Plant for waste and plastic packaging recovery

The waste recovery plant sorting and storage centre will apply a rigorous separation by polymer/colour of waste from the separate urban waste collection system or from district waste collection centres, obtaining a number of types of selected waste downstream from packaging. The area where the plant is located is about 1 metre below the level of the Via Salaria road (running southwards). The plant is composed of a number of different machines with various sorting functions (rotating sifters, ballistic sifters, optical sorters, etc.) linked by numerous conveyor belts.

Acoustic study. The aim of this study is to forecast the noise impact of the waste and plastic packaging recovery plant to be constructed in shed A, located in the Consortium for Industrial Development of the Province of Rieti, on a lot in the industrial area of the Municipality of Cittaducale (RI). Located in the area around the shed to be used for the sorting of the various types of plastic (Sorting Centre) are Class V and Class VI receivers. The study takes the form of noise level measurements suitable to describe the situation (residual noise) prior to the start of operations in the plant, which is expected to function 24 hours a day.

The activity of the plant was implemented using SoundPLAN noise simulation software. Knowledge of the machines the Corepla automatic sorting plant is composed of, and the corresponding acoustic data was used to calculate the propagation of noise to the receivers based on the current situation. A reduction of 20dB was hypothesised given the prefabricated panels that will delimit shed A. The levels obtained were compared with the limit values set forth in the Prime Ministerial Decree of 14/11/1997: the absolute immission limits represent the maximum level of sound pressure that the noise source can cause on a specific receiver, evaluated over the whole reference period; the differential limits represent the difference between the situation with the sources on and the sources off, and the emission limits represent the maximum value permitted in spaces used by people or communities.