ISTITUTO COMPRENSIVO SAN VENDEMIANO – Treviso – Italy –

Scuola Secondaria di 1°grado « G. Saccon»

CLASS 2^C School year 2011/12

Rubbish: problem or opportunity?

RUBBISH Rubbish is everything is left and people throw away in the human activity

The European Union defines them any material or object whose holder wants

to, has in mind to or is required to discard.

The growth in consumption and urbanization has increased the production of

rubbish and turned uninhabited areas into rubbish storage.

Today, as citizens: . It is important to prevent the storege of rubbish trying to reduce consumption. • It is necessary to ask companies for responsible choices so as to

reduce packagings and use biodegradable and rechargeable materials. • It is important to carry on waste separation.

The solution of the disposal of waste is no longer just dump in the incinerators

The use of landfill sites not only involves a waste of materials that could be partially recycled, although it does not cost a lot, but it also requires the use of large areas. Besides this, a large concentration of waste can cause possible consequences on the environment.

Incinerators base their working on the incineration of rubbish. The

latest systems utilize the combustion obtained, collecting a minimum of electricity and warmth, but we have to solve the problem of toxic-harmful emissions.

IT IS NECESSARY TO: Differentiate and Recycle

1 ton of Rubbish + Water, Ammonia, Bicarbonate, Lime.

Incinerators are facilities used for the disposal of waste through a combustion process at high temperature (incineration), which gives smoke, ash and dust as final products.

INCINERATORS 1 t. smoke 280/300kg solid inert ash 30kg fly ash 25kg gypsum 650kg waste water

Landfill sites are the cheapest

waste disposal systems which can offer satisfactory

results. Their cheapness depends on the availability

of suitable areas close to the sites where waste is

produced because collection and transport

usually affect the overall costs.

About 5\6 of the total amount of rubbish collected

in Italy ends up in open dumps, which are now full.

THE LANDFILLS

Why do we collect in different ways?

• Difficulties in finding areas for landfills; • Saving of raw materials; • Electric energy saving; • Better environmental protection (less greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, proper use of land).

The production of 1 t. of recycled paper requires about 400,000 liters of water and 5,000 KWH less than the production of the same amount of new paper, and it is also possible to save 18 trees.

THEREFORE: 1. less pollution

2. lower costs 3. more cleaning 4. more health

Recycle of used materials and separate collection

Recycling of waste means the totality of strategies to recover

materials in order to reuse them instead of desposing of the waste in

landfills.

Waste separation means a system which consists on a selection made by

citizens for each type of rubbish. This is a recycle-oriented operation.

We can recycle:

RAW MATERIALS

wood glass paper and cardboard aluminium steel plastic tyres

SEMIMANUFACTURED PRODUCTS

textiles

ORGANIC WASTE household organic waste industrial organic waste

Chair in recycled PET

THE COLOURS OF RECYCLING SKIPS AND BOTTLE BANKS

generally used in European countries are:

Yellow = collection of paper and paperboard; Blue = collection of plastic packaging; Green = multi-material collection (glass packaging, cans and

tins); Brown = wet-organic waste collection; Dark yellow = collection of paper for large public users; Grey= separate collection.

The main methods of collection The main methods of collection are two: 1. Rubbish skips and bottle banks placed in special ecological areas (people must deliver their waste in the correct skip or bank). 2. “Door to door” collection (rubbish is collected from homes according to a definite collection calendar). In San Vendemiano, The collection of household rubbish has been taking place since 2008 with a mixed system of collection: •Door to door; •Rubbish skips and bottle banks; •Ecological centre.

From September 2012, the town of San Vendemiano will start with an extreme “door to door” collection system.

DOOR TO DOOR The separate “door-to-door” collection consists in a periodical house-to-house rubbish collection.

In San Vendemiano the “door-to-door” system provides the collection of organic and dry

waste.

Tank for dry waste

Tank for organic waste

In San Vendemiano there are

Yellow skips: paper and cardboard Blue skips: plastic and alluminium

Green banks: glass Green skips with key: nappies

A waste skip is a container made of metal or plastic material used to collect rubbish. In recycling skips we collect primarily plastic, paper,

alluminium, while glass is often the prerogative of bottle banks.

RUBBISH SKIPS AND BOTTLE BANKS

SAN VENDEMIANO ECOLOGICAL CENTRE: an equipped area where people can carry various materials, including bulky ones or those which cannot be bestowed through the normal collection service or products labelled with T and/or F that are dangerous because of their high toxicity to humans and harmful to the environment. (These products are identified by symbols like a cross, a skull or a flame on an orange background). 1. Paper and cardboard 2. Plastic 3. Glass 4. Greenery and twigs 5. Wood 6. Metal 7. Hard plastic 8. Inert materials 9. Tires 10. Vegetable oil 11. Mineral oil 12. Lead accumulators 13. Batteries 14. Medicines 15. Toner 16. RAEE ( Electrical and Electronic waste) 17. Containers labelled T / F

BATTERIES (collected at electrical appliances shops and offices / schools) The separate collection of batteries is

essential in order to recycle a large part of the elements which are present in

batteries, saving raw materials.

MEDICINES (collected at chemist’s shops)

Before recycling medicines it is better to remove boxes and leaflets, which can be recycled with paper (so as to reduce the

size of rubbish and recycle a lot of useful materials).

Plastic: Selection system GODEGA S.U. (TV) and DOLO (VE)

Paper: Paper factory BELLUNO

Glass: Recycling company ORMELLE (TV)

Iron: recycling company VITTORIO VENETO (TV)

Wood: company in VAZZOLA (TV)

Green/branches: company in PORDENONE

Used oil: company in VITTORIO VENETO (TV)

Dry waste: landfill area SPRESIANO (TV)

Aggregate: special landfill in PADUA

Dangerous waste: company for special treatment in VIDOR

(TV)

Organic waste: SESA composting company in ESTE (PD)

WHAT HAPPENS TO SAN VENDEMIANO WASTE AFTER SEPARATE COLLECTION?

ESTE-PADOVA

Areas of intervention: • the collection of household organic waste and urban organic remains; • handling and recycling of differentiated organic rubbish for the production of quality compost; • final disposal of non- recyclable residual fraction; • production of electricity from renewable sources (biogas and photovoltaic); . operation of heating systems in town areas.

THE BIO-SESA COMPOSTING SYSTEM

It deals with organic waste that is the

collection of kitchen scrap and urban waste. The

product thus obtained is rich in humus, an

essential nourishment for plants. It makes the land rich by releasing slowly,

but constantly, nutritional elements such as

nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, etc..

At present, VENETO, our region, is not only self-sufficient in the

collection of organic waste, but it also receives organic waste from other regions where the separate

waste collection has already started, but whose treatment

system capacity is not sufficient.

PRODUCTION OF ELECTRICITY Nowadays, cogeneration units fueled by biogas from the anaerobic fermentation of organic waste produce a sufficient quantity of “green renewable” electricity to supply the consumption of a town of 60,000 inhabitants. Over the years, photovoltaic systems have also been installed.

PRODUCTION OF THERMAL ENERGY (DISTRICT HEATING) The district heating system supplies the heat recovered from cogeneration units for the production of electric energy to the towns of Este and Ospedaletto Euganeo through hot water pipes.

URBAN WASTE SELECTION

The SESA installation started in 1995. It is equipped with a sorting machine with optical readers that further separates the dry waste from the recyclable- waste collection (another 30%).

OPTICAL READERS

WASTE DISPOSAL IN LANDFILL SITES of the residual unrecyclable fraction (only 25% of total urban waste).

Ardeleanu Roberta Barro Daniele Basei Nicole Boldrin Elena Bolzan Alessandro Bonetto Patrick Caria Ivan Casagrande Marco Da Rin Fioretto Stefano Dal Ponte Elisabetta De Zan Tobia Esposito Samuele Flaviani Debora Giacomin Gioia Hu Angelo Iseppi Anastasia Penso Davide Scudeller Gioia Trentin Oscar Zorzini Lorenzo

Antonio Cietto Gabriella De Pizzol Silvana Sorce Domenico Valenti

Class 2^C