Gold from garbage

Domestic waste contains large quantities of copper, aluminum, nickel, zinc and silver. Until now, only around 20% of this was reclaimable, and annually 45 million euro of copper and aluminum disappears into the ground. A new Delft technology and Amsterdam innovation separates bottom ash into valuable non-ferro metals and clean building materials.

Hot balls dry sludge

Each year some 25 million m3 of mineral sludge are dredged from rivers, canals and harbours in the Netherlands alone, twenty percent of which is polluted. The unpolluted sludge is usually dumped at sea. The remaining five million m3 may only be dumped in a few selected landfill locations, at considerable cost.A sludge flock, hotographed at the...