Deep Secrets: Discovery of a giant mega-slide in the North Sea Fan, offshore Norway

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Fracture Characterization for New Landfill Sites in Crystalline Bedrock: A Case Study from Rogaland, Southwestern Norway

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Final project report. Sustainable and complete waste management solutions for rural and semi-urban environments (SUWASO)

The Sustainable and Complete Waste Management Solutions for Rural and Semi-Urban Conditions (SUWASO) project, implemented from June 2021 to December 2024, was a collaborative effort involving the Norwegian Retailers’ Environment Fund (NREF), Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), Stromme Foundation (SF), Engineers Without Borders Norway (IUG), and the local implementing organisations Rural Enterprise Development Services (REDS), Association Protestante de la Santé au Mali (APSM) and Association Malienne pour la survie au Sahel (AMSS). Building on the previous initiatives 'Green Jobs' in Mali and 'Trash into Cash' in Ethiopia, the main goal of SUWASO was to enhance plastic waste management in rural and semi-urban areas of the Global South by establishing sustainable businesses and inspiring innovative plastic recycling methods globally. In Mityana, Uganda, the project tackled plastic waste management challenges in a municipality of about 100,000 people. The implementing consortium included NGI, REDS, Human Brights Engineering, and Schippert Consulting. Key steps involved conducting a Baseline Waste Audit in 2021, engaging local stakeholders, and focusing on PET plastic, which was identified as a plastic fraction not currently being collected for recycling in Mityana, but with a big potential to be recycled in Kampala. Several plastic processing machines have been built and sourced through the project, such as two locally produced shredders with self-developed reduction gears, one baler and a bottle preparation tool to ensure a robust business with the opportunity to process plastic into the required and wanted qualities. Since April 2023, the Mityana facility has employed a manager, a technical engineer, and support staff. In June 2024, they registered their own company, Ashimoki General Trading Company Limited, to continue operations post-project. The facility operates two shredders and a baler with the potential to process more than 40 tonnes of plastic monthly. The business strategy focuses on increasing plastic collection from households and supporting other collectors by processing their plastic. Financial assessments indicate profitability if machines operate at 40% capacity or more. The project has established a scalable and transferable recycling model, empowering local employees and reducing plastic waste and emissions. Going forward, an annual production of at least 100 tonnes of plastic is anticipated, as the plastic processing company has received all necessary equipment and training to keep up a good plastic processing rate. In Mali, the SUWASO project, implemented in San and Mountougoula, addressed waste management challenges and high youth unemployment rates. The project focuses on collecting and recycling soft plastic waste to produce school benches and other plastic furniture, reducing plastic contamination, emissions from open burning, andcontributing to climate change mitigation by replacing wood with recycled plastic. The project has increased income for vulnerable women in savings groups, who are paid for the plastic they collect. Youth groups produce and sell the benches, enhancing financial resilience. To ensure sustainability, project participants have formed cooperatives to manage the production units. The project has also focused on quality assurance and safety, with technical assistance from the National Directorate for Pollution and Nuisance Control and Engineers Without Borders. Despite challenges, including security issues, the project has made significant progress in improving waste management and creating economic opportunities in Mali. The SUWASO project in Mali has conducted several workshops to engage local partners and stakeholders, including communication and marketing sessions, project launches, and experience-sharing workshops. To strengthen market linkages, the project developed a production and marketing plan, recruited freelancers, and organized promotional tours. A business calculator was created to evaluate the financial sustainability of the production units, indicating potential profitability if there is sufficient demand for the products. More than 150 tonnes of plastic have been processed in Mali during the project, with an expected processing of 60 tonnes per year going forward. The project has diversified its product portfolio to include furniture for offices, kindergartens, and churches to enhance economic viability. The lessons learned from the projects in Mali and Uganda highlight the importance of careful planning, adaptability, and local engagement. Building technical capacity among local stakeholders ensures sustainability beyond the project period, while involving local authorities and partners from the outset provides valuable support and cooperation, increasing the likelihood of success. In the plastic waste industry, it is crucial to consider the volatile market for both plastic waste and plastic products. A robust business model and diversified product offerings are essential for long-term sustainability. Given the limited budget for our project, securing fair prices for infrastructure and machinery investments was vital. We found that this was most effectively achieved when our local partner independently approached local businesses without disclosing the donor-funded nature of the project. As a last remark, focusing on the business model and planning for the project's survival beyond the project period is crucial. Both in Mali and Uganda a solid foundation has been laid. We recommend to carry out surveys a few years ahead, to evaluate long-term achievements and impacts. We want to use the opportunity to wish good luck to the local businesses established in the realm of the project, and express the hope to have paved the way for sustainable plastic collection and processing businesses, helping to remove plastics from the streets for years to come.Handelens Miljøfond / Norwegian Retailers’ Environmental FundpublishedVersio

Sand Behavior upon Alternating Triaxial Compression and Extension: A Multiscale Analysis Using LS-DEM

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Crustal Heterogeneity Onshore Central Spitsbergen: Insights From New Gravity and Vintage Geophysical Data

Gravity data provide constraints on lateral subsurface density variations and thus provide crucial insights into the geological evolution of the region. Previously, gravity data from the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard comprised an onshore regional gravity database with coarse station spacing of 2–20 km, offshore gravity profiles acquired in some fjords, airborne gravity, and satellite altimetry. The sparse regional point-based onshore coverage hampered the direct integration of gravity data with seismic profiles acquired onshore Svalbard in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In April 2022, we acquired gravity data at 260 new stations along seven profiles from western to eastern Spitsbergen, with a cumulative length of 329 km. The profiles were acquired directly along selected seismic profiles and provide much closer station spacing (0.5–2 km) compared to the regional inland grid (2–20 km) acquired in the late 1980s (total number of onshore stations: 1,037). Having processed the data, we compared the first-order density trends of our new data with the legacy regional grid. The new gravity data are consistent with the regional data, imaging a gravity low in the western part of the area underlying a foreland basin and a gravity high in the northwestern part of the area likely associated with a basement high or denser basement. We compare the new and vintage gravity using maps and profiles, linked to the known major tectonic features such as major basinal axes and fault zones, as well as other geophysical data sets including seismics and magneticspublishedVersio

Reviewing the Soil Abrasion Test™: Insights from two decades of NTNU and SINTEF research

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Thermal design of quadratic segmental precast concrete driven energy piles

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Predicting aquatic toxicity of anionic hydrocarbon and perfluorinated surfactants using membrane-water partition coefficients from coarse-grained simulations

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Challenges and Opportunities of Data-Driven Advance Classification for Hard Rock TBM excavations

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Deliverable 5.7: Interdisciplinary Guidance Towards Quantitative Containment Risk

The need for safe CO2 storage sites is accelerating and so is the demand for improved methods to assess and manage the geological risks at proposed sites. The SHARP project has worked specifically with the uncertainties in all parts of the geological containment risk evaluation process, from uncertainties on input parameters to uncertainties on methods and models to the risk assessment combining all elements. The SHARP methodologies integrate models of subsurface stress, rock mechanical failure and seismicity to provide efficient CO2 subsurface risk monitoring and management. The knowledge within each of the geoscientific disciplines has been investigated and advanced while maintaining a close dialogue to optimize integration of results across disciplines. Quantitative results from laboratory experiments on rock strain and failure together with stress data from the integrated earthquake catalogue and regional scale tectonic and deglaciation models have provided input to basin-scale geomechanical models. An ensemble of geomechanical models within the realistic bounds of variability has served as input to Monte Carlo runs to assess the quantitative containment risk. The quantitative risk models can serve as input to smarter monitoring by identifying areas where monitoring is needed the most, thus providing an early warning should unexpected deviations occur. A multi-disciplinary workshop was held September 17th-18th, 2024 to evaluate the results from the different SHARP Work Packages and discuss the lessons learned by combining these results for a full chain of geological containment risk evaluation. The theme of the first day of the workshop was “Geological risks and triggers”, and the theme of the second day was “Recommended input to quantitative containment risk guidelines”. This report sums up the main points.European CommissionpublishedVersio