Morocco is basically an agricultural country; almost 40% of the workforce is employed in
this sector. Xylella fastidiosa is a xylem-inhabiting pathogen which can infect more than
300 plant species, although most host species are symptomless. Until relatively recently,
X. fastidiosa was primarily limited to North and South America, but in 2013 a widespread
epidemic of olive quick decline syndrome caused by this fastidious pathogen appeared in
southeastern Italy, and later several cases of X. fastidiosa outbreaks have been reported
in other European countries (France, Germany and Spain). Following these recently confirmed
findings of X. fastidiosa in the European Union, this bacterium has become a serious
threat to the Moroccan flora. The national phytosanitary authorities have adopted several
measures to prevent the introduction of X. fastidiosa into the national territory by deciding,
inter alia, to suspend importation of host plant species to the bacterium from infected
areas. This paper presents the phytosanitary risk of this bacterium in Morocco.
One of the biggest problems for sand casting foundries must be the waste produced from disposable molds. Stricter environmental regulations make it harder to dispose of waste sand, so a truly competitive foundry does no longer only make great products, but also concentrates on a sustainable casting process. While methods for repurposing waste foundry sand are still limited, the internal circulation of such sands proves significant possibilities. This paper will focus on thermal reclamation of foundry sands in a special rotating drum furnace in a central facility to serve several foundries. Thermal reclamation is a process for handling foundry sands in elevated temperatures to combust unwanted substances from reusable base sand. The introduction focuses on background of the Finnish foundry business, the most common sand systems in Finland and their reclaim properties. The experimental part features presentation of the new reclamation plant process and the conducted test runs. The samples collected from each test run have been laboratory tested to assure proper sand quality. The results of this work showed that the reclamation of alkaline phenolic no-bake sands was excellent. Reclamation of green sands did not provide satisfactory results as expected and the reclamation of furan no-bake sands provided mixed results, as the raw material was imperfect to begin with. The most important result of this work is still the successful initiation of a centralized thermal reclamation plant, with the ability to reclaim sands of several foundries. With this all of industrial symbiosis, circular economy and sustainability advanced in Finland, and the future development of this plant provides even further opportunities and a possibility to spread the ideas on a global scale.