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Rome to make eco-asphalt out of garbage

Xinhua, August 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Rome's waste management Agency (AMA) is due to receive soon an exclusive Italian patent to turn garbage into eco-asphalt, with a new procedure that may allow the municipality to both save money and preserve the local environment.

The AMA is expected to receive the patent in October, and open a new production line for the eco-material in 2016.

"We plan to begin by next spring, and reach full production between October and November 2016," AMA president Daniele Fortini told Xinhua.

The patent relates to a new procedure to process part of Rome's non-recycled waste and turn it into a so-called "Mineralized Biomass (MB)," an eco-material to be used as asphalt to surface roads and cycling paths, according to the agency.

This transformation process would need no chemicals, and the waste would not be submitted to any thermic treatment.

"Our new procedure will process the so-called 'stabilized organic waste', or FOS with the Italian acronym, which is one result of the usual mechanical biological treatment of the garbage," Fortini explained.

The FOS is mostly organic already, but under Italian and European regulations it is still considered a waste destined for disposal in landfills because it contains residuals of plastic, glass, or other non-organic materials, the manager added.

"Our patented process will enable us to further refine this FOS, by mixing it with another material capable of expelling all heavy metal particles from the stabilized organic waste," he specified.

The patent application was filed in 2008, and was granted by the Italian Patent and Trademark Office in 2011, according to the manager.

The project was developed by AMA and the Rome-based Centro Sviluppo Materiali (CSM) research institute in equal part, but the municipal agency then fully redeemed the exclusive patent rights.

The production of this new eco-asphalt might allow Rome a considerable saving in terms of money, considering that the city is forced to send its non-recycled waste to other regions in northern Italy since the closure of its huge landfill in Malagrotta for environmental reasons in October 2013.

The Italian capital would likely benefit also in terms of environment protection, reducing its need for landfill and using the eco-material for paving new roads or cycling paths. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollars) Endit