Snaga is the local waste management company in Maribor, employing 270 people. Daily we perform waste management in 8 municipalities, the biggest one is City of Maribor, our home town and the second biggest city in Slovenia. Beside our core business – waste management – we also maintain public and green surfaces, shelter for abandoned animals and food markets in Maribor. Yearly we collect more than 58,000 tonnes of municipal waste and since 2018 we also manage our own plant for sorting mixed municipal waste – the Center for the Preparation of Secondary Raw Materials – the most modern center in this part of Europe.
When the truck delivers waste to the Center for the Preparation of Secondary Raw Materials, the waste route begins with tearing up all the bags in which the waste was deposited in black containers. Waste then travels to the drum, which sorts the waste into four sizes. This is very important, since large sections could cause disturbances and clogging. They could also cover small material and make sorting more difficult. So, an efficient and technologically advanced seal drum provides the basic condition for the output fractions to be cleaner and of better quality.
After that waste is ready for a real action. Two optical machines eliminate all plastics. This moves forward to two ballistic separators, which classify plastics in size and shape in three fractions: rolling materials or so-called 3D material (for example bottles), separated from flat materials or so-called 2D materials (such as various foils) the fine fraction is sieved.
This is extremely important for the efficient operation of optical devices called the NIRs. The NIRs begin to sort different types of materials. The Center for the preparation of secondary raw materials has six of them. NIRs are separating waste by means of infrared light. In addition, three iron magnets are provided in our center, two air separators and two turbine circuits that sort colored metals, predominantly aluminum. An extremely precisely sorted mixed municipal waste is obtained after sorting and is then divided into three main groups: fractions suitable for recycling, light, and heavy fraction. Find more on the Centre for the Preparation of Secondary Raw Materials online.
On the other hand, we are a part of a bigger circular story in Maribor and in Europe. As a member of Wcycle Institute Maribor, Snaga is a partner in many European projects, connected with circular economy. Even more, Maribor is the first and only city in Slovenia and in this part of Europe that has adopted a Strategy for the transition to circular economy with ambitious goals. Since 2014, the Municipality of Maribor has been planning an integrated urban system that would include integrated management of all the resources generated in the region based on a circular economy policy, efficient and sustainable use of energy and water, and the use of recovered waste as a new source. At the same time, the system would also include the fundamental principles of a cooperative economy with the involvement of civil society – which is pursued by both the European Commission and the United Nations – and the development of mobility. The idea is based on the concept that companies in the city, with the aim of creating a regenerative urban environment and providing quality services for their citizens, share information and work together to achieve the highest possible rate of reuse of waste, excess heat and wastewater as new sources, while respecting the quality of land use, the development of sustainable urban mobility and a cooperative economy.
Read information on the Strategy for the Transition to Circular Economy in the Municipality of Maribor online.
