Environmental assessment of the Sibiu County, Romania: proposal for sewage sludge and OFMSW management

¹ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
² Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Sibiu, Romania
³ Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, Insubria University of Varese, Varese, Italy

^* Corresponding author: vincenzo.torretta@uninsubria.it

Abstract

The aim of the work is to assess current solid waste management (SWM) and wastewater treatment (WWT) in the county of Sibiu, Romania. Sibiu is a region where industrialization and tourism are spreading constantly, while pollution monitoring and the introduction of circular economy (CE) principles are still lacking. The environmental issues are mostly due to the absence of reliable sanitation systems, in particular for what concerns sewage sludge treatment. Moreover, Organic fraction from selective collection of municipal solid waste is still missing, since it is disposed of directly to landfill, increasing environmental pollution and contributing considerably to global warming. As a result, SWM and WWT should be improved at the same time, as sludge requires specific handlings in order to be safety disposed. The objective of the study is to investigate the introduction of affordable technological facilities able to treat sludge and the organic fraction of municipal solid waste, recovering, at least, the energy required for the working phase of the treatment plants. Anaerobic digestion resulted viable, but the organic fraction full stream collection seems to be the only way to have a significant energy recovery. From the financial point of view, the feasibility of this co-treatment option could count on specific opportunities that Romania has in the frame of the European Union context.