For us, recyclables are resources, for many people in the world, the very basis of life

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.

Unsuccessful constitutional complaint against Tübingen packaging tax statute

Paper and cardboard will be collected separately from other dry recyclables.

Of the 30,000 fast food restaurants and six billion meals served per year, two million tonnes of waste were generated in the country.

The mayor of New York city claimed the use of garbage cans as a game changer for the city as they will eliminate billions of kilograms of waste from the streets.

Company’s investment will divert 1 million tons of recyclable material from landfill into the recycling stream eliminating the equivalent of 2 million metric tons of CO2 by 2028. Amazon’s support will provide 3 million households across the U.S. with curbside recycling.

The purpose of this report is to provide a strong and comprehensive knowledge base on waste management in Kosovo, with focus on municipal waste. The key data provided per municipality and region, provide a clear understanding of the current situation, the trends and their implications, and future plans.

The light packaging recovery plant, which is a key factor in the success of recycling in Mallorca, has been constantly improving operations since it opened in 2003. This plant represents a vital preliminary stage to enable the recycling of all the packaging waste deposited by residents of Mallorca in the yellow containers. In 2017, a series of improvements were carried out at the plant to optimise operations.

Packaging wastes arise as a result of the use of packaging materials, which are natural resources. Packaging wastes have an important share in solid wastes. For this reason, it is necessary to address the issue with a sustainable waste management plan, to promote recycling activities and to prevent pollution. Another important issue is the data logging system of packaging wastes. The fact that collection activities originating from scavengers can not be recorded, therefore, a proper waste management plan can not be created and it is not known exactly where the raw materials are recycled. Collection and recycling of packaging waste is important and necessary in order to ensure the continuity of sustainable development.

The REDWAVE Process Monitoring and Control System (PMCS) allows maximum automation of systems as well as optimisation of the entire sorting process

In its current phase (04/2014 - 12/2016), the Sustainable Municipal Services (SMS) program of the German Development Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit – GIZ) in Kosovo has the potential to provide in the medium term basic public services in the waste management sector for 70% of the population. Such an achievement would be to a large extent dependent on the success and development of an incentive-based competition in 17 selected municipalities (out of a total of 38 ), which was set up by the MESP in cooperation with the German Development Bank (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau – KfW). Responsible municipal bodies get access to investments provided that they implement reforms for performance development and make improvements in selected performance indicators. The latter aims at a financially sustainable expansion of services.

This article describes the problems of obtaining fuel – alcohol from food waste (peel and spin fruit) and farming (stems and honeycomb corn) and pulp and paper (waste paper and sawdust) industry.

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.

The waste disposal system in Poland is one of the least advanced in Europe. Despite great efforts over the last 20 years municipal waste landfilling has only reduced from 95 percent in 1991 to 73 percent in 2010. This still means that millions of tonnes of post-consumer waste continue to be landfilled.

The DRANCO technology was developed in the eighties as one of the very first anaerobic digestion technologies for municipal solid waste (MSW). A first demonstration plant was erected in 1984 in Ghent, Belgium. At present about thirty DRANCO installations are constructed in about fifteen different countries. This paper describes these DRANCO installations treating the organic fraction of MSW, integrated in a mechanicalbiological treatment plant (MBT). It does not describe DRANCO installations dealing with source separated biowaste.

Optical sorting appeared for the first time in 1994 in Germany, France and in the USA. Initially, it was limited to the recognition of the main packaging types, as found in the "yellow bin", using the NIR spectroscopy to differentiate molecular bonds: PET, HDPE, PVC, Tetrapak were the main targets. Colour sorting was later introduced for very fine colour nuances (e.g. clear vs light blue bottles). Today, most MRFs in Europe use Optical Sorting for packaging.

The Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach, Florida commissioned a white paper to address issues raised by the Sierra Club to the Palm Beach new 3,000 ton per day WTE facility. This comprehensive 82-page report prepared by Gershman, Brickner & Bratton (GBB) provides a wealth of information on waste-to-energy in general, and in Florida specifically.

The global financial crisis has also reached the German recycling industry. But as opposed to the banking and automotive industries, the recycling industry has not responded with panic or predictions of Armageddon. Admittedly, there are some problems with exporting wastepaper to China, but in Germany the industry sees more opportunities than risks. In any case, there will be some form of market adjustment. An important representative of the German disposal industry and an expert in the area of wastepaper expresses his views on the situation in the global market. Lutz Siewek is Managing Director of Nehlsen GmbH & CO. KG in Bremen (Germany), where he is also responsible for the company's entire raw materials business.

This paper discusses the retrofit injection of humid gas from sludge dryer with secondary air in the WTE furnaces in Québec City. In 1992, a municipal sludge treatment plant was added in the WTE building. Three sludge dryers, each connected to a furnace, were added. Direct contact with hot furnace gas was used to dry sludge in a rotary drum. Humid gas from the dryer was returned to the rear wall of the furnace just above the finishing grate.

Landfilling is the main disposal method to remove organic solid waste in Turkey. Even if the domestic solid waste generally has high water content and it is reach by means of biodegradables, the number of composting facilities is limited and they are mainly located in the cities with high population. However, composting is an advantageous method for the countries having both high amounts of organics in their waste and widespread agricultural activities, such as Turkey. Limited landfilling areas and difficulties to locate new landfills are the effects to aim composting, as well as it is the priority disposal method of Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

Valorsul, S.A. is the company responsible for the treatment of the approximately 750 thousand tons of Municipal Solid Waste produced, per year, in great Lisbon. This paper will present a case study of the communication strategy developed in order to achieve the European Union directives on the management of packaging waste - 2004/12/CE (2011 objectives) since the former directive (94/62/CE) objectives were achieved for glass, paper/cardboard and metal flows but not for plastic. 2011 goals are more demanding and despite the 20% grouth of selective collection in Valorsul’s area during the two last years this is not sufficient (see Tables 1 and 2).

Increasing fossil fuel prices and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction requirements compels energy users to utilise cost effective materials that also have a significant biomass fraction. The biomass fraction is considered ‘carbon neutral’ and does not contribute towards GHG emissions. The UK, like many Member States, is facing challenging landfill diversion targets for BMW (biodegradable municipal waste) to fulfil the Landfill Directive (Council Directive, 1999) requirements (Garg et al., 2007). According to the latest data, the UK landfilled ca. 62% of total MSW in 2005-06 (Defra, 2006).