Copper, one of the most precious metals

A new JRC report has assessed the potential of various products to be regulated under the new EU Ecodesign regulation, aimed at making sustainable products the norm in Europe. The legislation could improve environmental and market sustainability.

Several associations are strongly concerned about the proposed changes and are asking for them to be withdrawn.

‘The safety of workers is compromised, the damage to plant runs into millions’

After the recent accession of Bangladesh and Liberia, the International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships will enter into force in two years time. The Hong Kong Convention sets mandatory standards for the recycling of seagoing ships and regarding materials used on board.

"Sustainable Waste Management: The Forefront of Innovation" was the topic under which Prof. Marco Castaldi's organising team gathered a wide range of presentations from around the world:

This work developed combined PVC swelling by organic solvent and ball or rod milling approaches for the recovery of high purity Cu and PVC from thin and ununiform cables in waste wire harnesses.

57.4 million tons of e-waste were generated worldwide this year. This represents a new record. Despite valuable raw materials, only a small fraction is recycled.

On 18 March, a meeting of the EU environment ministers took place. Among other things, the EU Battery Regulation was discussed. Accordingly, the new EU Battery Regulation - as part of the European Green Deal - is supposed to include the environmental and social impacts of batteries throughout the entire product life cycle.

On 18 March, the Global Recycling Day took place and was dedicated to the theme #RecyclingHeroes. In this context, there were many campaigns on social media to highlight the relevance of recycling.

In respect of a limited amount of raw material, costs, CO2 and waste reduction, high precision metal recycling is getting more and more important these days. Contaminations of the melt with unwanted or outright detrimental elements (e.g. C, S, P, Cu or Pb in steel, Cr or Ni in low-alloy steels, Li in aluminium and so forth) are a huge liability toward the ‘‘alloy-to-alloy’’ recycling goal and essentially the only option in this case, is either costly dilution with clean raw materials, downgrading or worst case scenario discarding.

Illegal end-of-life vehicle exports from the EU are a cause for concern

Together with Mr. Thomas Schwarz (photo), Managing Director of Zweckverband Waste Management Region Hannover (aha) Werner Bauer and Dr. Karoline Borner, WtERT-Germany had the pleasure to visit the impressive photography exhibition "Ctrl-X, A topography of e-waste" of documentary photographer Kai Löffelbein in Hanover.

In 2012 the Dutch Waste-to-Energy sector agreed upon a Green Deal with the government to either clean the Municipal Solid Waste Incinerator (MSWI) bottom ash stemming from Waste-to-Energy, or find other applications for it rather than the IBC application in embankments (closed application; IBC = isolation, management and control). As a member of the Dutch Waste Management Association, N.V. HVC was one of the companies that signed this Green deal and committed to the goal stated therein.

In this project, which is being worked on by Fraunhofer Umsicht Sulzbach-Rosenberg with WtERT Germany and em & s, a recycling center is to be set up, among other things, in which various valuable waste materials, e.g. old electrical equipment can be registered.

This study is a comparison of the effect of biochar produced by bioenergy systems, via the pyrolysis and gasification processes, on the immobilization of metals/metalloids in soil.

Due to an increasing demand for valuable and critical metals and decreasing onshore resources, the development of deep-sea mining strategies became more important during the last decade. Both polymetallic nodules and seafloor massive sulphide (SMS) deposits have been identified as potential metal resources for the future.

Several approaches to machine learning algorithms for the analysis of LIBS data collected from scrap pieces on conveyor belt have been tested.

Abstract: The European Commission prohibits the use of classic incandescent light bulbs, and suggests their replacement by energy saving electric light or by compact fluorescent lamps (CFL).

Electrical and electronic equipment that contains private data, such as mobile phones or notebooks, is often stored in private households.

Recycling of metal and aluminium knows no limits because it can be remelted as scrap indefinitely. Pressrelease: REDWAVE Bild: Fotolia

In order to treat household waste Romerike Avfallsforedling (ROAF) located in Skedsmorkorset north of Oslo, Norway required the installation of a mechanical Treatment facility to process 40,000 tpa. Together with a Norwegian based technical consultancy Mepex and German based technical consultancy EUG the project was tendered and the plant build against a technical specification. In 2013 the project was awarded to Stadler Anlagenbau and since April 2014 the plant is in operation with an hourly throughput of thirty tons. The input waste contains specific green coloured bags containing food waste which is collected together with the residual waste from the households. The process recovers successfully the green food bags before the remaining waste is mechanically pre-treated and screened to isolate a polymer rich fraction which is then fully segregated via NIR technology in to target polymers prior to fully automated product baling. Recoverable Fibre is optically targeted as well as ferrous and non-ferrous metals. All food waste is transported off site for further biological treatment and the remaining residual waste leaves site for thermal recovery. In 2015 the plant has been successfully upgraded to forty tons per hour and remains fully automated including material baling.