Industrial wastes from the boat-building sector in the Marche Region (Italy): a parametric and chemical-physical characterization

Using the renowned leisure boat-building sector in the Marche Region (Italy) as a case-study, this paper addresses the characterization of (1) the industrial waste generation from the building of composite material-based boats and (2) some chemical-physical properties of representative types of boat-building residues (plastic foam, hardened resin, fibre-reinforced composite residues, and sanding dust). A parametric evaluation based on the number of employees gave a representative unit generation rate per employee (UGRpE) of 1.47 tons wₐₛₜₑ employee ⁻¹ year ⁻¹ for the entire Marche regional boat-building district, whereas evaluations carried out separately for three case-study companies provided values of 1.56, 3.07, and 1.12 tons wₐₛₜₑ employee ⁻¹ year ⁻¹ as representative for a mass-produced motor boat builder (case-study company ‘1’), a customized sailing boat builder (case-study company ‘2’), and a mould and structural component builder (case-study company ‘3’), respectively. The original proposal and evaluation of two additional generation rates based on physical characteristics intrinsic to the manufactured product, i.e. the unit generation rate per boat area (UGRpA) and per boat weight (UGRpW), confirmed the higher waste generation for the sailing boat builder (representative UGRpA and UGRpW values of 0.35 tons wₐₛₜₑ year ⁻¹ and 2.71 tons wₐₛₜₑ year ⁻¹, respectively) compared with the motor boat builder (representative UGRpA and UGRpW values of 0.06 tons wₐₛₜₑ year ⁻¹ and 0.49 tons wₐₛₜₑ year ⁻¹, respectively). The chemical-physical property characterization of the selected residues revealed the following aspects: a general condition of low moisture contents; significant ash contents in the glass- and carbon-fibre composite residues and the correlated sanding dust; and relatively high energy content values in the overall range 14,144–32,479 kJ kg ⁻¹, expressed as the lower heating value.