The European Enhanced Landfill Mining Consortium (EURELCO) has accepted Axion Consulting as a member.
Following approaches from land developers investigating the possibility of mining resources from former landfill sites, Axion Consulting has decided to join the network of 40 public and private sector organisations from across Europe.
By joining EURELCO, Axion is given a framework under which it can respond to requests on landfill mining.
Axion principal engineer Simon Wilkinson said: “Increasing scarcity of valuable materials including a variety of plastics and metals is prompting greater interest in ‘urban mining’ where landfill sites yield fresh opportunities for innovative methods of resource recovery as technology and technical know-how advances.
“The consortium brings together diverse and complementary skill sets – from industry and academia to private companies and Government organisations – with the common aim of examining how we can ‘mine; the materials we buried in the past.
“We foresee a rise in this type of activity as raw materials get more expensive, technology improves and land value continues to increase, it will become more economically attractive to mine such resources and upgrade the land for redevelopment. Enhanced landfill mining is part of a wider view of a circular economy and is perfectly complementary to urban mining and recycling in general.”
Pictured: Axion scientist at polymers lab
