The Faculty of the Environment Helps Litoměřice Test Road Grit Recycling

The Faculty of the Environment at UJEP has become a key partner in a project where the city of Litoměřice is testing a modern method for recycling road grit used in winter road maintenance. Material that previously ended up in a landfill after spring cleaning can now, after being dried in the sun, be sorted using special equipment and prepared for reuse. “This process significantly reduces costs for both purchasing new grit and landfill disposal,” said Vítězslav Votruba, Director of Litoměřice Technical Services.
In the past, the main challenge in recycling was the moisture bound to the collected material. “We’ve found a solution. We tested a pulse-voltage separator twice, and now we are trying a drum separator. We have the solution; now it depends on our founder whether the equipment will be purchased,” Votruba said. According to him, the savings mainly come from disposal costs, which are three times higher than the price of new grit.
From the machine, fine soil and debris fall from one side, and material larger than two millimeters from the other. The Faculty of the Environment helped with the legislative framework. The sorted grit will not be classified as waste but as a raw material, making it possible to reuse. Scientists are also examining how much the material swept from the roads is contaminated with oils and petroleum substances from vehicles.
“If fluids leak from vehicles during road operation, it may happen that this collected grit contains petroleum substances. We can accelerate the biodegradation in this material using an applied spray, so it becomes clean natural material again,” explained Ing. Tomáš Lank, who is involved in the project.
“However, it is very likely that the oil residues, which are actually very minimal, will degrade on their own,” added Professor Martin Kubal.
“From 500 tons, we recovered 200 tons of usable grit, so we didn’t have to buy a single kilogram of new material and saved another CZK 900,000 on labor, machinery, and other costs,” explained Veronika Kleverová, Head of Waste Management at Technical Services. The greatest savings are in landfill costs – while last year it cost CZK 1,600 per ton to dispose of road waste after winter maintenance, this year it is CZK 1,800. Every year, Litoměřice Technical Services sweep about 630 tons of material from the roads.