The Ariel project aims at optimizing the current integrated waste management by incorporating a new technology system in the treatment of municipal undifferentiated waste able to recover the plastics and avoiding disposal in landfills.

The Background: 

Currently the systems of undifferentiated waste management have been developed a mechanical treatment as to: decrease environmental impacts of garbage disposal by separating biodegradable organic parts which is addressed to a biological stabilization before being used as covering ground materials in landfills, by separating dry parts to be addressed to an energetic valorization (throughout its refining) or to disposal in dumps, since that flux has by now lost their initial waste-putrescence, making the disposal in dumps more sustainable. As intermediate phase between these two processes, a specific recovery of iron objects and parts is done. Nowadays is more important to “push” the recovery of those recyclable materials from the undifferentiated waste, going to find every recoverable components, so useful because of their technical and mechanical value to find new applications within plastic-manufactured industry. In this way they substitute raw materials and can be easily separated from other parts of urban waste.  

Why Ariel:

Ariel aims at facing the capacity limits of current garbage disposal within our territory and the increasing of its costs, as well as the presence of Asiatic market, the birth of a European business in plastic materials recovery which could overcome the suspecting behaviour towards the recycling industry, previously faced on market. Ariel’s target of recovery recyclable materials is around 3-5% of the total undifferentiated waste. This percentage is interesting because of the possible cut which can be given to the overall flux of waste “in entrance” as well as the decreased volume of waste addressed to garbage disposal. In 2010, within the territorial area interested by the Ariel project a volume of 477.000 tons/year is estimated, so the expected volume of recoverable waste should be around 14.300 – 23.800 tons/year.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

The Ariel project aims to streamline diversion from landfilling to recycling of a recoverable quota of materials from the dry fraction of undifferentiated (unseparated) urban solid waste.

Specific objectives for achieving this goal are:

1. To set-up and run a demonstrating site showing at credible scale (1000 tons/years of recovered materials) the viability of materials recovery from the dry fraction of undifferentiated (unseparated) urban solid waste throughout the full cycle from collection to industrial end-use.
2. To foster the development of recycling markets, especially local/regional short chains, by demonstrating on field that end-use requirements can be met, and devising suitable contractual models.
3. To disseminate the knowledge gained in order to streamline the adoption of processes for materials recovery from the dry fraction of undifferentiated (unseparated) urban solid waste.
4. To mainstreaming further reduction of landfilling (3% of unseparated waste) in local and regional programming.
5. To prepare full scale implementation of Ariel process (after project end) capable of treating the dry fraction coming from 477.000 tons per year of unseparated waste, forwarding to end-use more than 14.000 tons of recovery materials per year.

The development of Ariel’s project shall permit:

• A more sustainable management of mechanical treatment and garbage disposal systems through the new technologies applications
• Improving the environmental performances of garbage disposal
• The creation of a new recycling market
• The recovery of end-use materials which reduce the overall quota of urban solid waste in landfills

The main goal is represented by the demonstration of a new technology developed in pilot-scale to be introduced in every waste treatment processes, as to define new planning features in full-scale.

Ariel’s total amount: € 2.156.874

Co-funded EC amount: € 1.076.187  

Duration: Beginning 07/01/2009 – End : 28/02/2012   

Involved Territories: Provincia di Firenze, Prato, Pistoia, Empoli, Val d’Elsa

Territori coinvolti: province di Firenze, Prato, Pistoia, Empolese - Valdelsa  

Territorial areas taken in exam: urban Florence area, high touristic impact areas, Industrial-rural areas, small towns, urban residential areas integrated with industrial SME realities  

Tools of Participation:

As to:  

• involve within the project consultation mechanism the main key-actors and stakeholders
• Define the project targets through a consensus mechanism and evaluate the gained results as well as the Market options
• Share the implementation of the project by following the pilot-lines on communication, local/regional, national and european e-governance

How:

Web Internet consultation by the informative web-site www.life-ariel.eu, where users shall find:

• Necessary informations for Ariel communication and dissemination
• A consultation mechanism through candidates’ registration who shall ensure to be their institution/ organization representatives
• Key-actors proposals
• Advance signals of the project
• The gained results

E-Mail Address : info@life-ariel.eu by means of informations packs will be sent to interested subjects/actors (Project means, intermediate results, consultation mechanisms) by e-mail

Possibility of: sharing informations, registration of comments and minorities points of view attainment, consensus requests and informations on participation activities