198 Ecology and Applied Environmental Science
of residences, with the use of special bins. This solution gives an excellent
product, and it is easy and inexpensive.
Acceptance of composting products by prospective buyers, such as farmers ,
is problematic if the material is not of good quality. A necessary prerequisite, though, of good quality is that the fermentable part of USW should
contain only food residuals and garden wastes without an admixture of
other materials, e.g. plastic or glass. This purity is achieved only when the
fermentable part of USW has come from careful sorting at source, in which
case it becomes acceptable and can even be sold.
10.3.5 Mechanical Sorting
Mechanical sorting is a technology that aims at freeing the citizen from the
obligation of sorting USW at source, while simultaneously it tries to achieve
the utilization of a part of USW for energy production or as raw material.
Sometimes it appears by the name mechanical recycling which is misleading since the products are of poor quality and therefore not useful; the
production of acceptable recycling products is not possible without sorting
at source. Mechanical sorting refers to a set of techniques through which
USW processing is attempted so that it can be separated into metals, fermentable materials and materials for incineration. Fermentable materials
are put through a biostabilization process where compost intended for soil
ameliorant is produced. However, since the fermentable materials that have
resulted through mechanical sorting contain admixtures, the produced
compost is of poor quality and is not accepted by farmers.
Materials for burning are transformed into a product intended as a fuel
substitute. Again, though, due to imperfect sorting, the fuel substitute produced is of poor quality and is generally not acceptable for energy production.
The products of mechanical sorting, both compost and fuel substitute,
usually end up in burial because there are no opportunities for sale or some
kind of utilization by public or private users. Even free-of-charge disposal
fails because the potential user must be burdened with the cost of transportation of a low-quality product from the location of production to that
of use, which leads to a minimization of the quantity that he would be
interested in utilizing. Moreover, experience shows that mechanical sorting
plants have a high construction cost, have frequent operation failures and
their performance is generally low.
10.3.6 reuse
Reuse applies only to some products or packaging, e.g. glass bottles, that
can be used more than once in the same system. There is an indisputable environmental advantage associated with resource-saving and waste
of residences, with the use of special bins. This solution gives an excellent
product, and it is easy and inexpensive.
Acceptance of composting products by prospective buyers, such as farmers ,
is problematic if the material is not of good quality. A necessary prerequisite, though, of good quality is that the fermentable part of USW should
contain only food residuals and garden wastes without an admixture of
other materials, e.g. plastic or glass. This purity is achieved only when the
fermentable part of USW has come from careful sorting at source, in which
case it becomes acceptable and can even be sold.
10.3.5 Mechanical Sorting
Mechanical sorting is a technology that aims at freeing the citizen from the
obligation of sorting USW at source, while simultaneously it tries to achieve
the utilization of a part of USW for energy production or as raw material.
Sometimes it appears by the name mechanical recycling which is misleading since the products are of poor quality and therefore not useful; the
production of acceptable recycling products is not possible without sorting
at source. Mechanical sorting refers to a set of techniques through which
USW processing is attempted so that it can be separated into metals, fermentable materials and materials for incineration. Fermentable materials
are put through a biostabilization process where compost intended for soil
ameliorant is produced. However, since the fermentable materials that have
resulted through mechanical sorting contain admixtures, the produced
compost is of poor quality and is not accepted by farmers.
Materials for burning are transformed into a product intended as a fuel
substitute. Again, though, due to imperfect sorting, the fuel substitute produced is of poor quality and is generally not acceptable for energy production.
The products of mechanical sorting, both compost and fuel substitute,
usually end up in burial because there are no opportunities for sale or some
kind of utilization by public or private users. Even free-of-charge disposal
fails because the potential user must be burdened with the cost of transportation of a low-quality product from the location of production to that
of use, which leads to a minimization of the quantity that he would be
interested in utilizing. Moreover, experience shows that mechanical sorting
plants have a high construction cost, have frequent operation failures and
their performance is generally low.
10.3.6 reuse
Reuse applies only to some products or packaging, e.g. glass bottles, that
can be used more than once in the same system. There is an indisputable environmental advantage associated with resource-saving and waste