Recovery and Recycling of Selected Waste Fractions with a Grain Size Below 10 mm

There are still no appropriate technologies for the disposal of waste below 10 mm in order to prevent it from being deposited in a landfill, while it constitutes a significant mass stream, with little studied composition, often varying in quantity and seasonally. There is also a lack of concise and clear literature outlining the issues surrounding this waste. These are wastes of both municipal and industrial origin, from various sources and varying in composition. The aim of this paper is to present the results of a literature analysis of the quantity, composition, and sources of waste in the fraction below 10 mm, with a view to defining the possibilities of its recovery, recycling, and disposal. The sources of generation included municipal waste recovered at the screens of the sorting plant for mixed and sorted municipal waste, waste from the recovery and reclamation of raw fractions, and brownfield, tailings, and ash from coal combustion and construction. Defining the sources of their generation and determining their quality will allow the targeting and development of recovery and recycling methods for these wastes. An analysis of the literature has shown that the most valid option for dealing with waste below 10 mm is to incorporate it into new products, for example, building materials.