Integrated centers for reuse, recovery and elimination of hazardous wastes

by Inês Costa, PhD researcher, Environmental Engineering (mail to: icosta@dem.ist.utl.pt)

More than 250 million tonnes of hazardous waste are generated annually in the pan-European region. In the EU-25 and EFTA countries alone, hazardous waste generation increased 20% between 1996 and 2004 (EEA, 2007) as well as gross value added, which grew by 10% (European Commission, 2005). In fact, it has been reported an increase in exports to countries with lower management costs; however, it also usually means an unsafe disposal.

Environment and human health issues involved in managing such wastes requires a stricter control regime in order to ensure a secure disposal – physical and chemical treatment, followed by incineration, with and without energy recovery, or landfill. However, this also leaves little room for reuse or recycling of materials other than those which are covered by particular legislation (e.g. waste oils).

In 2004, the Portuguese government issued a report on hazardous waste generation in 2002: from the 29 million tonnes of industrial waste, 254000 tonnes were of hazardous nature. Although there were considerable efforts made in strategies for the prevention and sustainable use of resources, the amount of wastes leading to disposal was still considerably high, and the country needed integrated and complementary infrastructure and technologies that focused in reuse and recycling, but that provided, simultaneously, an effective reuse, recovery and elimination of hazard materials – in line with the European directives. Therefore, the 3/2004 Portuguese law decree approved the figure of Integrated Centers for Reuse, Recovery and Elimination of Hazardous Wastes – CIRVER, and laid down the rules for the competition and construction of two of such facilities.

The CIRVER are industrial units that concentrate the best available technologies, supplying a “tailored treatment” in accordance to the type of waste received; this allows for process optimization, thus reducing costs for the producer. There are seven components in the process hierarchy of the CIRVERs, corresponding to seven units:

1) Waste classification (laboratory, sorting and transfer);
2) Stabilization;
3) Organic waste treatment;
4) Contaminated packaging recovery;
5) Soil decontamination;
6) Physical-Chemical treatment;
7) Landfill;

The technological scale, capacity and range present at both CIRVERs allows for an effective treatment of 80 to 85% of the hazardous wastes in the country, and also the “passive flows” – contaminated soils and waters in brownfield areas – which account for an added 300 000 tonnes.

In that spirit, the law decree that created the CIRVER also introduced the possibility to reuse the treated materials as raw materials in manufacturing processes – if the hazardous burden was proven to be removed – thus pursuing the objective of closing material loops.

This process is set to be tested within the project of Chamusca’s Eco Industrial Park[1], were both structures are constructed and operating: there are already projects being studied involving refurbishing and reuse of packages, solvent regeneration and water reuse between the CIRVER and companies that are being constructed or allocated within the area.

[1] To be addressed in further posts

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