Starting from 1200 AD the need arose to regulate the problem of domestic and productive waste in the cities Starting from the Middle Ages, the urban agglomerations that grew on the back of commercial, religious, productive or political interests, began to face the problem of waste management, in small but very populous cities. In “do it yourself” it was no longer an acceptable solution. When we talk about waste , images like plastic, paper, glass, metal of cans and food waste immediately come to mind, which make up the mix of modern packaging consumption. None of this in the Middle Ages, because, for the types of raw materials available and for the habit of using a circular economy model, which we are rediscovering only now, which aimed to reuse everything that could be reused, the waste was different. Very little was thrown into the kitchen , both as fresh raw materials and as advanced foods, which were cleverly recomposed in other forms of nutrition. Hence the characterization of the “poor cuisine” made of fresh elements that came from the countryside, which followed the seasons, with which unrefined but essential dishes are made. The raw materials available to people were mainly made of wood, ceramic, fabrics, earthenware, copper for the pots and iron for other equipment. All these types of materials, at the end of life we had to be eliminated. Furthermore, in that period, there was also the problem of the disposal of manure , which constituted a danger mainly of a sanitary type as well as of decorum. In the cities, for a certain period, products such as leather and leather were also produced which created highly polluting and foul-smelling solid and liquid waste which created great hygienic-sanitary problems, so much so that, as we will see later, it was decided to relocate these activities outside the urban centers. All this solid waste was abandoned along the roads , day after day, creating problems for the health of the resident population and of decorum for the cities that began to attract travelers for business or pilgrims for religious activities. Liquid waste from artisanal activities was disposed of directly in the ditches, rivers or fields without too much concern. From the twelfth century AD the population and craft growth of the cities gave birth to the desire to excel from the point of view of social importance and architectural beauty, putting one city in competition with another. The improvement of the aesthetic aspect of the inhabited centers had to pass also on the redevelopment of the city streets which could no longer host all sorts of sewage , waste and waste which the citizens wanted to dispose of. Thus was born in Siena , for example, the office of the ” Public Waste “, located in Piazza del Campo which, starting from 9 October 1296, began to contract the cleaning of the city areas for the duration of a year. The contract consisted not only of the cleaning of the streets with the right to retain all the waste considered in some way reusable, but also the cleaning of the market areas with the acquisition of ownership of the waste grains. In addition, the municipality entrusted the contractor with a sow with her offspring, to help him clean up what was edible for the pigs. As far as artisanal activities are concerned , the first form of regulation of the management of productive waste is found in the Constitutions of Melfi , issued in 1231 by Federico II, which constituted the first collection of health laws. In particular, it required the movement of products harmful to the population, such as the tanning of leather or the production of leather, outside the inhabited areas. In other geographical areas, such as in Freiburg , a medieval city founded in 1120 , an important center of the Germanic area, numerous canals were built in which it was strictly forbidden to dump garbage from citizens. The solid waste, produced by the houses and the craft activities, had to be sent to the collection centers established by the authorities who then disposed of them by throwing them in the Dreisam river. The system, however, did not seem to really work, as citizens, more often than not, threw waste into the various canals, avoiding the road to the collection centers.
SEE MORE
Where and how to use PBT ground.Recycled PBT is normally found in the form of post-industrial ground coffee, especially coming from food production or from electrical appliances or machines with electrical components. Its chemical structure and its characteristics have a similarity with PET , as they are both partially crystalline thermoplastic materials but, in PBT, we find a faster crystallization time which puts it in an advantageous situation in injection molding compared to PET. If we consider a basic PBT, so without added charges, we have the following standard features: -Density: g / c3 1.30-1.32 -Modulus of elasticity: Mpa 2,500-2,800 -Elongation at yield:% 3.5-7 -Melting temperature: ° C 220-225 -Deformation temperature HDT: ° C 50-65 (1.8 MPa) -Electrical rigidity: kV / mm 25-30 The use of PBT is normally aimed at injection molding, using a melt temperature between 230 and 270 ° C and of the mold, defined ideal, around 110 ° C. To join pieces molded with this material, ultrasonic welds are normally used or uses the temperature of a hot-head tool or special glues based on reactive resins. Since PBT is a comparable product with PET, we see which features differentiate it from this. First of all, PBT has a low temperature tenacity better than PET, while strength and stiffness are slightly lower. If we talk about the characteristics of sliding and shrinkage, we can say that in the PBT they are definitely good, while from the point of view of the characteristics of electrical insulation, the product offers excellent insulation, whose characteristics do not undergo marked influences in the presence of water absorption , of high temperature and frequency. The fields of use are normally those of components for valves, roller or plain bearings, pump parts, parts of household appliances, wheels, coffee machines and pods. As far as the recycled product is concerned, it is very important that in the waste management phase, on the machine, the product is collected in special, clean containers that do not contain different plastics and are isolated from other waste materials to avoid contamination. From the aesthetic point of view, the trimming of the waste of trimmings or of the unsuitable product must be done taking care to accurately clean the mill, so that there are no foreign plastic parts left inside it that could pollute the PBT. After bagging the ground material, it is recommended to keep it indoors and use it after it has dried, by passing it through a clean silo, to remove any remaining moisture. The ground in PBT can be used both in direct and compound molding, in order to create recipes tailored to the customer. These recipes may include increasing mass flow, flame retardancy, increasing stiffness through fillers or reinforcing products, increasing resilience or increasing wear resistance.
SEE MORE
As in all activities, also in the field of recycling there are adverse currents that try to discredit or minimize the competing market. In the paper recycling sector, a study has emerged published in October 2020 in Nature Sustainability by Yale University and University Colleage of London, according to which the production of recycled paper would use more energy from fossil sources than that produced from virgin fibers. According to the researchers, the direct CO2 emissions for the production of an Invercote carton amount to an average of 33 kg. per ton, while the same product made through the use of recycled paper would produce on average about 294 kg. per ton of CO2. However, we must point out some important things to frame this analysis: • Recycled paper supports the world market of the finished product unequivocally in terms of quantity and price containment. • The circularity of paper production also passes through the use of renewable energies that significantly reduce the carbon footprint. • Paper recycling is a fundamental pillar in responsible waste management which cannot be renounced. • The calculation of the environmental impact of paper recycling is not attributable only to the finished product, but to the recycling system which is an indispensable industrial activity, on which we can and must work to reduce the carbon impact. • Also in other recycling sectors, plastics for example , there are examples in which the price of virgin raw material costs less of the regenerated one and, if we count the environmental impact to produce one kg. of virgin granule compared to the regenerated one, we would probably see that the recycled granule could have a greater carbon impact. But if in counting what the carbon footprint of a virgin grain really is, also counting the production of the raw material coming from oil refining, the accounts would be different. Eventually the recycling market must be pushed, supported and improved as, without proper waste management, carbon impact accounts would be far more critical than the current ones. Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.
SEE MORE
A nice initiative by Mango, a company active in the fashion field that meets the needs of environmental protection by replacing the plastic bags it uses for packaging of clothing with others made of environmentally friendly tissue paper. this beautiful story is told by Maria Teresa Veneziani in an article in Corriere della Sera. The road is marked and the Covid emergency has made everyone understand that there is no more time, we need to rethink a development project. Mango, the Spanish democratic fashion chain, announces that it will eliminate the use of 160 million plastic bags per year in its supply chain. The company starts the replacement of plastic bags with paper bags in local production of folded garments. "The company continues its commitment to sustainability, one of its main strategic axes, and launches a project to replace the plastic bags in its packaging with paper bags, becoming the first major company in the textile sector in Spain to do so », Reads a press release. The goal of the brand founded in Barcelona in Spain in 1984 by two Spanish brothers of Turkish origin, Isak Andic and Nahman Andicè , is to gradually eliminate, in collaboration with its suppliers, all plastic bags used for the distribution of products along the supply chain. Tissue paper «The bags that will be used are made of tissue paper, a material consisting of natural cellulose pulp from renewable sources - ensures the company -. In fact, the paper comes from sustainably managed forests, where felling practices are certified according to the requirements of the international standards FSC® ( Forest Stewardship Council® ). This also contributes to a circular economy since paper products can be recycled on average four to six times ". The road is marked and the Covid emergency has made everyone understand that there is no more time, we need to rethink a development project. Mango, the Spanish democratic fashion chain, announces that it will eliminate the use of 160 million plastic bags per year in its supply chain. The company starts the replacement of plastic bags with paper bags in local production of folded garments. «The company continues its commitment to sustainability, one of its main strategic axes, and launches a project to replace the plastic bags in its packaging with paper bags, becoming the first large company in the textile sector in Spain to do so ”, reads a statement. The goal of the brand founded in Barcelona in Spain in 1984 by two Spanish brothers of Turkish origin, Isak Andic and Nahman Andicè, is to gradually eliminate, in collaboration with its suppliers, all plastic bags used for the distribution of products along the supply chain. Pilot test The project will initially be launched in local productions for folded garments and on the online channel, after the success of the three pilot tests carried out by company in Morocco, China and Turkey. The goal is for the new project to be applied to all garments by the end of 2021. According to Toni Ruiz, CEO Mango delegate, «This is a large-scale project, which will have a very positive impact on the environment, since thanks to its realization we will eliminate around 160 million plastic bags every year. The production of a more environmentally friendly fashion aims at the sustainable transformation of the company ". Fashion Pact The project is part of the Fashion Pact, a global coalition that aims to promote environmental sustainability in the textile and fashion sector , which the company joined in 2019. This global pact commits all signatories to work together to minimize the environmental impact of the textile industry and fashion by focusing on three pillars: tackling climate change, preserving biodiversity and protecting the oceans.
SEE MORE
What will happen after the lockdown to the pollution that was choking China? China of the Great Wall, the industrial revolution, the military power, of hyper-technological development, of expansionism in third world countries especially in Africa and South America, of trade wars, of pressures on the Indo-Chinese area, he had not come to terms with his hyper-liberalism that started in deng’s time, catapulting the country from Maoist socialism, which ensured a bowl of rice for all, to the chase held back to more affluent living conditions than the dignified poverty in which the Chinese people had lived years of widespread pre-industrialization. National emergencies are mainly represented by air pollution and water pollution that has caused China to be violently awakened by a blissful sleep in which only the positive things created by development were seen, putting the negative consequences under the carpet. As for air pollution,according to a study published by Berkeley Earth, about 4,000 people a day die in China from diseases that depend on air pollution. Scientists blame deaths primarily on emissions from coal-fired power plants and in particular the tiny particles known as PM 2.5 that can trigger heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer and asthma, and which, according to the Berkeley Earth study, silently kill 1.5 million people a year, the 17th of China’s mortality level. The Chinese government has taken note of the catastrophic environmental situation by taking decisions that are going in the right direction to try to solve the danger of the air being breathed in. The price to pay was not low, indeed the systems used by the government were quite drastic. In addition to the closure of all obsolete coal-fired factories,the use of coal and wood for domestic heating in cities has been limited. In addition, the Chinese government has put significant resources on wind and solar,starting green energy production that will help lower the level of pollutants in the air in the coming years. For the transport sector, the government expects 200,000 electric vehicles on its roads by 2020 and 500 models of cars on the road to be considered polluting. The reform action of the Chinese government is not exhausting here in fact it is also looking for solutions against desertification and air de-oxygenation by foreseeing the realization of an ambitious planting plan, in fact about 26 billion plants will be planted in the next 10 years. On the other hand, as regards the water situation,at present, one third of the water resources in the country are not drinkable and 15 is not even usable for irrigation or production, as it is polluted by pesticides, industrial discharges and fertilizers. As a result, fish activity is globally compromised as the catch has a highly dangerous level of pollution for health. In the light of this problem, the government has been the figure of the water manager, which is not in any case entirely new, in fact this position was born as early as 2007, in the Shanghai area, when a serious environmental incident occurred in Lake Taihu, one of the largest in the country, where there was an invasion of poisonous algae. About 5 million inhabitants of the city of Wuxi did not have the opportunity to take advantage of the water resources for daily life and that was why the figure of the water manager who had the power to supervise the many authorities was formed, finally dissolving the traffic jam of powers and the decision-making stalemate.
SEE MORE
VISUALIZZA LA POLICY COMPLETA