Spring is the season for street sand collection. The streets are clogged as machines brush away tons of sand sown over the winter. The problem is that it is very difficult to recycle the sand.
At the Kujala processing centre in Lahti, there are large sand piles that are growing larger and larger. Much of the street sand collected in Päijät-Häme is brought to Kujala for treatment.
Sand collected from the streets is waste that can no longer be used as such for the same purpose.
– We store and screen the sand that comes in. At the same time, we remove much of the rubbish. We can’t remove everything, because the sand is accompanied by tyre and brake dust and other fine material so fine that we haven’t yet found a workable method in Finland,” explains Leiskallio.
The sand used is also finely ground, the edges of the grains are rounded, and it is not as good as the sand obtained from a sand pit.
– One possibility of use could be, for example, its use as a raw material for growth media. However, it is very difficult, because of course material classified as waste cannot be used for that purpose. Removing the waste status would require being able to prove the purity of the material, so there are enough challenges, says Leiskallio.
Fortunately, the sand collected from the street in Kujala can be used in the construction of a closed landfill, but for now it cannot be used for anything else.
Leiskallio reminds that a large part of the garbage that comes with the sand should have been put somewhere other than the street.
– The street sand comes with a significant amount of garbage, from glass chips and house stumps to beer cans and tarps. People still seem to be very indifferent in these matters. Each of us can do our part to ensure that these are also put in the trash, and not on the street.