Blue Phoenix Group – “Waste does not exist.”

When it comes to sustainable waste disposal, the world faces enormous challenges. This is mainly because waste seems worthless. In fact, waste only costs money. So we are used to just dumping it somewhere out of the way. But is this assessment of the value of waste correct?

One of the largest waste management companies in the Netherlands, Van Gansewinkel, has the slogan “Waste does not exist. They represent a new movement that sees waste as a valuable raw material. And that’s true. In fact, with innovative techniques, a lot of value can be extracted from waste. So much so that 100% reuse of even the most useless waste becomes financially attractive.

One of our customers proves this daily in practice. The company Blue Phoenix Group manages to recover valuable metals from the ashes that remain after household waste incineration. We spoke about this with the director of business development Europe, Rogier van de Weijer: “Much of our household waste is burned in power plants. So the waste becomes raw material for electricity. That seems like an ideal solution, but there were also drawbacks. For example, after burning the waste, some 20 to 25% ‘bottom ash’ remains at the bottom of the incinerators.

This bottom ash is very similar to what you find in your fireplace at home, but much dirtier because, after all, you are not burning nice logs, but tons of mixed garbage. Bottom ash has been ‘hidden’ in highway foundations, but then you have to wrap it well with foil to prevent heavy metals from leaking from the ash into the ground with rain and groundwater.”

“For decades we’ve been afraid of those ‘heavy metals’ in the garbage from domestic waste incineration, because we didn’t know what to do with them. But they are basically valuable elements, such as zinc, aluminum, iron, copper, lead, aluminum and even silver and gold.

Bottom ash is 90% glass, sand, rock and minerals, 6-7% iron and 2-3% non-ferrous metals. Blue Phoenix Group has developed an installation that allows us to separate that fraction of metals from the rest. So we take out all those heavy metals – so these are valuable raw materials in our view – so that the clean mineral ash that remains can simply be used without protection under asphalt or as gravel in concrete.”

“There is an awful lot of metal in our household waste. Just think of all those rolls of aluminum foil you throw away every year. But also the tip, feather and clip of a ballpoint pen, the nails and zipper of a pair of jeans, metal nails in luxury shoes, small electronics and remote controls and lots of forks, knives, spoons and knives that people throw away by mistake.

The plumber still sometimes throws some small pieces of sawed-off pipe in the garbage. And when you replace a plug, what do you do with those few millimeters of copper wire you cut off? The incinerator burns away all the plastic, and we then find those tiny copper wires in the ash. Bottom ash is richer in copper than ore from a copper mine, so copper extraction from ash is definitely worthwhile.”

“Yes, that’s kind of the blacksmith’s secret. Blue Phoenix Group uses the physics of different metals to separate them from the rest. For example, you can pick out irons with a strong magnet. With non-ferrous metals, it’s trickier. Then you have to take advantage of their specific density, or great weight. If you throw everything in a bath, heavy particles sink a little faster. We also use so-called “eddy currents,” electric fields that allow you to “shoot” metals of a certain density out of a stream of waste. For one of the somewhat coarser separation techniques, by the way, we work with Wivé Techniek, who helped make the machine more sustainable.”

“It’s a separation process that we developed ourselves, the exact operation of which is confidential. What I can say so much about it is that we mechanically knock away the waste stream, with heavier particles flying farther away than lighter stuff. That beating away is done with great force, with wear and tear on the beating mechanism. Wivé helped us further develop that machine and apply special materials so that the beating drum wears much less. A longer tool life, so less cost.”

“Exactly. And that is immediately one of the reasons we enjoy working with Wivé. At Wivé, not only do they know a great deal about wear and tear and tool life extension, they are also extremely reliable and discreet. We are to a large extent inventors of our processes.

This allows us to achieve results that no one else achieves: such as separation of heavy metals to high purity. We choose our technology suppliers partly on the relationship of trust, and with Wivé we can share our patented knowledge without any reservations. That’s a nice way to work.”

“Very rosy. Read the latest press releases at bluephoenix-group.com. We and our partner Boskalis signed a 10-year contract early this year with Attero, the company that operates the largest waste-to-energy plants in the Netherlands at Moerdijk and Wijster. We are building a new processing plant, in Nauerna on the North Sea Canal. Attero has already booked process capacity for 450,000 tons of bottom ash. Of that, as I said, 2 to 3% consists of valuable metals that we are bringing back into the circular economy, while Boskalis can use the large volume of remaining sand and gravel in purified form in its major infrastructure projects. So you see that through innovative techniques together with Boskalis and our other partners, we manage to reuse almost 100% of household waste; in the form of fuel for a power plant, valuable metals for sale to industry and clean residual material for road construction. Waste problem solved.”