A CDE Wash Plant in Norway Is Taking On PFAS-Contaminated Soil

FSG’s 120tph facility in Bergen treats construction, demolition and excavation waste, and opens its gates to the industry on 23 September

Fana Stein & Gjenvinning, a Norwegian recycling and aggregates company, has been running a soil treatment facility at its site in Bergen, on the country’s west coast, since the end of 2024. The plant was delivered and commissioned by CDE, the Northern Irish wet processing manufacturer, with Nordic Bulk, a local EPC contractor, and it will be opened to the industry at an event on 23 September.

What makes it worth a visit is the material it accepts. Alongside construction, demolition and excavation waste, the 120 tonnes per hour plant handles contaminated soils from roadworks and major building projects across the region, including soils contaminated with PFAS.

Why PFAS changes the calculation

PFAS, the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances now regulated across Europe, are the reason this plant is more than another washing installation. They do not break down easily, they turn up in soil from a wide range of sites, and the default answer for contaminated material has been landfill.

That default is getting expensive and, in several jurisdictions, harder to rely on. A plant that can wash contaminated soil into a saleable product changes the economics twice: it removes disposal cost and creates material with a value. The company frames the site as a model for keeping pace with emerging environmental threats while staying commercially viable, which is the harder half of the claim.

The circular argument, applied

For a producer or a demolition contractor, the practical reading is about where the material goes. Diverting substantial volumes from landfill matters environmentally, but on a project it shows up as fewer lorry movements and lower gate fees.

The site is being presented as a demonstration that difficult waste streams can be turned into resources rather than liabilities, and it is the kind of installation others in the sector visit before deciding whether to invest in something similar.

The open day

The event runs on Wednesday 23 September from 08:00 to 16:00. It includes a guided tour of the plant, a round table on PFAS, a visit around FSG’s site and cave, and networking.

The round table is the part worth the trip. PFAS treatment is early enough that the useful information is still passing between operators rather than sitting in published data, and an operating plant with two years of running behind it is a rarer thing than a specification sheet.

A CDE Wash Plant in Norway Is Taking On PFAS-Contaminated Soil published on The HeavyQuip Magazine.