sales & Market Director, Stena Recycling), Tor Olav Schibevaag (CEO, SAR), Karen Aanestad (Senior External Environment & Climate Professional, AkerBP), and moderator Christine Lervik Palm (CSO, SAR).
The courage to collaborate differently
The panel discussion clearly showed that no single player can solve these challenges alone. Customer, supplier, and commercial roles will remain important, but developing better solutions also requires us to be able to work together as partners. This involves sharing data and insights, understanding each other's framework conditions, and being open about barriers, risks, and opportunities.
It also requires a long-term perspective. New methods, new treatment processes, and more circular value chains are not built overnight. They require testing, investment, sufficient volumes, the right quality, and a shared understanding of how risk and reward should be distributed.
Courage in Collaboration
This year's ONS theme, Courage, hit the core of the discussion. Courage is not just about big decisions or new technology. It is also about asking the difficult questions: Where are we losing value today? Is the right expertise involved early enough? Are today's contracts and commercial models set up for development?
And what must we be brave enough to do...
