An Integrated Solid Waste Management Method for Western Macedonia, Greece

Integrated management of solid waste is nowadays a requirement and, at the same time, a challenge for the conservation of civilization and life on the planet. The material and energy exploitation of solid waste already contributes to a great extent to the resolution of environmental issues in the advanced countries of the planet. Unfortunately, a signifi cant delay in the treatment of waste is noted in Greece, leading to our country having to pay excessive fi nes, since the European legislation is particular and binding for all member states and does not allow dumping of mechanically untreated waste in hygienic waste dumping areas. Given the fact that waste quantities to be processed will constantly increase, and considering how expensive and time consuming is the development of facilities for mechanical treatment of waste, it is certain that our country will not be able to fulfi ll the Union’s political targets for 2020 regarding the percentages of Renewable Energy Sources and the decrease in CO 2 emissions. In consideration of the above situation, the presented work investigates the design of a modern method for the integrated management of solid waste in the Western Macedonia Region, Greece. For this scope, a number of laboratory analyses and measurements were performed for the determination of all the physical and chemical characteristics and attributes that affect the processability and enrichability of waste in the area. Measurements included quantities, qualitative and quantitative composition, density, volume, humidity, heating value, particle distribution, biodegradability, hydro-absorbability, compressibility, loss of pyrosis, pyrosis residual, compostability, pH and heavy metals content. Considering the above data, a fl ow diagram of an integrated management method is proposed for solid waste in this region. The proposal includes a mixed system with four parallel components: a) recycling of paper, aluminum, and plastics at the source, b) mechanical treatment, c) incineration, and d) composting.