TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE RECOVERY OF SCRAPS DERIVED FROM TREATING GLASS PACKAGING WASTE

Nowadays, the Italian industry is constantly oriented on innovation of products and processes in order to achieve a high level of economic and environmental sustainability. In this context, the waste management of Emilia Romagna region is very active on the Italian territory, thanks to over 2 thousand green companies engaged in such activities. This philosophy must be understood as a strategy to address current and future challenges and to strengthen our production system thanks to the support and commitment of citizens, consumers and entrepreneurs. In 2010, in Italy about 32 million of municipal waste was produced, with a rate of separate collection of 35.3%. The waste glass collected in 2012 in Italy by separate collection of packaging waste amounted to approximately 1.6 million of tons of which 71% is sent to recovery (98% intended to glassworks, 2% to alternative recovery in ceramic or building industry (Co.Re.Ve, 2012). In Italy, the glass cullet is managed by Co.Re.Ve., the Italian Consortium for the recovery of packaging glass, since 1997. The cycle of collection and recovery of this glass can be implemented in 5 phases: collection of glass packaging in the container for recycling, withdrawal and transfer of glass cullet to the treatment plant, particle size selection and subdivision of cullet glass, obtainment of scrap suitable for the glassworks (maximum 0.068% of impurities (Co.Re.Ve., 2012), implementation of new packaging containing up to 90-95% of recycled glass. Specific treatments are performed on the glass cullet to obtain very low impurities values, such as manual sorting of pollutants, screening, separation of magnetic materials, suction of lightweight bodies and separation of non - magnetic bodies and opaque bodies are applied. Despite sophisticated equipment selection, total selection of "impure glass" is not guaranteed. In accordance with the Waste Framework Directive 98/2008/EC (landfill as a last form of disposal), the glass waste not sent to glassworks requires an alternative and innovative form of disposal. Nowadays, in Italy, this fraction (contaminated by ceramic granules and high degree of organic pollutants and coarse scraps) is collected and, in particularly in the North of Italy, treated by technological plant in order to obtain secondary raw materials for both glassworks and ceramics. However, these treatments are very expansive and the materials obtained (in particular glass or ceramic sand) have high economic value sometimes not economically sustainable.