EN 
NO 
Reproduction of immersion heaters
We at Norske Backer AS, are concerned with reusing and recycling in our work with sustainable development. In this context, we work to find solutions where we can reuse materials or “used up” products, so that we can extend the life of these resources.
We want to use more recycled materials where this is possible, as well as accept more old products from customers where we can reuse parts of the construction that are just as good!
One of our customers who is also interested in this is Protan. They deliver immersion heaters back to us, so that we can restore and reproduce them. What we do is that we remove old heating elements from the flange and element support, drill existing holes, before we sandblast the parts and solder in new heating elements. This is a recurring order, and a job we do often. In this process, we recycle around 50% of the immersion heater, as the only thing we replace are the heating elements.
We asked Protan what their motivation was for reusing old immersion heaters rather than buying new ones, and we got this answer:
“Vi tar gjenbruk på alvor. Bruker flensene for varmeelementene om igjen for å spare tid, kostnader og miljø. Men er også avhengige av at delene skiftes ut av dere ved behov for å sikre en god kvalitet.”
We think it is important to highlight Protan and the responsibility they take by reusing the immersion heaters, and that they also give us the opportunity to contribute to their good work.
With this, we hope that others also want to get better at reusing the resources that can be used again and utilize all resources as well as possible!
Did you know that 540,000 tons of plastic are thrown away in Norway every year? And only 24% of this waste is recycled! Or that we also throw away 1.4 million tons of wood waste annually, of which 1.2 million tons go straight to incineration? 1
The Norwegian Environment Agency has set a goal that we should produce less waste, and at the same time we should make better use of our resources. In the Environment Directorate’s Environmental Status, we can see that in 2021 a total of approx. 11.6 million tons of waste was produced, and only 44% of that was recycled!2
Recycling in Norway has decreased since 2011. If Norway is to meet the requirements of the EU’s regulations that are incorporated in the EEA agreement, material recycling must again be increased in the future.2
- https://soir.no/ombruk/fun-facts-om-gjenvinning-og-ombruk/
- https://miljostatus.miljodirektoratet.no/tema/avfall/
