Risk Assessment in a Materials Recycling Facility: Perspectives for Reducing Operational Issues
Mechanical separation of light packaging waste is a useful practice for improving the quality of the recyclable waste flows and its exploitation in a frame of the circular economy. Materials Recovery Facilities can treat from 3000 to 5000 tons per year of light packaging waste. Concerning the plasti...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2018-12-01
|
| Series: | Resources |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/7/4/85 |
| _version_ | 1811184691454148608 |
|---|---|
| author | Lucian Ionel Cioca Navarro Ferronato Paolo Viotti Elena Magaril Marco Ragazzi Vincenzo Torretta Elena Cristina Rada |
| author_facet | Lucian Ionel Cioca Navarro Ferronato Paolo Viotti Elena Magaril Marco Ragazzi Vincenzo Torretta Elena Cristina Rada |
| author_sort | Lucian Ionel Cioca |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Mechanical separation of light packaging waste is a useful practice for improving the quality of the recyclable waste flows and its exploitation in a frame of the circular economy. Materials Recovery Facilities can treat from 3000 to 5000 tons per year of light packaging waste. Concerning the plastic content, this is divided in four flows: PET, HDPE, other plastics, and waste rejects. The last two are generally used for energy recovery. For improving the quality of the recyclable plastic waste, a manual separation is required for reducing the impurities detectable in the final products. However, this practice could enhance the risk at work of the operators, which should be constantly monitored. This article explores the main differences of a manual separation and of a mechanical separation, assessing the costs and the health risk for the workers. The analysis started from the situation in an Italian Materials Recovery Facility, generalizing the context; a future scenario with the application of a mechanical separation is theoretically introduced. The main results obtained suggest that the manual separation plant improves the quality of the material, though increasing the risk of the operators due to the possible contact with sharp waste, sanitary danger, and risk of injuries for the mismanagement of machines, among others. The mechanical separation can be considered a real advantage from an economic point of view, since the operating costs are lower and the investment could be recovered in around 10 years, in an Italian-like context. On balance, on the one hand, the article provides indications for the private sector for improving the management of a Materials Recovery Facility, while, on the other hand, it detects the main pros and cons of both methodologies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:16:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1bb4de6283a9447eb7d8e52359074ed0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-9276 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:16:43Z |
| publishDate | 2018-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Resources |
| spelling | doaj.art-1bb4de6283a9447eb7d8e52359074ed02022-12-22T04:22:21ZengMDPI AGResources2079-92762018-12-01748510.3390/resources7040085resources7040085Risk Assessment in a Materials Recycling Facility: Perspectives for Reducing Operational IssuesLucian Ionel Cioca0Navarro Ferronato1Paolo Viotti2Elena Magaril3Marco Ragazzi4Vincenzo Torretta5Elena Cristina Rada6Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu; 550024 Sibiu, RomaniaDepartment of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, Insubria University, 21100 Varese, ItalyDepartment of Civil Engineering, La Sapienza University, 00184 Roma, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Economics, Ural Federal University, 620002 Ekaterinburg, RussiaDepartment of Civil Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, 38123 Trento, ItalyDepartment of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, Insubria University, 21100 Varese, ItalyDepartment of Industrial Engineering and Management, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu; 550024 Sibiu, RomaniaMechanical separation of light packaging waste is a useful practice for improving the quality of the recyclable waste flows and its exploitation in a frame of the circular economy. Materials Recovery Facilities can treat from 3000 to 5000 tons per year of light packaging waste. Concerning the plastic content, this is divided in four flows: PET, HDPE, other plastics, and waste rejects. The last two are generally used for energy recovery. For improving the quality of the recyclable plastic waste, a manual separation is required for reducing the impurities detectable in the final products. However, this practice could enhance the risk at work of the operators, which should be constantly monitored. This article explores the main differences of a manual separation and of a mechanical separation, assessing the costs and the health risk for the workers. The analysis started from the situation in an Italian Materials Recovery Facility, generalizing the context; a future scenario with the application of a mechanical separation is theoretically introduced. The main results obtained suggest that the manual separation plant improves the quality of the material, though increasing the risk of the operators due to the possible contact with sharp waste, sanitary danger, and risk of injuries for the mismanagement of machines, among others. The mechanical separation can be considered a real advantage from an economic point of view, since the operating costs are lower and the investment could be recovered in around 10 years, in an Italian-like context. On balance, on the one hand, the article provides indications for the private sector for improving the management of a Materials Recovery Facility, while, on the other hand, it detects the main pros and cons of both methodologies.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/7/4/85circular economymanual separationmechanical separationMRFrisk assessment |
| spellingShingle | Lucian Ionel Cioca Navarro Ferronato Paolo Viotti Elena Magaril Marco Ragazzi Vincenzo Torretta Elena Cristina Rada Risk Assessment in a Materials Recycling Facility: Perspectives for Reducing Operational Issues Resources circular economy manual separation mechanical separation MRF risk assessment |
| title | Risk Assessment in a Materials Recycling Facility: Perspectives for Reducing Operational Issues |
| title_full | Risk Assessment in a Materials Recycling Facility: Perspectives for Reducing Operational Issues |
| title_fullStr | Risk Assessment in a Materials Recycling Facility: Perspectives for Reducing Operational Issues |
| title_full_unstemmed | Risk Assessment in a Materials Recycling Facility: Perspectives for Reducing Operational Issues |
| title_short | Risk Assessment in a Materials Recycling Facility: Perspectives for Reducing Operational Issues |
| title_sort | risk assessment in a materials recycling facility perspectives for reducing operational issues |
| topic | circular economy manual separation mechanical separation MRF risk assessment |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/7/4/85 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lucianionelcioca riskassessmentinamaterialsrecyclingfacilityperspectivesforreducingoperationalissues AT navarroferronato riskassessmentinamaterialsrecyclingfacilityperspectivesforreducingoperationalissues AT paoloviotti riskassessmentinamaterialsrecyclingfacilityperspectivesforreducingoperationalissues AT elenamagaril riskassessmentinamaterialsrecyclingfacilityperspectivesforreducingoperationalissues AT marcoragazzi riskassessmentinamaterialsrecyclingfacilityperspectivesforreducingoperationalissues AT vincenzotorretta riskassessmentinamaterialsrecyclingfacilityperspectivesforreducingoperationalissues AT elenacristinarada riskassessmentinamaterialsrecyclingfacilityperspectivesforreducingoperationalissues |