P.b.b.

02Z030115 M, WEKA Industrie Medien GmbH, Dresdner Straße 45, 1200 Wien, Retouren an Postfach 100, 1350 Wien SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2017

Special Edition
Official Publication of:

RECYCLING

Euro 12,–

Rise of the
Machines
With Advances
in AI, the Robots
are Coming

Bouncing Back Pride of Pennsylvania

Veolia Reopens Plastic Recycling Plant in London Flying Start for TotalRecycling’s First MRF
Page 8 Page 30
VEOLIA
 FROM THE EDITOR

THE CONTRASTING
WORLD OF WASTE
From Robots to Waste Pickers

R ecycling may not sit at the top of the waste hierarchy, but in
the throw-away world in which we live it plays an increasingly
important role in the move to a circular economy.
With consumer demand for packaged goods rising globally, and the “Amazon
Effect” producing an ever growing mound of cardboard and other packing
materials, effectively recycling municipal waste is more important than ever.
The good news is, while there is still a long way to go, globally we’re getting
better at it. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been fortunate enough to visit two
particularly effective facilities which are at the forefront of the slow march
forward.
After a whirlwind tour of New York City, taking in the iconic sights of the
Statue of Liberty and the Empire State building, we took a scenic drive
through Pennsylvania and its quintessentially American Main Streets. We
wound up at TotalRecycling’s MRF in Allentown.
Once through the door, we were greeted by Joe, the director of the recycling
Ben Messenger Chief Editor division of his family-owned business. He’s quite clear that the future of the
waste industry is as a manufacturer, with MRFs its factories.
The plant he runs is certainly that. With the latest in sorting technology in-
stalled, his mantra is one of quality. It’s a good attitude, and one we’re seeing
more and more of in the recycling industry. For more on how TotalRecycling
“AS INCREDIBLE managed to ramp up production to 100,000 tonnes per year just 18 months
after opening its first MRF, turn to page 30.
AS SOME Fast-forward a couple of weeks and I’m once again on my travel, this time 10 km
OF THIS or so to the somewhat less glamorous destination of Dagenham, East London,
TECHNOLOGY where Veolia were reopening the former Closed Loop Recycling facility.
Having spent £5 million on upgrades, the plant is able to produce virgin
IS, WE MUSTN’T quality recycled HDPE from milk bottles. Already on my previous visit some
FORGET five years ago it was a high-tech plant, now it’s even more impressive. With its
end-to-end control of materials and sorting plants, Veolia is in a position to
PEOPLE. FOR operate it with a different business model to its previous owner. To find out
WASTE PICKERS more about that, turn to page 8.
MAKING A Continuing the theme of sorting, on page 18 we catch up with some old
friends of the robotic variety. With ZenRobotics’s C&D sorting technology
LIVING ON becoming ever more advanced and Sadako teaming up with BHS to roll out
LANDFILLS, Max-Ai, it’s a hot topic.
As incredible as some of this technology is, we mustn’t forget people. For
THERE IS OFTEN waste pickers making a living from landfills, there is often little or no regard
LITTLE OR NO for health and safety. On page 16, we hear about a project being carried out
REGARD FOR by a pair of NGOs to improve the lives of such workers in Mexico.
Enjoy the issue.
HEALTH AND
SAFETY.” Ben Messenger, Chief Editor

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD 3

 SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2017

CONTENTS
VOLUME 18, ISSUE 5

GUEST
AUTHORS
Cover Story
RISE OF THE
MACHINES
Since our last in depth coverage “We built out this next
of robotic sorting, ZenRobotics mechanical evolution of a
and Sadako, working with BHS, system that accomplished
have made huge strides forward the key task of visual
in the use of AI. recognition.”
Page 18 Thomas Brooks, director of technology
development, BHS Group
Page 18

“22 business model

profiles show examples
for the private and public
sectors to recover costs or
even make money from
waste.”
Justin Dupré-Harbord, IWMI
Page 32

“One project we started

Bouncing Back
Following its acquisition of Closed
Loop Recycling’s plant, Veolia is
injecting new life into HDPE bottle
recycling in London.
Page 8
Zero to Hero
TotalRecycling is transforming
the industry in Pennsylvania with
its first MRF – a 100,000 TPA
Bollegraaf plant.
Page 30
developing recently has
three gasifiers that need
to be fed and the client
will be using a lower
quality waste.”
Matt Drew, Saxlund International
Page 36

4 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017


Now!
8 Plastics Recycling Bounces
Back in London
Veolia has upgraded and reopened
the former Closed Loop Recycling
HDPE milk bottle recycling facility in
Dagenham, East London.
Recycling Special Edition
24 Show Time – RWM 2017
This year’s RWM exhibition in
Birmingham, UK, saw a number of
interesting product launches from
exhibitors, both large and small.
28 Smarter Recycling
Cambridge Consultants is aiming to
improve consumer recycling with its
newly developed visual recognition
system for recyclables.
30 TotalRecycling
18 months after opening its first Biowaste
MRF, a Pennsylvania-based waste
collection & landfill operator is recy- 40 Cashing in on Waste
cling 100,000 tonnes per year. The International Water Manage-
ment Institute is readying 22 busi-
ness models for making money from
Waste to Energy wastes.
34 Shocking Maintenance
Swiss firm Explosion Power has
improved the operating efficien- REGULARS
cy and maintenance routine at a
biomass plant with its Shock Pulse 3 Editor’s Letter
Generators. 6 ISWA Comments
36 Well Handled Waste 12 News
WMW talks with an industry expert 16 Letter from Mexico
about the basics of fuel handling and 44 ISWA Information
storage at waste to energy facilities. 46 Country Spotlight: Panama

COMPANIES INDEX
Chief Editor COMPANY  PAGE COMPANY  PAGE
Ben Messenger
Email: Ben@WMW.News ACI Chemical  38 Komptech  41
Mobile: +44 7917 566259 Addex Group  26 Liebherr  13
Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation  14 LINDNER  33
International Advertising Manager
Terry Ash Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment 12 Menart  42
Email: terry.ash@WMW.News Bollegraaf  30 Netherlands’ Embassy in Panama  46
Office: +44 (0)20 3667 3715 Bulk Handling Systems  3, 18 Presona  26
Mobile: +44 (0)7956 491159 Cambridge Consultants  28 Real Alloy  14
Publisher Cross Wrap  11, 26 Redwave  29
WEKA Industrie Medien GmbH DCM Infrastructure  12 Sadako  18
Hans F. Zangerl, General Manager Ecostar  39 Saxlund Internationa  36
Email: zangerl@WMW.News Eggersmann  43 SiKanda  16
Dresdner Straße 45, 1200 Vienna, Austria
ELDAN RECYCLING  26 TERRA TECH  16
www.industriemedien.at
Art Director: Nicole Fleck Explosion Power GmbH  34 Topolytics  25
Graphic Design: Johanna Kellermayr Firstgrade  24 TotalRecycling  3, 30
Forrec  23 Unisan UK  24
Advertising
Editorial/News Contact: Freeland Scientific  26 University of Tennessee  14
Ben@WMW.News Green Eco Technologies  25 Van Dyk Recycling Solutions  30
Editorial Correspondence/Press Releases: HAMMEL  7 Vecoplan 3 5
Please send to Waste Management World at HSM  26 Veolia  3, 8, 13
terry.ash@WMW.News ICM  15 Ward Recycling  13
www.wmw.news International Water Management Institute  40 ZenRobotics  3, 18

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD 5

 ISWA COMMENT
FLOODS ARE THE
NEW NORMAL!
It dumped an estimated 100 billion m3 of rain over Texas
and Louisiana during a six day period.
A t least 70 people died due
to its devastating impact. It created es-
timated losses of US $ 70-75 billion. It
flooded or seriously damaged at least 13
toxic waste sites in Texas, according to
the US EPA. It created heaps of ruined
possessions that now line entire neigh-
bourhoods, almost reaching the rooftops
of the homes that were swamped.
In Houston alone, an estimated 6 million
m3 rain fell, enough to fill up the Texans
stadium twice over. Texas disclosed about
$136 million in federal funds to pay
for the initial clean-up efforts around
Houston. Hurricane Harvey, and the
recent hurricane Irma too, were broadly
discussed and their impacts are measured
in details, but these are hardly the biggest
problems.
In Bangladesh, India and Nepal, at least
1500 people have died and close to 50
million have been left homeless by this
year’s monsoon floods. Recent torrential
rains caused a mudslide that killed over
1000 people in Sierra Leone. Floods, as a
result of on-going climate change, are be-
coming the new normal! Scientists have
estimated that in 2010, three times as
many people are living in houses threat-
ened by hurricanes as in 1970.
Munich Re, a re-insurer, calculated that
the number of storms and floods has
increased from 200 (in 1980) to 600 in
2016! The UN considers that from 1995
to 2015 storms and floods have caused
at least US $ 1.7 trillion of damages. The
World Health Organization estimates
that the global annual cost of hurricane
damages is rising 6% per year in real
terms! In the EU, floods are expected to
become five times more frequent by 2050.
It’s time to consider integrated adaptation
strategies for the current and the future
waste management systems. This task de-
6 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017
“IN HOUSTON
ALONE, AN
serves more attention by urban planners
and decision makers as well as interna-
tional organizations, for many reasons.
ESTIMATED First of all, current urban waste manage-
ment systems are proven to be vulnerable
6 MILLION M3 on a daily basis. Search the web just a
RAIN FELL, little bit and you will find lots of landfill
ENOUGH floods and collapses due to hurricanes or
extensive rainfall, and collection systems
TO FILL UP collapsed or blocked for a certain period
THE TEXANS due to floods.
STADIUM Second, it seems that the most vulner-
able waste management systems are the
TWICE OVER.” ones that happen to be in growing and
transitioning megacities. In those urban
areas, the environmental and health risks
from a potential disaster related to waste
management are high and under certain
conditions they might be proven more
dangerous than local ones.
Third, even in developed and mature
megacities, where infrastructure is in
place, the collection systems remain
vulnerable, facilities must be examined
for their resilience under the new weather
patterns and we still have the problem of
new and old landfills. 
In addition to an intensified implementa-
tion of effective climate change mitigation
measures, it’s time to work urgently for
the adaptation of our waste management
systems. We need to face urban waste man-
agement as a system and assess the specific
region – city – site vulnerability of it. 
We need to find a way to include the
Low Probability – High Impact events in
the designing principles and procedures.
Appropriate risk assessment procedures
should be developed for that purpose.  
We need a road map to assess the adap-
tive capacity of urban waste management
systems and to frame them within the
Antonis Mavropoulos overall city adaptation strategy. It’s time
President, ISWA. to deliver… 
 ®

VISIT
US!
07.-10. November 2017
Hall A3 - Stand 052

www.hammel.de

WE SHRED FOR YOU

shredding | screening | sorting | conveying

HAMMEL Recyclingtechnik GmbH

Leimbacher Str. 130 · 36433 Bad Salzungen
+49 (0) 3695 6991-0 · info@hammel.de
 NOW

MADE IN
DAGENHAM
VEOLIA INJECTS NEW LIFE INTO
PLASTIC RECYCLING PLANT
Having spent millions developing a state of the art plastic
recycling facility, in the summer of 2015 Closed Loop Recycling’s
facility in Dagenham, London, closed its doors. Following an
acquisition by Veolia, on 19 September this year the upgraded
plant was officially reopened. WMW was in attendance.
By Ben Messenger

8 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017


Following it’s purchase of Closed
Loop Recycling’s facility Veolia is now
producing ‘virgin’ quality HDPE from
London’s milk bottles.
A pioneer of high density
polyethylene (HDPE) bot-
tle recycling, two years ago
Closed Loop Recycling was hit hard by the
slump in oil prices, with its knock-on im-
pact on plastics recyclers. Commissioned
in 2007 to recycle polyethylene terephtha-
late (PET) drinks bottles, its Dagenham
plant was the first plastics recycling facility
in Europe to recycle HDPE milk bottles.
However, after hitting financial dif-
ficulties, in May 2015 the company was
acquired by Dubai investment firm Euro
Capital. It continued to operate under the
Euro Closed Loop Recycling name, but
with commodity prices remaining low,
in May 2016 the firm went into adminis-
tration. Two months later the Dagenham
site was acquired by Veolia which saw a
“great opportunity” for the facility to op-
erate in tandem with its Rainham plastics
sorting facility.
Commenting at the time of the acqui-
sition, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan,
said: “I am determined to redouble efforts
to increase the amount London recycles,
so I am delighted that Veolia has pur-
chased this important facility. This plant
will be able to recycle all of the capital’s
empty milk bottles – a mountain of waste
that would otherwise have been sent to
landfill. This is good news for London
and good news for the environment.”
FEEDSTOCK SUPPLY
In addition to being hammered by the oil
price slump, Closed Loop Recycling had
struggled to source the large quantities
of high-quality feedstock needed for its
business model. Controlling vast quanti-
ties of kerbside collected materials, as well
as a number of material recycling facili-
ties and a large-scale plastic sorting facil-
ity in nearby Rainham, that shouldn’t be
a problem for Veolia.
“We go out and collect all the recycla-
ble materials which people put out and
it’s normally got everything in it – glass,
plastics, metals, normally it’s a mixture.
We take that off to a sorting centre and
we’ve got those all over the country. We
separate it out using machines and peo-
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD
NOW
ple, into the different types of material,
but the plastics are a complicated one
because there’s lots of different types,”
explains Richard Kirkman, chief tech-
nology & innovation officer at Veolia UK
and Ireland.
“The way we manage that is, we collect
all the different plastics together and we
send them to our Rainham plant down the
road. About 50,000 tonnes of plastics from
all over the UK goes there and that’s where
we split it up into different types of plas-
tic. One of the main types is milk bottles
and we bring that here and make it back
into food grade HDPE,” he tells WMW.
“We do buy some bales in as well, but we’ve
got about 80% of the volume that we need.
We’re gradually getting more as we take
on more local authority contracts around
the UK. Anytime we win a new contract, we
can funnel that back into here.”
According to Veolia this means it can
now offer a complete range of services
from collection of raw feedstock from
people’s homes or businesses, through
all the recycling steps and back to food-
grade pellets ready to be blown into new
plastic milk bottles.
UPGRADES
Since Veolia acquired the site, the equip-
ment has been upgraded. “We had to
make sure that it’s yielding more than it
did,” says Kirkman. “We’ve changed the
granulators and other equipment has
also been upgraded, but it’s principally
the same idea. We’ve spent about £5 mil-
lion so far.”
The facility will produce around 10,000
tonnes of high-quality food-grade HDPE
pellets annually. Recycling this material
requires 75% less energy to make a plastic
bottle than using virgin materials, equat-
ing to the conservation of enough energy
to power around 20,000 homes as well as
10,000 tonnes per year of carbon emissions.
“We also have the equipment here to
recycle PET water bottles back into food
grade PET, but we just want to get the milk
bottle line finalised and then we’ll look at
opening up the water bottle one. Water
and milk bottles together are around 60%
9
 NOW

FACTS

5 MILLION
TONNES
Of plastic used in the UK each year.

65%
London’s recycling target by 2030.

1.4 MILLION
TONNES
Of plastic is recovered each year in
the UK - equivalent to 29%.

300 MILLION
TONNES
Of plastic produced globally
each year.

8 MILLION
TONNES
Of plastic being dumped
in our oceans annually. of the plastic bottles,” says Kirkman. “The we hope to see more of the supply chain
objective is to use all the white HDPE working together to solve the packaging

30
Permanent jobs created
at the Dagenham facility.
polymer as food grade but we are selling
some as technical at the moment while
we’re ramping up, and the plastic that
comes out as a mixed colour will go as
a technical grade as well. The objective
puzzle – and our doors are open to any
manufacturer wishing to discuss how
we can recycle packaging more easily by
working together.”
However, the latest YouGov research

200 MILLION
Plastic milk bottles collect
is food grade because that’s real circular
economy. You’ve got a food-grade bottle
going back to being food-grade material
reveals a significant recycling gap across
the UK with rates falling from 75% of
British adults ‘always’ recycling in the
by Veolia annually. – there’s no downcycling,” he continues. home to just 20% ‘always’ recycling on-
the-go. The findings were released by

2039
Adults responded to the YouGov
survey on 29th & 30th August 2017.
THE SURVEY SAYS…
Speaking at the opening of the facility,
Estelle Brachlianoff, senior executive vice
president of Veolia UK & Ireland, notes
that in the UK 44% of all of the plastic
bottles used evade the recycling system.
“We use some, but imagine if we col-
lected and recycled all of these. This
would save approximately 300,000 tonnes
of materials and we’d be well on our way
to being a truly sustainable society,” she
says. “I’m a firm believer that the solution
to making all plastics easily recyclable
and increasing the percentage of recycled
material in packaging lies in collabora-
tion,” she says.
“As the public’s awareness of pack-
aging and recycling continues to rise,
Veolia to coincide with the official open-
ing of its Dagenham Plastics Facility.
The Veolia-YouGov research suggests
that part of the UK’s recycling setback
may be linked to an inability to recycle
conveniently outside of the home. The
results show that 88% of consumers said
that more convenient recycling facilities
on-the-go would encourage them to recy-
cle more outside of the home. The survey
also reveals that 87% would like clearer
recycling messaging, such as bins clearly
labelled with what can and what cannot
be put in them, while 84% would like to
see the recycling process become more
straightforward.
“It’s encouraging to see how engaged
people are with recycling and how willing

10 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017

 NOW

RUN
SAFETY
CW DEWIRING
CW Dewiring cuts and separates the wires
automatically and efficiently from any material
bales, such as pet bottles and plastics,
cardboard, pulp and paper or other recyclables.
Automatic dewiring improves safety and
efficiency when coiling the wires into a tight
Following Veolia's £5 million
ball, which is easy to handle further on.
upgrade the former Closed Loop
Recycling Plant in Dagenham
will produce 10,000 tonnes of
recycled HDPE per year.

people are to play their part in helping to

keep resources in the loop. However, this
on-the-go gap is concerning as we still fail
to capture 44% of the plastic bottles we
use,” says Brachlianoff. “As a nation we
must band together to make sure that as
many valuable virgin materials are recycled
into new products as possible and that the
facilities are in place to be able to do so.
This in turn will help keep plastic waste
out of the ocean to protect our sea life.”
“We owe it to future generations to
make circular living our priority not only
for today, but more importantly, for to-
morrow and the future,” she concludes. 

“SOLVING THE PACKAGING CHECK OUT

PUZZLE BY CALLING FOR UCT RANG
OUR PROD
AT ECOMO
E
NDO
MORE OF OUR PACKAGING HALL A 3, STA ND195

TO BE BOTH RECYCLABLE
AND MADE FROM
RECYCLED MATERIAL WILL
HELP US LIVE IN A MORE
‘CIRCULAR’ WAY.”
Estelle Brachlianoff
senior executive vice president of Veolia UK & Ireland

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD 11

 NEWS
In 2007, a bring bank
collection system was
launched for beverage
cartons as the first stage
of a strategy to increase
recycling in the UK.

EU BEVERAGE CARTON RECYCLING

RISES TO 47%
“DIVERSION OF
PACKAGING WASTE The latest figures on beverage carton recy-
FROM LANDFILLING cling in the EU show that 47% of cartons,
equivalent to approximately 430,000 tonnes,
AND THE SEPARATE were recycled in 2016 at more than 20 paper
COLLECTION OF mills in Europe. The total recovery rate (re-
PACKAGING WASTE cycling and energy recovery) reached 76%
ARE NECESSARY TO for 2016 and continues an unbroken trend
of increases dating back to 2005. “Separate
ACHIEVE AMBITIOUS collection is a key element in any type of
RECYCLING recycling, and the continued increase in the
TARGETS.” beverage carton recycling rate across Europe
indicates that beverage cartons are increas-
Annick Carpentier
director general of the Alliance ingly being collected, allowing them to be
for Beverage Cartons recycled,” said Annick Carpentier, director
general of the Alliance for Beverage Cartons
and the Environment (ACE) in Brussels.
According to ACE, considerable progress
has been made since it began tracking the
recycling rate of beverage cartons in Europe.
In particular, EU Member States with appro-
priate packaging collection systems in place
are achieving increasingly high recycling
volumes. Richard Hands, chief executive of
ACE UK, added that for the UK the focus has
been on building access to recycling facili-
ties for all with 92% of local authorities now
collecting beverage cartons for recycling
when recycling bring banks are included.

GOOD TO KNOW
GLYCOL DE-ICER RECYCLING FACILITY

28
OPENED AT CALGARY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

40-foot containers of tyres

shipped from Puerto Rico to
South Korea for recycling.

A consortium of airlines has come together

One of only a few airport glycol recycling facili-
ties in Canada, the new facility at YYC is claimed
to be the most technologically advanced.

over five million litres of glycol fluid was col-

in Canada to open a glycol recycling facility
66 %
Of UK local authorities
collecting beverage cartons
lected for storage, treatment and recycling,”
at kerbside for recycling.
explained said Humphries, vice-president of

at YYC Calgary International Airport. During
Calgary winters, ice and snow that has
accumulated on an aircraft needs to be
removed for flight safety. The de-icing fluid
used is a mix of glycol and water. The new
facility, an integral part of glycol manage-
ment at YYC, takes the used de-icing fluid
that has traditionally been handled as waste
and transforms it into a reusable product,
providing both environmental and eco-
nomic benefits. “Last year, 6 million litres of
de-icing fluid was applied to aircraft and just
92,000
operations for The Calgary Airport Authority.
DCM Infrastructure acted as the site-wide
construction manager and performed all
mechanical, structural support, piping, elec-
trical, and instrumentation work. Geoffrey
Tauvette, WestJet director of environment Expected to be employed
and fuel, said that the project is a good ex- at the Alang-Sosiya ship
ample of how the airline community at YYC
collaborated to invest in infrastructure and
recycling yards following
a Canadian-based technology to ensure its upgrade works, up from
operations are environmentally sustainable. the current 50,000.

12 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017


SPOT ON:
WARD’S LATEST LIEBHERRS
The customised machines will join Ward’s
existing fleet of lions, frogs, hedgehogs and
other wildlife-related equipment.
In Derbyshire, UK, Ward Recycling has taken delivery of both a cus-
tomised giraffe material handler and a cheetah wheel loader from
manufacturer Liebherr. The two striking vehicles further expand
Ward’s 80 strong waste management and recycling fleet, including
30 machines mainly from Liebherr’s extensive range. The company
said that it likes to inject a bit of personality and sense of unique-
ness into its fleet. Handling materials including general waste, dry
and mixed recycling, and scrap metal, the giraffe and cheetah will
facilitate moving, loading and sorting waste materials for recycling
and processing. Ward explained that Liebherr’s fuel efficient LH 30
M ‘giraffe’ material handler and L 538 P ‘cheetah’ wheel loader both
have dedicated waste and recycling specifications and comfort-
able, operator-friendly cabs which offer good visibility. “We’ve
taken to customising our fleet along the theme of ‘Wild About
Recycling’ as it livens up heavy industrial equipment, catches
people’s attention, and it’s a bit of fun with a serious environmental
message behind it,” explained Donald Ward, head of technical &
recycling at Ward Recycling. “Educating people about the benefits
of recycling and minimising waste to landfill has a positive environ-
mental impact on wildlife for generations to come.”
“IT’S GREAT TO SEE HOW
WARD HAS CUSTOMISED
THE MATERIAL HANDLER
AND WHEEL LOADER – IT
CERTAINLY MAKES
THEM STAND OUT.”
Darren Bennet, national accounts
manager at Liebherr
NEWS
RECOUP CEO STUART
FOSTER ON VEOLIA’S
BRUCIE BONUS
Bruce the Great White Shark is made
by Faith Babbington from recycled
HDPE plastic mil bottles.
Whether in or out of the home, the latest YouGov survey
is a clear message from consumers that convenience and
straight-forward, consistent guidance will help everyone
to engage more effectively with their local plastic recycling
schemes. Brands and retailers are continuing to improve the
recyclability of their plastics packaging, but consumers also
have a vital role in helping us to rescue more plastic that in
turn can be sent for recycling at facilities such as Veolia in
Dagenham.
The research has also provided insight into the general popu-
lation’s knowledge of plastic recycling with 68% stating they
understand what can and what cannot be recycled. However,
there’s still room for improvement with almost 1 in 3 (28%)
still unclear of what is recyclable and what is not, and there is
confusion over the recyclability of certain plastic items, for in-
stance: black plastic (e.g. ready meal packaging) is challenging
to recycle, yet 48% of respondents believe it can be recycled,
and plastic film (e.g. cling film, cellophane, etc.) cannot be
recycled, yet 21% of respondents believe it can be.
To highlight this, and the fact that if more people took up
recycling, more material would remain in the supply chain,
not the ocean, Veolia has unveiled a 2m Great White sculp-
ture - the Great White Shark of Dagenham, named ‘Bruce’. It’s
covered nose to tail in diamond shaped scales. Parts of Bruces’
lifelike ‘denticles’ have been made using the Dagenham Plas-
tics Facility’s HDPE which were originally milk bottles.
Bruce is approximately three metres in length, half the usual
length of a Great White Shark, and weighs an estimated 30kgs.
The artist, Faith Beddington, used over 400 milk bottles in her
creation with each bottle representing forty thousand bottles
that fail to be recycled each day in Britain. 
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD 13
 NEWS Two of the composite material industry’s
organisations, IACMI and ACMA, are
embarking on a collaborative project
to develop a mechanical and thermal
recycling approach that captures both the
energy value and residual ash/fibre.

PROJECT TO DEVELOP RECYCLING

TECHNOLOGY FOR COMPOSITE MATERIALS

The Institute for Advanced Composites
Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) has
launched a project to develop a robust and
scalable composite recycling methodology.
The organisation, a 150+ member, Uni-
materials, making the integration of com-
posites a feasible and sustainable option
for many industries in the future,” said Uday
Vaidya, chief technology officer at IACMI.

DIARY OF versity of Tennessee, Knoxville and U.S.

Department of Energy driven consortium,

EVENTS explained that the goal of the projects

is to develop a mechanical and thermal
recycling approach that captures both the
energy value and residual ash/fibre. The col-
laboration, which will be led by the Ameri-
RECY & DEPOTECH can Composites Manufacturing Association
Leoben, Austria
(ACMA) supports IACMI’s goal to create 80%
7-9 November 2017
www.recydepotech.at recyclability of composites within five years.
Tom Dobbins
The objective is to improve the sustainabil- President of ACMA
ECOMONDO
Rimini, Italy
ity of composite materials while reduc-
7-10 November 2017
www.ecomondo.com
ing the amount of scrap and end-of-life “END-OF-LIFE
composites sent to landfill. The project also
supports ACMA’s goal to reclaim glass and
COMPOSITES HAVE
14TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
THERMAL TREATMENT OF WASTE carbon fibre from fibre-reinforced polymer A PERCEPTION OF
Swinoujscie, Poland
14-16 November 2017
(FRP) composite materials. The project will BEING INFERIOR
study and test CHZ Technologies’ pyrolysis
www.abrys.pl
technology, which recycles all liquids, tars, TO COMPETING
POLLUTEC
Lyon, France
and oils from composite materials and con- MATERIALS IN
27-30 November 2017
www.pollutec.com
verts them into clean synthetic gases while
recovering both glass and carbon fibres.
TERMS OF CRADLE-
ENERGY FROM WASTE
“The Thermolyzer offers a unique oppor- TO-CRADLE
London, UK tunity to recycle a vast scale of composite SUSTAINABILITY.”
6-7 December
www.smi-online.co.uk/energy/uk/conference/
energy-from-waste
REAL INDUSTRY TO REOPEN BEVERAGE
ADBA NATIONAL CONFERENCE
London, UK CAN RECYCLING PLANT IN KENTUCKY
7 December 2017
http://adbioresources.org/events/ Real Alloy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Real represents more than 6% of North America’s
adba-national-conference-2017
Industry, Inc., is restarting its Used Beverage total annual volume. “The restart will bring
WORLD BIOGAS ASSOCIATION Can recycling operation at its Morgantown, approximately 30 people back to work at the
Brussels, Belgium Kentucky, facility as a result of increasing facility and will result in higher equipment
11 December 2017
www.worldbiogasassociation.org
customer demand and a new contract. utilization with the higher production levels,”
The operation has been idle since Decem- said Terry Hogan, president of Real Alloy. “We
IFAT 2018 ber 2015. Real Alloy said that it expects are currently ramping up the equipment and
Munich, Germany
14-18 May 2018 to process approximately 50,000 tonnes expect to be delivering the targeted volumes
www.ifat.de on an annual basis at this facility, which by the beginning of October 2017.”

14 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017


OVER 829 TONNES
OF TYRES SHIPPED
TO SOUTH KOREA
FOR RECYCLING
In Puerto Rico the Solid Waste Manage-
ment Division, under the Department of
Public Works, has shipped 829 tonnes of
used tyres to South Korea for recycling.
According to Public Works Secretary
James Ada, the tyres were processed at a
recently purchased tyre shredder facility
for heavy equipment tyres. The site also
has 85 tonnes of cardboard and 40 tonnes
of metal, which will also be shipped for
recycling to free up landfill space. Once
they arrive in South Korea the tyres will be
used in concrete production. “We want our
community to understand that items that
go through the transfer station are sorted
Upcoming ICM Events
IARC IERC WRF
2018 2018 2017
ICM AG, Switzerland, www.icm.ch, info@icm.ch, +41 62 785 10 00
NEWS
GOOD TO KNOW
7
MILLION
Coffee cups are used every
day in the UK alone.
out, which is a huge part of the process.
$2.3
The landfill is really a precious resource
that we strive to protect and reduce further
impact because it is a limited resource,” said
Ada. Governor Ralph DLG Torres added:
“As we’ve seen with the former Puerto Rico
landfill, it is important that we address solid
waste management through available and
affordable methods. Sorting out recyclables
MILLION
has been an enormous undertaking, but it Funding to allow for
plays a significant role in our infrastructure additional capacity at the
improvements and waste management.” Marpi landfill in Puerto Rico.
www.icm.ch
Electronics & Cars Recycling WRF 2017
November 14 – 17, 2017, Macau, China
Conference, exhibition and plant tours
organized by World Recycling Forum
17 th International Electronics
Recycling Congress IERC 2018
January 16 – 19, 2018
Salzburg, Austria
18 th International Automobile
Recycling Congress IARC 2018
March 14 – 16, 2018
Vienna, Austria
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD 15
 LETTER FROM
A LETTER FROM…
OAXACA, MEXICO
WASTE PICKERS
MARGINALISED AT
THE EDGE OF SOCIETY.
The work of the waste pickers is dangerous. Not only the
heat and the elements, but the waste itself poses a threat.
In Oaxaca, Mexico, SiKanda and TERRA TECH are working
with these marginalised communities to improve people’s
quality of life and improve sanitation.
T he air is hot and dusty. Empty
plastic bags are pushed up to
30 metres into the air by windy blasts.
It is midday at the landfill of Huajuapan
de Leon. Mario Perez Contreras is one
of the garbage pickers on site. He wears
an old, battered straw hat. His mouth is
covered with a worn out scarf to protect
him from the dust.
Mario guides us around the landfill. To
escape the shimmering heat he leads us
to a sorting hall. The simple construc-
tion consists of a metal roof on pillars
and provides shadow to the garbage
pickers who are separating the arriving
garbage here. Paper, plastic, glass and
metal are collected in designated areas.
Rubbish that cannot be separated is
compacted on the landfill.
Huajuapan de Leon is considered to
be more organised than other landfills.
However the work of the garbage pick-
ers is dangerous. Mario explains that his
hand is scattered due to an accident with
one of the big machines. No insurance is
paying for him. He has to make up for all
the necessary medical care by himself.
From the piles of garbage on the land-
fill we can see the mountain range that
dominates the landscape in this part
of Oaxaca. Located in southwestern
16 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2017
“INSTEAD OF
THE WASTE
FROM THE
Mexico, the state of Oaxaca is one of
the most diverse states in the coun-
try, both biologically and culturally.
It is also one of the poorest states
CITIES, WE in Mexico and huge social contrasts
become very visible at the landfills sur-
WANT TO rounding Oaxaca de Juárez.
BRING SOCIAL About 150 families make their living
PROJECTS TO from waste collection. They mainly
collect materials such as plastic, paper
THE POOR and metal to sell it in bulk to organised
AREAS, TO THE buyers. It is in this context that two
non-profit organisations, SiKanda and
SLUMS THAT TERRA TECH, work with marginalised
SURROUND communities, implementing the com-
LANDFILLS.” mon mission to facilitate and conduct
participatory processes of sustainable
development to improve people’s qual-
ity of life. The work focuses on four stra-
tegic areas of sustainable development:
food and health, environment, inclusive
economy and integration.
When SiKanda started its work in 2008,
the organization decided to focus on
one group of beneficiaries and intensify
the projects over the years. One of the
first activities was to equip the garbage
pickers with protective materials such
as suitable clothes and labour gloves. In
José Carlos a next step, families were supported in
managing director of SiKanda building their own houses - made out

One of the key early achievements
of the initiative was to get protective
clothing including gloves and masks
for the waste pickers.
of PET bottles, Tetra Paks, wooden
FACTS frames and a concrete floor. TERRA
TECH joined at this stage by raising
interest and funds for the project
work in Germany.
Similar building techniques were
used to update local schools. The
Green Schools Project educates
young students in waste man-
agement and recycling, improves
their reading skills and provides
them with decent learning spaces
in public schools. For this purpose,
two new Green Libraries were
constructed, a network of Green
Libraries was established in five
public schools, teachers were
trained and 350 books were do-
MATERIAL PRICES FOR nated. In total 550 students bene-
PICKERS IN EURO CENTS fited from the project, with 20,000
PET bottles and 16,000 Tetra Paks
0.18
PET: 
reused in the construction process.
Cartons: 0.10 THE WORM HAS TURNED
While small achievements give
0.02
Glass: 
reason for hope, 60% of the resi-
dents in both urban and suburban
Aluminium:  0.85 areas of Oaxaca experience health
problems and environmental dete-
0.03
Tetra Pak: 
rioration due to inadequate waste
management, in particular of the
SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD
LETTER FROM
organic rubbish. For a long time
the organic waste was not used
in any way. But new approaches
are going to change that situa-
tion. The secret star of the Worm
Action Center Project is the Eisenia
Foetida or “Red California Worm”.
With the help of this little hero,
organic garbage is transformed
into fertile soil. The soil is used to
promote food production in family
orchards for self-consumption, re-
sulting in increased food security
and autarchy of the marginalised
communities. Up to 2 tonnes of
organic waste is transformed to
worm compost each month.
Thanks to vermiculture and com-
posting, over 1000 people living in
landfills are now converting their
domestic waste into rich soil, thus
reducing focus of infection from
90% to about 50% in the targeted
neighbourhoods. It also increased
the weekly family intake of vege-
tables from 2 to 5 pieces a week
thanks to the community orchards.
The help is highly appreciated.
However, as many further activities
are planned, the need for assistance
and funding will stay high. 
17
 COVER STORY

BATTLE OF
THE BOTS
Automation is a hot topic. Some will tell you
the robots are coming, but they’re wrong. The
robots are here! In the waste industry, Finnish
firm ZenRobotics is leading the charge for the
C&D sector, while BHS has teamed up with
Spanish company Sadako to roll out the Max-
AI Quality Control robot for MRFs.
By Matt Clay

18 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017

 COVER STORY

T he future of human civili-

sation is often portrayed in
science fiction films using
flying cars, hoverboards, giant holograms
and teleportation. The subject of how we
might handle waste in years to come is of-
ten left on the cutting room floor. It’s out
of sight, out of mind, even in fictitious
worlds created for our movie-going pleas-
ure. Yet the question of how the materi-
als recycling facilities (MRF) of the future
may operate is an interesting one.
Imagine a MRF without a need for
parking spaces outside. Or without plat-
forms or human walkways. Imagine
this same facility operated entirely by
an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system, in
turn controlling a series of sorting bots.
And these very bots are not just sorting,
they’re stocktaking; counting every single
item that passes their metallic yet dex-
trous grabby hands. The centralised AI
knows exactly what is coming in and what
is going out. This same facility is operat-
ing 24/7, without the need for breaks or
human interaction. This MRF, along with
several others, is monitored remotely.
Terminator and Skynet jokes to one
side, this sounds like a very enjoyable

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD 19

 COVER STORY
topic for a film, especially for the global
waste sector. Yet such a ground-breaking
vision is not as far-fetched as you may
think. Groups of companies are working
towards creating an “autonomous MRF.”
Over the years, Waste Management
World magazine has covered the devel-
opments of the robotic sorting industry,
from the versions of Finnish company
ZenRobotics’ C&D waste picking ma-
chines, through to the rise of Spanish
firm Sadako. It’s one area of the industry
that, like the picking pace of the robotic
arms, moves at lightning pace.
BULKING UP
Since our last in-depth coverage, there
have been some developments of note.
Sadako has teamed up with US-firm Bulk
Handling Systems (BHS) to bring out the
Max-AI system. By definition, Max-AI (Max
for short) “employs both multi-layered neu-
ral networks and a vision system to see and
identify objects similar to the way a person
does”. Many will remember how Sadako’s
Wall-B early robot sorting systems looked:
individual arms with suction cups.
Well, now imagine Wall-B has had an
extreme make-over. He’s been to the gym,
bulked up and is now wearing a shiny new
suit to emerge as Max-AI – it’s like a “be-
fore and after” robot picture. Watching
the video, Max moves in an arachnid fash-
ion; the grabs bolstered with supporting
struts moving at a phenomenal pace. The
evolved bot essentially combines the best
from each side of the Atlantic: the AI de-
veloped in Spain but the new beefed up,
20 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017
mechanised body from the US. “There
“MAX-AI was a huge amount of mechanical devel-
TECHNOLOGY opment that went into the system,” says
WILL SOON Thomas Brooks, director of technology
development, BHS Group.
BECOME THE Speaking to WMW magazine, Brooks
ACTIVE BRAIN says the team is pushing for around 65
OF OUR MRFS, picks per minute with the robot, which
compares to 14 picks for its predecessor.
CONTROLLING “A human will typically pick, when
VARIOUS they’re motivated and focused, on average
ROBOTIC, between 35 and 40 picks per minute.”
He adds: “The grasping has also been a
OPTICAL, major development for our team. That’s
AND OTHER what BHS brought to the equation. We
SORTING built out this next mechanical evolution
of a system that accomplished the key task
EQUIPMENT.” of visual recognition. It’s built around the
fundamental design concept of replicated
human behaviour – to see, to think and to
act.” The first commercial installation of
Max was to the Athens Services’ Materials
Recovery Facility (MRF) in Sun Valley,
California. Already in operation, Max is
complementing advanced screen, air and
has been integrated with existing NRT
optical sorters to provide a “fully auto-
nomous PET sorting solution”.
A revenue sharing model is in place
between Sadako and BHS, although nei-
ther party would provide more detail
when pressed.
Belén Garnica, co-founder of Sadako
and CFO, said the company is retiring the
two Wall-B robots previously in operation
Thomas Brooks
in Spain and are working on finalising
BHS Director of Technology Max-AI for other applications. “It made
Development no sense to dedicate further effort to
 COVER STORY

ZenRobotics' automated
those two robots,” she tells WMW. “They sorting system for C&D waste
have little capability now compared to the has tuned is Carl F’s business
“upside down” in Malmoe,
next gen AI. Max-AI is nearly three times Sweden.
faster than the Wall-B. They haven’t been
dismantled yet but we are planning to.”
She says Sadako is now looking at how
AI can disrupt other sectors. “AI will come
and there will be a big revolution in other
industries,” she says. “This could include
health applications, for example. We still
have plenty of opportunities out there.”

SNICKERS & MARS BARS

Elsewhere in Europe, Finnish company
ZenRobotics, which has almost become
the household name in the robot move-
ment, especially for construction waste, is
progressing with its global development.
In Japan, the company is now in the latter
stages of commissioning its second plant
there, as well as having sold robots to
China and Singapore. Australia, too, now
has a ZenRobot with commissioning tak-
ing place in Melbourne. In Europe, as well
as its home nation of Finland, the com-
pany is present in France, Switzerland
and Holland. In an attempt to “crack” the
US market, which Johan Mieskonen, head Bollegraaf Recycling
of sales from the company describes as
“the biggest market for us right now”, the
Solutions
company has an installation in Austin, Turnkey Reycling Solutions for:
Texas, with “many others on the way”. MSW Single Stream Plastic waste C&D
The biggest changes since WMW first C&I Paper and Cardboard Waste-to-energy
covered ZenRobotics have been on the
software side, namely the “unlimited Tweede Industrieweg 1 9902 AM Appingedam
fractions” version. Earlier versions of the The Netherlands
robots came with pre-set software, which +31 596 654 333 info@bollegraaf.com
were able to pick certain materials. “We’ve bollegraaf.com

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD 21

 COVER STORY
It’s not only speed and
endurance where robots are
beginning to revolutionise
waste sorting, but also power.
ZenRobotics advertises a 30kg
capability for the ZenRobot, but
lifts of 100kg are possible.
FACTS
FIRST
The first available machine
utilising Max-AI technology is
an Autonomous Quality Control
unit that sorts container streams
following optical sorting.
ATHENS
The first commercial Autono-
mous QC unit entered service at
Athens Services’ MRF in Sun Valley,
California.
MILLIONS
Max-AI learns to classify objects
it’s never seen before by through
millions of interactions.
22 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017
developed it so that the plant operator
is able to teach the machine to pick any-
thing,” adds Mieskonen. “Essentially, just
show the machine an impressive collection
of your target objects, say red bricks…it
will look at the object to determine what
makes a red brick a red brick. A rule of
thumb is whatever makes an object easy to
recognise for a human also makes it easy
for a robot. It has much better sensors
then us humans – we’re practically blind
compared to the robots.”
Previously we’ve differentiated the
ZenRobot from Wall-B in its ability to
deal with the heavier construction and
demolition waste. Yet, the system can
now be trained to “pick anything”.
He adds: “You can teach it to pick
up a business card, or a pencil, or your
Snickers bars from your Mars bars…
there’s no restrictions in them picking
up small objects.” So does this mean the
Finnish team will be looking to start fish-
ing from the ‘other pond’, namely munic-
ipal recyclables such as bottles and cans?
“It’s a no-brainer: we will roll out other
systems for lighter materials as well,” he
says. “The main focus has been and re-
mains the heavy picker. That’s a more in-
teresting flow from our point of view.”
SWEDISH HOUSE MATH
Carl F Jonsson is the head of operations
at Carl F in Malmoe, Sweden. His father
is the CEO of the family’s construction
waste sorting business which has been in
operation for 27 years now. It was six years
ago that ZenRobotics caught the compa-
ny’s attention. Today, they are operating
one of the systems which he says has “lit-
erally turned our business upside down”.
“Last week we ran the system for 16
hours a day,” he tells WMW enthusias-
tically. “We use a huge trailer, so we can
load around 60 cubic metres of waste at
a time. This way you have material for
the robot to pick for between four to six
hours, depending on speed.”
Many waste management operatives
will have no doubt salivated over the
corporate videos from both companies
demonstrating their robots but would
have soon sobered up with questions over
the cost and return on investment (ROI).
Jonsson says he has done the math.
“For one tonne of mixed construction
waste, we are talking 80 euros per tonne,
which is low compared to, say, Germany.
For us, on that price level, we are esti-
mating around five to seven years for our
company for the return on investment.
We have done our calculations, but it de-
pends on the day-to-day prices. You don’t
know the market in three years – so much
can change. ROI could be quicker, but it’s
better to be safe than sorry.”
MAN VS MACHINE DILEMMA?
With the evolution of robot waste sort-
ing continuing at a rapid pace, it raises
the question of how man will fit in this
digital journey. Teams of waste pickers
around the world are still needed and de-
pend on the jobs. How do these individ-
uals feel about potentially being super-
seded and even replaced by machines?
Mieskonen tells an interesting story.
For one installation, ZenRobotics
thought the manual sorters may in fact
sabotage the robots for taking their jobs.
Instead, it was quite the contrary. The em-
ployees put pictures on Instagram, shared
with their families and were proud to
work alongside them.
“People actually like working alongside
the systems because they can leave the heavy
lifting to the robots and they can focus
on the complex materials, like untangling
wrapped plastics for example. We advertise
that the robots can lift up to 30kg but when
people see one lift a block that can weigh
100kg, then everybody realises their job is

not one for people to begin
with.” Meanwhile Brooks
believes it’s only the “dull,
dirty and dangerous” posi-
tions in which machines are
“starting to take over”.
“It’s a point of discussion
for us. If you look at many of the
locations where we have recycling fa-
cilities, they are typically city-run or state-
run where they want to create jobs.” He be-
lieves that eventually Max-AI will become
the “brain” of an MRF, as it becomes a
fully autonomous facility. “Our objective
is to apply that to a facility and reach the
point of having an autonomous system
that doesn’t have people touching waste
anywhere, and has the ability to cross
communicate between all machine centres
and operate itself,” he says. “There would
be still be some level of maintenance
staff.” When WMW first covered the ro-
COVER STORY
“LABOUR IS A bot development, it seemed a distant vi-
sion that they would ever be competing
SIGNIFICANT with humans. This was especially the case
CHALLENGE as the development just focused on heavy
FOR MRF construction waste. Fast forward to today
and the vision is now a fully autonomous
OPERATORS.” MRF, sorting municipal recyclables. The
speed in which ZenRobotics is delivering
systems globally, and with which Sadako
and BHS have teamed up and turned
Wall-B into Max is impressive, if a little
scary.
Every industry is being disrupted by
technology. Whether it’s the iPhone for
mobiles, Netflix for movie rentals, Airbnb
for hotels or Uber for taxis; change is
sometimes needed to drive the competi-
tion and market forward.
Waste handling may still not feature
as the core topic of summer movies, yet
Steve Miller the way a handful of companies are dis-
BHS Chief Executive Officer rupting waste handling certainly has the
makings for a blockbuster. 
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD 23
 RECYCLING
SHOW TIME
CENTRE STAGE FOR
RECYCLING AT RWM
In Birmingham, UK, at this year’s RWM trade show
hundreds of companies, both large and small, flocked
to the NEC to show off their wares. Amongst the
equipment on show were many new and improved
products covering all aspects of the recycling industry.
WMW brings you the highlights.
#1 FIRSTGRADE
DEBUTS DISC SCREEN
Suffolk, UK-based equipment manufac-
turer Firstgrade took the opportunity to
debut its new Disc Screen for the removal
of oversize items, typically over 100mm,
from a waste stream prior to further
processing. “Screening at a large hole
size can be difficult using conventional
screens,” explains Alan Valentine, man-
aging director at Firstgrade. “Large items
easily block or peg in large holes, while
long, thin items can pass through.” The
new screen features six rotating shafts.
Oversize material rides over the top of
the flower-shaped discs, while undersize
items pass between the discs onto a con-
veyor below. According to the manufac-
turer, the Disc Screen has a relatively high
volume throughput for its small foot-
print and power requirements. Also on
show was be the company’s T254 static
trommel screen, which features a 2.5m
diameter x 7.2m long barrel. “The T254 is
built for the heaviest duties, with 80mm
bearings, 500mm diameter wheels and
replaceable punched plate screens,” says
Valentine.
24 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017
 Designed and manufactured in the UK,
Firstgrade’s Disc Screen features six shafts
and removes the large items of 100mm and
more in size.
 Rapid emptying and re-lining
means improved productivity and
reduced downtime.
#2 CUTTING BACK
UPDATE FOR THE
NEVER ENDING
BINLINER
Over on the UnisanUK stand, the hy-
giene and recycling consumables man-
ufacturer launched the next generation
of its Longopac continuous bin liner sys-
tem. Following feedback from its clients
UnisanUK says that it has made further
product developments. The Longopac
system now comes with the option of a
safety cutter securely fitted to the struc-
ture. Whilst not an issue for the majority
of its customers, the company explains
that it took on board concerns some had
“SOMETIMES,
with the provision of scissors, which are IT’S THE
secured to the Longopac bin system via SMALLEST
a heavy-duty lanyard. The continuous
bin liner system is already being used
THINGS THAT
by a number of major brands including MAKE THE
McDonalds and Coca-Cola. The com- GREATEST
pany claims that its variable size bags,
which are always 100% full, mean no bag DIFFERENCE,
wastage and reduce bag usage by six to SO ALL
seven times. However, the manual cut- FEEDBACK
ting of the bags with scissors placed re-
strictions on its use within the food in- IS TAKEN ON
dustry, hospitals and airports. The new BOARD.”
feature removes those safety and security Wyn Dormer, key account manager
concerns. at UnisanUK.

“WE BELIEVE
THAT APPLYING
GEOGRAPHI- #3 START UP
CAL DISCIPLINE TOPOLYTICS’
TO WASTE, WASTEASRESOURCE
EMISSIONS AND VISUAL MAPPING TOOL
RESOURCES Waste analytics start-up, Topolytics is
CAN PROVIDE showing off its WasteasResource tool, an
interactive dashboard aimed at allowing
ACTIONABLE waste and environmental managers un-
INSIGHTS AND derstand the trade-off between the dis-
ENHANCE posal cost and the value attached to their
inert waste streams. The tool provides the
TRANS- user with a snapshot of the market value
PARENCY.” of waste compared to disposal costs, and
Topolytics founder, highlights how changing recycling rates
Dr Michael Groves can impact on value and carbon emis-
sions. “WasteasResource is designed as
a very simple means to generate fresh
thinking about resource efficiency,” says
Topolytics founder, Dr Michael Groves.
“It also links into our core platform – a
user friendly, engaging and growing me-
ta-map of the world’s industrial and com-
mercial waste.” According to the com-
pany, using big data, mapping and geo-
spatial analytics, the Topolytics platform
underpins circular economy business
models through location intelligence –
identifying granular, high quality data on
the generation, storage, movement, dis-
posal, recycling and re-use of industrial
 Topolytics is being used by RBS to and commercial waste.
visualise and share information on the The ‘maps’ are created by and for com-
environmental processes at Gogarburn,
its global headquarters on the outskirts mercial waste producers and city author-
of Edinburgh. ities. Groves explains that they show the
‘truth’ about waste volumes and move-
ments of waste from the source to the
receptor. This helps them to effect effi-
ciencies, reduce risks, identify opportuni-
ties for revenue generation and economic
development. The maps are also used by
recyclers and remanufacturers to identify
and predict sources of waste that can be
transformed into high-quality materi-
als and products. Topolytics says that it
is also working with real time data from
sensors that may be linked to waste prod-
ucts, bins and skips or monitoring efflu-
ent and air emissions. The company says
that it is enabling materials trading and
 Food waste is treated industrial symbiosis through its geospa-
within the WasteMaster system
using oxidation to speed up the tial and predictive analytics capabilities.
natural decomposition process. It is already working in the UK and in-
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD
RECYCLING
ternationally with waste producers in the
food, packaging, primary manufacture
and financial services sectors. It is also
monitoring waste and emissions in the
UK, US and China – analysing and vis-
ualising data from networks of real-time
sensors.
#4 GREEN ECO
TECHNOLOGIES
LAUNCHES
WASTEMASTER
Green Eco Technologies (GET), used the
event to launch its WasteMaster range of
on-site food waste processing systems.
The company claims that its proprie-
tary WasteMaster technology reduces
the weight and volume of food waste by
up to 80%, producing an odourless com-
post-like residual material which can be
re-purposed for fuel, animal feed or fer-
tiliser, depending on the composition of
the waste loaded into the system. The
WasteMaster range includes options for
users with medium to high-volume food
waste disposal requirements such as ho-
tels, hospitals, hospitality and catering
suppliers. It offers an on-site solution to
the cost and hygiene-related issues associ-
ated with food waste disposal. According
to GET, the system can be easily installed
on site as there is no requirement for
piped water or sewerage services – just an
electrical connection and an air outlet.
No harmful emissions or odours are re-
leased and no additives are used during
the process. WasteMaster is supplied as
a managed service which is tailored to
specific client needs and includes instal-
lation, servicing, and 24-hour support.
“The ability to efficiently process on site
resolves many of the issues associated
with the need to dispose of quantities of
food waste,” says Jason Hoen, managing
director of Green Eco Technologies.
25
 RECYCLING

#5 CROSS WRAP #6 FREELAND

 Cross Wrap added that its
product range meets all safety
requirements of the industry and
manufacturing process is strictly
supervised under the certified quality
system ISO9001.
 PREVENTiT temperature sensors
offer a practical method to identify hot
spots and take action before fires get
out of control.
DEWIRING IMPROVES
SAFETY AND EFFICIENCY
Another popular attraction on the show
floor was Cross Wrap’s newest CW
Dewiring machine which gained a lot
of interest as it improves working safety
by removing bale wires automatically.
Manual wire cutting can cause severe acci-
dents in all industries. The CW Dewiring
machine improves working safety because
the wire removal is automatic and no man-
ual actions are needed. Dewiring cuts and
separates the wires from the material in
the bales, such as pet bottles, plastics, card-
board, pulp and paper and other recycla-
bles. After the wires are cut and separated,
the CW Dewiring coils them into a tight
ball so that they are easy to handle for fur-
ther processing.
The CW Dewiring machine can be
equipped with in feeding and out feed-
ing conveyors according to the customer
needs. The controlled material handling
before and after the dewiring process in-
creases cleanliness and the material loss is
minimised. Cross Wrap told WMW that as
the CW Dewiring is a safe, automatic and
reliable way to unwire the bales, it improves
the total efficiency and the production
rate. The machines have so far been been
delivered to the customers in the pulp, pa-
per and plastic processing industries.
SCIENTIFIC’S NEW FIRE
PREVENTION SYSTEM
With fires an ever present risk for recy-
cling facilities, Freeland Scientific un-
veiled its new low-cost fire prevention
solution at the show. PREVENTiT mon-
itors core temperatures in stockpiles
using probes and/or disposable sensor
strings. If they become too hot, an alarm
is activated allowing operators to take ac-
tion and prevent the fire. “Until now, site
operators simply didn’t know whether
and when a fire was likely to break out
in a stockpile,” explains Dr Eric Crouch,
the engineer behind the invention.
“Because spontaneous combustion hap-
pens randomly within the stockpile, by
the time you detect smoke externally, it
is often already too late,” he continues.
“That’s why the sensor cable and probe
solution is so effective.” The company
says that the solution enables opera-
tors to comply with the Environment
Agency’s new Fire Prevention Plan
requirements and Waste Industry
Safety and Health (WISH) guidance.
PREVENTiT is on display at Freeland
Scientific’s stand 4E92 at RWM with
probes and string monitors in situ for
visitors to examine. Dr Eric Crouch will
be on the stand answering questions and
demonstrating PREVENTiT in action.

Presona LP Series balers: the difference is in the detail

Manufactured in Sweden and used worldwide, you can use our fully automatic
adaptive balers to compact many different materials including: OCC, newspaper,
www.presona.com magazines, cardboard, print waste, RDF, SRF, PET, plastics, municipal and solid waste.

26 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017


#7 GLADIATOR TAKES
ON THE STICKY ISSUE
OF GUM
The issue of carelessly discarded chewing
gum is a sticky one. At this year’s RWM,
Addex Group was keen to show off its
solution – the MaxVac, for which it is the
sole UK distributor. The removal of gum
from pavements can be a big headache.
According to the company, whilst there
are machines out there that can remove
one piece of gum at a time, a quicker solu-
tion has been hard to find. Most methods
today are jet washing and spot steaming.
However, Addex says that jet washing
sprays water, which can damage grout,
and the diluted residue simply drains into
the gutter where it creates another prob-
lem. Spot steaming meanwhile can clean
stubborn gum deposits, but it can’t han-
dle high densities of gum. The MV700
Gladiator is built specifically to provide
the best solution to the gum problem but
also achieves a deep clean. Addex claims
that it removes gum without causing any
damage to the surface, uses 83% less water
than a typical pressure washer, and leaves
the surface completely dirt free.
www.eldan-recycling.com
RECYCLING
#8 BIG NEW
BALER FROM HSM
German recycling equipment manu-
facturer HSM has added a new channel  “Well worth the wait, finally a
gum machine that works. We now
baling press suitable for larger applica- have a solution and can plan our
tions and a wide range of materials in- deep cleaning programme around
cluding cardboard, paper and film, as the Gladiator,” Kensington & Chelsea
Royal Borough Council.
well as DSD goods and PET bottles. The
company says that the HSM VK 6215 is
particularly suitable for waste manage-
ment facilities or larger industrial ap-
plications. Offering an extremely high
pressing force of 620 kN, the HSM VK
6215 is suitable for a wide range of mate-
rials such as cardboard, paper and film,
as well as DSD goods and PET bottles.
Thanks to the 1500 x 970 mm opening,
the baler is able to cope with bulky ma-
terials. The bottom of the compaction
chamber, as well as the bottom and side
panels of the baling chamber are made
of high wear-resistant steel. Depending
on the material being processed, bales
reach a weight of up to 550 kg, have di-  The HSM VK 6215 is available
with a frequency-controlled drive
mensions of 1100 x 750 x 1200 mm and as an option which offers up to 40%
are held together by fully automatic, reduction in energy use.
5-fold wire strapping.
Equipment for
HIGHLY
PROFITABLE
RECYCLING
of e.g. tyres,
cable and
e-waste.
Call us! +45 6361 2545
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD 27
 RECYCLING
IN BRIEF
‘SMARTER RECYCLING’
An in-house
development project
from product design
W hen it comes to on-
the-go recycling, peo-
ple are not always as
diligent as they would be at home. As high-
lighted by the recent survey conducted by
YouGov for Veolia (see page 8), often this
and R&D firm, is simply down to being unaware of what
Cambridge Consultants materials to dispose of in which bin.
In a bid to tackle the issue, product
could provide a design and development firm Cambridge
solution to the tricky Consultants has developed a concept
issue of getting the which uses off-the-shelf cameras as part
right recyclable product of an optical recognition system to iden-
tify the type of waste a consumer wants to
into the right recycling dispose of and tell them where to put it.
bin. A combination “What we wanted to do was see how tech-
of consumer rewards nology could improve the situation,” says
Sajith Wimalaratne, food and beverage com-
and data collection has mercial manager at Cambridge Consultants.
got it noticed by some “We created a concept which uses two
major brands. low-cost cameras which take an image of
the item being thrown away and identify
By Ben Messenger the product. It takes out the hassle for the
28 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017
In the long term, pro-
viding clear guidance
on which materials to
recycle will reduce levels
of contaminated waste
and will educate the
consumer in types of
recyclable materials and
good recycling practice.
consumer of finding out what the pro-
duct is and where it goes.”
Currently at the demonstrator stage,
the system combines machine vision with
machine learning through a neural net-
work and can be trained to recognise new
items over time.
The company says that it can learn po-
tentially challenging tasks such as detect-
ing the difference between a recyclable
cup and a compostable cup. It then indi-
cates which section of the waste disposal
unit the item should be placed in.
Speaking to WMW, Wimalaratne ex-
plains: “You have to show the item to the
camera around 30 times and the neural net-
work learns what it is. It’s a training element
where you teach it – this is a PET bottle, this
is a coffee cup. It’s a training element.”
TARGET MARKET
Wimalaratne’s vision is for the system to
be used in fast food restaurants, coffee
 RECYCLING

shops and supermarkets where it would
be able to add brand value, both by pro-
moting the company’s environmental
credentials and through loyalty reward
schemes.
Through a connected phone app, the
“THE SMARTER “Consumer brands are coming under in-
creasing pressure from the government,
RECYCLING lobby groups, and consumers like you and
SYSTEM GIVES me, to take responsibility for the end-of-
A BRAND A life of their products." adds Wimalaratne.

customer can be identified and rewarded REAL REASON NEXT STEPS

once the item is correctly deposited. This
reward could be points to spend, or even a
donation to charity. On back end, there’s
another app which the brands would see
with information about the product’s life
such as when and where it was consumed,
and by whom.
“It drives brand loyalty and it gains
consumer insight – a brand could know
where a product was purchased, and then
where it was disposed. Those are valua-
ble consumer insights,” he says. “There’s
a couple of applications we can think of.
One is the food outlets themselves, but
we could also see the big drink companies
sponsoring it in townships.”
TO BE IN The next step is to demonstrate the
system out in the field. To this end,
CONTACT Wimalaratne says that the company has
WITH THE already had interest from some major
CONSUMER.” players in the drinks industry.
“We took the system to drinktec and
we had the heads of sustainability for ma-
jor organisations talking about taking it
further and rolling out trials.”
“We developed the system as an in-
house project, so the next steps are really
up to the client. We’ve got a client that’s
interested in doing a trial at one of their
Sajith Wimalaratne, food and
sites. We’ll need to further develop it so it
beverage commercial manager fits their requirements, but if they like it
at Cambridge Consultants we can,” he concludes. 

RECYCLING & WASTE

TREATMENT SOLUTIONS ++ sensor based sorting
machines
++ complete recycling
plants
++ waste treatment
technologies
++ process monitoring
and control system

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RED-S17-71 -- Inserat Recycling & Waste_v04.indd 1 19.09.2017 10:14:31

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD 29

 RECYCLING
ZERO TO 100,000
IN 18 MONTHS
W ith single stream col-
lections becoming
increasingly popu-
lar in the US there is a growing need for
processing facilities to sort the mixed
recyclables – usually a mixture of metals,
plastics, paper and card, and various con-
taminants. In Pennsylvania, mandatory
For family owned and kerbside recycling collections are deter-
run waste collector mined on a district-by-district basis and
can often be collected by more than one
and landfill operator, haulier – many of which then transport it
Pennsylvania-based to a third-party material recycling facility.
J. P. Mascaro & Founded with just one truck in 1964,
Sons, expanding its J. P. Mascaro & Sons has been in the waste
business for over half a century and now
recycling business operates a number of landfill sites and
was a natural step. transfer stations, as well as around 400
Just 18 months later trucks. With so many vehicles out on the
road picking up kerbside recycling collec-
it’s operating its first tions as well as waste, the family-run firm
single stream MRF at saw an opportunity to move into the recy-
100,000 TPA. cling business.
“We’re a collection company,” explains
By Ben Messenger Joseph P. Mascaro Sr., director of the
30 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017
company’s TotalRecycle division. “We’re
pulling this material off the street every-
day, so we already have it. We pride our-
selves on being fully integrated, so we
wanted to be able to handle all aspects
of our industry. That’s really why we got
into the recycling business recently. It was
a hole in our business and we were hav-
ing to use other processing facilities, so it
made sense to have our own.”
“But the real big win about this facility
is that our affiliated landfill is just across
the street,” he tells WMW. “Every time we
send a container of residue to landfill, we
save. We are also fortunate to have a mar-
ket for our recycled glass, which we also
sell to our affiliated landfill for on-site re-
use as a substitute for a material that we
would otherwise be required to purchase
commercially.
FLYING START
Once the decision to build a single-stream
MRF was made, the company didn’t
hang around in getting the ball roll-

ing. Following a procurement process,
Stamford, Connecticut, based turnkey
solutions provider, VAN DYK Recycling
Solutions was recruited to design the fa-
cility and supply the sorting technology
inside. As the exclusive North American
representative of Netherlands based
Bollegraaf Recycling Solutions, they could
draw on its expertise and by January 2016
the facility was ready for action.
“On day one it was just me,” says
Mascaro. “We had a job fair to hire every-
body. We hired enough to fill the line and
we bought them out as a team. But we
were still learning the system.” As any op-
erator will know, an MRF is a challenging
environment for machinery. Unavoidable
blockages occur on a routine basis and
it’s key to get equipment back up and
running as quickly as possible. To help
Mascaro get up to speed, VAN DYK had
a start-up leader on site to train him as
the plant manager in how to run the ma-
chinery and be able to quickly identify
and clear blockages. “You have to jam,”
RECYCLING
he stresses. “You will not learn how to run
the system without it shutting down. If
they [VAN DYK] just came in and turned
it on and everything ran smoothly, the
second they leave you’d just be stuck –
but the way it worked was that they were
here. They basically ran the show and
trained me.”
“It’s basically a manufacturing line,
but we’re trash collectors – we had to
learn how to run a manufacturing line.
What we did was just crack the whip every
single day. It was 20-hour days, but if you
have someone that will be present and
take responsibility, it’ll work out, because
it’s an incredible piece of equipment,” as-
sures Mascaro.
DOWN THE LINE
Visiting the site with Matthew Turis,
process engineer at VAN DYK Recycling
All the materials recovered at the Solutions, offers an interesting insight
TotalRecycle MRF are baled, ready for
sale, using two balers including a high- into the equipment installed and how it
speed, no-sheer Bollegraaf HBC120S. It integrates to produce 97% pure recyclates.
is fed by computer-controlled conveyer
and can adjust to any of the material
First a wheel loader keeps the pile of
types the plant recovers. incoming material on the tipping floor
organised. From there it is loaded into the
hopper of a Bollegraaf drumfeeder at the
start of the system. This opens bags, and
“RECYCLING’S the waste is partially broken up before be-
ing thrown onto the conveyer. According
GROWING to Turis, one of the advantages offered by
EVERY DAY. this system is that it also helps break the
glass up.
WHAT WOULD The material then moves along an in-
REALLY HELP clined conveyer to take it to the working
IS IF IT WAS deck of the first pre-sort station where
unwanted materials such as bulky items
MANDATED.” and large rigid plastics are removed by
hand. Bags which have made it past the
drumfeeder unopened will also be opened
at this station.
SCREENING OUT
Once it leaves the pre-sort, the material
drops onto an OCC screen. Here larger
rigid materials pass across the stars
while smaller items fall through for fur-
ther processing and sorting in the fines
screen. This produces four fractions:
oversize, fines, heavies and lights. Turis
Joseph P. Mascaro Sr.
explains that the OCC screen is set up to
director of the company’s optimise cardboard recovery over news-
TotalRecycle division print. “It’s $270 per tonne (£207) for
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD 31
 RECYCLING
Joseph P. Mascaro Sr. (left) is direc-
tor of the family firm's TotalRecycle
division and oversaw the creation
and start-up of its first major MRF.
FACTS
80
J. P. Mascaro & Sons
collects recyclables for
over 80 municipalities.
$25
MILLION
Value of a new waste &
recycling contract with
Southwest Bucks Solid
Waste Committee in
Pennsylvania.
32 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017
cardboard against $100 (£77)for news,”
he says. “You want to grab that card-
board.”
Material recovered by the OCC screen
is then taken by conveyer to a man-
ual quality control station. The rest of
the material makes its way to a second
pre-sort station where smaller items of
non-recyclable waste, plastic bags and
films are removed.
Once past this station, the remaining
material arrives at Lubo’s ONP screen.
Here, large 2D fibre makes it up and over
the top of the screen before being con-
veyed to quality control, where contami-
nation is removed by hand. The resulting
product is stored, ready for baling.
The material which does not make
it past the screen at this stage is passed
to two more screens with progressively
tighter spacing – each with its own man-
ual quality control station. At this stage,
flat containers are returned to the con-
tainer line for further sorting. Material
which is not recovered by the final screen
is sent for optical sorting to remove any
remaining fibres.
“It's the combination of the OCC and
ONP screens that delivers the higher
throughput” explains Trevor Smart of
Bollegraaf. The ONP Screens supplied
to J.P. Mascaro are the 3.6m wide ONP
screens which have a throughout of 37-
40 tph and, based on their infeed ma-
terial composition, give the plant and
effective throughput of 40-42 tph. “We
(Van Dyk and Bollegraaf) have designed
and built 14 out of the 18 Mega MRFs
in the USA, and this screen combination
is the heart of the process to effectively
separate and size materials allowing the
smooth processing of large quantities
of recyclate for further sorting.” Taking
us over for a closer look at the screens,
Turis says: “They’ve been running since
this morning, nearly four hours, and they
haven’t made any stops. There’s very lit-
tle wrapping on them. You can still see
the shafts. This is the first plant that we
had it running in and it typically takes 10
minutes to clean against an hour for tra-
ditional machines.”
FINISHING TOUCHES
With nearly all of the fibres and fines
out of the way, the material begins its
ascent towards a TOMRA AUTOSORT
4, where any remaining fibre is removed
before the rest of the material is sent to
the container line. The fibre recovered at
this stage is sent back to the mixed paper
quality control line.
Any material left now joins the con-
tainer line, where an additional three
AUTOSORT 4s target PET, HDPE and
PP containers – each of which has its own
manual quality control station. An over-
band magnet is then used to recover all

When it comes to angling the screen up
for optimal performance, Turis explains
that there’s a number of factors which
come into play - material characteristics
can change each day, the moisture
content changes, and as the stars wear,
you lose grip.
ferrous containers from the stream ready
for baling. The remainder passes a manual
container sort line to remove the last of the
containers, and an eddy current separator
to recover aluminium cans, which are sent
to a quality control system. The residual
waste passes a single operative to manually
recover any final recyclables.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Back in Mascaro’s office after the tour,
he’s certainly pleased with the results of
the first 18 months of operations - and
the new opportunities it’s opened up for
his company. For example, the dozens
and dozens of aluminium bales we’ve just
seen in the storage area, which he’s hold-
ing until the price is right. “What hap-
pens here is that we’re not beholden to
any markets,” he explains. “We also have
50,000 square feet down the road where
URRACO
Mobile Shredding – Made by Lindner
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD
RECYCLING
we can store material, so if I think a com-
modity is priced too low, I’ll hold it. For
example, last year I was offered $200 per
tonne, so I just stored it down the road
and sold it for $500 per tonne.”
However, the key to getting top dollar
for recycled materials is always quality, and
that’s something Mascaro is keen to stress.
“What I’ve learned in my short time in
doing this is that the sky is always falling
in on this industry. The way I look at it
is I’m going to make sure I’m holding
the best umbrella. People are going to say
they can’t take the material or that they’re
overstocked on inventory. It’s purely sup-
ply and demand. When demand is low
you only buy the quality,” he says.
“When you have the best equipment,
you can always stay ahead of the game,
you can always be proactive,” concludes
Mascaro. 
Meet us at:
07th – 10th November,
Rimini, Italy
Hall A1, Booth 041
www.l-rt.com
33
 WASTE TO ENERGY

SHOCKING
CNIM BIOMASS PLANT
BENEFITTING FROM
ONLINE BOILER CLEANING

In Nesle, France, CNIM EB has been operating a 240,000

tonne-per-year wood waste to energy plant on behalf of the
facility’s owner AKUO Energy since 2013. In July last year,
to reduce the ongoing maintenance and cleaning routine, it
chose to install Shock Pulse Generators for continuous and
automated online cleaning of finned tube ECOs in the
biomass boiler.

S ince being boiler commis-

The ECO pass rear wall with EG10XL
discharge nozzle.
sioned back in June 2013,
the two ECO bundles at the
AKUO energy plant have been cleaned
two to three times each day with a
RSG-AR rake soot blower (steam con-
sumption 10 t/h) placed above the bun-
dles. Additionally, sonic horns (Nirafon
type) were installed between the bundles.
CNIM’s Dr Nazim Merlo explains
that the temperature after the ECO
installation showed a saw-tooth pro-
file (Figure 1). With a constant 100 t/h
steam output, the flue gas temperature
after the ECO went up 40°C from 140°C
to 180°C within 10 days. The flue gas
temperature drop through the ECO was
100°C with a clean module, but only
50°C after 10 days of operation.
However, the temporary steam con-
sumption of up to 10% of the plant’s to-
tal steam flow for each soot blower led to
some issues with boiler control. In order to
maintain a permanently high quantity of
process heat and cooling water during the
operation of the soot blowers, the steam
flow had to be temporarily increased.
To reduce this maintenance routine,
and its additional load on steam gener-
ation, CNIM, turned to Swiss company,
Explosion Power GmbH, and its Shock
Pulse Generator (SPG) technology. The
system is an online boiler cleaning tech-
nology which automatically generates
shock pulses through the combustion
pressurised gas. The shock generated pre-
vents the build-up of soot and slag inside
the boiler and reduces the need for plant
shut downs for routine maintenance, as
well as the parasitic use of steam.
Kaspar Ninck, process engineer at
Explosion Power, explains that in imple-
menting the upgrade CNIM’s R&D team
carried out a layout study and also par-
ticipated in the installation and commis-
sioning process.
There was no reference for the installa-
tion of SPGs on finned tube ECO bundles
in biomass boilers prior to this installa-
tion. However, the trial and subsequent

34 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017


analysis of corresponding boiler data
validated the efficiency of the equip-
ment and allowed the optimisation of
the Shock Pulse Interval.
INSTALLATION
The 16 MW boiler installed at the
plant is a “Single Pass” type while the
spreader-stoker is supplemented with
ash recirculation from the cyclone
which allows the efficient combustion
of natural wood by minimising the
unburned gas rate.
From the furnace, the flue gases en-
ter the vertical superheater and evapo-
ration section and eventually the ECO
pass, where two finned tube ECO bun-
dles cool down the gases from 250°C
to 170°C. Each ECO bundle has over-
all dimensions of 6.7 m length x 2.4 m
width x 1.6 m height.
Due to the high pressure wave ab-
sorption of the finned tubes, the most
powerful SPGs were chosen right from
beginning. In July 2016, one TwinL and
one EG10XL Shock Pulse Generator,
which CNIM rented, were installed on
the rear wall of the ECO pass between
the two ECO bundles (Figure 1) and
used with a Shock Pulse Interval of one
hour. After commissioning the SPGs,
the plant’s existing sonic horns could
FACTS
Figure 1: Process data before (April 2016, left) and after (August 2016, right)
the implementation of Shock Pulse Generators.
WASTE TO ENERGY
be stopped and the two soot blowers
were rarely used (for only five to seven EFFICIENT.
COMPACT.
cleaning cycles per month).
The issue with the saw-tooth pro-
file in Figure 1 was solved with the
Shock Pulse Generator cleaning. The
outlet temperature on the ECO mod- OUTSTANDING.
ules was stabilised with fluctuations
of only 20°C remaining. The cooling
of the flue gas in the ECO modules
was also stabilised at 80°C.
CONCLUSION
Following five months of operation, an
inspection on the ECO units showed
no additional abrasion or wear due
to the pressure waves. In that time
the Shock Pulse Generators were also
permanently acquired by CNIM. The
biomass boiler can now be operated
continuously and without additional
manual cleaning of the ECO units. An
additional benefit is that short-term
increase of steam flow is no longer nec-
essary, which has in turn reduced slag-
ging and fouling in the boiler. SHREDDING – CONVEYING – SEPARATING
According to Merlo, the instal-
lation has shown that Shock Pulse Reprocessing technologies for optimum output
Generator cleaning technology can results:
be implemented in this type of appli-
cation with high efficiency on finned
tubes, while protecting the boiler.
production waste
post consumer waste
residual waste
Vecoplan AG | Vor der Bitz 10
56470 Bad Marienberg | Germany
Phone: +49 2661 62 67-0
welcome@vecoplan.com | www.vecoplan.com
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD 35
 WASTE TO ENERGY

FUEL HANDLING
FOR WASTE TO
ENERGY PLANTS 101
When it comes to waste to energy, there’s plenty of hype
about emissions, finance and regulations, but somewhat less
about the actual operation of a plant. To find out more about
on-site fuel handling, WMW speaks to Matt Drew.

Matt Drew
Managing Director for Saxlund International
WMW: Matt, you’ve been involved in
many different waste to energy pro-
jects over the years. What are the key
considerations for fuel handling and
storage?
Matt: You need to use the right technol-
ogy in the right circumstances. Waste
fuels are not like coal. You need to make
sure you rotate it, that you don’t have
hang-ups – you need to be very careful
and consider this when you’re designing
the project.
Every project is different, but one pro-
ject we started developing recently has
three gasifiers that need to be fed and the
client will be using a lower quality waste
because they get a better gate fee for it.
What we did was sit down with a clean
sheet of paper and say, ‘OK, what are you
trying to achieve on the front end? How
many trucks are you planning to bring in?’
Generally, you can take trucks 10 or 12
hours a day, but not over the weekend, so
the investors will say, ‘OK, we need three or
four days of storage on-site’. Once you’ve
got that much storage for waste, it tends to
be quite large. Unlike coal it can’t be stored
outside, it has to be stored inside.
For this particular project it was a sig-
nificant amount of waste, so what we de-
cided was that the best thing to do would
be to have a big crane hall. We don’t do
cranes, but it was the best thing for the
client. After the crane hall, the waste is
processed with shredding equipment and
metal removal and so on, and then it goes
into a day store, which is a push floor
which gives 12 to 24 hours of storage –
and that feeds the gasifier.
You have to sit down with the customer
and try and understand what limitations
they’ve got – budget considerations, op-
erational considerations, concerns over
redundancy on the system.
WMW: How much of a consideration
is the type of waste-derived fuel that
will be processed at the plant?
Matt: We’re doing a lot of projects at the
moment with either SRF or waste wood.
For a lot of these projects there are very
large amounts of waste, so you end up

36 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017


with large storage systems. The projects
we do are built around receiving mate-
rial directly from the trucks. Either SRF,
RDF or waste wood, discharged directly
onto the ground where it’s put into ma-
nipulated piles by wheel loaders – or put
directly onto the push floor.
For wood waste, depending on
whether the storage is large enough, you
can use tube feeds, which can be put in ei-
ther A-frame buildings or silos. For small
to medium storage you can use the same
push floors as RDF. Inherently, they’re
the same machine, but you have to con-
sider the geometry depending on the fuel,
for example, wet RDF or wood chip.
A wetter SRF or RDF can stick and
compact itself. It can almost bale itself
under operation, so we have to slightly
change the geometry of the discharge. If
you don’t get it right, it can lead to block-
ages downstream.
We did a project for Slough Heat and
Power where we put in a push floor which
can run with SRF or woodchip with the
ability to adjust the geometry of the bun-
ker slightly.
WMW: If one part of the fuel hand-
ling system fails that could mean that
the power station is out of action and
waste is backing up. How can such oc-
curences be mitigated?
Matt: We did a job in Scotland which
is probably the most redundant system
we’ve built. It’s got two lines of material
handling systems, each of which can feed
the full plant requirements.
There’s four reception hoppers, then
two sets of conveying lines, two sets of
screening systems, three storage silos –
each of which can feed 100% of the plant’s
requirements to one or two of the con-
veying lines, each of which can also feed
100% of the plant’s capacity.
That project was an extreme case, but
that was the client’s spec. We spent a lot
of time developing it and it’s been in op-
eration now for three or four years.
WMW: We hear a lot about automa-
tion in the waste industry. Is this a
trend you’re seeing on the fuel hand-
ling side?
AUTOMATED FUEL HANDLING
FOR UK’S FIRST COMMERCIAL BIO-
SUBSTITUTE NATURAL GAS PLANT
A green gas generation plant currently
under construction at Marston Gate in
Swindon uses a fully automated fuel
reception and delivery solution devel-
oped by biomass and material handling
specialist Saxlund International.
The facility, being developed by plasma
gasification specialist Advanced Plasma
Power and gas distribution firm Cadent,
is expected to commence operations in
early 2018. It will be the first commercial
plant to convert household waste into
bio-substitute natural gas (BioSNG).
The £25 million facility received £11
million of funding from the Depart-
ment for Transport’s Advanced Biofuels
Demonstration Competition.
Waste will be delivered once per day
in a moving floor trailer and up to
150 m3 will be stored to provide a
buffer for weekend operation.
A high-availability fuel handling solu-
tion, intended to ensure uninterrupted
plant operation with minimal manual
intervention, was a key requirement.
Saxlund says that it will provide a com-
plete automated solution incorporating
fuel reception, storage and discharge of
Inside the silo basement at
an energy recovery plant in
Markinch showing the underside
of a TubeFeeder silo discharge.
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD
WASTE TO ENERGY
RDF to feed the downstream fluid-bed
gasifier which in turn is closely coupled
to a plasma converter.
The solution incorporates Saxlund
Truck Docking Stations designed to al-
low walking floor trailers arriving at the
plant to be quickly unloaded, together
with a push floor storage bunker with
100 m3 capacity and chain conveyors to
transport fuel on to the gasifier.
The Docking Station is designed to al-
low spillage-free delivery of RDF to the
plant and incorporates screw conveyors
to provide a metered flow of material as
it is transferred from the trailer into the
push floor storage bunker. An active
dust filtration system and inflating seals
between the Docking Station and deliv-
ery trailers minimises dust emissions.
Importantly, a walking floor trailer
can be left docked to the docking
station over weekends and discharged
on demand via a Saxlund hydraulic
power pack. This increases the storage
capacity for the plant to ensure con-
tinuing operation over long weekends
and public holidays, in a small foot
print. 
37
 WASTE TO ENERGY
Matt: Yes. Starting from first principles,
you need to find out whether the client is
trying to achieve a fully automatic system
or a semi-automatic system – and that’s
a CAPEX/OPEX question. Some people
don’t really want to invest a lot of money
at the beginning and will be happy with a
system which is basically just a shed with
a front-end loader and trucks tipping on
the ground. We’re building four of those
at the moment to feed gasifiers with
waste wood or SRF materials.
Others want everything to be fully auto-
matic with no human interaction with the
material. We’ve got one project in the west
of London where Eggersmann have put
in a complete recycling line where resid-
ual material is shredded and collected on
a conveyer and taken to a large push floor
in the corner of the building and fed into
a hopper on a gasifier. The system is fully
automated, so there’s no human interac-
38 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017
tion with the material once it leaves the
recycling system – and it’s fully enclosed. FACTS
We’ve also just secured a contract
where walking floor trailers discharge
into a docking station, an above ground
hopper which feeds a push floor bunker,
which feeds a gasifier.
80%
Lower carbon emissions from
BioSNG than natural gas.
WMW: All equipment needs to be
10,000
properly maintained. What should a
typical maintenance routine comprise
for a typical fuel handling system?
Matt: It’s one of the things which clients
TONNES
Of household waste per annum
are beginning to understand more, there’s producing at the Marston Gate
more of a maturity in the market now. In plant.
the past, a lot of people would just run
the conveyer until there was a failure.
Preventative maintenance needs to
take place and daily checks need to take 22 GWh
Of BioSNG to be produced -
place. We use a lot of chain conveyers in enough to heat 1500 homes or
our designs over belt conveyers because fuel 75 heavy goods vehicles
they are inherently enclosed, so dust each year.
 WASTE TO ENERGY

emissions are greatly improved, but as

with belt conveyers, chain conveyers need
regular maintenance. You need to check
them, you need to tension them and you
need to clean them.
We’ve seen instances where clients ha-
ven’t checked the cleaners on belt convey-
ers, the belt gets dirty, material starts to
build up and the next thing you know,
there’s a problem.
Push floors need minimal mainte-
nance, just yearly checks of the hydrau-
lics and oil. Over the life of a plant, say 25
years, you may have to replace some lad-
ders, but it’s a very slow moving machine
– it moves maybe 700mm in two minutes.
We inspected one recently which had
been in operation for a significant pe-
The push floor technology at Slough Heat and Power. riod of time and it was as good as new
still. They’re a robust system designed for
long-term operation, primarily at power
plants. 

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 BIOWASTE

In Sri Lanka IWMI worked with the

Central Environment Authority and the
Kurunegala Municipal Council on a pilot
project turning biodegradable waste
into nutrient-rich organic compost.

MAKING MONEY
FROM WASTE
22 BUSINESS MODELS FOR
RESOURCE RECOVERY

R
Where there’s muck,
there’s brass, as ecently, some crazy scien-
the age-old saying tists in Bristol, UK, have
goes. At the recent discovered how to charge
their smartphones with their own pee.
World Water Week By using micro-organisms which feed
in Stockholm, the off their urine and generate electrons as
International Water a by-product, they have managed to pro-
Management Institute duce enough electricity to charge a phone
or power some lights.
launched 22 teasers Although we can question the utility of
offering an insight this technology, considering the very small
into its research into amount of energy produced, there may still
be method to these scientists’ ‘madness’.
successful business People generate millions of tonnes of waste
models for turning every day, and with rapid urbanisation and
wastes into money. population growth, this will only increase.
Urban areas already account for 75%
By Justin Dupré-Harbord of the world’s natural resource consump-
tion and produce 50% of global waste. In
most countries, especially low- and mid-
dle-income nations, the waste manage-
ment systems currently used to collect,
process and recycle this waste are insuffi-
cient and cannot meet demand.
Untreated rubbish is already having
terrible effects on the environment and
human health, and if not properly con-
tained, could lead to a global disaster
with people literally drowning in their
own garbage. The global community is
realising the urgency of this problem, with
many of the Sustainable Development
Goals supporting waste and water reuse.
The recent World Water Week in
Stockholm focused on “Water and waste:
reduce and reuse.” Technologies and ap-

40 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017


proaches that productively reuse urine or
other waste will be crucial in determin-
ing our capacity to achieve sustainable
growth in the future.
RECOVERING ENERGY, NUTRIENTS
AND WATER
In fact, there are many practical waste re-
use projects already being implemented
all around the world. For example, in
Nairobi, Kenya, a community-based
organsation in the city’s biggest slum,
Kibera, is using poo to generate energy in
the form of biogas.
With the assistance of an NGO, the or-
gansation has set up a toilet complex that
not only serves as loos for about 1000
people every day, but also provides show-
ers, a meeting hall, business spaces and
cooking facilities for local vendors. Using
bio-digesters, the poo collected is decom-
posed and fermented, creating a gas by-
MULTISTAR ONE
MOBILE STARSCREEN
WITH OVERLENGTH RETURN
- WIDE RANGE OF APPLICATIONS
- EXACT SCREENING
- LOW OPERATING COSTS
- FLEXIBLE USE
BIOWASTE
“ALTHOUGH product. This gas is then used as biogas
for the cooking facilities; excess could
DEVELOPING also be sold to households or business as
COUNTRIES a cheap source of energy.
ALREADY This project has improved sanitation
in Kibera while changing people’s atti-
SPEND $46 tude towards reusing human waste, and
BILLION is now being replicated in other areas
ANNUALLY in Kenya. Rubbish can also be reused to
grow food.
ON WASTE In Bangalore, India, the company Terra
MANAGEMENT, Firma uses a variety of approaches to
produce compost from municipal solid
IT IS waste, including windrow composting,
ESTIMATED where waste is kept in piles to decompose
THEY NEED and then sieved. The company then sells
this compost to farmers, who use it as or-
ANOTHER ganic fertiliser in their fields.
$40 BILLION.” Along with a variety of other activities,
including selling recyclables and provid-
ing consultancy services to other firms,
Justin Dupré-Harbord, IWMI this has allowed Terra Firma to construct
NEW
www.komptech.com
 BIOWASTE

a sustainable business from waste reuse,
SIX OF THE BEST as well as reduce Bangalore’s waste man-
BUSINESS MODELS agement costs and human exposure to
hazardous garbage. Finally, the hot topic
• PRODUCING BRIQUETTES
of this year is reusing wastewater.
from municipal solid waste
• Generating POWER FROM Worldwide, more than 330 cubic kilo-
MANURE meters of municipal wastewater is gener-
• Generating BIO-ETHANOL ated annually. With urban populations
and CHEMICAL PRODUCTS demanding more and more resources,
from agro-waste and
agro-industrial waste this wastewater could theoretically be
• Producing BIOGAS from used to irrigate 40 million hectares of
kitchen waste cropland or to power 130 million house-
• Generating POWER FROM holds through biogas generation.
MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE
• Generating ON-SITE
In the city of Monastir in Tunisia,
COMBINED HEAT and wastewater is being reused to cultivate
POWER from agro-waste food for the local market. For a fee, the
city wastewater treatment plant transfers
about a quarter of its reclaimed water to
tree plantations managed by between 40
and 56 farmers who grow olives, peaches
and pomegranates. This provides the
farmers with a secure supply of water for
irrigation while reducing the costs of the
treatment plant.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS
THINKING
So if, as we have seen, reusing waste can
be done in many different settings, what
is stopping these types of initiatives from
being implemented in cities around the
world? In short, the answer is money.
Although developing countries already
spend $46 billion annually on waste man-
agement, it is estimated that they need
another $40 billion to adequately cover
service demand.
This is why, apart from reusing waste,
another important factor that links the
three previous examples is their ability
to partially or fully recover their costs.
In Kenya, the toilet complex generates

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enough money from user fees to cover
its operation costs and is set to pay back
the investment costs in three years. In
Tunisia, the treatment plant recovers 40%
of its operation and maintenance costs
from the money it charges plantation
farmers for treated wastewater.
In India, Terra Firma has actually been
making profits almost every year since
its inception. These cases are important
examples for how business planning can
relieve the public sector from full subsi-
dy-based operations to attract private fi-
nance and overcome poor waste manage-
ment services in low- and middle-income
countries.
So far, there has been very limited busi-
ness thinking in the waste and sanitation
sector, which still mainly relies on inse-
cure public finances. In this context, there
is great opportunity for entrepreneurs to
apply the concept of resource recovery
and reuse (RRR) in order to create reve-
nue, while also providing an important
service for society and the environment.
The potential for this new market is very
high; for example, the World Economic
Forum has estimated the potential global
revenue from the biomass value chain (i.e.
the process of converting organic mate-
rial to energy) to reach up to USD 295
billion by 2020.
BUSINESS MODELS FOR WASTE REUSE
To highlight these potential busi-
ness opportunities, WLE’s lead centre,
the International Water Management
BIOWASTE
Institute (IWMI), and partners have stud-
ied a large set of existing RRR businesses
and compiled their business models and
relevant case studies in an upcoming
book, Resource Recovery from Waste:
Business Models for Energy, Nutrient and
Water Reuse in Low- and Middle-Income
Countries.
As a teaser, the authors prepared 22
business model profiles for World Water
Week that show examples for the private
and public sectors to recover costs or even
make money from reclaiming rubbish.
Each model explains the value propo- Organic waste is made into piles.
Recyclable inorganic material is sold
sition and value chain of the business, the and the non-recyclables are sent to
institutional set up and risks in terms of landfill. Organic material is made
viability and safety, as well as providing a into different piles and turned over
case study to showcase how it can be im- periodically for about two months
to aerate the compost and increase
plemented.
decomposition.
We hope that these models and cases
will give students in business development
or engineering inspiration to engage in
opportunities in the waste and sanitation
sectors, and provide the impetus for a new
system in which rubbish becomes an at-
tractive resource for investment.
The models will also offer an evidence
base for governments and businesses to
work together in providing sustainable
waste management in support of human
and environmental health.
So next time you go to the toilet or
throw something in the bin, take a sec-
ond to think about what you are flushing
or throwing away, and how that rubbish
could have been used to make money in
the supply of energy, food or water. 
General Contractor
planning and construction
of recycling plants
Mechanical Treatment
for solid waste
5 COMPETENCES
Biological Treatment
for solid waste
General Contractor Key Machines
planning and construction for the recycling process
of recycling plants
Service and Operating
Mechanical Treatment of recycling plants
for solid waste
Biological Treatment
for solid waste
Key Machines
for the Recycling process
Service and Operating
of Recycling Plants
f-e.de
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD 43
 ISWA
INFORMATION
Visit www.iswa.org for more information

This year, ISWA’s World Congress joined forces with Wastecon (the annual conference
of our National Member in North America, SWANA) to create the world’s biggest
waste management conference in Baltimore, USA. Over the last 12 months, ISWA has
been working hard on three very exciting emblematic projects - Marine Litter, Close
Dumpsites and Waste Management in the 4th Industrial Revolution. Over the course of
the congress, ISWA announced the initial findings of these three projects, each of which
has the potential to have a significant impact on the sector.

4th Industrial Revolution

SURVEY
DO YOU THINK THAT THE
4TH INDUSTRIAL REVOLU-
TION WILL MAKE CIRCU-
LAR ECONOMY A REALITY
FOR MOST OF CONSUMER
GOODS?
82 % of the participants expect that
the 4th Industrial Revolution will
stimulate, at least somehow, circular
economy in most consumer goods,
and 18 % are rather pessimistic
about it. Just one fourth of the
participants are really optimistic and
expect serious progress in circular
economy. It seems that the linages
between the 4th Industrial Revolu-
tions and Circular Economy as well
as the potential benefits and risks
involved should be further studied
and detailed.
O ver the last year, ISWA surveyed
over 1000 of the waste industry’s leading
CEOs, scientists, professionals and de-
cision makers. The results of the survey,
presented in a keynote session by ISWA
President Antonis Mavropoulos, high-
light the real dangers facing the waste
management industry, indicating a broad
recognition from all sections that a cohe-
sive and decisive change must take place
in order to avoid being left behind.
It made clear that the industry must
respond in an integrated and comprehen-
57 %
sive manner, involving all stakeholders of
the global polity. A failure to do so could
be disastrous for large sections of the in-
dustry: “Those who continue to insist on
the traditional model will not be in the
market beyond the next 15 years,” said
ISWA Vice President Carlos Silva Filho.
However, casting a more positive light
on the survey, it also points to substan-
tial opportunities in emerging and de-
veloping economies to develop waste
management infrastructure which is fit
for the future with innumerable invest-
ment opportunities. “The results also
highlight the hope that the 4th Industrial
Revolution will deliver solutions to sev-
eral challenges related to waste manage-
ment, from eco-design to waste preven-
tion and circular economy of plastics,”
said Antonis, considering the positives

25 % and potential of this broad change.

The conclusion of this special session

14 %
was clear: the waste management indus-
try must embrace the changes and ISWA

4% intends to be at the forefront, driving this

change and ensuring that the waste man-
agement industry keeps up with the pace
No Somewhat No Somewhat Yes Yes of technological development. 

44 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017

ISWA’s Task Force on Marine Litter
I SWA put together a task force, made
up of experts from across our member-
ship base, which has developed a strong
call for action aimed at the waste and re-
source sector to come together and work
towards preventing marine plastic litter.
The report, which was launched in a
special session in Baltimore, highlighted
some daunting data. Every year at least 8
million tonnes of plastic, the equivalent
of one full refuse truck per minute, finds
its way into the world’s oceans. If no ac-
tion is taken, this number is expected to
increase to two full refuse trucks of plas-
tics per minute by 2030, and four per
minute by 2050.
One of the key messages from the day
was that the waste and resource recovery
sector has a key role to play in address-
#CloseDumpsites
R eaders of this magazine and
followers of ISWA will know that we have
taken a strong and clear stance on the is-
sue of dumpsites, declaring the urgent
need for their immediate closure and
replacement. Dumpsites represent a sig-
nificant threat to human health, spread
diseases and cause significant harm to
our oceans and atmosphere. ISWA is de-
termined to avoid further losses like those
seen this year in Ethiopia and Sri Lanka by
supporting the closure of dumpsites. We
have set up a dedicated homepage and re-
source bank at closedumpsites.iswa.org,
and Antonis Mavropoulos, speaking at the
world congress, urged everyone to go over
and sign our declaration.
The purpose of this declaration is to
make it clear to states and decision mak-
ers that the practice of simply dumping
waste will no longer be tolerated. ISWA
has developed a roadmap, a knowledge
base and is currently fundraising to sup-
ISWA 2017
ing this global challenge by sharing and
exchanging expertise and co-creating
Calendar
25–26 OCT 2017
10th ISWA Beacon
solutions at a local level. Conference on
Whilst the first report is out, the Waste-to-Energy
Task Force will continue to support the Malmö, Sweden
waste and resources sector and wider
stakeholders in playing a key role in 15–26 JAN 2018
Winter School on Sustain-
preventing marine litter. Based on the able Waste Management
first report, the Task Force has iden- including Landfill & Landfill
tified several activities that will assist Mining
the sector, including a financial evalua- Arlington & Denton, Texas,
United States ISWA
tion, an assessment of the key interven-
tion hotspots, and the development of
a roadmap for enhancing the value of
plastics, with a particular focus on col-
lection and segregation systems.
For more information on this task
force and to read the latest findings,
please see marinelitter.iswa.org.  For more events and details
please go to www.iswa.org or
scan the QR code.
port municipalities in the closure and
sustainable replacement of open dumps.
For more information on how you can
support this campaign, please head over
to our website now, sign our declaration
and add your voice to the thousands al-
ready there.
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD 45
 COUNTRY SPOTLIGHT
PANAMA
Since 2010, the Central American country of
Panama has experienced impressive economic
growth. With an expanding middle class comes
increased waste, but also greater government
resources to manage those arising.
By Marcus Antonius, freelance environmental journalist
O ver the past two decades,
waste generation in Panama
has increased by 50% to 1.2kg per
person. According to the Netherlands’
Embassy in Panama, the country’s waste
sector is “on the verge of changes”. To
tackle poor management at landfills, nu-
merous illegal dumpsites and significant
land and water pollution, a number of
initiatives are underway.
With the exception of Panama City, local
municipalities are responsible for waste
collection. A significant number of these
use private waste collection firms: 40%
in the district of Panama City, 48% in
Colon, 73% in La Chorrera and 100%
Arraijan, according to the Inter-American
Development Bank.
However, payment for waste collection
services is handled by the National
Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers
(IDAAN), which has difficulty collecting
the charge. To improve this, there has
been talk of adding the waste bill to the
electricity bill, but there is political oppo-
sition to the change.
For the most part, the waste collected in
Panama is currently disposed in landfill
and dumpsites, or burned. The capital
city’s main landfill, Cerro Patacón, re-
ceives more than 2400 tonnes of waste
per day, which is picked by some of the
city’s poorest people. Uncontrolled fires
are not uncommon. In 2013, a large blaze
took a week to contain and resulted in a
46 WASTE MANAGEMENT WORLD SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017
The commitment to establish a
roadmap for Waste Manage-
ment for the next 10 years
will have great environmental
and socioeconomic benefits,
according to Ineco project
managers Patricia Rey Romero
y Antonio Gómez Flechoso.
toxic cloud. The site is also thought to be
polluting the ground and local rivers.
In response to the situation, in 2015
the Authority for Urban and Household
“THE AAUD
SEEMS TO
BE VERY
Waste (AAUD), the most important of
the public bodies responsible for waste INTERESTED
management in Panama, contracted the IN WASTE
Spanish company INECO to develop a na-
tional waste strategy.
TO ENERGY
The company says that the strategic plan PROGRAMS AS
will take into account the current state of A LONG-TERM
waste collection, treatment and disposal
on a nationwide level. It will also propose SOLUTION. IT
the legal framework as well as the ac- WAS IMPRESSED
tions required to solve current and future
waste management issues in Panama.
BY THE
INECO’s biggest task will be to gather EFFECTIVENESS
information about waste composition as AND SIMPLICITY
without this a masterplan is meaningless.
According to Joris Moerenhout’s re- OF THE
port for the Netherland’s Embassy, INCINERATION
Panamanian authorities regard waste
to energy as the easiest and preferred
PROGRAMS IN
solution for large-scale waste treatment. SINGAPORE.”
He also says that large-scale waste sepa-
ration or recycling programs do not exist,
but several small-scale initiatives have
started.
Moerenhout concludes that the AAUD’s
long run strategy will depend on INECO’s
findings. Due to the lack of information
and the high cost of the required devel-
opments, it is unlikely that the AAUD will
invest in huge projects before the conclu- Joris Moerenhout’s
sion of INECO’s study.  Netherlands’ Embassy in Panama
You'd have to be Sherlock
to find any waste left
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types of untreated waste, so you will find it difficult to find
any waste left after the combustion process.
BABCOCK & WILCOX VØLUND
TEL +45 7614 3400 | SALES@VOLUND.DK | VOLUND.DK
B&W Vølund has a significant amount of operational
experience with the DynaGrate®. In addition to the significant
savings on maintenance costs, customers will also
benefit from operational hours in excess of 8000 per annum,
a minimum of 18 months between major stops, and there
being no need to undertake any pre-treatment of the fuel.
These are all significant cost benefits for your project.
There’s much more to be said. Find out by contacting us at
sales@volund.dk or visit volund.dk