As a Marie-Curie Early-Stage Researcher (ESR) everyone has the opportunity (and obligation) to do one or two secondments. These short stays in the project partner organisations are a fundamental part of the ‘European Training Network’. However, it is sometimes challenging to schedule these secondments at the best possible time. The initial planning of the secondments can be in conflict with ...

This photograph was taken in July 2019 in a town called Muncar in Banyuwangi, Indonesia. It is primarily a fishing town where most of the residents have never seen this beach clean in the past few decades. The fishermen realize that plastic pollution in the ocean is impacting their livelihood and that they need to move away from status quo. ...

In our project 15 early state researchers (ESRs) work together to produce energy from landfill material using a wide variety of technologies. Beginning with excavations and mechanical processing we generate an intermediate product for this purpose, called potential refuse derived fuel – pRDF (compare Figure 1). This pRDF mainly consists of films and plastic bags (2D-fraction) and is supposed to ...

(Read the English version of this blogpost here: https://new-mine.eu/environmental-activists-wanted/) “Il giorno in cui i ragazzi guarderanno ai grandi scienziati con la stessa ammirazione che riservano per i grandi musicisti ed attori, la civiltà farà un salto in avanti”. Sono le parole dell’illustre fisico teorico Brian Greene. Ma è davvero necessario che la nostra civiltà faccia questo “salto in avanti”? A quanto pare, ...

“When kids look up to great scientists the way they do to great musicians and actors, civilization will jump to the next level.” said the eminent theoretical physicist Brian Greene. But do we really need to reach that “next level” of civilization? It seems that if we want to preserve life, the answer is yes. If we look at the ...

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean” – Ryunosuke Satoro. When we talk about waste we are situating ourselves in a context where human beings intervene, since nature itself does not generate waste. In the ecosystem, every element discarded by a living being is susceptible to being used, and in fact it is used, incorporating it into ...

“Is ELFM profitable?” What a FAQ?! It is such a frequently asked question about Enhanced Landfill Mining (ELFM) and I even remember asking the same when I started my PhD two years ago. But until now, my answer is the cliché, it depends.  However, I think I made a bit of a progress in structuring my thoughts. So here is ...

The fifth network-wide event of MSCA ETN NEW-MINE is hosted by the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and takes place from 6 to 8 February 2019 in Stockholm (Sweden). The first day, on Wednesday 6/02, the ESRs will receive a training on statistics and have the time to organise the Researchers Conucil. On Thursday 7/02, the ESRs give an individual ...

One of the main features of the current consumer society, is materials production for mass consumption. This results in the generation of huge amounts of (municipal solid) waste (MSW). The social, environmental and health risks linked to the disposal of waste in landfills has stimulated the European Commission to implement solid waste management policies. The main practices in waste management ...

“You said you worked hard? Well, maybe you need to work a little harder. Is that really the limit of your strength? Could the you of tomorrow beat you today? Instead of giving in, move forward.” After many months of article reading, experiments and data analysis, I came out with my first scientific article. Despite reading literature and scientific documents ...