Urban mining of residual waste bales

The systematic use of anthropogenic resources referred to as “urban mining” describes either the conventional material recovery from waste or the exploitation of resources from landfills. The urban mining strategy has been recently planned in Campania Region, in South Italy, to provide a sustainable management of the waste bales stored in different regional sites. These bales originated from the mechanical treatment of municipal solid restwaste performed between 2001 and 2009. Due to their composition, waste bales are now being regarded as an uncommon kind of urban material stock, which can be destined to resource recovery processes. The approach proposed in Campania Region aims at improving both the extraction of valuable materials and the production of a refuse derived fuel from waste bales, thus minimizing landfill disposal. The present study analyses Campania Region MSW management system over time and discusses the strategies recently set up to address the sustainable handling of waste bales