Today
we visited three different waste management plants. First we checked out the
paper recycling plant which recycles half of Sardinia's paper. The
plant was capable of making a variety of different papers, from cardboard to
high quality notebook paper. They regularly collected from mixed newspaper,
commercial cardboard, and leftover cardboard scraps from companies cutting
cardboard boxes. They were currently making higher quality paper from office
and university paper waste. It was really interesting seeing the actual process
and how much water was involved. The paper was mixed with water, put through
various filters to remove contaminants, and then taken from a mixture with 1%
paper fiber and 99% water all the way to large uniform rolls of full paper.
Next
we visited the composting plant. Since Italians have to separate and treat all
of their waste, all organic material comes through this plant. First off bags
of organic material are aerated for 30 days, moving every 6 days in order to
mix and move the material. In this time the material must be at 55 degrees Celsius
for 3 days in order to kill pathogens. Next it spends time maturing inside
another building. Finally it is taken to piles outside where it is exposed to
air and temperature variation. It will be tested and finally sold for only 2
Euros of the 160 Euros it takes per ton to produce.
Lastly
we visited a waste to energy incineration plant. We arrived and worked our way
from the ash produced to the incinerators to the huge piles of trash
themselves. Apparently today there was a diaper which should have been placed
in hazardous material however it was detected, halting procedure while someone
had to dig around to find this one said diaper. This company did solid waste
management, water treatment, and hazardous waste treatment all at one location.
They could work together to treat the leachate water from solid waste right on
site. It was really fun to see all the treatment plants in person, despite the
variety of fragrances we experienced…
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