News

ReSource specialises in environmental sampling. Among those are water- and wastewater sampling where the samples are analysed at our professionally equipped laboratory.

ReSource International participated in a project in Gotland in Sweden, in which four different emissions quantification techniques were tested on a series of landfills and against known emissions sources. The objective of the project was to compare the pros and cons of these methods and find the best and most accurate emission measure technique for landfills. ReSource joined with a greenhouse gas sensor attached to a Matrice 600 UAV. The UAV method gave similar results to the tracer gas method, a well-​proven technology in the field, and appeared to be more precise than the standard flux chamber method. The results are now being written up as an academic journal article.

The project was done in collaboration with Force Technology, The Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Lund University, Sweco AB, Avfall Sverige, The Municipality of Gotland, Northern Sky Research (NSR) and Hässleholm Miljö AB.

Read more about the project in the link below:

https://​www​.avfallsverige​.se/​k​u​n​s​k​a​p​s​b​a​n​k​e​n​/​r​a​p​p​o​r​t​e​r​/​r​a​p​p​o​r​t​e​r​a​/​a​r​t​i​c​l​e​/​y​t​e​m​i​s​s​i​o​n​e​r​-​a​v​-​d​e​p​o​n​i​g​as/

The plastic recycling company Pure North Recycling has managed to shred mixed non-​recyclable plastic from the capital region of Iceland which will be upcycled to a road.
This is a huge step in the right direction, enhances the possibility of recycling mixed non-​recyclable waste plastics in Iceland and reaching national plastic recycling goals.
#upcycling #recycling #recycle #wastehierarchy #plastic #savetheplanet #wastemanagementg

ReSource has been working on forecasting the development of waste in Iceland to 2045. The assessment is based on the increased recycling goals and minimisation goals of waste landfilled that have been set by the environmental minister of Iceland about waste management.
Amounts and composition of non-​recyclable waste (which is landfilled today) is a focus-​point of the assessment, since it could fall between the cracks with goals of minimization of landfilled materials. Thereof, the amounts and composition of non-​recyclable waste suitable for waste-​to-​energy processing will be accounted for, as well as the theoretical energy potential, suitable locations and their potential environmental impact.

ReSource International ehf. Has been looking into the amount of asphalt waste that is produced each year in Iceland. According to The Environment Agency of Iceland, more than 42 thousand tons of asphalt waste was produced in 2018, which equals 116 tons per day, each day for a year.

The act of reusing is valuable. Asphalt is made of quality aggregate and bitumen which can be reused multiple times. However, it is clear that recovered asphalt is not fully reused in Iceland.

The Life Cycle Assessment was performed, where the results of four waste treatment scenarios were compared. The scenarios regarding recovered asphalt included: reuse in bound surface layers, recycled in sub layers, recovered to be used for landscaping or disposed of in a landfill. The results showed that it is most environmentally favourable to reuse recovered asphalt in bound surface layers, giving environmental savings connected to the 14 impact categories recommended by the ILCD. The least environmentally favourable in the comparison was to dispose of the recovered asphalt in a landfill.

Reusing recovered asphalt to a larger degree in Iceland would save a significant amount of environmental and economic impact.

Skaftárhreppur is taking part in a pilot project in 2020 where the waste management will be changed. The project is made in co-​operation with The Social ScienceResearch Institute, University of Iceland and ReSource International ehf. The aim of the project is to give an overview of which waste management solutions are most suitable to fulfill the laws and regulations regarding waste handling and disposal, and which are suitable for the inhabitants of the area. The resulting knowledge of the project will be used in order to fulfill the sustainability and recycling goals of the environmental ministry of Iceland and coin a waste management model that can be used in multiple places in Iceland. The project was introduced to the inhabitants of Skaftárhreppur in January 2020. The town meeting had a good turn-​up and we were welcomed by the enthusiastic people of Skaftárhreppur.

You can download the report directly from our Events and Publications page.

Veitur, HS Orka and Norðurorka today presented the results of a year-​long independent study conducted by ReSource International ehf. measuring microplastics in drinking water across the companies’ boreholes, water distribution systems and storage tanks.

Microplastics were detected in half of points in distribution systems and less than half of boreholes and storage tanks. Researchers found around one particle in every ten litres in the median sample point. In contrast, a widely publicised 2018 study funded by ORB Media on tap water worldwide found an average of fifty particles in every ten litres sampled.

Jamie McQuilkin, the principle investigator, said “We know that microplastics are present essentially everywhere in the modern environment, but the results from this work suggest that Icelandic drinking water is not a large carrier. In fact, our main difficulty in this study was to protect our samples from particles in the air and on surfaces – we spent many months developing the method to get this work to be as accurate as possible.”

One of the challenges in microplastics research is quantifying and preventing contamination from the air and from researchers’ own clothes, which can be hundreds of times greater than that in samples. This research, unlike previous work in Iceland, used extensive contamination controls and blank samples.

Microplastics are plastic particles less than 5mm in all dimensions. The study measured all microplastics above 0,027mm, or 27 microns. In addition, a fluorescent dye called Nile Red was used to stain plastic particles, in order to tell them apart from organic particles such as cotton or wool.

A WHO report recently released in August 2019 stated that, although current information is limited, particularly for very small microplastics, “there is no evidence to indicate a human health concern” from microplastics in drinking water. In addition, the evidence available suggest that plastic content of bottled water is higher than that of tap water, likely partially due to its packaging. However, their recommendation is that further research is necessary.

Veitur, HS Orka and Norðurorka will now consider the need for further monitoring.

Want to read the report ? You can download it from our Events and Publications page.

Nordic Innovation

We are thankful for our collaboration with ÅF Consulting on this project and proud that the equipment and method we developed for microplastic sampling was a key element for its success.

See the article here: ÅF R&D on microplastics presented at international conferences

ReSource International ehf. has carried out an initial study on what aspects should be considered in a smart bin project in collaboration with Reykjavík city and the partners from the Nordic Smart City Network (NSCN). The work showed that cities have common challenges in the field and that collaboration is a key component to accelerate the implementation of smart city solutions.

Reykjavík city and RSI have implemented a pilot project this summer for smart bin solutions with different sensor providers. The sensors selected have different types of measurement and connectivity in order to test a full panel of solutions available on the market today. In addition, a LoRaWAN gateway will be installed to test specific connectivity and network for smart city solutions. The Gateway/​Network could be used to test other types of smart city solutions (lighting, parking, traffic, water, etc.). First results of the pilot are expected after this winter. After the first pilot, it will be possible to efficiently integrate further smart bin solutions within the city operations.