The EU MSCA European Training Network NEW-MINE kicked off on September 1, 2016. The key goal of the project was to train 15 PhD students (“Early Stage Researchers”, ESRs) in all aspects of Enhanced Landfill Mining, in order to develop the scientific, technical and soft skills necessary to take on the ELFM challenge in Europe and beyond. After four years of intensive collaboration between academic and industrial partners, the project can sign off with impressive results. The present article makes these results available to the larger public.
On September 1, 2016, the ‘European Training Network for Resource Recovery Through Enhanced Landfill Mining’ (NEW-MINE) kicked off. The project, funded by the European Commission under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (GA nr. 721185), aimed to develop and integrate cutting-edge, eco-friendly Enhanced Landfill Mining (ELFM) technologies to valorise Europe’s 500,000 landfills, thereby recovering resources (materials, energy, land), while mitigating future environmental and health risks associated with landfills as well as avoiding enormous landfill-remediation costs.
NEW-MINE provided training in all aspects of ELFM, in terms of both technological innovation and multi-criteria assessments, not only to ESRs but also to all consortium members and external partners (e.g. through summer school). NEW-MINE ESRs are the logical employees of industry, academia and public sector in this field. Through the broader ELFM network, Eurelco, the contact between ESRs and future employers was guaranteed already during the project.
NEW-MINE was well embedded in and actively contributed to the growth of the network on ELFM. A strong link to national/EU initiatives ensured the long-term sustainability of the network. Continuation of the network will occur through active participation of the NEW-MINE partners within the EURELCO consortium.
Four years later, the NEW-MINE project can sign off with genuinely impressive results. The 15 PhD topics were linked through the NEW-MINE ELFM flowsheet, subdivided in 4 work packages. Each WP comprised a different aspect of the Enhanced Landfill Mining flowsheet and methodology..
The results per work package can be reviewed here:
- Innovative landfill exploration & mechanical processing
- Solar/Plasma/Hybrid thermochemical conversion
- Advanced upcycling
- Multi-criteria assessment for integrated ELFM concepts and technologies
Find out the results per early-stage researchers (ESRs): https://new-mine.eu/team/the-early-stage-researchers/
Review all 58 (!) scientific publications obtained through the project (open access journal and conference papers): https://new-mine.eu/communications/science-communication/
Read the newsletters and Policy Briefs developed by the project partners (https://new-mine.eu/communications/newsletter/), answering questions like “Why ELFM needs to be politically acknowledged in Europe”, “Why we need to develop a broad Dynamic Landfill Management strategy and vision for Europe’s 500,000 landfills” and "Climate change impacts necessitate ELFM-based solutions for more than 10,000 landfills in Europe".
.jpg)
The NEW-MINE project has received funding from the European Union's EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 under Grant Agreement No 721185. http://new-mine.eu/
