Hunting for valuables from landfills and assessing their market opportunities A case study with Kudjape landfill in Estonia
Landfill mining is an alternative technology that merges the ideas of material recycling and sustainable waste management. This paper reports a case study to estimate the value of landfilled materials and their respective market opportunities, based on a full-scale landfill mining project in Estonia. During the project, a dump site (Kudjape, Estonia) was excavated with the main objectives of extracting soil-like final cover material with the function of methane degradation. In total, about 57,777 m3 of waste was processed, particularly the uppermost 10-year layer of waste. Manual sorting was performed in four test pits to determine the detailed composition of wastes. 11,610 kg of waste was…
On the way to ‘zero waste’ management: Recovery potential of elements, including rare earth elements, from fine fraction of waste
Abstract Existing schemes of solid waste handling have been improved implementing advanced systems for recovery and reuse of various materials. Nowadays, the ‘zero waste’ concept is becoming more topical through the reduction of disposed waste. Recovery of metals, nutrients and other materials that can be returned to the material cycles still remain as a challenge for future. Landfill mining (LFM) is one of the approaches that can deal with former dumpsites, and derived materials may become important for circular economy within the concept ‘beyond the zero waste’. Perspectives of material recovery can include recycling of critical industrial metals, including rare earth elements (REEs). The…
Environmental Quality of Groundwater in Contaminated Areas—Challenges in Eastern Baltic Region
The lack of water in the future will force society to find more sophisticated solutions for treatment and improvement of groundwater wherever it comes from. Contamination of soil and groundwater is a legacy of modern society, prevention of contaminants spread and secondary water reuse options shall be considered. The aim of the book chapter is to give oversight view on problems and challenges linked to groundwater quality in Eastern Baltic region whilst through case studies explaining the practical problems with groundwater monitoring, remediation and overall environmental quality analysis. The reader will get introduced with case studies in industry levels as credibility of scientific fund…
Field-portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry as rapid measurement tool for landfill mining operations: comparison of field data vs. laboratory analysis
Landfill mining applied in reclamation at the territories of old dump sites and landfills is a known approach tended to global economic and environmental benefits as recovery of metals and energy i...
Valorization of Marine Waste: Use of Industrial By-Products and Beach Wrack Towards the Production of High Added-Value Products
Biomass is defined as organic matter from living organisms represented in all kingdoms. It is recognized to be an excellent source of proteins, polysaccharides and lipids and, as such, embodies a tailored feedstock for new products and processes to apply in green industries. The industrial processes focused on the valorization of terrestrial biomass are well established, but marine sources still represent an untapped resource. Oceans and seas occupy over 70% of the Earth’s surface and are used intensively in worldwide economies through the fishery industry, as logistical routes, for mining ores and exploitation of fossil fuels, among others. All these activities produce waste. The other sou…
Characterization of refuse derived fuel production from municipal solid waste: the case studies in Latvia and Lithuania
Abstract The authors determined the morphological composition of refuse derived fuel (RDF) produced in Latvia and Lithuania by manually sorting. The parameters of RDF (moisture, net calorific value, ash content, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, sulphur, chlorine, metals) was determined using the EN standards. Comparing obtained results with data from literature, authors have found that the content of plastic is higher but paper and cardboard is lower than typical values. Results also show that the mean parameters for RDF can be classified with the class codes: Net heating value (3); chlorine (3); mercury (1), and responds to limits stated for 3rd class of solid recovered fuel. It is recommended …
Paradigms on landfill mining: From dump site scavenging to ecosystem services revitalization
For the next century to come, one of the biggest challenges is to provide the mankind with relevant and sufficient resources. Recovery of secondary resources plays a significant role. Industrial processes developed to regain minerals for commodity production in a circular economy become ever more important in the European Union and worldwide. Landfill mining (LFM) constitutes an important technological toolset of processes that regain resources and redistribute them with an accompanying reduction of hazardous influence of environmental contamination and other threats for human health hidden in former dump sites and landfills. This review paper is devoted to LFM problems, historical developm…