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Chapter 6

Recycling of Municipal

Solid Waste Rejects

6.1 Introduction
The potential use of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) plastic rejects resulting
from composting rotating screens as discussed in Chapter 5 or from dumpsites
in the production of a composite material for different applications in construc-
tion, sanitary, mechanical, costal zones, etc. is very important for approaching a
cradle-to-cradle concept for MSW in order to reach sustainable development.
This is a new approach worldwide and has been implemented with full suc-
cess at The American University in Cairo (AUC) as well as The Association for
the Protection of the Environment (APE). Both AUC and APE are non-profit
organizations and the cooperation among universities, research institutes, and
NGOs (non-governmental organizations) represents a unique model for sus-
tainability. The evaluation of using MSW rejects as a new material will be
based on both mechanical and service properties of the proposed material
together with an environmental assessment associated with the production
and use of this composite material.

Rejects recycling
Recycling of solid waste rejects was developed at AUC using three steps. First,
to innovate new technology for unrecyclable materials like rejects. Second,
to develop different valuable and economical products from recycled rejects
according to demand and needs. Third, to conduct a market study, which is a
very important step in this approach to guarantee the sustainability of the
project. Without these three steps, the recycling of rejects will never be sus-
tainable and continually developed.
Advantages of reject recycling:

• Using a resource that would otherwise be wasted.
• Reducing or preventing the amount of waste going to landfill.

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