Smart waste bins, turning sludge components into mobile phones, a waste-stingy hospital, using scavengers to recover gold – on 7 February an audience of nearly 100 took part in the Central Finland towards circular economy 2018 seminar held at Jyväskylä City Hall. They shared the latest circular economy news in the region.
The observations made in the Jyväskylä Circwaste sub-project show that waste sorting still has plenty of room for improvement. Outi Pakarinen and Tiina Karppinen from the Regional Council of Central Finland presented the results of a mixed waste composition study performed in summer 2017. The report showed that biowaste accounted for a surprisingly large share of the sample studied. About 30% of the content of mixed waste bags was biowaste. A presentation by Suvi Sointusalo (JAMK) also showed similar results. A plastic recycling trial carried out in a 200-resident housing company in Jyväskylä revealed that 50% of the material disposed of in the plastic recycling bins was something other than plastic.
Pirkko Melville presented the results of a circular economy idea competition for citizens. A total of 48 proposals were submitted, and some of these have already been implemented while others will be realised in the near future. The ideas included biogas vehicles, a plastic recycling trial and various lending and recycling applications.
Tanja Oksa presented the smart waste management system in the new Kangas neighbourhood. Smart waste bins send information about the fill-level of the bins to waste management companies so that they can avoid unnecessary driving. A new hospital called Nova will be completed in Jyväskylä in 2020. The hospital will have waste fraction-specific reduction requirements, strive to minimise medical waste, and create a smart system and indicators to monitor the amount of waste produced.
Another presentation described the University of Jyväskylä’s INKI project, which studies the analysis and recovery of elements from lake water sludge. Jyväskylä is also home to research about how 3D printing can be used to recover metals in, for example, waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) sorting.
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