THE REALITIES THAT WE ARE BLINDED TO BUT CAN SAVE OUR LIVES

Visiting some industries – eradication of chemical waste

ERASMUS + PROGRAMME

LIPOR – Inter-municipal Service of Waste Management of Porto

Screening CentreHow it Works

FEEDING AND PRE-SCREENINGThe materials, from yellow recycling center containers, packaging collections from door-to-door and other special circuits are discharged into the reception area of the Screening Center. The materials are then separated in three streams – large films – large rejects - other large materials - in a sorting table. After passing the cabin of pre-screening, materials are referred to an open-bags, where the sealed bags are torn, to homogenize the material.

The material is then sent to the ballistic separator, which is an equipment that allows the separation of material in 3 fractions: thin , rolling and flat.

After separation, the material is pressed in bales of about 1 m3 which will be taken by lorries to the recycling industries.

Energy Recovery CentralHow it works

LIPOR – ENERGY RECOVERY The energy recovery of municipal waste is the recovery of heat

energy by means of controlled thermal treatment process and its transformation into electricity.

The Energy Recovery Central therefore has as main objective to proceed to the controlled thermal treatment of municipal

waste which shows no potential value to organic and multiple material recycling processes, recovering its own energy to

produce electricity.

The operation circuit starts with the reception of municipal waste from various circuitry Municipalities constituting LIPOR which are stored in a

receiving tank with a capacity equivalent to six days of the current production. This process occurs in a closed building kept in depression to

prevent the spread of odors and the waste is subsequently transferred, by the action of polyp claws to two lines of treatment where they are burned

at high temperatures (1000 ° C to 1200 ° C) in the presence of excess oxygen.

The RLAB (REUSE LABORATORY) is intended as a design partnership with different entities to ensure a transfer of knowledge and experience for its users towards a knowledge and recycling society.

The RLAB is a rehabilitated Lipor space that will serve as a knowledge laboratory where its users can learn how to recover electrical and electronic equipment, creating their own equipment and also prolonging their service life.

This is a concept designed and thought for the community, cultivating an informal technical education, providing, thus, the ideal environment for innovation.

The projects are designed and created in collaboration with the technicians responsible for the RLAB management, ensuring a learning based on "Learning by Doing".

ARGACOL – Paints and Varnishes: waste disposal

Steps of the process:

1. A certified and registered operator is chosen to separate and recycle paper, plastic and metal.

2. All the waste is segregated in metal containers which are usually protected from rain to prevent leaching .

3. Then, the operator screens the material. The valuable one is sent to be reused. The rest goes to the landfill – each factory pays a tax for the waste that goes there (Argacol’s waste is considered not dangerous).

4. The production of waterborne paints produces “dirty water” to the cleaning of the producing reactors. All the water that is used in the factory is segregated from the public sewage system and directed to a 30,000 L deposit.

5. The used water is bombed to the company’s ETARi (industrial water treatment station) which, in a first tank, automatically receives a flocculant powder.

6. The water follows then to a second tank, which has an agitating motor, to increase the efficacy of the flocculant .

7. In the third tank the water rests so that big chunks of sediments are formed on the bottom.

8. The water is then separated: after treatment, the clean water, which is above the sediments, is used for cleaning in the production process; the sediments are sent through an escalator to the surface and bagged. Then they dry and become hard as rock.

9. At the end of each year the company collects random samples in the bags. The samples are sent to a lab to be analysed. After that, the sediments are sent to different treatment facilities, according to the lab results.

CONTINENTAL – TIRE PRODUCTION

Principles of Environmental Protection at Continental

At Continental, responsibility for protecting the environment is set down as a mandatory obligation in the BASICS and has been specified as an objective in the corporation's ESH (Environment, Safety, Health) policy. The strategy for protecting the environment is based worldwide on six principles:1. The company practices responsible management of natural resources.2. Environmentally friendly products are the basis of the company’s economic

success in the long term.3. The company already takes into account the ecological effects of the entire

product life cycle when developing their products.4. The company continuously and systematically works to improve their products

and manufacturing processes.5. All employees at Continental feel a commitment towards environmental

protection.6. Their environment policy takes into account the demands of customers,

employees, shareholders, stakeholders, suppliers, and those actively participating in the social arena where the company is based.

Banishing Highly Aromatic Oils from Tire Production

Since 2010, the use of highly aromatic oils is prohibited by law in the European Union. Although this legislation applies only to tires manufactured in Europe or imported into Europe, the change is being implemented at all Continental tire plants worldwide.

The EU directive prohibits aromatic oils with a high polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) content, even though natural solvents (rain water) cannot cause the oils to be released from either the tire or tire abrasion particles. Aromatic oils are used in tire manufacturing as key compounding components to achieve certain safety-related performance characteristics.

Already back in 1995 Continental started using alternatives in place of highly aromatic oils and steering its European plants in the direction of eco-friendly oils. At the end of 2009, the R&D team was able to successfully conclude the process worldwide.

Recycling Vehicle Components

Every year, around 17 million tonnes of scrap tires arise worldwide, more than three million tonnes of which in Europe, and approximately 580,000 tonnes in Germany alone, where tire sales are the highest in the European market. The cement industry makes a significant contribution to recycling them by using the scrap tires in the cement-making process due to their high energy content. The steel and silica contained in the tires are also used as secondary raw materials.

Another recycling method is the utilization of material from shredded tires. The steel and textile components are usually removed and recycled separately during the shredding process. The pure rubber granulate can then be used in the manufacture of panels for protecting buildings (insulation, sealing). As fine-particle granulate, it is also used as an elastic filler material on sports grounds with artificial turf. Even finer material such as rubber dust can be used in road construction, for instance in a noise-absorbing asphalt layer.

The retreading of tires is particularly common in the case of truck tires. After close inspection, suitable tires are given a new tread. In some fields of application, high-quality retreads present a cost-effective alternative to new tires, extending the life of the tire while also conserving resources.

Source: Japan Automobile Tire Manufacturers Association, Rubber Manufacturers Association, European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers Association.

Continental and other tire manufacturers have stabilized the recycling rate for used tires in Europe (EU27) at the high level of 96% in 2012. There have been similar achievements in Japan and the U.S.A.