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Utilising landfill metals reduces CO2 emissions
There are at least 13 million tonnes of metal in Swedish landfills. Digging up and utilising the material will yield a positive result for the carbon dioxide balance, if done correctly. These were the results of research conducted by doctoral student Per Frändegård in conjunction with Stena Metall, an innovative company.
Frändegård, doctoral student in Environmental Technology and Management, has been studying how best to handle the materials buried in Swedish landfills. He compares carbon dioxide emissions in three different strategies. Either mobile separation facilities are used on location at the landfills or the substances are driven to larger facilities with more efficient technology for separating various recyclable materials. The third case states that the material is to remain in the landfills.
In terms of the environment and the climate the best option would be to transport the substances to larger, more efficient facilities, that despite the necessary and many long transportations. The worst solution is to allow the material to remain there.
It’s not a small amount of waste. We have between 5,000 and 6,000 municipal landfills of varying sizes in Sweden, even if only a hundred or so are active. Altogether the landfills contain 241 million tonnes of construction material: earth, concrete and fillers; 78 million tonnes of combustible materials; 30 million tonnes of plastic; and 13 million tonnes of metal, although some of it is rusted and of dubious quality.
In an article soon to be published, Frändegård also shows that if the 50 largest landfills were utilised, it would reduce the formation of methane gas and make a substantially positive contribution to climate work.
“Apart from the substantially reduced risks for the environment, carrying out this work would mean avoiding emissions corresponding to 80 % of the annual emissions from all of Sweden’s transports,” Frändegård says.
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There are at least 13 million tonnes of metal in Swedish landfills. Digging up and utilising the material will yield a positive result for the carbon dioxide balance, if done correctly. These were the results of research conducted by doctoral student Per Frändegård in conjunction with Stena Metall, an innovative company.
Since 1985 waste incineration has increased dramatically, and consequently the quantity of metals that remain in the ash.
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Last updated: Wed Mar 14 15:46:24 CET 2012
