PLASTICS RECOVERY FROM MUNICIPAL WASTE: MAINSTREAMS AND BY-PRODUCTS IN A CASE STUDY IN NORTHERN ITALY.

In the case study dealt with here, the factory treatments of dry Municipal Solid Waste are aimed primarily at materials recovery; restraining energy recovery to the hardly recyclable by-products. The main input consists of the so-called multipak from MSW source-sorted collection; plus packaging waste, paper and cardboard and other similar waste from curb-side collection. The principal fractions produced by the selection plant, own and operated by the Public Company in charge of MSW management, in the Year 2012 were 27 064 tonnes of plastics, 5 066 of paper, 3 014 of tin coated steel and 4 886 tonnes of extraneous fraction to dispose of. A minor – though valuable – product was aluminium. The immediate energy consumption indices were calculated for multipak processed in the factory; the homogeneous overall index is 238 MJ / t.