Good practice:

Treatment of biodegradable waste in Mehedinti County

Mehedinţi County Council implemented the project “Integrated Solid Waste Management System in Mehedinţi County”, a project aimed to resolve the significant environmental and operational problems related to waste generation and management and develop of integrated waste management system in the County.
One of the most important activity was the treatment of biodegradable waste, so that the storage in the landfill to be less and less. Thus, we developed a simple MBT / biostabilization plant for biodegradable fraction of waste including market and garden waste near Drobeta Turnu Severin with a capacity of 54.843 tn/y. The treatment includes mechanical pre-treatment (shredding, recovery of ferrous metals and screening), biostabilization of the humid fraction, refining and maturation.
After a mechanical pre-treatment and biostabilization the humid fraction lost about 25% of the incoming mass resulting a low quality compost called CLO (Compost Like Output ).
A market for this low quality compost (Compost Like Output – CLO) isn't developed. Alternatively, these products could be used in the landfill as cover material or in the environmental clearance of the existing landfills, non compliant landfills and other contaminated land in the county. Considering the fact that nearby there is the slag and ash deposit of a closed power plant and that it is a frequent polluter in the area, it was decided that this CLO should be used to cover this deposit.

21.097.421 Euro
The environmental agency
Power plant operator
Local authorities

Using the CLO to cover the slag and ash waste produced by the thermo power plant reduces on the one hand the quantity of waste deposited on the landfill and on the other hand, it eliminates the pollution with slag and ash in Mehedinti main city and adjacent communes and villages. Thus, about 100000 inhabitants will benefit of better air quality and moreover, bio products: vegetables and fruits produced in the nearby vegetable gardens and orchards will be available on the local markets.

- Connection rate to sanitation services in urban and rural areas of 100% (without biodegradable fraction we don’t have compost),
- The beginning of an optimized separate collection of waste (packaging waste vs. biodegradable fraction

The solution is relatively simple and available to everyone. Considering that this CLO cannot be used in agriculture it can easily be used for the landfill as cover material or in the environmental clearance of existing landfills, non-compliant landfills and other contaminated land in the county
The proposed solution was also accepted by stakeholders:
-The environmental agency noticed the progress of local authorities in implementing environmental protection measures
-The tasks of power plant operator became easier by eliminating a polluter.
-Local authorities appreciated that a problem of local communities has been solved