Abstract
The data published by the European Container Glass Federation shows that the EU28 average collection rate for recycling of glass containers has grown to a rate of 76%. However the stabilizer produced at mechanical-biological treatment (MBT) installations at landfills still contains large amounts of recyclable glass. An industrial-scale study has been undertaken in order to assess the possibility of recovering this glass from the stabilizer. A new pilot installation was built at the MBT plant in Marszów, Poland. Tests were conducted on stabilizer samples produced at the plant (13 samples) and others collected from several MBT plants based in Poland (six samples). Processing the stabilizer on the designed line made it possible to recover on average 68.4 ± 7.0% of the glass contained in it from Marszów samples and 58.4 ± 14.2% in the case of samples acquired from other MBT installations. It is demonstrated that the concentrate quality largely depends on the stabilizer’s moisture content. A concentrate with glass content from 98.0% to 99.5% was obtained for samples of low-moisture stabilizers (for 14 out of 19 samples). The product was accepted by glass recycling plants due to its low level of contamination with other materials and its appropriate particle size.
Highlights
In 13 series, the stabilizer produced in the installation was processed at the mechanical-biological treatment (MBT) plant in Marszów, and in six series, the stabilizer supplied by other plants located in different regions of Poland
The stabilizer produced at MBT installations in Poland contains large quantities of packaging glass
A scheme of installations for recovering glass contained in stabilizer produced in MBT installations has been developed
Summary
Used glass containers can be recycled many times over without compromising their quality. This enables one to save energy and protect the environment. Their use represents a 3% reduction in the fossil energy consumption used in glass manufacturing for every 10% of cullet as a result of replacement of natural raw materials, reduction in the amount of municipal waste, water consumption, extraction of raw materials and reduction in the production of greenhouse gases [1]. The organic waste share amounted on average to 35.3%. The share of packaging waste (from paper, metal, glass, plastics) constituted 38.3% in 2017, including 10.0% of packaging glass (Figure 1A)
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