News

Cyprus closes the material loop

At Cyprus’ most modern waste handling facility, in Kossi near Larnaca, recyclables, fuel and compost are recovered from household waste.

Komptech’s shredding and separation technology plays a key role.

Tourism is a major source of income for Cyprus. And in Cyprus, two things have become clear – tourism can be successful in the long run only if the environment is in good shape, and a clean environment doesn’t come for free. With the official opening of this facility, the time of the traditional “smoking dump” has drawn to a close, and a new era in waste handling has begun.

The facility has an annual capacity of up to 200,000 tonnes, and is designed to process unsorted household waste, in accordance with local disposal habits. The Ministry of the Interior placed the order for the plant, which was built by the environmental technology specialist firm Helector S.A., a subsidiary of the Greek construction group Ellaktor S.A..

Flexible facility design

When waste enters the facility, it first meets Komptech shredders, followed by trommel screens that rough-sort it by particle size.

For Nikos Saravelakis, technical director of the system, the robust Terminator shredders were the right solution. Even after 1000 operating hours, the shredding teeth still show hardly any wear.

Further separation steps focus on materials. A Komptech Brini ballistic separator and further automatic systems sort waste particles into different material categories such as film, paper and PET bottles, for further recycling or use. For example, film can be used in the manufacture of high-value Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) for the cement industry.

The organic fraction is either dried in a closed system to make RDF, or composted and then cured in an open pile. Regular turning with a Komptech Topturn compost turner and subsequent screening with Komptech Multistar star screeners transforms what was once garbage into a valuable soil improver.

The facility director is very happy with the functioning and availability of the system. It reached its specified performance levels from the start, and nothing has changed since then. The care taken by the operator is doubtless one of the reasons for this, as few waste facilities emphasize maintenance and cleaning as much as at Larnaca.

With this forward-looking concept, Cyprus has a facility that can react flexibly to different waste compositions and market demands – whether for more recyclables, more refuse-derived fuel or more compost. Yesterday, waste handling meant dumping. Today waste handling makes a valuable contribution to resource conservation.

Further Information:
Komptech USA inc.
[t] (720) 890-9090