Here are the criteria for "completed cleanup":
Beach cleaning has been popular among increasingly environmentally conscious Norwegians for many years. For the first time in Norway, criteria have been established for when an area is considered "completely cleaned".
Published: 15.February, 2021 Last updated: 05.December, 2025
This autumn, the Norwegian Retailers' Environment Fund launched Norway's first national cleanup program, Cleanup Norway. Forty percent of Norway's and Svalbard's outer coastlines, as well as selected waterways, will be cleaned at least once by the end of 2023. This created a need for a common cleanup standard.
- When we set out to systematically clean up Norway, it is important to ensure a consistent practice for how cleanups are carried out in the various counties. Many different actors will be involved in this work, and they need predictability and clear guidelines to follow, says Mari Kristin Martinsen, who coordinates the Cleanup Norway program at the Norwegian Retailers' Environment Fund.
Commissioned by the fund, SALT Lofoten has now developed criteria for when an area is considered "completely cleaned."
Input from Experts
The criteria were created by consulting key players in marine cleanup work.
- Those with the most experience in such cleanup efforts are best positioned to highlight the practical challenges they face when cleaning up, for example, difficult-to-access and vulnerable environments. Based on their input, we developed solid criteria that have now been reviewed by central environmental stakeholders, says Martinsen.
Both the Centre for Oil Spill Preparedness and Marine Environment (SOMM), the County Governor of Trøndelag, and the Norwegian Environment Agency have provided their input on the criteria.
Not All Waste Should Be Cleaned Up
The criteria emphasize that not all waste should be cleaned up, for the sake of nature.
- In some cases, there is a need to weigh the decision to remove garbage by digging up plastic against the risk of disturbing fragile nature by leaving the waste in place. The criteria account for this. My hope is that it will now be easier to assess when the job is sufficiently done, says Martinsen.
Criteria for the First Round of Cleanup
The criteria stipulate that waste over 2.5 cm that can be picked up effectively with a work glove is considered cleaned. Does this mean cigarette butts and snus pouches should be left behind?
- We used the EU's definition as a starting point. They consider beach waste to be anything over 2.5 cm in length. In practice, cleanup operators will take everything they can with gloves on. It's worth mentioning that the criteria are created for the initial phase of cleanup. Through the Cleanup Norway program, we intend to clean 40 percent of the outer coastlines at least once initially. The long-term goal is to remove all plastic litter along the coastlines and waterways, concludes Martinsen.
An area can be considered "completely cleaned"* in the Cleanup Norway Program when:
Waste in the beach zone (from the water's edge) and naturally adjacent areas has been cleared.
Waste over 2.5 cm that can be effectively picked up with a work glove has been cleared.
Areas that have been cleared should appear clean, meaning that plastic and other synthetic materials, metal, and glass have been cleared.
Waste that is partially buried in vegetation should be cleared if it can be removed manually or with simple tools without 1) fragmenting so that (micro)plastics are released into the environment during handling and 2) significant intervention in the vegetation or fauna.
Concentrated accumulations of surface waste up to 2.5 cm that can be effectively removed manually or with simple tools have been cleared.
*The Cleanup Norway program will initially address macroplastic.
