A high quality recycling requires the absolute separate collection of the material. Not only should the products be made out of the same basic plastic material (for instance PE) but they also have to come from the same field of application as only in this case will the characteristics of the material match.
Prevention / reduction
Use the returnable packaging system from your supplier. Use packaging materials (for instance packaging chips) several times if possible.
Recycling / environment correct disposal
Preparation of the various separately collected plastic materials for the production of new products and return into the economic circuit. Contaminated or compound plastic undergoes thermal treatment.
Important! Not in the household waste!
The Luxembourg producer System Valorlux is in charge of packaging from households and other common household packaging (for example drinks).
Mineral construction material is inert, i.e. it has no impact on the environment and can be deposited on disposal sites. A better solution however is to use this waste for the production of new construction material, for instance in the road construction, etc. Mineral fibers do not belong into the construction waste but are collected separately and recycled. Gypsum waste should be collected separately.
Prevention / reduction
The condition for recycling and deposition on disposal site is that the material is not contaminated with dangerous substances as for instance paint, oils or coatings and does not contain third substances as plastic or wood.
Recycling / environment correct disposal
Mineral construction material is recycled by shredding and sieving the material. This process allows removing third substances as paper, metal (as nails). It can then be used again for instance in the road construction.
Various plastic products are made out of specific materials, which if collected separately may be used in the production of other high valuable products.
Prevention / reduction
A high quality recycling requires the absolute separate collection of the material. Not only should the products be made out of the same basic plastic material but they also have to come from the same field of application. Try to work as precise as possible and avoid cutting, this saves waste and money.
Recycling / environment correct disposal
Tubes are treated separately according to the material. They are shredded, washed, ground and the granulate is used in the production of new tubes.
The basic raw material to produce rubber is natural rubber, providing from latex, the secretion of the tropical rubber tree. In addition to natural rubber, synthetic rubber types are available with similar characteristics.
Prevention / reduction
Ask your reseller about recycled tires, this saves money and raw material. Regularly check tire pressure, it saves materials and reduce fuel consumption.
Recycling / environment correct disposal
To be recycled, rubber products and tires are shredded and materials are separated by metal separators and wind sieving. Metal goes to the old metal recycling, rubber granulate is used as fuel material in the production of floor tiles and cement.
There are currently two installations in Luxembourg for the disposal of waste from residential areas. Two disposal sites (SIGRE, Buchholtz-Muertendall close to Flaxweiler and SIGRE, Fridhaff-Erpeldange close to Diekirch) as well as an incineration site (SIDOR close to Leudelange).
Prevention / reduction
Collect used valuable material and waste to be composted separately and not in the ton for remaining waste. This helps to reduce the quantity of such waste and can help you save money. Dangerous substances to not belong to the remaining waste as this can create problems on the disposal site and in the incinerator.
Recycling / ecological disposal
Waste from residential areas is burnt in a domestic waste incinerator or disposited on controlled disposal sites.
New technologies allow to process vegetal greases to produce high quality bio-diesel which can be used in diesel vehicles or bio-heating centrals.
Approximately 94 % of the collected kitchen fat and oil by the SDK are used for the production of biodiesel, another part is used directly to heat the SDK center in Colmar-Berg. Only a small part is used for energetic valorisation due to contamination.
All trucks and vans and even part of the cars from the SDK continue to use biodiesel. In 2014 the heating installations were centralized on the site and switched to direct operation with used kitchen fat and oils.
In order to optimize the use of used fats and oils in an ecological and economical way for the purpose of the circular economy, the German REDcert certification system is applied since 2014. The system is certifying a sustainable use of biomass in compliance with the German biomass sustainability provision, which was recognized by the EU Commission at the European level. Within this frame, all product flows are precisely documented and processed separately as to their origin (separation by plant / animal origin – cf also www.redcert.org).
Prevention / reduction
Kitchen oils and greases should never be dumped into the sewers as they can be clogged and can impact the functioning of water treatment plants. Avoid unnecessary quantities of water, frying and roasting remainders in greases and oil as these substances can prevent recycling.
Recycling / environment correct disposal
Kitchen oils and greases are directly used for central heating or processed in a processing plant to become bio-diesel (methyl ester of fat acid FME). Contaminated greases and oils have to undergo heat treatment in appropriate installations.
IMPORTANT! Not in the household waste! Special collection containers for kitchen oils and fats are available free of charge at the resources center or at SDK.
