Quality management in the recycling of solid waste

Irrespective of the environmental benefits of the circular economy and recycling over the use of primary raw materials, companies that manufacture high-quality products from waste must also consider the economic aspects. This also applies to the types of processing and recycling plants used in recycling, as well as to all material streams such as plastics, paper, cardboard or beverage cartons, but also to mixed waste, from which very specialized RDF qualities are produced. The economic framework depends heavily on a secure amount of input material with consistently good quality and guaranteed sales channels for the product.

The quality of the input influences the following production parameters:

• Yield →  if the proportion of recyclable material is low, high costs are incurred by waste disposal and the revenue potential is low
• Wear and tear due to fine dirt plant components are subject to greater wear, resulting in increased downtimes and repair and maintenance cost
• Composition of the input  →  In case of an unstable input quality the production process has to be constantly adapted and the quality varies

Quality control of delivered waste can improve quality in the medium to long term.