With the great inierest in resource recovery in the U.S.. comparatively little z.:tention has been given to parallel developments in Eurozle beyond incineration with heat recovery. Still. European countries :including Scandinavia and Great Britain) share U.S concerns of increasing amounts of solid wastes, dimini'shed land areas fcr disposal and needs for environmental. materials and energy conservation. As a result, there are a numBer of note\vortkiy resource recovery research and development activities unixr way in Europe. This is a review 01: those activities in Europe directed to the mechanical proc.essirig of municipal solid waste for the recovery of materials and. in EI few instances. refuse-derived fuel. The revit:% 3s not all inc:lusive. Parallel developments in source sep;iratioti. industrial waste utilization, processing for steel-can recovery. processini; for compost and developments in incinFration and pyrolysis are not included. Also. there nave been Pxtensive investigations of materials recovery and reuse of incinerali3r residues. These are not reviewed here: no large Lommercial olarits fcr processing incinerator residue have yet beer i ? i ~ r ! ' E Jropean ma'-eriais recovery objectives and. hence. practice';. stress paaer recovery. This differs from current U.S. p r x t i c e . which 'stresses some type of fuel recovery. Many Eur opttail oountrie.; anticipate fiber shortages, even shor! term; in addirion theii wa:j:i? composition differs from U.S waste. Municipal solid w s t e in many countries contains less metal than in the Ll S apd ;here 1:s at present, less interest in glass recovery I Q Eurolse than in the b.S. A s a result, in Europe gross revenues from SiaIE of recoveted products would be low. i f ngt for the potential of selling some form of recovered paper. Cifferencos i n waste composition among countries also deiernjine:;. ?o some extent. the type of technology under developnierit As ii startin
