Sustainable mechanical biological treatment of solid waste in urbanized areas with low recycling rates.

PubMed

Trulli, Ettore; Ferronato, Navarro; Torretta, Vincenzo; Piscitelli, Massimiliano; Masi, Salvatore; Mancini, Ignazio

2018-01-01

Landfill is still the main technological facility used to treat and dispose municipal solid waste (MSW) worldwide. In developing countries, final dumping is applied without environmental monitoring and soil protection since solid waste is mostly sent to open dump sites while, in Europe, landfilling is considered as the last option since reverse logistic approaches or energy recovery are generally encouraged. However, many regions within the European Union continue to dispose of MSW to landfill, since modern facilities have not been introduced owing to unreliable regulations or financial sustainability. In this paper, final disposal activities and pre-treatment operations in an area in southern Italy are discussed, where final disposal is still the main option for treating MSW and the recycling rate is still low. Mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facilities are examined in order to evaluate the organic stabilization practices applied for MSW and the efficiencies in refuse derived fuel production, organic waste stabilization and mass reduction. Implementing MBT before landfilling the environmental impact and waste mass are reduced, up to 30%, since organic fractions are stabilized resulting an oxygen uptake rate less than 1600 mgO 2  h -1  kg -1 VS , and inorganic materials are exploited. Based on experimental data, this work examines MBT application in contexts where recycling and recovery activities have not been fully developed. The evidence of this study led to state that the introduction of MBT facilities is recommended for developing regions with high putrescible waste production in order to decrease environmental pollution and enhance human healthy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The potential reuse of biodegradable municipal solid wastes (MSW) as feedstocks in vermicomposting.

PubMed

Sim, Edwin Yih Shyang; Wu, Ta Yeong

2010-10-01

There is an urgent need globally to find alternative sustainable steps to treat municipal solid wastes (MSW) originated from mismanagement of urban wastes with increasing disposal cost. Furthermore, a conglomeration of ever-increasing population and consumerist lifestyle is contributing towards the generation of more MSW. In this context, vermicomposting offers excellent potential to promote safe, hygienic and sustainable management of biodegradable MSW. It has been demonstrated that, through vermicomposting, MSW such as city garbage, household and kitchen wastes, vegetable wastes, paper wastes, human faeces and others could be sustainably transformed into organic fertiliser or vermicompost that provides great benefits to agricultural soil and plants. Generally, earthworms are sensitive to their environment and require temperature, moisture content, pH and sometimes ventilation at proper levels for the optimum vermicomposting process. Apart from setting the optimum operational conditions for the vermicomposting process, other approaches such as pre-composting, inoculating micro-organisms into MSW and redesigning the conventional vermireactor could be introduced to further enhance the vermicomposting of MSW. Thus the present mini-review discusses the potential of introducing vermicomposting in MSW management, the benefits of vermicomposted MSW to plants, suggestions on how to enhance the vermicomposting of MSW as well as risk management in the vermicomposting of MSW. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry.

Waste management and recycling in the former Soviet Union: the City of Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan).

PubMed

Sim, Natasha M; Wilson, David C; Velis, Costas A; Smith, Stephen R

2013-10-01

The UN-Habitat Integrated Sustainable Waste Management (ISWM) benchmarking methodology was applied to profile the physical and governance features of municipal solid waste (MSW) management in the former Soviet Union city of Bishkek, capital of the Kyrgyz Republic. Most of the ISWM indicators were in the expected range for a low-income city when compared with 20 reference cities. Approximately 240,000 t yr(-1) of MSW is generated in Bishkek (equivalent to 200 kg capita(-1) yr(-1)); collection coverage is over 80% and 90% of waste disposed goes to semi-controlled sites operating with minimal environmental standards. The waste composition was a distinctive feature, with relatively high paper content (20-27% wt.) and intermediate organic content (30-40% wt.). The study provides the first quantitative estimates of informal sector recycling, which is currently unrecognised by the city authorities. Approximately 18% wt. of generated MSW is recycled, representing an estimated annual saving to the city authorities of US$0.7-1.1 million in avoided collection/disposal costs. The waste management system is controlled by a centralised municipal waste enterprise (Tazalyk); therefore, institutional coherence is high relative to lower-middle and low-income cities. However, performance on other governance factors, such as inclusivity and financial sustainability, is variable. Future priorities in Bishkek include extending collection to unserved communities; improving landfill standards; increasing recycling rates through informal sector cooperation; improving data availability; and engaging all stakeholders in waste management strategy decisions. Extending the scope and flexibility of the ISWM protocol is recommended to better represent the variation in conditions that occur in waste management systems in practice.

A proposed framework of food waste collection and recycling for renewable biogas fuel production in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Woon, Kok Sin; Lo, Irene M C

2016-01-01

Hong Kong is experiencing a pressing need for food waste management. Currently, approximately 3600 tonnes of food waste are disposed of at landfills in Hong Kong daily. The landfills in Hong Kong are expected to be exhausted by 2020. In the long run, unavoidable food waste should be sorted out from the other municipal solid waste (MSW) and then valorized into valuable resources. A simple sorting process involving less behavioural change of residents is, therefore, of paramount importance in order to encourage residents to sort the food waste from other MSW. In this paper, a sustainable framework of food waste collection and recycling for renewable biogas fuel production is proposed. For an efficient separation and collection system, an optic bag (i.e. green bag) can be used to pack the food waste, while the residual MSW can be packed in a common plastic bag. All the wastes are then sent to the refuse transfer stations in the conventional way (i.e. refuse collection vehicles). At the refuse transfer stations, the food waste is separated from the residual MSW using optic sensors which recognize the colours of the bags. The food waste in the optic bags is then delivered to the proposed Organic Waste Treatment Facilities, in which biogas is generated following the anaerobic digestion technology. The biogas can be further upgraded via gas upgrading units to a quality suitable for use as a vehicle biogas fuel. The use of biogas fuel from food waste has been widely practiced by some countries such as Sweden, France, and Norway. Hopefully, the proposed framework can provide the epitome of the waste-to-wealth concept for the sustainable collection and recycling of food waste in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors influencing the recycling rate under the volume-based waste fee system in South Korea.

PubMed

Park, Seejeen

2018-04-01

Since the early 2000s, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) has maintained its top-rank status for its municipal solid waste (MSW) recycling rate among OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) member countries. The volume-based waste fee system (VWF) has been considered to be the major factor contributing to the high recycling performance, and extant research has verified the positive relationship between VWF adoption and the MSW recycling rate. Nevertheless, there exists a gap in the literature, as past research has focused more on testing the positive effects of VWF rather than on investigating the determinants of recycling rates after the adoption of VWF. The current study seeks to address this gap by investigating the various factors that affect recycling rates under the VWF system. More specifically, using data from 16 regions in South Korea over a period of 11 years, this study empirically tests the effects of VWF pricing, the citizen cost burden ratio for the VWF system, and pro-environmental behavior related to VWF on the recycling rate. The findings indicate that economic incentives such as cost savings on VWF plastic bag purchases and reduced burden from paying VWF expenses result in higher recycling rates. The findings also demonstrate that pro-environmental behavior in the VWF context positively affects the recycling rate. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of thermal pretreatment and MSW origin on composition and hydrolysability in a sugar platform biorefinery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vaurs, L. P.; Heaven, S.; Banks, C. J.

2018-03-01

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a widely available large volume source of lignocellulosic material containing a waste paper/cardboard mixture which can be converted into fermentable sugars via cellulolytic enzyme hydrolysis in a sugar platform biorefinery. Thermal pretreatments are generally applied to MSW to facilitate the extraction of the lignocellulosic material from recyclable materials (plastics, metals etc.) and improve the paper pulp conversion to sugars. Applying high temperature might enhance food waste solubilisation but may collapse cellulose fibre decreasing its hydrolysability. Low temperature pre-treatment will reduce the energy demand but might result in highly contaminated pulp. Preliminary results showed that the enzymatic hydrolysis performances were dependent on the MSW origins. Using 8 different samples, the impact of thermal pretreatment and MSW origin on pulp composition and hydrolysability was assessed in this work. Low pre-treatment temperature produced pulp which contained less lignocellulosic material but which hydrolysed to a higher degree than MSW treated at high temperatures. High temperature pre-treatment could have exposed more of the inhibiting lignin to cellulase. This information would have a significant economic impact on a commercial plant as expensive autoclave could be advantageously replaced by a cheaper process. Glucan conversions were also found to vary depending on the region, the recycling rate possibly because of the lower recycling rate resulting in the use of less paper additive in the material or the difference in paper production technology (chemical VS mechanical pulping). This could also be explained by the differences in paper composition.

Technology selection for MSW treatment in Altiplano areas using FMDM.

PubMed

Jiang, Jianguo; Lou, Zhiying; Hg, Siio; Duo, Ji; Li, Zhong

2009-10-01

There are special requirements for municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment caused by lower oxygen content and atmospheric pressure on the Altiplano. The intention of this paper was to analyse the applicability of various technologies to MSW treatment in the Altiplano and select the best one based on the current MSW collection modes and technical levels, using the Fuzzy Mathematical Decision Method (FMDM). Technologies including landfill, incineration, composting, and anaerobic digestion (AD) were compared. The results of the studies showed that AD technology is a new technology which is attractive in economic terms and helpful for environmental harmony. AD can solve the difficulties caused by a high content of organic matter in the MSW, lower atmospheric pressure and oxygen content on the Altiplano. Moreover, it can achieve reduction and recycling of the waste, thereby saving space for treatment and disposal. Using this technology, renewable energy can be recovered to save conventional fuel consumption and the emission of greenhouse gases can be reduced to improve the conservation of the local ecosystem. Putting AD into practice in the Altiplano may be the preferred method of MSW treatment.

Analysis of physical composition and heavy metals pollution of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Beijing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, H. B.; Zhang, H. Y.; Wang, G. Q.; Bai, X. J.

2018-03-01

By using on-site sampling and physical-chemical analysis, the physical composition and the contents of heavy metals in Beijing MSW were researched. The result showed that the main components of MSW in Beijing are mainly kitchen waste, the average content of kitchen waste are more than 60% and 50% in summer and in winter, respectively. The pollution of Cu, Hg and Cr are all more serious for MSW in Haidian and Dongcheng district. The heavy metal pollution of MSW in summer is higher than that in winter in Beijing. Seasonal impacts should be taken into consideration when dealing with MSW. The content of heavy metals in MSW exceeded the background value of soil in Haidian and Dongcheng districts. In order to reduce heavy metal pollution, the MSW should be separated collection and treated.

Updating and testing of a Finnish method for mixed municipal solid waste composition studies.

PubMed

Liikanen, M; Sahimaa, O; Hupponen, M; Havukainen, J; Sorvari, J; Horttanainen, M

2016-06-01

More efficient recycling of municipal solid waste (MSW) is an essential precondition for turning Europe into a circular economy. Thus, the recycling of MSW must increase significantly in several member states, including Finland. This has increased the interest in the composition of mixed MSW. Due to increased information needs, a method for mixed MSW composition studies was introduced in Finland in order to improve the national comparability of composition study results. The aim of this study was to further develop the method so that it corresponds to the information needed about the composition of mixed MSW and still works in practice. A survey and two mixed MSW composition studies were carried out in the study. According to the responses of the survey, the intensification of recycling, the landfill ban on organic waste and the producer responsibility for packaging waste have particularly influenced the need for information about the composition of mixed MSW. The share of biowaste in mixed MSW interested the respondents most. Additionally, biowaste proved to be the largest waste fraction in mixed MSW in the composition studies. It constituted over 40% of mixed MSW in both composition studies. For these reasons, the classification system of the method was updated by further defining the classifications of biowaste. The classifications of paper as well as paperboard and cardboard were also updated. The updated classification system provides more information on the share of avoidable food waste and waste materials suitable for recycling in mixed MSW. The updated method and the information gained from the composition studies are important in ensuring that the method will be adopted by municipal waste management companies and thus used widely in Finland. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Management of MSW in Spain and recovery of packaging steel scrap.

PubMed

Tayibi, Hanan; Peña, Carmen; López, Félix A; López-Delgado, Aurora

2007-01-01

Packaging steel is more advantageously recovered and recycled than other packaging material due to its magnetic properties. The steel used for packaging is of high quality, and post-consumer waste therefore produces high-grade ferrous scrap. Recycling is thus an important issue for reducing raw material consumption, including iron ore, coal and energy. Household refuse management consists of collection/disposal, transport, and processing and treatment - incineration and composting being the most widely used methods in Spain. Total Spanish MSW production exceeds 21 million tons per year, of which 28.1% and 6.2% are treated in compost and incineration plants, respectively. This paper presents a comprehensive study of incineration and compost plants in Spain, including a review of the different processes and technologies employed and the characteristics and quality of the recovered ferrous scrap. Of the total amount of packaging steel scrap recovered from MSW, 38% comes from compost plants and 14% from incineration plants. Ferrous scrap from incineration plants presents a high degree of chemical alteration as a consequence of the thermal process to which the MSW is subjected, particularly the conditions in which the slag is cooled, and accordingly its quality diminishes. Fragmentation and magnetic separation processes produce an enhancement of the scrap quality. Ferrous scrap from compost plants has a high tin content, which negatively affects its recycling. Cleaning and detinning processes are required prior to recycling.

U.S. Trends in Solid Waste Management and GHG Emissions

EPA Science Inventory

In 2009, 243 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) was produced in the United States. Currently, 34% of the 243 million tons of MSW is recovered and recycled or composted which conserves energy and natural resources as well as avoid waste disposal. Of the remaining MSW th...

Shear strength characteristics of mechanically biologically treated municipal solid waste (MBT-MSW) from Bangalore.

PubMed

Sivakumar Babu, G L; Lakshmikanthan, P; Santhosh, L G

2015-05-01

Strength and stiffness properties of municipal solid waste (MSW) are important in landfill design. This paper presents the results of comprehensive testing of shear strength properties of mechanically biologically treated municipal solid waste (MBT-MSW) in laboratory. Changes in shear strength of MSW as a function of unit weight and particle size were investigated by performing laboratory studies on the MSW collected from Mavallipura landfill site in Bangalore. Direct shear tests, small scale and large scale consolidated undrained and drained triaxial tests were conducted on reconstituted compost reject MSW samples. The triaxial test results showed that the MSW samples exhibited a strain-hardening behaviour and the strength of MSW increased with increase in unit weight. Consolidated drained tests showed that the mobilized shear strength of the MSW increased by 40% for a unit weight increase from 7.3kN/m(3) to 10.3kN/m(3) at 20% strain levels. The mobilized cohesion and friction angle ranged from 5 to 9kPa and 8° to 33° corresponding to a strain level of 20%. The consolidated undrained tests exhibited reduced friction angle values compared to the consolidated drained tests. The friction angle increased with increase in the unit weight from 8° to 55° in the consolidated undrained tests. Minor variations were found in the cohesion values. Relationships for strength and stiffness of MSW in terms of strength and stiffness ratios are developed and discussed. The stiffness ratio and the strength ratio of MSW were found to be 10 and 0.43. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Municipal solid waste in Brazil: A review.

PubMed

Alfaia, Raquel Greice de Souza Marotta; Costa, Alyne Moraes; Campos, Juacyara Carbonelli

2017-12-01

The production of municipal solid waste (MSW) represents one of the greatest challenges currently faced by waste managers all around the world. In Brazil, the situation with regard to solid waste management is still deficient in many aspects. In 2015, only 58.7% of the MSW collected in Brazilian cities received appropriate final disposal. It was only as late as 2010 that Brazil established the National Policy on Solid Waste (NPSW) based on the legislation and programmes established in the 1970s in more developed countries. However, the situation with regard to MSW management has changed little since the implementation of the NPSW. Recent data show that, in Brazil, disposal in sanitary landfills is practically the only management approach to MSW. Contrary to expectations, despite the economic recession in 2015 the total annual amount of MSW generated nationwide increased by 1.7%, while in the same period the Brazilian population grew by 0.8% and economic activity decreased by 3.8%. The article describes the panorama with regard to MSW in Brazil from generation to final disposal and discusses the issues related to the delay in implementing the NPSW. The collection of recyclable material, the recycling process, the application of reverse logistics and the determination of the gravimetric composition of MSW in Brazil are also addressed in this article. Finally, a brief comparison is made between MSW management in Brazil and in other countries, the barriers to developing effective waste disposal systems are discussed and some recommendations for future MSW management development in Brazil are given.

A model for the implementation of a two-shift municipal solid waste and recyclable material collection plan that offers greater convenience to residents.

PubMed

Lin, Hung-Yueh; Tsai, Zong-Pei; Chen, Guan-Hwa; Kao, Jehng-Jung

2011-01-01

Separating recyclables from municipal solid waste (MSW) before collection reduces not only the quantity of MSW that needs to be treated but also the depletion of resources. However, the participation of residents is essential for a successful recycling program, and the level of participation usually depends on the degree of convenience associated with accessing recycling collection points. The residential accessing convenience (RAC) of a collection plan is determined by the proximity of its collection points to all residents and its temporal flexibility in response to resident requirements. The degree of proximity to all residents is determined by using a coverage radius that represents the maximum distance residents need to travel to access a recycling point. The temporal flexibility is assessed by the availability of proximal recycling points at times suitable to the lifestyles of all residents concerned. In Taiwan, the MSW collection is implemented at fixed locations and at fixed times. Residents must deposit their garbage directly into the collection vehicle. To facilitate the assignment of collection vehicles and to encourage residents to thoroughly separate their recyclables, in Taiwan MSW and recyclable materials are usually collected at the same time by different vehicles. A heuristic procedure including an integer programming (IP) model and ant colony optimization (ACO) is explored in this study to determine an efficient two-shift collection plan that takes into account RAC factors. The IP model has been developed to determine convenient collection points in each shift on the basis of proximity, and then the ACO algorithm is applied to determine the most effective routing plan of each shift. With the use of a case study involving a city in Taiwan, this study has demonstrated that collection plans generated using the above procedure are superior to current collection plans on the basis of proximity and total collection distance.

PRESENT CONDITION OF FOOD WASTE RECYCLING LOOP BASED ON RECYCLING PROJECT CERTIFICATION OF THE FOOD WASTE RECYCLING LAW

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kita, Tomoko; Kanaya, Ken

Purpose of this research is to clear present condition of food waste recycling loops based on recycling project certification of the Food Waste Recycling Law. Method of this research is questionnaire survey to companies constituting the loops. Findings of this research are as follows: 1. Proponents of the loop is most often the recycling companies. 2. Food waste recycling rate is 61% for the food retailing industry and 81% for the food service industry. These values are higher than the national average in 2006. The effect of the revision of recycling project certification is suggested.

Life cycle assessment for optimising the level of separated collection in integrated MSW management systems.

PubMed

Rigamonti, L; Grosso, M; Giugliano, M

2009-02-01

This life cycle assessment study analyses material and energy recovery within integrated municipal solid waste (MSW) management systems, and, in particular, the recovery of the source-separated materials (packaging and organic waste) and the energy recovery from the residual waste. The recovery of materials and energy are analysed together, with the final aim to evaluate possible optimum levels of source-separated collection that lead to the most favourable energetic and environmental results; this method allows identification of an optimum configuration of the MSW management system. The results show that the optimum level of source-separated collection is about 60%, when all the materials are recovered with high efficiency; it decreases to about 50%, when the 60% level is reached as a result of a very high recovery efficiency for organic fractions at the expense of the packaging materials, or when this implies an appreciable reduction of the quality of collected materials. The optimum MSW management system is thus characterized by source-separated collection levels as included in the above indicated range, with subsequent recycling of the separated materials and energy recovery of the residual waste in a large-scale incinerator operating in combined heat and power mode.

Using life cycle assessment to address stakeholders' potential for improving municipal solid waste management.

PubMed

de Andrade Junior, Milton Aurelio Uba; Zanghelini, Guillherme Marcelo; Soares, Sebastião Roberto

2017-05-01

Because the consumption of materials is generally higher than their recovery rate, improving municipal solid waste (MSW) management is fundamental for increasing the efficiency of natural resource use and consumption in urban areas. More broadly, the characteristics of a MSW management system influence the end-of-life (EOL) impacts of goods consumed by households. We aim to indicate the extent to which greenhouse gas emissions from a MSW management system can be reduced by increasing waste paper recycling. We also address the stakeholders' contribution for driving transition towards an improved scenario. Life cycle assessment (LCA) addresses the EOL impacts of the paper industry, driven by the characteristics of MSW management in Florianópolis, Brazil, by varying the level of stakeholders' commitment through different recycling scenarios. The results show that 41% of the climate change impacts from waste paper management could be reduced when increasing the waste paper recycling rates and reducing waste paper landfilling. To achieve such emissions reduction, the industry contribution to the MSW management system would have to increase from 17% in the business-as-usual scenario to 74% in the target scenario. We were able to measure the differences in stakeholders' contribution by modelling the MSW management system processes that are under the industry's responsibility separately from the processes that are under the government's responsibility, based on the Brazilian legal framework. The conclusions indicate that LCA can be used to support policy directions on reducing the impacts of MSW management by increasing resource recovery towards a circular economy.

Research challenges in municipal solid waste logistics management.

PubMed

Bing, Xiaoyun; Bloemhof, Jacqueline M; Ramos, Tania Rodrigues Pereira; Barbosa-Povoa, Ana Paula; Wong, Chee Yew; van der Vorst, Jack G A J

2016-02-01

During the last two decades, EU legislation has put increasing pressure on member countries to achieve specified recycling targets for municipal household waste. These targets can be obtained in various ways choosing collection methods, separation methods, decentral or central logistic systems, etc. This paper compares municipal solid waste (MSW) management practices in various EU countries to identify the characteristics and key issues from a waste management and reverse logistics point of view. Further, we investigate literature on modelling municipal solid waste logistics in general. Comparing issues addressed in literature with the identified issues in practice result in a research agenda for modelling municipal solid waste logistics in Europe. We conclude that waste recycling is a multi-disciplinary problem that needs to be considered at different decision levels simultaneously. A holistic view and taking into account the characteristics of different waste types are necessary when modelling a reverse supply chain for MSW recycling. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Municipal solid waste (MSW) as a renewable source of energy: current and future practices in China.

PubMed

Cheng, Hefa; Hu, Yuanan

2010-06-01

With rapid economic growth and massive urbanization, China faces the problem of municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal and the pressing need for development of alternative energy. Waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration, which recovers energy from discarded MSW and produces electricity and/or steam for heating, is recognized as a renewable source of energy and is playing an increasingly important role in MSW management in China. This article provides an overview of the WTE industry, discusses the major challenges in expanding WTE incineration in China, namely, high capital and operational costs, equipment corrosion, air pollutant emissions, and fly ash disposal. A perspective on MSW as a renewable energy source in China is also presented. Currently, only approximately 13% of MSW generated in China is disposed in WTE facilities. With the significant benefits of environmental quality, the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and government policies and financial incentives as a renewable energy source, WTE incineration industry is expected to experience significant growth in the coming decade and make greater contribution to supplying renewable energy in China. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Food waste collection and recycling for value-added products: potential applications and challenges in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Lo, Irene M C; Woon, Kok Sin

2016-04-01

About 3600 tonnes food waste are discarded in the landfills in Hong Kong daily. It is expected that the three strategic landfills in Hong Kong will be exhausted by 2020. In consideration of the food waste management environment and community needs in Hong Kong, as well as with reference to the food waste management systems in cities such as Linköping in Sweden and Oslo in Norway, a framework of food waste separation, collection, and recycling for food waste valorization is proposed in this paper. Food waste can be packed in an optic bag (i.e., a bag in green color), while the residual municipal solid waste (MSW) can be packed in a common plastic bag. All the wastes are then sent to the refuse transfer stations, in which food waste is separated from the residual MSW using an optic sensor. On the one hand, the sorted food waste can be converted into valuable materials (e.g., compost, swine feed, fish feed). On the other hand, the sorted food waste can be sent to the proposed Organic Waste Treatment Facilities and sewage treatment works for producing biogas. The biogas can be recovered to produce electricity and city gas (i.e., heating fuel for cooking purpose). Due to the challenges faced by the value-added products in Hong Kong, the biogas is recommended to be upgraded as a biogas fuel for vehicle use. Hopefully, the proposed framework will provide a simple and effective approach to food waste separation at source and promote sustainable use of waste to resource in Hong Kong.

Assessment of carbon footprint emissions and environmental concerns of solid waste treatment and disposal techniques; case study of Malaysia.

PubMed

Malakahmad, Amirhossein; Abualqumboz, Motasem S; Kutty, Shamsul Rahman M; Abunama, Taher J

2017-12-01

Malaysian authorities has planned to minimize and stop when applicable unsanitary dumping of waste as it puts human health and the environment at elevated risk. Cost, energy and revenue are mostly adopted to draw the blueprint of upgrading municipal solid waste management system, while the carbon footprint emissions criterion rarely acts asa crucial factor. This study aims to alert Malaysian stakeholders on the uneven danger of carbon footprint emissions of waste technologies. Hence, three scenarios have been proposed and assessed mainly on the carbon footprint emissions using the 2006 IPCC methodology. The first scenario is waste dumping in sanitary landfills equipped with gas recovery system, while the second scenario includes anaerobic digestion of organics and recycling of recyclable wastes such as plastic, glass and textile wastes. The third scenario is waste incineration. Besides the carbon footprint emissions criterion, other environmental concerns were also examined. The results showed that the second scenario recorded the lowest carbon footprint emissions of 0.251t CO 2 eq./t MSW while the third scenario had the highest emissions of 0.646t CO 2 eq./t MSW. Additionally, the integration between anaerobic digestion and recycling techniques caused the highest avoided CO 2 eq. emissions of 0.74t CO 2 eq./t MSW. The net CO 2 eq. emissions of the second scenario equaled -0.489t CO 2 eq./t MSW due to energy recovery from the biogas and because of recycled plastic, glass and textile wastes that could replace usage of raw material. The outcomes also showed that the first scenario generates huge amount of leachate and hazardous air constituents. The study estimated that a ton of dumped waste inside the landfills generates approximately 0.88m 3 of trace risky compounds and 0.188m 3 of leachate. As for energy production, the results showed that the third scenario is capable of generating 639kWh/t MSW followed by the second scenario with 387.59kWh/t MSW. The first

Municipal solid waste flow and waste generation characteristics in an urban--rural fringe area in Thailand.

PubMed

Hiramatsu, Ai; Hara, Yuji; Sekiyama, Makiko; Honda, Ryo; Chiemchaisri, Chart

2009-12-01

In the urban-rural fringe of the Bangkok Metropolitan Region, rapid urbanization is creating a land-use mixture of agricultural fields and residential areas. To develop appropriate policies to enhance recycling of municipal solid waste (MSW), current MSW management was investigated in the oboto (local administrative district) of Bang Maenang in Nonthaburi Province, adjoining Bangkok. The authors conducted a structural interview survey with waste-related organizations and local residents, analysed household waste generation, and performed global positioning system (GPS) tracking of municipal garbage trucks. It was found that MSW was collected and treated by local government, private-sector entities, and the local community separately. Lack of integrated management of these entities complicated waste flow in the study area, and some residences were not served by MSW collection. Organic waste, such as kitchen garbage and yard waste, accounted for a large proportion of waste generation but was underutilized. Through GPS/GIS analysis, the waste collection rate of the generated waste amount was estimated to be 45.5- 51.1% of total generation.

Potential for energy recovery and greenhouse gas mitigation from municipal solid waste using a waste-to-material approach.

PubMed

Chen, Ying-Chu

2016-12-01

Energy recovery and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from wastes are getting noticed in recent years. This study evaluated the potential for energy recovery and GHG mitigation from municipal solid waste (MSW) with a waste-to-material (WTM) approach. Waste generated in Taiwan contains a large amount of paper, food waste, and plastics, which previously were mostly sent to waste-to-energy (WTE) plants for incineration. However, the mitigation of GHGs by the WTM approach has been especially successful in the recycling of metals (averaging 1.83×10 6 kgCO 2 -eq/year) and paper (averaging 7.38×10 5 kgCO 2 -eq/year). In addition, the recycling of paper (1.33×10 10 kWh) and plastics (1.26×10 10 kWh) has contributed greatly to energy saving. Both metal and glass are not suitable for incineration due to their low energy content. The volumes of paper and food waste contained in the MSW are positively related to the carbon concentration, which may contribute to increased GHGs during incineration. Therefore, the recycling of paper, metals, and food waste is beneficial for GHG mitigation. Measures to reduce GHGs were also suggested in this study. The development of the WTM approach may be helpful for the proper management of MSW with regards to GHG mitigation. The results of this study can be a successful example for other nations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploring social and infrastructural factors affecting open burning of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Indian cities: A comparative case study of three neighborhoods of Delhi.

PubMed

Ramaswami, Anu; Baidwan, Navneet Kaur; Nagpure, Ajay Singh

2016-11-01

Open municipal solid waste (MSW)-burning is a major source of particulate matter emissions in developing world cities. Despite a legal ban, MSW-burning is observed ubiquitously in Indian cities with little being known about the factors shaping it. This study seeks to uncover social and infrastructural factors that affect MSW-burning at the neighborhood level. We couple physical assessments of the infrastructure provision and the MSW-burning incidences in three different neighborhoods of varying socio-economic status in Delhi, with an accompanying study of the social actors (interviews of waste handlers and households) to explore the extent to which, and potential reasons why, MSW-burning occurs. The observed differences in MSW-burning incidences range from 130 km -2  day -1 in low-income to 30 km -2  day -1 in the high-income areas. However, two high-income areas neighborhoods with functional infrastructure service also showed statistical differences in MSW-burning incidences. Our interviews revealed that, while the waste handlers were aware of the health risks associated with MSW-burning, it was not a high priority in the context of the other difficulties they faced. The awareness of the legal ban on MSW-burning was low among both waste handlers and households. In addition to providing infrastructure for waste pickup, informal restrictions from residents and neighborhood associations can play a significant role in restricting MSW-burning at the neighborhood scale. A more efficient management of MSW requires a combined effort that involves interplay of both social and infrastructural systems. © The Author(s) 2016.

Material flow and sustainability analyses of biorefining of municipal solid waste.

PubMed

Sadhukhan, Jhuma; Martinez-Hernandez, Elias

2017-11-01

This paper presents material flow and sustainability analyses of novel mechanical biological chemical treatment system for complete valorization of municipal solid waste (MSW). It integrates material recovery facility (MRF); pulping, chemical conversion; effluent treatment plant (ETP), anaerobic digestion (AD); and combined heat and power (CHP) systems producing end products: recyclables (24.9% by mass of MSW), metals (2.7%), fibre (1.5%); levulinic acid (7.4%); recyclable water (14.7%), fertiliser (8.3%); and electricity (0.126MWh/t MSW), respectively. Refuse derived fuel (RDF) and non-recyclable other waste, char and biogas from MRF, chemical conversion and AD systems, respectively, are energy recovered in the CHP system. Levulinic acid gives profitability independent of subsidies; MSW priced at 50Euro/t gives a margin of 204Euro/t. Global warming potential savings are 2.4 and 1.3kg CO 2 equivalent per kg of levulinic acid and fertiliser, and 0.17kg CO 2 equivalent per MJ of grid electricity offset, respectively. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Facts and Figures about Materials, Waste and Recycling

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The area will transform MSW info included in our Advancing SMM report to better serve our audience’s needs and will also hold data on certain industrial wastes, related job creation, and in the future, hazardous waste.

Analyzing the success of the volume-based waste fee system in South Korea.

PubMed

Park, Seejeen; Lah, T J

2015-09-01

For more than a decade, South Korea has been ranked first among the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) members in their municipal solid waste (MSW) recycling rate. One of the major contributing factors for its outstanding MSW recycling performance is the volume-based waste fee (VWF) system implemented in 1995. Despite the perceived success of VWF, there has been few research conducted that has sought to demonstrate the success of the policy in an empirical manner. Research conducted currently on VWF in South Korea tends to have limitations in empirical approaches and identifying the intervention effect of VWF on recycling performance. This study attempts to empirically test whether the adoption of VWF positively affected recycling performance in Korea over time. The findings suggest that although there was a dramatic increase of the recycling rate with the introduction of VWF in 1995, Korea's MSW recycling performance settled back again and showed the constant pace after the intervention. No significant differences in recycling rate were found between before and after 1995 period. In conclusion, implications and suggestions for both research and practice are proposed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Production and characterization refuse derived fuel (RDF) from high organic and moisture contents of municipal solid waste (MSW)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dianda, P.; Mahidin; Munawar, E.

2018-03-01

Many cities in developing countries is facing a serious problems to dealing with huge municipal solid waste (MSW) generated. The main approach to manage MSW is causes environmental impact associated with the leachate and landfill gas emissions. On the other hand, the energy available also limited by rapid growth of population and economic development due to shortage of the natural resource. In this study, the potential utilized of MSW to produce refuse derived fuel (RDF) was investigate. The RDF was produced with various organic waste content. Then, the RDF was subjected to laboratory analysis to determine its characteristic including the calorific value. The results shows the moisture content was increased by increasing organic waste content, while the calorific value was found 17-36 MJ/kg. The highest calorific value was about 36 MJ/kg obtained at RDF with 40% organic waste content. This results indicated that the RDF can be use to substitute coal in main burning process and calcinations of cement industry.

Municipal Solid Waste Composition Study of Selected Area in Gambang, Pahang

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mokhtar, Nadiah; Ishak, Wan Faizal Wan; Suraya Romali, Noor; Fatimah Che Osmi, Siti; Armi Abu Samah, Mohd

2013-06-01

The amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated continue to increase in response to rapid growth in population, change in life style and accelerated urbanization and industrialization process. The study on MSW is important in order to determine the composition further seeks an immediate remedy to minimize the waste generated at the early stage. As most of the MSW goes to the landfill or dumping sites, particularly in Malaysia, closure of filled-up landfill may become an alarm clock for an immediate action of proper solid waste management. This research aims to determine the waste composition generated from selected residential area at Gambang, Kuantan, Pahang which represent Old residential area (ORA), Intermediate residential area (IRA) and New residential area (NRA). The study was conducted by segregating and weighing solid waste in the residential area into 6 main components ie., food waste, paper, plastic, glass, metal and others. In a period of four weeks, samples from the residential unit were taken and analyzed. The MSW generation rates were recorded vary from 0.217 to 0.388 kg person-1day-1. Food waste has become the major solid waste component generated daily which mounted up to 50%. From this research, the result revealed that the recyclable composition of waste generated by residents have a potential to be reuse, recycle and reduce at the point sources.

Working towards a zero waste environment in Taiwan.

PubMed

Young, Chea-Yuan; Ni, Shih-Piao; Fan, Kuo-Shuh

2010-03-01

It is essential to the achievement of zero waste that emphasis is concentrated on front-end preventions rather than end-of-pipe (EOP) treatment. Zero waste is primarily based on cleaner production, waste management, the reduction of unnecessary consumption and the effective utilization of waste materials. The aim of this study was to briefly review the tasks undertaken and future plans for achieving zero waste in Taiwan. Waste prevention, source reduction, waste to product, waste to energy, EOP treatment, and adequate disposal are the sequential principal procedures to achieve the goal of zero waste. Six strategies have been adopted to implement the zero waste policy in Taiwan. These are regulatory amendments, consumption education, financial incentives, technical support, public awareness, and tracking and reporting. Stepwise targets have been set for 2005, 2007, 2011, and 2020 for both the municipal solid waste (MSW) and industrial waste to reach the goal of zero waste. The eventual aim is to achieve 70% MSW minimization and 85% industrial waste minimization by 2020. Although tools and measures have been established, some key programmes have higher priority. These include the establishment of a waste recycling programme, promotion of cleaner production, a green procurement programme, and promotion of public awareness. Since the implementation of the zero waste policy started in 2003, the volume of MSW for landfill and incineration has declined dramatically. The recycling and/or minimization of MSW quantity in 2007 was 37%, which is much higher than the goal of 25%. Industrial waste reached almost 76% minimization by the end of 2006, which is 1 year before the target year.

Benefits of improved municipal solid waste management on greenhouse gas reduction in Luangprabang, Laos.

PubMed

Vilaysouk, Xaysackda; Babel, Sandhya

2017-07-01

Climate change is a consequence of greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the waste sector contribute to 3% of total anthropogenic emissions. In this study, applicable solutions for municipal solid waste (MSW) management in Luangprabang (LPB) and Laos were examined. Material flow analysis of MSW was performed to estimate the amount of MSW generated in 2015. Approximately 29,419 tonnes of MSW is estimated for 2015. Unmanaged landfilling was the main disposal method, while MSW open burning was also practiced to some extent. The International Panel on Climate Change 2006 model and the Atmospheric Brown Clouds Emission Inventory Manual were used to estimate GHG emissions from existing MSW management, and total emissions are 33,889 tonnes/year carbon dioxide-equivalents (CO 2 -eq). Three scenarios were developed in order to reduce GHG emissions and environmental problems. Improvement of the MSW management by expanding MSW collection services, introducing composting and recycling, and avoiding open burning, can be considered as solutions to overcome the problems for LPB. The lowest GHG emissions are achieved in the scenario where composting and recycling are proposed, with the total GHG emissions reduction by 18,264 tonnes/year CO 2 -eq.

Solid-shape energy fuels from recyclable municipal solid waste and plastics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gug, Jeongin

Diversion of waste streams, such as plastics, wood and paper, from municipal landfills and extraction of useful materials from landfills is an area of increasing interest across the country, especially in densely populated areas. One promising technology for recycling MSW (municipal solid waste) is to burn the high energy content components in standard coal boilers. This research seeks to reform wastes into briquette that are compatible with typical coal combustion processes. In order to comply with the standards of coal-fired power plants, the feedstock must be mechanically robust, moisture resistance, and retain high fuel value. Household waste with high paper and fibers content was used as the base material for this study. It was combined with recyclable plastics such as PE, PP, PET and PS for enhanced binding and energy efficiency. Fuel pellets were processed using a compression molding technique. The resulting moisture absorption, proximate analysis from burning, and mechanical properties were investigated after sample production and then compared with reference data for commercial coals and biomass briquettes. The effects of moisture content, compression pressure and processing temperature were studied to identify the optimal processing conditions with water uptake tests for the durability of samples under humid conditions and burning tests to examine the composition of samples. Lastly, mechanical testing revealed the structural stability of solid fuels. The properties of fuel briquettes produced from waste and recycled plastics improved with higher processing temperature but without charring the material. Optimization of moisture content and removal of air bubbles increased the density, stability and mechanical strength. The sample composition was found to be more similar to biomass fuels than coals because the majority of the starting material was paper-based solid waste. According to the proximate analysis results, the waste fuels can be expected to have

SUSTAINABLE MSW MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN THE UNITED STATES

EPA Science Inventory

Under increasing pressure to minimize potential environmental burdens and costs for municipal solid waste (MSW) management, state and local governments often must modify programs and adopt more efficient integrated MSW management strategies that reflect dynamic shifts in MSW mana...

Solid waste recycling in Rajshahi city of Bangladesh.

PubMed

Bari, Q Hamidul; Hassan, K Mahbub; Haque, M Ehsanul

2012-11-01

Efficient recycling of solid wastes is now a global concern for a sustainable and environmentally sound management. In this study, traditional recycling pattern of solid waste was investigated in Rajshahi municipality which is the fourth largest city of Bangladesh. A questionnaire survey had been carried out in various recycle shops during April 2010 to January 2011. There were 140 recycle shops and most of them were located in the vicinity of Stadium market in Rajshahi. About 1906 people were found to be involved in recycling activities of the city. The major fraction of recycled wastes were sent to capital city Dhaka for further manufacture of different new products. Only a small amount of wastes, specially plastics, were processed in local recycle factories to produce small washing pots and bottle caps. Everyday, an estimated 28.13 tons of recycled solid wastes were handled in Rajshahi city area. This recycled portion accounted for 8.25% of the daily total generated wastes (341 ton d(-1)), 54.6% of total recyclable wastes (51.49 ton d(-1)) and 68.29% of readily recyclable wastes (41.19 ton d(-1)). Major recycled materials were found to be iron, glass, plastic, and papers. Only five factories were involved in preliminary processing of recyclable wastes. Collecting and processing secondary materials, manufacturing recycled-content products, and then buying recycled products created a circle or loop that ensured the overall success of recycling and generated a host of financial, environmental, and social returns. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Wood Pallets and Landfills - Status and Opportunities for Economic Recovery and Recycling

Treesearch

Philip A. Araman; Robert J. Bush; A.L. Hammett; E. Brad Hager

1998-01-01

Wood pallet recovery, repair, and recycling are sound environmental activities that can reduce both forest resource demands and waste in landfills. Our studies found that 6.16 million tons of wood pallets (or 223.6 million pallets) entered municipal solid waste (MSW) and construction and demolition (C&D) landfill facilities in 1995. At the same time, wood pallet...

The impact of municipal solid waste management on greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.

PubMed

Weitz, Keith A; Thorneloe, Susan A; Nishtala, Subba R; Yarkosky, Sherry; Zannes, Maria

2002-09-01

Technological advancements, environmental regulations, and emphasis on resource conservation and recovery have greatly reduced the environmental impacts of municipal solid waste (MSW) management, including emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). This study was conducted using a life-cycle methodology to track changes in GHG emissions during the past 25 years from the management of MSW in the United States. For the baseline year of 1974, MSW management consisted of limited recycling, combustion without energy recovery, and landfilling without gas collection or control. This was compared with data for 1980, 1990, and 1997, accounting for changes in MSW quantity, composition, management practices, and technology. Over time, the United States has moved toward increased recycling, composting, combustion (with energy recovery) and landfilling with gas recovery, control, and utilization. These changes were accounted for with historical data on MSW composition, quantities, management practices, and technological changes. Included in the analysis were the benefits of materials recycling and energy recovery to the extent that these displace virgin raw materials and fossil fuel electricity production, respectively. Carbon sinks associated with MSW management also were addressed. The results indicate that the MSW management actions taken by U.S. communities have significantly reduced potential GHG emissions despite an almost 2-fold increase in waste generation. GHG emissions from MSW management were estimated to be 36 million metric tons carbon equivalents (MMTCE) in 1974 and 8 MMTCE in 1997. If MSW were being managed today as it was in 1974, GHG emissions would be approximately 60 MMTCE.

Material and energy recovery in integrated waste management system - An Italian case study on the quality of MSW data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bianchini, A.; Pellegrini, M.; Saccani, C., E-mail: cesare.saccani@unibo.it

2011-09-15

This paper analyses the way numerical data on Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) quantities are recorded, processed and then reported for six of the most meaningful Italian Districts and shows the difficulties found during the comparison of these Districts, starting from the lack of homogeneity and the fragmentation of the data indispensable to make this critical analysis. These aspects are often ignored, but data certainty are the basis for serious MSW planning. In particular, the paper focuses on overall Source Separation Level (SSL) definition and on the influence that Special Waste (SW) assimilated to MSW has on it. An investigation wasmore » then necessary to identify new parameters in place of overall SSL. Moreover, these parameters are not only important for a waste management system performance measure, but are fundamental in order to design and check management plan and to identify possible actions to improve it.« less

An incentive-based source separation model for sustainable municipal solid waste management in China.

PubMed

Xu, Wanying; Zhou, Chuanbin; Lan, Yajun; Jin, Jiasheng; Cao, Aixin

2015-05-01

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management (MSWM) is most important and challenging in large urban communities. Sound community-based waste management systems normally include waste reduction and material recycling elements, often entailing the separation of recyclable materials by the residents. To increase the efficiency of source separation and recycling, an incentive-based source separation model was designed and this model was tested in 76 households in Guiyang, a city of almost three million people in southwest China. This model embraced the concepts of rewarding households for sorting organic waste, government funds for waste reduction, and introducing small recycling enterprises for promoting source separation. Results show that after one year of operation, the waste reduction rate was 87.3%, and the comprehensive net benefit under the incentive-based source separation model increased by 18.3 CNY tonne(-1) (2.4 Euros tonne(-1)), compared to that under the normal model. The stakeholder analysis (SA) shows that the centralized MSW disposal enterprises had minimum interest and may oppose the start-up of a new recycling system, while small recycling enterprises had a primary interest in promoting the incentive-based source separation model, but they had the least ability to make any change to the current recycling system. The strategies for promoting this incentive-based source separation model are also discussed in this study. © The Author(s) 2015.

Financing electronic waste recycling Californian households' willingness to pay advanced recycling fees.

PubMed

Nixon, Hilary; Saphores, Jean-Daniel M

2007-09-01

The growth of electronic waste (e-waste) is of increasing concern because of its toxic content and low recycling rates. The e-waste recycling infrastructure needs to be developed, yet little is known about people's willingness to fund its expansion. This paper examines this issue based on a 2004 mail survey of California households. Using an ordered logit model, we find that age, income, beliefs about government and business roles, proximity to existing recycling facilities, community density, education, and environmental attitudes are significant factors for explaining people's willingness to pay an advanced recycling fee (ARF) for electronics. Most respondents are willing to support a 1% ARF. Our results suggest that policymakers should target middle-aged and older adults, improve programs in communities with existing recycling centers or in rural communities, and consider public-private partnerships for e-waste recycling programs.

Ambient air monitoring of Beijing MSW logistics facilities in 2006.

PubMed

Li, Chun-Ping; Li, Guo-Xue; Luo, Yi-Ming; Li, Yan-Fu

2008-11-01

In China, "green" integrated waste management methods are being implemented in response to environmental concerns. We measured the air quality at several municipal solid waste (MSW) sites to provide information for the incorporation of logistics facilities within the current integrated waste management system. We monitored ambient air quality at eight MSW collecting stations, five transfer stations, one composting plant, and five disposal sites in Beijing during April 2006. Composite air samples were collected and analyzed for levels of odor, ammonia (NH3), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), total suspended particles (TSPs), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The results of our atmospheric monitoring demonstrated that although CO and SO2 were within acceptable emission levels according to ambient standards, levels of H2S, TSP, and NO2 in the ambient air at most MSW logistics facilities far exceeded ambient limits established for China. The primary pollutants in the ambient air at Beijing MSW logistics facilities were H2S, TSPs, NO2, and odor. To improve current environmental conditions at MSW logistics facilities, the Chinese government encourages the separation of biogenic waste from MSW at the source.

Material and energy recovery in integrated waste management system--an Italian case study on the quality of MSW data.

PubMed

Bianchini, A; Pellegrini, M; Saccani, C

2011-01-01

This paper analyses the way numerical data on Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) quantities are recorded, processed and then reported for six of the most meaningful Italian Districts and shows the difficulties found during the comparison of these Districts, starting from the lack of homogeneity and the fragmentation of the data indispensable to make this critical analysis. These aspects are often ignored, but data certainty are the basis for serious MSW planning. In particular, the paper focuses on overall Source Separation Level (SSL) definition and on the influence that Special Waste (SW) assimilated to MSW has on it. An investigation was then necessary to identify new parameters in place of overall SSL. Moreover, these parameters are not only important for a waste management system performance measure, but are fundamental in order to design and check management plan and to identify possible actions to improve it. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recycling of air pollution control residues from municipal solid waste incineration into lightweight aggregates.

PubMed

Quina, Margarida J; Bordado, João M; Quinta-Ferreira, Rosa M

2014-02-01

This work focuses on the assessment of technological properties and on the leaching behavior of lightweight aggregates (LWA) produced by incorporating different quantities of air pollution control (APC) residues from municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration. Currently this hazardous waste has been mostly landfilled after stabilization/solidification. The LWA were produced by pelletizing natural clay, APC residues as-received from incineration plant, or after a washing treatment, a small amount of oil and water. The pellets were fired in a laboratory chamber furnace over calcium carbonate. The main technological properties of the LWA were evaluated, mainly concerning morphology, bulk and particle densities, compressive strength, bloating index, water adsorption and porosity. Given that APC residues do not own expansive (bloating) properties, the incorporation into LWA is only possible in moderate quantities, such as 3% as received or 5% after pre-washing treatment. The leaching behavior of heavy metals from sintered LWA using water or acid solutions was investigated, and despite the low acid neutralization capacity of the synthetic aggregates, the released quantities were low over a wide pH range. In conclusion, after a washing pre-treatment and if the percentage of incorporation is low, these residues may be incorporated into LWA. However, the recycling of APC residues from MSW incineration into LWA does not revealed any technical advantage. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Greenhouse gas emissions during MSW landfilling in China: influence of waste characteristics and LFG treatment measures.

PubMed

Yang, Na; Zhang, Hua; Shao, Li-Ming; Lü, Fan; He, Pin-Jing

2013-11-15

Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment can be highly cost-effective in terms of GHG mitigation. This study investigated GHG emissions during MSW landfilling in China under four existing scenarios and in terms of seven different categories: waste collection and transportation, landfill management, leachate treatment, fugitive CH4 (FM) emissions, substitution of electricity production, carbon sequestration and N2O and CO emissions. GHG emissions from simple sanitary landfilling technology where no landfill gas (LFG) extraction took place (Scenario 1) were higher (641-998 kg CO2-eq·t(-1)ww) than those from open dump (Scenario 0, 480-734 kg CO2-eq·t(-1)ww). This was due to the strictly anaerobic conditions in Scenario 1. LFG collection and treatment reduced GHG emissions to 448-684 kg CO2-eq·t(-1)ww in Scenario 2 (with LFG flare) and 214-277 kg CO2-eq·t(-1)ww in Scenario 3 (using LFG for electricity production). Amongst the seven categories, FM was the predominant contributor to GHG emissions. Global sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the parameters associated with waste characteristics (i.e. CH4 potential and carbon sequestered faction) and LFG management (i.e. LFG collection efficiency and CH4 oxidation efficiency) were of great importance. A further learning on the MSW in China indicated that water content and dry matter content of food waste were the basic factors affecting GHG emissions. Source separation of food waste, as well as increasing the incineration ratio of mixed collected MSW, could effectively mitigate the overall GHG emissions from landfilling in a specific city. To increase the LFG collection and CH4 oxidation efficiencies could considerably reduce GHG emissions on the landfill site level. While, the improvement in the LFG utilization measures had an insignificant impact as long as the LFG is recovered for energy generation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Waste to energy – key element for sustainable waste management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brunner, Paul H., E-mail: paul.h.brunner@tuwien.ac.at; Rechberger, Helmut

2015-03-15

Highlights: • First paper on the importance of incineration from a urban metabolism point of view. • Proves that incineration is necessary for sustainable waste management. • Historical and technical overview of 100 years development of MSW incineration. - Abstract: Human activities inevitably result in wastes. The higher the material turnover, and the more complex and divers the materials produced, the more challenging it is for waste management to reach the goals of “protection of men and environment” and “resource conservation”. Waste incineration, introduced originally for volume reduction and hygienic reasons, went through a long and intense development. Together withmore » prevention and recycling measures, waste to energy (WTE) facilities contribute significantly to reaching the goals of waste management. Sophisticated air pollution control (APC) devices ensure that emissions are environmentally safe. Incinerators are crucial and unique for the complete destruction of hazardous organic materials, to reduce risks due to pathogenic microorganisms and viruses, and for concentrating valuable as well as toxic metals in certain fractions. Bottom ash and APC residues have become new sources of secondary metals, hence incineration has become a materials recycling facility, too. WTE plants are supporting decisions about waste and environmental management: They can routinely and cost effectively supply information about chemical waste composition as well as about the ratio of biogenic to fossil carbon in MSW and off-gas.« less

Effect of natural ageing on volume stability of MSW and wood waste incineration residues

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gori, Manuela, E-mail: manuela.gori@dicea.unifi.it; Bergfeldt, Britta; Reichelt, Jürgen

2013-04-15

Highlights: ► Natural weathering on BA from MSW and wood waste incineration was evaluated. ► Type of mineral phases, pH and volume stability were considered. ► Weathering reactions effect in improved stability of the materials. - Abstract: This paper presents the results of a study on the effect of natural weathering on volume stability of bottom ash (BA) from municipal solid waste (MSW) and wood waste incineration. BA samples were taken at different steps of treatment (fresh, 4 weeks and 12 weeks aged) and then characterised for their chemical and mineralogical composition and for volume stability by means of themore » mineralogical test method (M HMVA-StB), which is part of the German quality control system for using aggregates in road construction (TL Gestein-StB 04). Changes of mineralogical composition with the proceeding of the weathering treatment were also monitored by leaching tests. At the end of the 12 weeks of treatment, almost all the considered samples resulted to be usable without restrictions in road construction with reference to the test parameter volume stability.« less

Greenhouse gas emissions from MSW incineration in China: impacts of waste characteristics and energy recovery.

PubMed

Yang, Na; Zhang, Hua; Chen, Miao; Shao, Li-Ming; He, Pin-Jing

2012-12-01

Determination of the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emitted during municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) is complex because both contributions and savings of GHGs exist in the process. To identify the critical factors influencing GHG emissions from MSWI in China, a GHG accounting model was established and applied to six Chinese cities located in different regions. The results showed that MSWI in most of the cities was the source of GHGs, with emissions of 25-207 kg CO(2)-eq t(-1) rw. Within all process stages, the emission of fossil CO(2) from the combustion of MSW was the main contributor (111-254 kg CO(2)-eq t(-1) rw), while the substitution of electricity reduced the GHG emissions by 150-247 kg CO(2)-eq t(-1) rw. By affecting the fossil carbon content and the lower heating value of the waste, the contents of plastic and food waste in the MSW were the critical factors influencing GHG emissions of MSWI. Decreasing food waste content in MSW by half will significantly reduce the GHG emissions from MSWI, and such a reduction will convert MSWI in Urumqi and Tianjin from GHG sources to GHG sinks. Comparison of the GHG emissions in the six Chinese cities with those in European countries revealed that higher energy recovery efficiency in Europe induced much greater reductions in GHG emissions. Recovering the excess heat after generation of electricity would be a good measure to convert MSWI in all the six cities evaluated herein into sinks of GHGs. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Raster-based outranking method: a new approach for municipal solid waste landfill (MSW) siting.

PubMed

Hamzeh, Mohamad; Abbaspour, Rahim Ali; Davalou, Romina

2015-08-01

MSW landfill siting is a complicated process because it requires integration of several factors. In this paper, geographic information system (GIS) and multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) were combined to handle the municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill siting. For this purpose, first, 16 input data layers were prepared in GIS environment. Then, the exclusionary lands were eliminated and potentially suitable areas for the MSW disposal were identified. These potentially suitable areas, in an innovative approach, were further examined by deploying Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE) II and analytic network process (ANP), which are two of the most recent MCDA methods, in order to determine land suitability for landfilling. PROMETHEE II was used to determine a complete ranking of the alternatives, while ANP was employed to quantify the subjective judgments of evaluators as criteria weights. The resulting land suitability was reported on a grading scale of 1-5 from 1 to 5, which is the least to the most suitable area, respectively. Finally, three optimal sites were selected by taking into consideration the local conditions of 15 sites, which were candidates for MSW landfilling. Research findings show that the raster-based method yields effective results.

Emission, distribution and toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during municipal solid waste (MSW) and coal co-combustion.

PubMed

Peng, Nana; Li, Yi; Liu, Zhengang; Liu, Tingting; Gai, Chao

2016-09-15

Emission and distribution characteristics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated during municipal solid waste (MSW) and coal combustion alone and MSW/coal blend (MSW weight fraction of 25%) co-combustion within a temperature range of 500°C-900°C. The results showed that for all combustion experiments, flue gas occupied the highest proportion of total PAHs and fly ash contained more high-ring PAHs. Moreover, the 3- and 4-ring PAHs accounted for the majority of total PAHs and Ant or Phe had the highest concentrations. Compared to coal, MSW combustion generated high levels of total PAHs with the range of 111.28μg/g-10,047.22μg/g and had high toxicity equivalent value (TEQ). MSW/coal co-combustion generated the smallest amounts of total PAHs and had the lowest TEQ than MSW and coal combustion alone. Significant synergistic interactions occurred between MSW and coal during co-combustion and the interactions suppressed the formation of PAHs, especially hazardous high-ring PAHs and decreased the TEQ. The present study indicated that the reduction of the yield and toxicity of PAHs can be achieved by co-combustion of MSW and coal. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Data summary of municipal solid waste management alternatives. Volume 12, Numerically indexed bibliography

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

1992-10-01

This appendix contains the numerically indexed bibliography for the complete group of reports on municipal solid waste management alternatives. The list references information on the following topics: mass burn technologies, RDF technologies, fluidized bed combustion, pyrolysis and gasification of MSW, materials recovery- recycling technologies, sanitary landfills, composting and anaerobic digestion of MSW.

Data summary of municipal solid waste management alternatives. Volume 11, Alphabetically indexed bibliography

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

1992-10-01

This appendix contains the alphabetically indexed bibliography for the complete group of reports on municipal waste management alternatives. The references are listed for each of the following topics: mass burn technologies, RDF technologies, fluidized-bed combustion, pyrolysis and gasification of MSW, materials recovery- recycling technologies, sanitary landfills, composting, and anaerobic digestion of MSW.

Conversion of cellulose rich municipal solid waste blends using ionic liquids: feedstock convertibility and process scale-up

DOE PAGES

Liang, Ling; Li, Chenlin; Xu, Feng; ...

2017-07-24

For this study, sixteen cellulose rich municipal solid waste (MSW) blends were developed and screened using an acid-assisted ionic liquid (IL) deconstruction process. Corn stover and switchgrass were chosen to represent herbaceous feedstocks; non-recyclable paper (NRP) and grass clippings (GC) collected from households were chosen as MSW candidates given their abundance in municipal waste streams. The most promising MSW blend: corn stover/non-recyclable paper (CS/NRP) at 80/20 ratio was identified in milliliter-scale screening based on the sugar yield, feedstock cost, and availability. A successful scale-up (600-fold) of the IL-acidolysis process on the identified CS/NRP blend has been achieved. The sugar andmore » lignin streams were recovered and characterized. Mass and material energy flows of the optimized process were presented. Feedstock cost for MSW blends was also discussed. Results suggest the promising potential of using MSW as a feedstock blending agent for biorefineries while maintaining sufficient performance and low feedstock cost. The bench scale (6 L) study is an essential step in demonstrating the scalability of this IL technology.« less

Conversion of cellulose rich municipal solid waste blends using ionic liquids: feedstock convertibility and process scale-up

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liang, Ling; Li, Chenlin; Xu, Feng

For this study, sixteen cellulose rich municipal solid waste (MSW) blends were developed and screened using an acid-assisted ionic liquid (IL) deconstruction process. Corn stover and switchgrass were chosen to represent herbaceous feedstocks; non-recyclable paper (NRP) and grass clippings (GC) collected from households were chosen as MSW candidates given their abundance in municipal waste streams. The most promising MSW blend: corn stover/non-recyclable paper (CS/NRP) at 80/20 ratio was identified in milliliter-scale screening based on the sugar yield, feedstock cost, and availability. A successful scale-up (600-fold) of the IL-acidolysis process on the identified CS/NRP blend has been achieved. The sugar andmore » lignin streams were recovered and characterized. Mass and material energy flows of the optimized process were presented. Feedstock cost for MSW blends was also discussed. Results suggest the promising potential of using MSW as a feedstock blending agent for biorefineries while maintaining sufficient performance and low feedstock cost. The bench scale (6 L) study is an essential step in demonstrating the scalability of this IL technology.« less

Development potential of e-waste recycling industry in China.

PubMed

Li, Jinhui; Yang, Jie; Liu, Lili

2015-06-01

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE or e-waste) recycling industries in China have been through several phases from spontaneous informal family workshops to qualified enterprises with treatment fund. This study attempts to analyse the development potential of the e-waste recycling industry in China from the perspective of both time and scale potential. An estimation and forecast of e-waste quantities in China shows that, the total e-waste amount reached approximately 5.5 million tonnes in 2013, with 83% of air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, televisions sand computers. The total quantity is expected to reach ca. 11.7 million tonnes in 2020 and 20 million tonnes in 2040, which indicates a large increase potential. Moreover, the demand for recycling processing facilities, the optimal service radius of e-waste recycling enterprises and estimation of the profitability potential of the e-waste recycling industry were analysed. Results show that, based on the e-waste collection demand, e-waste recycling enterprises therefore have a huge development potential in terms of both quantity and processing capacity, with 144 and 167 e-waste recycling facilities needed, respectively, by 2020 and 2040. In the case that e-waste recycling enterprises set up their own collection points to reduce the collection cost, the optimal collection service radius is estimated to be in the range of 173 km to 239 km. With an e-waste treatment fund subsidy, the e-waste recycling industry has a small economic profit, for example ca. US$2.5/unit for television. The annual profit for the e-waste recycling industry overall was about 90 million dollars in 2013. © The Author(s) 2015.

Materials in the U.S. Municipal Waste Stream, 1960 to 2012 (in tons)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has collected and reported data on the generation and disposal of waste in the United States for more than 30 years. We use this information to measure the success of waste reduction and recycling programs across the country. Our trash, or municipal solid waste (MSW), is made up of the things we commonly use and then throw away. These materials include items such as packaging, food scraps, grass clippings, sofas, computers, tires, and refrigerators. MSW does not include industrial, hazardous, or construction waste. The data in Materials and Products in the Municipal Waste Stream, 1960 to 2012, provides estimated data in thousands of tons discarded after recycling and compost recovery for the years 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012. In this data set, discards include combustion with energy recovery. This data table does not include construction & demolition debris, industrial process wastes, or certain other wastes. Details may not add to totals due to rounding.

ANALYSIS OF THE POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF TOXICS ON MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANGEMENT OPTIONS

EPA Science Inventory

Many alternative waste management practices and strategies are available to manage the large quantities of MSW generated every year. These management alternatives include recycling, composting, waste-to-fuel/energy recovery, and landfilling. In choosing the best possible manageme...

ANALYSIS OF THE POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF TOXICS ON MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT OPTIONS

EPA Science Inventory

Many alternative waste management practices and strategies are available to manage the large quantities of MSW generated every year. hese management alternatives include recycling, composting, waste-to-fuel/energy recovery, and landfilling. n choosing the best possible management...

Study on Consumer Opposition to Exporting Recyclable Wastes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suzuki, Yoshiyuki; Koizumi, Kunishige; Zhou, Weisheng

Trans-boundary trade from Japan to China of recyclable wastes such as waste copper has increased rapidly, because of resource demands through economic growth. These wastes are recycled at high rates thanks to the Chinese manual recycling process by a lot of low wage migrant workers from rural districts. China benefits by supplying jobs to many migrant workers and getting cheap resources. Although, Japanese consumers may have some opposition to exporting end-of-pipe home appliance wastes to foreign countries. From the results of the path-analysis from the questionnaire to Japanese consumers, it became clear that their reluctance came from anxiety about illegal dumping, the labor environment at the import country and the destruction of the ecosystem. Through conjoint analysis, willingness to pay the recycling fee decreases - 1,625 yen (equal to 34% of the current recycling fee of 4,630 yen) when choosing global recycling as opposed to domestic recycling, hypothesizing that consumers would rather recycle domestically instead of globally.

Implications of variable waste placement conditions for MSW landfills.

PubMed

Cox, Jason T; Yesiller, Nazli; Hanson, James L

2015-12-01

This investigation was conducted to evaluate the influence of waste placement practices on the engineering response of municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. Waste placement conditions were varied by moisture addition to the wastes at the time of disposal. Tests were conducted at a California landfill in test plots (residential component of incoming wastes) and full-scale active face (all incoming wastes including residential, commercial, and self-delivered components). The short-term effects of moisture addition were assessed by investigating compaction characteristics and moisture distribution and the long-term effects by estimating settlement characteristics of the variably placed wastes. In addition, effects on engineering properties including hydraulic conductivity and shear strength, as well as economic aspects were investigated. The unit weight of the wastes increased with moisture addition to a maximum value and then decreased with further moisture addition. At the optimum moisture conditions, 68% more waste could be placed in the same landfill volume compared to the baseline conditions. Moisture addition raised the volumetric moisture content of the wastes to the range 33-42%, consistent with values at and above field capacity. Moisture transfer occurred between consecutive layers of compacted wastes and a moisture addition schedule of 2 days of as-received conditions and 1 day of moisture addition was recommended. Settlement of wastes was estimated to increase with moisture addition, with a 34% increase at optimum moisture compared to as-received conditions. Overall, moisture addition during compaction increased unit weight, the amount of incoming wastes disposed in a given landfill volume, biological activity potential, and predicted settlement. The combined effects have significant environmental and economic implications for landfill operations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

APPLICATION OF THE US DECISION SUPPORT TOOL FOR MATERIALS AND WASTE MANAGEMENT

EPA Science Inventory

EPA¿s National Risk Management Research Laboratory has led the development of a municipal solid waste decision support tool (MSW-DST). The computer software can be used to calculate life-cycle environmental tradeoffs and full costs of different waste management plans or recycling...

Taiwan`s experience with municipal waste recycling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, C.H.

1998-12-31

Currently, each person on the average produces 1.15 kg of the municipal waste per day and a total of 9 million metric tons were generated annually in Taiwan. The disposal of such a huge amount of waste presents tremendous challenge for the island due to the scarcity of landfills and incineration facilities available locally. EPA of Taiwan, R.O.C. thus takes an active role in promoting waste recycling to reduce the garbage produced in municipalities. In order to efficiently utilize the government`s human and financial resources used in recycling, started from January 31, 1989, EPA has mandated the producer responsibility recyclingmore » program for several designated post-consumer products such as PET, PVC bottles, scrap tires, scrap motor vehicles, etc. Producer responsibility recycling program specifies that the manufacturers, importers and sellers of these designated products have the responsibility to retrieve their products and recycle them properly. Several negative effects have been encountered while the implementation of this producer responsibility recycling program in Taiwan which resulted in a modification of this recycling program recently. This paper presents the encountered experiences on the implementation of municipal waste recycling program in Taiwan.« less

Chromium behavior during thermal treatment of MSW fly ash.

PubMed

Kirk, Donald W; Chan, Chris C Y; Marsh, Hilary

2002-02-14

Energy-from-waste incineration has been promoted as an environmentally responsible method for handling non-recyclable waste from households. Despite the benefits of energy production, elimination of organic residues and reduction of volume of waste to be landfilled, there is concern about fly ash disposal. Fly ash from an incinerator contains toxic species such as Pb, Zn, Cd and Cr which may leach into soil and ground water if landfilled. Thermal treatment of the fly ash from municipal solid waste has been tested and proposed as a treatment option for removal of metal species such as Pb, Cd and Zn, via thermal re-volatilization. However, Cr is an element that remains in the residue of the heat treated fly ash and appears to become more soluble. This Cr solubilization is of concern if it exceeds the regulatory limit for hazardous waste. Hence, this unexpected behavior of Cr was investigated. The initial work involved microscopic characterization of Cr in untreated and thermally-treated MSW fly ash. This was followed by determining leaching characteristics using standard protocol leaching tests and characterization leaching methods (sequential extraction). Finally, a mechanism explaining the increased solubilization was proposed and tested by reactions of synthetic chemicals.

Greenhouse gas emission mitigation relevant to changes in municipal solid waste management system.

PubMed

Pikoń, Krzysztof; Gaska, Krzysztof

2010-07-01

Standard methods for assessing the environmental impact of waste management systems are needed to underpin the development and implementation of sustainable waste management practice. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool for comprehensively ensuring such assessment and covers all impacts associated with waste management. LCA is often called "from cradle to grave" analysis. This paper integrates information on the greenhouse gas (GHG) implications of various management options for some of the most common materials in municipal solid waste (MSW). Different waste treatment options for MSW were studied in a system analysis. Different combinations of recycling (cardboard, plastics, glass, metals), biological treatment (composting), and incineration as well as land-filling were studied. The index of environmental burden in the global warming impact category was calculated. The calculations are based on LCA methodology. All emissions taking place in the whole life cycle system were taken into account. The analysis included "own emissions," or emissions from the system at all stages of the life cycle, and "linked emissions," or emissions from other sources linked with the system in an indirect way. Avoided emissions caused by recycling and energy recovery were included in the analysis. Displaced emissions of GHGs originate from the substitution of energy or materials derived from waste for alternative sources. The complex analysis of the environmental impact of municipal waste management systems before and after application of changes in MSW systems according to European Union regulations is presented in this paper. The evaluation is made for MSW systems in Poland.

LIFE-CYCLE EVALUATION OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES

EPA Science Inventory

The paper discusses a life-cycle evaluation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from municipal soild waste (MSW) management in the U.S. (NOTE: Using integrated waste management, recycling/composting, waste-to-energy, and better control of landfill gas, communities across the U.S. a...

Waste printed circuit board recycling techniques and product utilization.

PubMed

Hadi, Pejman; Xu, Meng; Lin, Carol S K; Hui, Chi-Wai; McKay, Gordon

2015-01-01

E-waste, in particular waste PCBs, represents a rapidly growing disposal problem worldwide. The vast diversity of highly toxic materials for landfill disposal and the potential of heavy metal vapors and brominated dioxin emissions in the case of incineration render these two waste management technologies inappropriate. Also, the shipment of these toxic wastes to certain areas of the world for eco-unfriendly "recycling" has recently generated a major public outcry. Consequently, waste PCB recycling should be adopted by the environmental communities as an ultimate goal. This article reviews the recent trends and developments in PCB waste recycling techniques, including both physical and chemical recycling. It is concluded that the physical recycling techniques, which efficiently separate the metallic and nonmetallic fractions of waste PCBs, offer the most promising gateways for the environmentally-benign recycling of this waste. Moreover, although the reclaimed metallic fraction has gained more attention due to its high value, the application of the nonmetallic fraction has been neglected in most cases. Hence, several proposed applications of this fraction have been comprehensively examined. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

SOLID WASTE OPTIONS FOR MUNICIPAL PLANNERS - VERSION 3.1 - A SOFTWARE TOOL FOR PRELIMINARY PLANNING - USER DOCUMENTATION

EPA Science Inventory

Municipalities face many challenges in managing nonhazardous solid waste. For instance, landfills are reaching capacity throughout the country, tipping fees are increasing, and regulations affecting the disposal and recycling of municipal solid waste (MSW) are being promulgated ...

Influence of recycling programmes on waste separation behaviour.

PubMed

Stoeva, Katya; Alriksson, Stina

2017-10-01

To achieve high rates of waste reuse and recycling, waste separation in households is essential. This study aimed to reveal how recycling programmes in Sweden and Bulgaria influenced inhabitants' participation in separation of household waste. The waste separation behaviour of 111 university students from Kalmar, Sweden and 112 students from Plovdiv, Bulgaria was studied using the Theory of Planned Behaviour framework. The results showed that a lack of proper conditions for waste separation can prevent individuals from participating in this process, regardless of their positive attitudes. When respondents were satisfied with the local conditions for waste separation their behaviour instead depended on their personal attitudes towards waste separation and recycling. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optical absorption in recycled waste plastic polyethylene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aji, M. P.; Rahmawati, I.; Priyanto, A.; Karunawan, J.; Wati, A. L.; Aryani, N. P.; Susanto; Wibowo, E.; Sulhadi

2018-03-01

We investigated the optical properties of UV spectrum absorption in recycled waste plastic from polyethylene polymer type. Waste plastic polyethylene showed an optical spectrum absorption after it’s recycling process. Spectrum absorption is determined using spectrophotometer UV-Nir Ocean Optics type USB 4000. Recycling method has been processed using heating treatment around the melting point temperature of the polyethylene polymer that are 200°C, 220°C, 240°C, 260°C, and 280°C. In addition, the recycling process was carried out with time variations as well, which are 1h, 1.5h, 2h, and 2.5h. The result of this experiment shows that recycled waste plastic polyethylene has a spectrum absorption in the ∼ 340-550 nm wavelength range. The absorbance spectrum obtained from UV light which is absorbed in the orbital n → π* and the orbital π → π*. This process indicates the existence of electron transition phenomena. This mechanism is affected by the temperature and the heating time where the intensity of absorption increases and widens with the increase of temperature and heating time. Furthermore this study resulted that the higher temperature affected the enhancement of the band gap energy of waste plastic polyethylene. These results show that recycled waste plastic polyethylene has a huge potential to be absorber materials for solar cell.

Regionalization of municipal solid waste management in Japan: balancing the proximity principle with economic efficiency.

PubMed

Okuda, Itaru; Thomson, Vivian E

2007-07-01

The proximity principle - disposing of waste close to its origin - has been a central value in municipal solid waste (MSW) management in Japan for the last 30 years and its widespread adoption has helped resolve numerous "Not in My Backyard" issues related to MSW management. However, MSW management costs have soared, in large part because of aggressive recycling efforts and because most MSW is incinerated in a country that has scarce landfill capacity. In addition, smaller, less sophisticated incinerators have been closed because of high dioxin emissions. Rising costs combined with the closure of smaller incinerators have shifted MSW management policy toward regionalization, which is the sharing of waste management facilities across municipalities. Despite the increased use of regionalized MSW facilities, the proximity principle remains the central value in Japanese MSW management. Municipal solid waste management has become increasingly regionalized in the United States, too, but different driving forces are at work in these two countries. The transition to regionalized MSW management in Japan results from strong governmental control at all levels, with the central government providing funds and policy direction and prefectures and municipalities being the primary implementing authorities. By contrast, market forces are a much stronger force with US MSW management, where local governments - with state government oversight - have primary responsibility for MSW management. We describe recent changes in Japan's MSW programs. We examine the connections between MSW facility regionalization, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the proximity principle, coordination among local governments, central government control, and financing mechanisms.

Research on solid waste management system: to improve existing situation in Corlu Town of Turkey.

PubMed

Tinmaz, Esra; Demir, Ibrahim

2006-01-01

Over the past decades, uncontrolled population growth and rapid urbanization and industrialization have resulted in environmental problems in Corlu Town, Turkey. One of the most important problems is solid waste due to inadequate management practices. Nowadays, increasing public awareness of the environment compels local authorities to define and to adopt new solutions for waste management. This paper presents a general overview of current solid waste management practices in Corlu Town and principles of the recommended municipal solid waste (MSW) management system. In Corlu, 170 tonnes of municipal solid waste are generated each day, or 1.150 kg per capita per day. Approximately one-half of the municipal solid waste generated is organic material and 30% of the MSW consists of recyclable materials. The recommended system deals with maximizing recycling and minimizing landfilling of municipal solid waste, and consists of separation at source, collection, sorting, recycling, composting and sanitary landfilling. This study also analyzed the recommended system with respect to feasibility and economics. To evaluate whether the suggested system is cost effective or not, the operating cost of the recommended system and market prices of recyclable materials were compared, and the results show that the recommended system will reduce required landfill volume up to 27% of compared to the present situation. The profit of the recommended system is estimated to be about 80 million US dollars.

Optimal planning for the sustainable utilization of municipal solid waste.

PubMed

Santibañez-Aguilar, José Ezequiel; Ponce-Ortega, José María; Betzabe González-Campos, J; Serna-González, Medardo; El-Halwagi, Mahmoud M

2013-12-01

The increasing generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) is a major problem particularly for large urban areas with insufficient landfill capacities and inefficient waste management systems. Several options associated to the supply chain for implementing a MSW management system are available, however to determine the optimal solution several technical, economic, environmental and social aspects must be considered. Therefore, this paper proposes a mathematical programming model for the optimal planning of the supply chain associated to the MSW management system to maximize the economic benefit while accounting for technical and environmental issues. The optimization model simultaneously selects the processing technologies and their location, the distribution of wastes from cities as well as the distribution of products to markets. The problem was formulated as a multi-objective mixed-integer linear programing problem to maximize the profit of the supply chain and the amount of recycled wastes, where the results are showed through Pareto curves that tradeoff economic and environmental aspects. The proposed approach is applied to a case study for the west-central part of Mexico to consider the integration of MSW from several cities to yield useful products. The results show that an integrated utilization of MSW can provide economic, environmental and social benefits. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Waste Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Recycling Techniques.

PubMed

Ning, Chao; Lin, Carol Sze Ki; Hui, David Chi Wai; McKay, Gordon

2017-04-01

With the development of technologies and the change of consumer attitudes, the amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is increasing annually. As the core part of WEEE, the waste printed circuit board (WPCB) is a dangerous waste but at the same time a rich resource for various kinds of materials. In this work, various WPCB treatment methods as well as WPCB recycling techniques divided into direct treatment (landfill and incineration), primitive recycling technology (pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, biometallurgy and primitive full recovery of NMF-non metallic fraction), and advanced recycling technology (mechanical separation, direct use and modification of NMF) are reviewed and analyzed based on their advantages and disadvantages. Also, the evaluation criteria are discussed including economic, environmental, and gate-to-market ability. This review indicates the future research direction of WPCB recycling should focus on a combination of several techniques or in series recycling to maximize the benefits of process.

Materials Discarded in the U.S. Municipal Waste Stream, 1960 to 2009 (in tons)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has collected and reported data on the generation and disposal of waste in the United States for more than 30 years. We use this information to measure the success of waste reduction and recycling programs across the country. Our trash, or municipal solid waste (MSW), is made up of the things we commonly use and then throw away. These materials include items such as packaging, food scraps, grass clippings, sofas, computers, tires, and refrigerators. MSW does not include industrial, hazardous, or construction waste. The data on Materials Discarded in the Municipal Waste Stream, 1960 to 2009, provides estimated data in thousands of tons discarded after recycling and compost recovery for the years 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009. In this data set, discards include combustion with energy recovery. This data table does not include construction & demolition debris, industrial process wastes, or certain other wastes. The Other category includes electrolytes in batteries and fluff pulp, feces, and urine in disposable diapers. Details may not add to totals due to rounding.

Recycling Solid Waste in Chattanooga

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vredeveld, Ruth; Martin, Robin

1973-01-01

Students undertook a group project in collaboration with city officials to study garbage types in the community and possibilities of recycling solid wastes. Data collected from various sources revealed that public attitude was favorable for recycling efforts and that it was feasible economically. (PS)

The impact of tourism on municipal solid waste generation: the case of Menorca Island (Spain).

PubMed

Mateu-Sbert, Josep; Ricci-Cabello, Ignacio; Villalonga-Olives, Ester; Cabeza-Irigoyen, Elena

2013-12-01

Tourism can sustain high levels of employment and income, but the sector is a source of environmental and health impacts. One of the most important is the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW). However, there is a lack of studies which quantify how much the tourist population engages in total MSW and separately collected recyclables. The aim of this paper is to estimate the impact of the tourist population on MSW, both total and separately collected, for the period 1998-2010, for the Mediterranean island of Menorca (Spain). We use dynamic regressions models, including data for monthly stocks of tourists. The results show that, on average, a 1% increase in the tourist population in Menorca causes an overall MSW increase of 0.282% and one more tourist in Menorca generates 1.31 kg day(-1) (while one more resident generates 1.48 kg day(-1)). This result could be useful to better estimate the seasonal population of different regions, since intrannual fluctuation of MSW is used as a proxy measure of actual population (the sum of residents and tourists). Moreover, an increase of 1% in the tourist population causes an increase of 0.232% in separately collected recyclables and an additional tourist generates 0.160 kg day(-1). One resident selectively collects on average 47.3% more than one tourist. These results can help in the planning of waste infrastructure and waste collection services in tourist areas. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Explaining the differences in household food waste collection and treatment provisions between local authorities in England and Wales.

PubMed

Bees, A D; Williams, I D

2017-12-01

Separate household food waste collection for anaerobic digestion is one method used in the sustainable management of biodegradable municipal solid waste (MSW). Recycling of food waste contributes to the UK's reuse, recycling and composting targets and can help local authorities boost plateauing rates whilst encouraging landfill diversion. This study explored the reasons for differences in the provision of food waste collections, using two comparable local authorities, one with a collection in Wales (Cardiff), and the other absent of such service in England (Southampton). A PESTLE analysis investigated the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental impacts of separate food waste collections. The greenhouse gas impacts of the collection and treatment systems of MSW in both cities were estimated for 2012/13. Results showed significant policy and legislative differences between devolved governments, that separate food waste collections can save local authorities significant sums of money and substantially reduce greenhouse gas impacts. A survey of one hundred respondents in each city aimed to understand attitudes and behaviours towards recycling, food waste segregation, cooking and purchasing habits. The number of frequent recyclers and levels of satisfaction were higher in the authority which provided a separate food waste collection. In the area which lacked a separate collection service, over three-quarters of respondents would participate in such a scheme if it were available. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recycling steel. Conducting a waste audit.

PubMed

Crawford, G

1996-01-01

This is the second in a series of three articles regarding steel can recycling from foodservice operations of healthcare facilities. This article highlights the basic methods of recycling steel cans, and includes information on conducting a waste audit and negotiating with a hauler regarding the benefits of recycling. The previous article discussed how steel is recycled across the country. The next article will convey a case history of actual foodservice recycling practice from a healthcare facility.

Status of electronic waste recycling techniques: a review.

PubMed

Abdelbasir, Sabah M; Hassan, Saad S M; Kamel, Ayman H; El-Nasr, Rania Seif

2018-05-08

The increasing use of electrical and electronic equipment leads to a huge generation of electronic waste (e-waste). It is the fastest growing waste stream in the world. Almost all electrical and electronic equipment contain printed circuit boards as an essential part. Improper handling of these electronic wastes could bring serious risk to human health and the environment. On the other hand, proper handling of this waste requires a sound management strategy for awareness, collection, recycling, and reuse. Nowadays, the effective recycling of this type of waste has been considered as a main challenge for any society. Printed circuit boards (PCBs), which are the base of many electronic industries, are rich in valuable heavy metals and toxic halogenated organic substances. In this review, the composition of different PCBs and their harmful effects are discussed. Various techniques in common use for recycling the most important metals from the metallic fractions of e-waste are illustrated. The recovery of metals from e-waste material after physical separation through pyrometallurgical, hydrometallurgical, or biohydrometallurgical routes is also discussed, along with alternative uses of non-metallic fraction. The data are explained and compared with the current e-waste management efforts done in Egypt. Future perspectives and challenges facing Egypt for proper e-waste recycling are also discussed.

Designing and examining e-waste recycling process: methodology and case studies.

PubMed

Li, Jinhui; He, Xin; Zeng, Xianlai

2017-03-01

Increasing concerns on resource depletion and environmental pollution have largely obliged electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) should be tackled in an environmentally sound manner. Recycling process development is regarded as the most effective and fundamental to solve the e-waste problem. Based on global achievements related to e-waste recycling in the past 15 years, we first propose a theory to design an e-waste recycling process, including measuring e-waste recyclability and selection of recycling process. And we summarize the indicators and tools in terms of resource dimension, environmental dimension, and economic dimension, to examine the e-waste recycling process. Using the sophisticated experience and adequate information of e-waste management, spent lithium-ion batteries and waste printed circuit boards are chosen as case studies to implement and verify the proposed method. All the potential theory and obtained results in this work can contribute to future e-waste management toward best available techniques and best environmental practices.

Eco-efficient waste glass recycling: Integrated waste management and green product development through LCA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blengini, Gian Andrea, E-mail: blengini@polito.it; CNR-IGAG, Institute of Environmental Geology and Geo-Engineering, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Turin; Busto, Mirko, E-mail: mirko.busto@polito.it

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A new eco-efficient recycling route for post-consumer waste glass was implemented. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Integrated waste management and industrial production are crucial to green products. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Most of the waste glass rejects are sent back to the glass industry. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Recovered co-products give more environmental gains than does avoided landfill. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Energy intensive recycling must be limited to waste that cannot be closed-loop recycled. - Abstract: As part of the EU Life + NOVEDI project, a new eco-efficient recycling route has been implemented to maximise resources and energy recovery from post-consumer waste glass, through integrated waste management and industrial production.more » Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used to identify engineering solutions to sustainability during the development of green building products. The new process and the related LCA are framed within a meaningful case of industrial symbiosis, where multiple waste streams are utilised in a multi-output industrial process. The input is a mix of rejected waste glass from conventional container glass recycling and waste special glass such as monitor glass, bulbs and glass fibres. The green building product is a recycled foam glass (RFG) to be used in high efficiency thermally insulating and lightweight concrete. The environmental gains have been contrasted against induced impacts and improvements have been proposed. Recovered co-products, such as glass fragments/powders, plastics and metals, correspond to environmental gains that are higher than those related to landfill avoidance, whereas the latter is cancelled due to increased transportation distances. In accordance to an eco-efficiency principle, it has been highlighted that recourse to highly energy intensive recycling should be limited to waste that cannot be closed-loop recycled.« less

The state of municipal solid waste management in Israel.

PubMed

Daskal, Shira; Ayalon, Ofira; Shechter, Mordechai

2018-06-01

Regulation is a key tool for implementing municipal solid waste (MSW) management strategies and plans. While local authorities in Israel are responsible for the storage, collection, and disposal of MSW, Israel's Ministry of Environmental Protection (MoEP) is responsible for the formulation and implementation of waste management policies and legislation. For the past 12 years, about 80% of the MSW in Israel has been landfilled and recycling rates have not increased, despite regulations. This paper presents the state of MSW management in Israel in light of the MoEP's strategic goal of landfilling reduction, the regulations and legislation designed and implemented for achieving this goal, and the ensuing results. Among other things, the results indicate the importance of monitoring and assessing policy and regulations to examine whether regulation is in fact effective and whether it keeps track of its own targets and goals or not. It is also concluded that even when there is an extensive regulation that includes a wide range of laws, economic penalties and financial incentives (such as landfill levy and financing of MSW separation at source arrangements), this does not guarantee proper treatment or even an improvement in waste management. The key to success is first and foremost a suitable infrastructure that will enable achievement of the desired results.

Resource management performance in Bahrain: a systematic analysis of municipal waste management, secondary material flows and organizational aspects.

PubMed

Al Sabbagh, Maram K; Velis, Costas A; Wilson, David C; Cheeseman, Christopher R

2012-08-01

This paper presents a detailed review of municipal solid waste (MSW) and resource management in Bahrain, using the recently developed UN-Habitat city profile methodology. Performance indicators involve quantitative assessment of waste collection and sweeping, controlled disposal, materials recovery and financial sustainability together with qualitative assessment of user and provider inclusivity and institutional coherence. MSW management performance in Bahrain is compared with data for 20 other cities. The system in Bahrain is at an intermediate stage of development. A waste/material flow diagram allows visualization of the MSW system and quantifies all inputs and outputs, with the vast majority of MSW deposited in a controlled, but not engineered landfill. International comparative analysis shows that recycling and material recovery rates in Bahrain (8% wt. for domestic waste, of which 3% wt. due to informal sector) are generally lower than other cities, whereas waste quantities and generation rates at 1.1 kg capita(-1) day(-1)) are relatively high. The organic fraction (60% wt.) is comparable to that in middle- and low-income cities (50-80% wt.), although on the basis of gross domestic product Bahrain is classified as a high-income city, for which the average is generally less than 30% wt. Inclusivity in waste governance is at a medium stage as not all waste system stakeholders are considered in decision-making. While the system now appears to be financially stable, key pending issues are cost-effectiveness, improving the standards of disposal and deployment of extensive materials recovery/recycling services.

Characterisation of the physico-mechanical parameters of MSW.

PubMed

Stoltz, Guillaume; Gourc, Jean-Pierre; Oxarango, Laurent

2010-01-01

Following the basics of soil mechanics, the physico-mechanical behaviour of municipal solid waste (MSW) can be defined through constitutive relationships which are expressed with respect to three physical parameters: the dry density, the porosity and the gravimetric liquid content. In order to take into account the complexity of MSW (grain size distribution and heterogeneity larger than for conventional soils), a special oedometer was designed to carry out laboratory experiments. This apparatus allowed a coupled measurement of physical parameters for MSW settlement under stress. The studied material was a typical sample of fresh MSW from a French landfill. The relevant physical parameters were measured using a gas pycnometer. Moreover, the compressibility of MSW was studied with respect to the initial gravimetric liquid content. Proposed methods to assess the set of three physical parameters allow a relevant understanding of the physico-mechanical behaviour of MSW under compression, specifically, the evolution of the limit liquid content. The present method can be extended to any type of MSW. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Expanding worldwide urban solid waste recycling: The Brazilian social technology in waste pickers inclusion.

PubMed

Rutkowski, Jacqueline E; Rutkowski, Emília W

2015-12-01

'If an integrated urban waste management system includes the informal recycling sector (IRS), there is a good chance that more solid waste is recycled' is common sense. However, informal integration brings additional social, environmental, and economic benefits, such as reduction of operational costs and environmental impacts of landfilling. Brazil is a global best practice example in terms of waste picker inclusion, and has received international recognition for its recycling levels. In addition to analysing the results of inclusive recycling approaches, this article evaluates a selection of the best Brazilian inclusive recycling practices and summaries and presents the resulting knowledge. The objective is to identify processes that enable the replication of the inclusion of the informal recycling sector model as part of municipal solid waste management. Qualitative and quantitative data have been collected in 25 Brazilian cities that have contracted waste pickers co-operatives for door-to-door selective collection of recyclables. Field data was collected in action research projects that worked with waste pickers co-operatives between 2006 and 2013. The Brazilian informal recycling sector integration model improves municipal solid waste recycling indicators: it shows an increase in the net tonness recycled, from 140 to 208 t month(-1), at a much lower cost per tonne than conventional selective collection systems. Inclusive systems show costs of US$35 per tonne of recyclables collected, well below the national average of US$195.26. This inclusive model improves the quality of collected material and the efficiency of municipal selective collection. It also diminishes the negative impacts of informal recycling, by reducing child labour, and by improving the conditions of work, occupational health and safety, and uncontrolled pollution. Although treating the Brazilian experience as a blueprint for transfer of experience in every case is unrealistic, the results

Statistical analysis in MSW collection performance assessment.

PubMed

Teixeira, Carlos Afonso; Avelino, Catarina; Ferreira, Fátima; Bentes, Isabel

2014-09-01

The increase of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated over the last years forces waste managers pursuing more effective collection schemes, technically viable, environmentally effective and economically sustainable. The assessment of MSW services using performance indicators plays a crucial role for improving service quality. In this work, we focus on the relevance of regular system monitoring as a service assessment tool. In particular, we select and test a core-set of MSW collection performance indicators (effective collection distance, effective collection time and effective fuel consumption) that highlights collection system strengths and weaknesses and supports pro-active management decision-making and strategic planning. A statistical analysis was conducted with data collected in mixed collection system of Oporto Municipality, Portugal, during one year, a week per month. This analysis provides collection circuits' operational assessment and supports effective short-term municipality collection strategies at the level of, e.g., collection frequency and timetables, and type of containers. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Catalytic Pyrolysis of Waste Plastic Mixture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sembiring, Ferdianta; Wahyu Purnomo, Chandra; Purwono, Suryo

2018-03-01

Inorganic waste especially plastics still become a major problem in many places. Low biodegradability of this materials causes the effort in recycling become very difficult. Most of the municipal solid waste (MSW) recycling facilities in developing country only use composting method to recover the organic fraction of the waste, while the inorganic fraction is still untreated. By pyrolysis, plastic waste can be treated to produce liquid fuels, flammable gas and chars. Reduction in volume and utilization of the liquid and gas as fuel are the major benefits of the process. By heat integration actually this process can become a self-sufficient system in terms of energy demand. However, the drawback of this process is usually due to the diverse type of plastic in the MSW creating low grade of liquid fuel and harmful gases. In this study, the mixture of plastics i.e. polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is treated using pyrolysis with catalyst in several operating temperature. PET is problematic to be treated using pyrolysis due to wax-like byproduct in liquid which may cause pipe clogging. The catalyst is the mixture of natural zeolite and bentonite which is able to handle PP and PET mixture feed to produce high grade liquid fuels in terms of calorific value and other fuel properties.

Ontario Waste Exchange: Helping companies recycle their nonhazardous waste and reap the profits

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hanley, M.J.

1997-12-31

The Ontario Waste Exchange (OWE), operated by ORTECH Corporation, is a technical assistance program committed to helping industries find practical alternatives to disposal. OWE is an active exchange, a Technical Matchmaker, matching waste generators with potential end users or recyclers. The OWE utilizes its extensive Reuse and Recycling Markets database that lists current markets in Ontario and neighboring provinces and states. The OWE maintains the database and electronically disseminates the information to industries in an effective and efficient manner. The OWE encourages industries to recycle their nonhazardous waste if a market is available and the economics are viable. The OWE`smore » true value is in helping to create new markets for currently unwanted wastes. The OWE helps to identify potential business opportunities where problem wastes could be recycled into useful products. The OWE also helps existing recyclers expand their operations by sourcing enough consistent supply of a required material. The OWE is recognized internationally as one of the most successful waste exchanges in the world and a significant contributor to achieving the goal of 50% diversion of nonhazardous waste from disposal by year 2,000. CNN and CBC networks showcased OWE`s unique services, highlighting the recycling businesses that have been helped. The OWE has assisted over a 100,000 companies, exchanged over 3,000 materials and diverted over one million cumulative tons of material from disposal since 1984.« less

A comparison of municipal solid waste management in Berlin and Singapore

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang Dongqing, E-mail: dqzhang@ntu.edu.s; Keat, Tan Soon; Gersberg, Richard M.

2010-05-15

A comparative analysis of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) in Singapore and Berlin was carried out in order to identify its current status, and highlight the prevailing conditions of MSWM. An overview of the various aspects of MSWM in these two cities is provided, with emphasis on comparing the legal, technical, and managerial aspects of MSW. Collection systems and recycling practiced with respect to the involvement of the government and the private sector, are also presented. Over last two decades, the city of Berlin has made impressive progress with respect to its waste management. The amounts of waste have declinedmore » significantly, and at the same time the proportion that could be recovered and recycled has increased. In contrast, although Singapore's recycling rate has been increasing over the past few years, rapid economic and population growth as well as change in consumption patterns in this city-state has caused waste generation to continue to increase. Landfilling of MSW plays minor role in both cities, one due to geography (Singapore) and the other due to legislative prohibition (Berlin). Consequently, both in Singapore and Berlin, waste is increasingly being used as a valuable resource and great efforts have been made for the development of incineration technology and energy recovery, as well as climate protection.« less

A comparison of municipal solid waste management in Berlin and Singapore.

PubMed

Zhang, Dongqing; Keat, Tan Soon; Gersberg, Richard M

2010-05-01

A comparative analysis of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) in Singapore and Berlin was carried out in order to identify its current status, and highlight the prevailing conditions of MSWM. An overview of the various aspects of MSWM in these two cities is provided, with emphasis on comparing the legal, technical, and managerial aspects of MSW. Collection systems and recycling practiced with respect to the involvement of the government and the private sector, are also presented. Over last two decades, the city of Berlin has made impressive progress with respect to its waste management. The amounts of waste have declined significantly, and at the same time the proportion that could be recovered and recycled has increased. In contrast, although Singapore's recycling rate has been increasing over the past few years, rapid economic and population growth as well as change in consumption patterns in this city-state has caused waste generation to continue to increase. Landfilling of MSW plays minor role in both cities, one due to geography (Singapore) and the other due to legislative prohibition (Berlin). Consequently, both in Singapore and Berlin, waste is increasingly being used as a valuable resource and great efforts have been made for the development of incineration technology and energy recovery, as well as climate protection. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The current municipal solid waste management situation in Tibet.

PubMed

Jiang, Jianguo; Lou, Zhiying; Ng, Silo; Luobu, Ciren; Ji, Duo

2009-03-01

The Tibetan Plateau has an average altitude of more than 4,000 m. The total area of Tibetan Plateau is 2,400,000 km2, which occupies 25% of the area of China. Due to the high altitude, the environment has low atmospheric pressure, low oxygen content, and low temperature, and is also fragile. Investigations concerning MSW generation and characteristics, MSW management, collection and transportation, and treatment and disposal of MSW covered four representative cities, including the urban areas of Lhasa city, Shigatse, Nedong of Lhoka and Bayi of Nyingtri. The results show that MSW generation in the urban areas of Lhasa city and Tibet were 450 t/d and 3,597 t/d, respectively, in 2006. However, accelerated economic development and flourishing tourism caused by the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway (QTR) have greatly increased solid waste generation to a new high. It is predicted that MSW generation in Tibet will reach 4,026 t/d in 2010 and 4,942 t/d in 2020. MSW management and disposal lag behind MSW generation due to a number of factors such as equipment shortage, insufficient maintenance, exhaustion of waste treatment capacity and low recycling efficiency. Still, MSW in most areas is dumped in the open with no controls. Because no appropriate collection and treatment systems for leachate and landfill gas exist, untreated leachate is discharged directly into the environment, causing serious secondary pollution. Some suggestions on improving the MSW management system are presented in this paper.

CCA-treated wood disposed in landfills and life-cycle trade-offs with waste-to-energy and MSW landfill disposal.

PubMed

Jambeck, Jenna; Weitz, Keith; Solo-Gabriele, Helena; Townsend, Timothy; Thorneloe, Susan

2007-01-01

Chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated wood is a preservative treated wood construction product that grew in use in the 1970s for both residential and industrial applications. Although some countries have banned the use of the product for some applications, others have not, and the product continues to enter the waste stream from construction, demolition and remodeling projects. CCA-treated wood as a solid waste is managed in various ways throughout the world. In the US, CCA-treated wood is disposed primarily within landfills; however some of the wood is combusted in waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities. In other countries, the predominant disposal option for wood, sometimes including CCA-treated wood, is combustion for the production of energy. This paper presents an estimate of the quantity of CCA-treated wood entering the disposal stream in the US, as well as an examination of the trade-offs between landfilling and WTE combustion of CCA-treated wood through a life-cycle assessment and decision support tool (MSW DST). Based upon production statistics, the estimated life span and the phaseout of CCA-treated wood, recent disposal projections estimate the peak US disposal rate to occur in 2008, at 9.7 million m(3). CCA-treated wood, when disposed with construction and demolition (C&D) debris and municipal solid waste (MSW), has been found to increase arsenic and chromium concentrations in leachate. For this reason, and because MSW landfills are lined, MSW landfills have been recommended as a preferred disposal option over unlined C&D debris landfills. Between landfilling and WTE for the same mass of CCA-treated wood, WTE is more expensive (nearly twice the cost), but when operated in accordance with US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) regulations, it produces energy and does not emit fossil carbon emissions. If the wood is managed via WTE, less landfill area is required, which could be an influential trade-off in some countries. Although metals are concentrated

Integrated solid waste management in Japan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

The Japanese, through a combination of public policy, private market conditions, a geographic necessity, practice integrated municipal solid waste (MSW) management. The approach of MSW management in Japan is as follows: The basic concept of refuse treatment consists of recycling discharged refuse into usable resources, reusing such resources as much as possible, and then treating or disposing of the usable portion into a sanitary condition. Considering the difficulty of procuring land or seaside areas for such purpose as a refuse disposal site, it will be necessary to minimize the volume of refuse collected for treatment or disposal.

Regulatory Exclusions and Alternative Standards for the Recycling of Materials, Solid Wastes and Hazardous Wastes

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Determining the Level of Regulation for Hazardous Waste Recycling, Recycled Materials that are not Subject to RCRA Hazardous Waste Regulation, Materials Subject to Alternative Regulatory Controls, Materials Subject to Full Hazardous Waste Regulations.

Focussing on recycling attitudes of engineering students at UiTM Shah Alam - towards zero discharge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharifah, A. S. A. K.; Khamaruddin, P. F. M.; Mohamad, N. N.; Saharuddin, M. Q.

2018-03-01

The generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Malaysia over the past 10 years has increased by 95 percent due to rapid development in the urban areas. 16.76 million tonne of waste is expected to be generated by Malaysian in the year 2020. Presently, there are about 70 percent of waste produced reported to be collected and 95 percent of it are disposed in landfills with only 5 percent left are being recycled. A 40 percent reduction of waste disposed to landfill by year 2020, through recycling and intermediate treatments such as waste to energy, composting and material recovery is very much needed as opening new landfills are not socially attractive. It clearly shows the awareness in reducing waste through recycling is still at infancy among Malaysians. Hence, a proper solid waste management should be enhanced through education among youngsters to ensure an integrated solid waste management towards zero discharge is achievable. The purpose of the research is two-fold. Firstly, to determine the recycling practices awareness among engineering students through manual and on-line survey. Secondly, a study on the effectiveness of recycling bins at the engineering students’ centre. The data collected were analyzed using statistical analysis. Results show that there is significant relationship (p<0.05) between gender and knowledge on recycling using Chi square test. However, there is an insignificant relationship (p>0.05) between knowledge and awareness of students towards recycling using partial correlation. Nevertheless, it is important to note that recycling practices through the provision of well-designed recycling bins and continuous education will ensure a sound society upholding a Zero Discharge attitude in the future.

Contamination by trace elements at e-waste recycling sites in Bangalore, India.

PubMed

Ha, Nguyen Ngoc; Agusa, Tetsuro; Ramu, Karri; Tu, Nguyen Phuc Cam; Murata, Satoko; Bulbule, Keshav A; Parthasaraty, Peethmbaram; Takahashi, Shin; Subramanian, Annamalai; Tanabe, Shinsuke

2009-06-01

The recycling and disposal of electronic waste (e-waste) in developing countries is causing an increasing concern due to its effects on the environment and associated human health risks. To understand the contamination status, we measured trace elements (TEs) in soil, air dust, and human hair collected from e-waste recycling sites (a recycling facility and backyard recycling units) and the reference sites in Bangalore and Chennai in India. Concentrations of Cu, Zn, Ag, Cd, In, Sn, Sb, Hg, Pb, and Bi were higher in soil from e-waste recycling sites compared to reference sites. For Cu, Sb, Hg, and Pb in some soils from e-waste sites, the levels exceeded screening values proposed by US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Concentrations of Cr, Mn, Co, Cu, In, Sn, Sb, Tl, Pb and Bi in air from the e-waste recycling facility were relatively higher than the levels in Chennai city. High levels of Cu, Mo, Ag, Cd, In, Sb, Tl, and Pb were observed in hair of male workers from e-waste recycling sites. Our results suggest that e-waste recycling and its disposal may lead to the environmental and human contamination by some TEs. To our knowledge, this is the first study on TE contamination at e-waste recycling sites in Bangalore, India.

Critical evaluation of municipal solid waste composting and potential compost markets.

PubMed

Farrell, M; Jones, D L

2009-10-01

Mechanical biological treatment (MBT) of mixed waste streams is becoming increasingly popular as a method for treating municipal solid waste (MSW). Whilst this process can separate many recyclates from mixed waste, the resultant organic residue can contain high levels of heavy metals and physical and biological contaminants. This review assesses the potential end uses and sustainable markets for this organic residue. Critical evaluation reveals that the best option for using this organic resource is in land remediation and restoration schemes. For example, application of MSW-derived composts at acidic heavy metal contaminated sites has ameliorated soil pollution with minimal risk. We conclude that although MSW-derived composts are of low value, they still represent a valuable resource particularly for use in post-industrial environments. A holistic view should be taken when regulating the use of such composts, taking into account the specific situation of application and the environmental pitfalls of alternative disposal routes.

Emergy analysis of the recycling options for construction and demolition waste.

PubMed

Yuan, Fang; Shen, Li-yin; Li, Qi-ming

2011-12-01

Construction and demolition (C&D) waste is becoming a major contributor to environmental pollution. In Shanghai, China, the quantity of C&D waste is 2.11E+07 t/yr, which accounts for 45% of the total quantity of solid waste. There has been a growing promotion of recycling C&D waste as an effective way to solve this waste problem. However, the evaluation of the efficiency of recycling C&D waste as a potential source of resources is largely based on traditional economic analysis. The economic analysis emphasizes money instead of the harmony between economic benefit and environmental effects. There is a need for a new strategic approach to investigate the efficiency of recycling C&D waste to achieve the integration between economic, social and environmental effects. Emergy theory can be employed to analyze different recycling options for C&D waste. With reference to the Chinese construction industry, this paper demonstrates that the close-loop recycling option is better than the open-loop recycling option for C&D waste in terms of the integration of social, environmental and sustainable aspects. To evaluate different technology solutions for C&D waste recycling, the emergy theory and method is not limited to a cost-benefit balance but can include economic, social, environmental and sustainable effects. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Investigating impact of waste reuse on the sustainability of municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration industry using emergy approach: A case study from Sichuan province, China.

PubMed

Wang, Yanqing; Zhang, Xiaohong; Liao, Wenjie; Wu, Jun; Yang, Xiangdong; Shui, Wei; Deng, Shihuai; Zhang, Yanzong; Lin, Lili; Xiao, Yinlong; Yu, Xiaoyu; Peng, Hong

2018-04-25

China has become the largest generator of municipal solid waste (MSW) in the world with its rapid urbanization, population growth and raising living standard. Among diverse solid waste disposal technologies, MSW incineration has been becoming an attractive choice. In terms of systematic point, an integrated MSW incineration system should include an incineration subsystem and a bottom ash (BA) disposal subsystem. This paper employed an extend emergy assessment method with several improved indicators, which considers the emissions' impact, to evaluate the comprehensive performances of an integrated MSW incineration system. One existing incineration plant in Yibin City, Sichuan Province, China, as a case study, is evaluated using the proposed method. Three alternative scenarios (scenario A: the incineration subsystem + the BA landfill subsystem; scenario B: the incineration subsystem + the concrete paving brick production subsystem using BA as raw material; scenario C: the incineration subsystem + the non-burnt wall brick production subsystem using BA as raw material) were compared. The study results reveal that the ratio of positive output is 1.225, 2.861 and 1.230, the improved environmental loading ratio is 2.715, 2.742 and 1.533, and the improved environmental sustainability index is 0.451, 1.043 and 0.803 for scenario A, B and C respectively. Therefore, reuse of BA can enhance the sustainability level of this integrated system greatly. Comparatively, scenario B has the best comprehensive performance among the three scenarios. Finally, some targeted recommendations are put forward for decision-making. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Evaluation of dry solid waste recycling from municipal solid waste: case of Mashhad city, Iran.

PubMed

Farzadkia, Mahdi; Jorfi, Sahand; Akbari, Hamideh; Ghasemi, Mehdi

2012-01-01

The recycling for recovery and reuse of material and energy resources undoubtedly provides a substantial alternative supply of raw materials and reduces the dependence on virgin feedstock. The main objective of this study was to assess the potential of dry municipal solid waste recycling in Mashhad city, Iran. Several questionnaires were prepared and distributed among various branches of the municipality, related organizations and people. The total amount of solid waste generated in Mashhad in 2008 was 594, 800  tons with per capita solid waste generation rate of 0.609  kg  person(-1) day(-1). Environmental educational programmes via mass media and direct education of civilians were implemented to publicize the advantages and necessity of recycling. The amount of recycled dry solid waste was increased from 2.42% of total dry solid waste (2588.36  ton  year(-1)) in 1999 to 7.22% (10, 165  ton  year(-1)) in 2008. The most important fractions of recycled dry solid waste in Mashhad included paper and board (51.33%), stale bread (14.59%), glass (9.73%), ferrous metals (9.73%), plastic (9.73%), polyethylene terephthalate (2.62%) and non-ferrous metals (0.97%). It can be concluded that unfortunately the potential of dry solid waste recycling in Mashhad has not been considered properly and there is a great effort to be made in order to achieve the desired conditions of recycling.

Evaluation of recycling programmes in household waste collection systems.

PubMed

Dahlén, Lisa; Lagerkvist, Anders

2010-07-01

A case study and a literature review have been carried out to address the two questions: how can waste flow data from collection systems be interpreted and compared? and which factors are decisive in the results of recycling programmes in household waste collection systems? The aim is to contribute to the understanding of how recycling programmes affect the quantity of waste and sorting activities. It is shown how the results from various waste sorting systems can be interpreted and made comparable. A set of waste flow indicators is proposed, which together with generic system descriptions can facilitate comparisons of different collections systems. The evaluation of collection systems depends on the system boundaries and will always be site-specific to some degree. Various factors are relevant, e.g. environmental objectives, technical function, operating costs, types of recyclable materials collected separately, property-close collection or drop-off systems, economic incentives, information strategies, residential structure, social codes, etc. Kerbside collection of recyclables and weight-based billing led to increased waste sorting activities in the case study. Forty-three decisive factors are listed and discussed.

Recyclable Materials (Waste) Management in Enterprise’s Production Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malevskaia-Malevich, E. D.; Demidenko, D. S.

2017-10-01

Currently, in view of the increasing garbage crisis, the notion of a “new lease of life” for waste becomes even more relevant. Waste recycling makes it possible not only to solve obvious environmental problems, but also to offer new resource opportunities for industries. Among the obvious economic, social and environmental advantages, however, waste recycling meets various problems. These problems and solutions for them, as well as the problems of economic efficiency improvement and recycling activities’ appeal for industrial companies in Leningrad region, are discussed in the present study.

Recycling and management of waste lead-acid batteries: A mini-review.

PubMed

Li, Malan; Liu, Junsheng; Han, Wei

2016-04-01

As a result of the wide application of lead-acid batteries to be the power supplies for vehicles, their demand has rapidly increased owing to their low cost and high availability. Accordingly, the amount of waste lead-acid batteries has increased to new levels; therefore, the pollution caused by the waste lead-acid batteries has also significantly increased. Because lead is toxic to the environment and to humans, recycling and management of waste lead-acid batteries has become a significant challenge and is capturing much public attention. Various innovations have been recently proposed to recycle lead and lead-containing compounds from waste lead-acid batteries. In this mini-review article, different recycling techniques for waste lead-acid batteries are highlighted. The present state of such recycling and its future perspectives are also discussed. We hope that this mini-review can provide useful information on recovery and recycling of lead from waste lead-acid batteries in the field of solid waste treatment. © The Author(s) 2016.

Comparision of real waste (MSW and MPW) pyrolysis in batch reactor over different catalysts. Part I: product yields, gas and pyrolysis oil properties.

PubMed

Ateş, Funda; Miskolczi, Norbert; Borsodi, Nikolett

2013-04-01

Pyrolysis of municipal solid waste (MSW) and municipal plastic waste (MPW) have been investigated in batch reactor at 500, 550 and 600°C both in absence and presence of catalysts (Y-zeolite, β-zeolite, equilibrium FCC, MoO3, Ni-Mo-catalyst, HZSM-5 and Al(OH)3). The effect of the parameters on the product properties was investigated. Products were characterized using gas-chromatography, GC/MS, (13)C NMR. Yields of volatile fractions increased, while reaction time necessity for the total cracking decreased in the presence of catalysts. Catalysts have productivity and selectivity in converting aliphatic hydrocarbons to aromatic and cyclic compounds in oil products. Gases from MSW consisted of hydrogen CO, CO2, while exclusively hydrogen and hydrocarbons were detected from MPW. Catalyst efficiency was higher using MPW than MSW. Pyrolysis oils contained aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatics, cyclic compounds and less ketones, alcohols, acids or esters depending on the raw materials. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The current municipal solid waste management situation in Tibet

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jiang Jianguo; Lou Zhiying; Ng Silo

The Tibetan Plateau has an average altitude of more than 4,000 m. The total area of Tibetan Plateau is 2,400,000 km{sup 2}, which occupies 25% of the area of China. Due to the high altitude, the environment has low atmospheric pressure, low oxygen content, and low temperature, and is also fragile. Investigations concerning MSW generation and characteristics, MSW management, collection and transportation, and treatment and disposal of MSW covered four representative cities, including the urban areas of Lhasa city, Shigatse, Nedong of Lhoka and Bayi of Nyingtri. The results show that MSW generation in the urban areas of Lhasa citymore » and Tibet were 450 t/d and 3,597 t/d, respectively, in 2006. However, accelerated economic development and flourishing tourism caused by the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway (QTR) have greatly increased solid waste generation to a new high. It is predicted that MSW generation in Tibet will reach 4,026 t/d in 2010 and 4,942 t/d in 2020. MSW management and disposal lag behind MSW generation due to a number of factors such as equipment shortage, insufficient maintenance, exhaustion of waste treatment capacity and low recycling efficiency. Still, MSW in most areas is dumped in the open with no controls. Because no appropriate collection and treatment systems for leachate and landfill gas exist, untreated leachate is discharged directly into the environment, causing serious secondary pollution. Some suggestions on improving the MSW management system are presented in this paper.« less

Waste stream recycling: Its effect on water quality

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cornwell, D.A.; Lee, R.G.

1994-11-01

Waste streams recycled to the influent of a water treatment plant typically contain contaminants at concentrations that are of concern. These contaminants may include giardia and Cryptosporidium, trihalomethanes, manganese, and assimilable organic carbon. This research shows that proper management--treatment, equalization, and monitoring--of the waste streams can render them suitable for recycling in many situations.

Eco-efficient waste glass recycling: Integrated waste management and green product development through LCA.

PubMed

Blengini, Gian Andrea; Busto, Mirko; Fantoni, Moris; Fino, Debora

2012-05-01

As part of the EU Life + NOVEDI project, a new eco-efficient recycling route has been implemented to maximise resources and energy recovery from post-consumer waste glass, through integrated waste management and industrial production. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used to identify engineering solutions to sustainability during the development of green building products. The new process and the related LCA are framed within a meaningful case of industrial symbiosis, where multiple waste streams are utilised in a multi-output industrial process. The input is a mix of rejected waste glass from conventional container glass recycling and waste special glass such as monitor glass, bulbs and glass fibres. The green building product is a recycled foam glass (RFG) to be used in high efficiency thermally insulating and lightweight concrete. The environmental gains have been contrasted against induced impacts and improvements have been proposed. Recovered co-products, such as glass fragments/powders, plastics and metals, correspond to environmental gains that are higher than those related to landfill avoidance, whereas the latter is cancelled due to increased transportation distances. In accordance to an eco-efficiency principle, it has been highlighted that recourse to highly energy intensive recycling should be limited to waste that cannot be closed-loop recycled. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Present status of recycling waste mobile phones in China: a review.

PubMed

Li, Jingying; Ge, Zhongying; Liang, Changjin; An, Ni

2017-07-01

A large number of waste mobile phones have already been generated and are being generated. Various countries around the world have all been positively exploring the way of recycling and reuse when facing such a large amount of waste mobile phones. In some countries, processing waste mobile phones has been forming a complete industrial chain, which can not only recycle waste mobile phones to reduce their negative influence on the environment but also turn waste into treasure to acquire economic benefits dramatically. However, the situation of recycling waste mobile phones in China is not going well. Waste mobile phones are not formally covered by existing regulations and policies for the waste electric and electronic equipment in China. In order to explore an appropriate system to recover waste mobile phones, the mobile phone production and the amount of waste mobile phones are introduced in this paper, and status of waste mobile phones recycling is described; then, the disposal technology of electronic waste that would be most likely to be used for processing of electronic waste in industrial applications in the near future is reviewed. Finally, rationalization proposals are put forward based on the current recovery status of waste mobile phones for the purpose of promoting the development of recycling waste mobile phones in developing countries with a special emphasis on China.

Waste to energy--key element for sustainable waste management.

PubMed

Brunner, Paul H; Rechberger, Helmut

2015-03-01

Human activities inevitably result in wastes. The higher the material turnover, and the more complex and divers the materials produced, the more challenging it is for waste management to reach the goals of "protection of men and environment" and "resource conservation". Waste incineration, introduced originally for volume reduction and hygienic reasons, went through a long and intense development. Together with prevention and recycling measures, waste to energy (WTE) facilities contribute significantly to reaching the goals of waste management. Sophisticated air pollution control (APC) devices ensure that emissions are environmentally safe. Incinerators are crucial and unique for the complete destruction of hazardous organic materials, to reduce risks due to pathogenic microorganisms and viruses, and for concentrating valuable as well as toxic metals in certain fractions. Bottom ash and APC residues have become new sources of secondary metals, hence incineration has become a materials recycling facility, too. WTE plants are supporting decisions about waste and environmental management: They can routinely and cost effectively supply information about chemical waste composition as well as about the ratio of biogenic to fossil carbon in MSW and off-gas. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recycling Lithium Carbonate/Lithium Hydroxide Waste

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Flowers, J.; Flowers, J.

1983-01-01

Hazardous waste disposal problem eliminated by regeneration. Li2CO3/ LiOH recycling process relies on low solubility of alkali carbonates in corresponding hydroxides. Li2CO3 precipitate calcined to LI2O, then rehydrated LiOH. Regeneration eliminates need to dispose caustic waste and uses less energy than simple calcination of entire waste mass.

Disposing and recycling waste printed circuit boards: disconnecting, resource recovery, and pollution control.

PubMed

Wang, Jianbo; Xu, Zhenming

2015-01-20

Over the past decades, China has been suffering from negative environmental impacts from distempered e-waste recycling activities. After a decade of effort, disassembly and raw materials recycling of environmentally friendly e-waste have been realized in specialized companies, in China, and law enforcement for illegal activities of e-waste recycling has also been made more and more strict. So up to now, the e-waste recycling in China should be developed toward more depth and refinement to promote industrial production of e-waste resource recovery. Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs), which are the most complex, hazardous, and valuable components of e-waste, are selected as one typical example in this article that reviews the status of related regulations and technologies of WPCBs recycling, then optimizes, and integrates the proper approaches in existence, while the bottlenecks in the WPCBs recycling system are analyzed, and some preliminary experiments of pinch technologies are also conducted. Finally, in order to provide directional guidance for future development of WPCBs recycling, some key points in the WPCBs recycling system are proposed to point towards a future trend in the e-waste recycling industry.

Direction of CRT waste glass processing: electronics recycling industry communication.

PubMed

Mueller, Julia R; Boehm, Michael W; Drummond, Charles

2012-08-01

Cathode Ray Tube, CRT, waste glass recycling has plagued glass manufacturers, electronics recyclers and electronics waste policy makers for decades because the total supply of waste glass exceeds demand, and the formulations of CRT glass are ill suited for most reuse options. The solutions are to separate the undesirable components (e.g. lead oxide) in the waste and create demand for new products. Achieving this is no simple feat, however, as there are many obstacles: limited knowledge of waste glass composition; limited automation in the recycling process; transportation of recycled material; and a weak and underdeveloped market. Thus one of the main goals of this paper is to advise electronic glass recyclers on how to best manage a diverse supply of glass waste and successfully market to end users. Further, this paper offers future directions for academic and industry research. To develop the recommendations offered here, a combination of approaches were used: (1) a thorough study of historic trends in CRT glass chemistry; (2) bulk glass collection and analysis of cullet from a large-scale glass recycler; (3) conversations with industry members and a review of potential applications; and (4) evaluation of the economic viability of specific uses for recycled CRT glass. If academia and industry can solve these problems (for example by creating a database of composition organized by manufacturer and glass source) then the reuse of CRT glass can be increased. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Current status of solid waste management in small island developing states: A review.

PubMed

Mohee, Romeela; Mauthoor, Sumayya; Bundhoo, Zumar M A; Somaroo, Geeta; Soobhany, Nuhaa; Gunasee, Sanjana

2015-09-01

This article reviews the current status of waste management in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and the challenges that are faced in solid waste management. The waste generation rates of SIDS were compared within the three geographic regions namely Caribbean SIDS, Pacific SIDS and Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and South China (AIMS) SIDS and with countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). Only Pacific SIDS had a waste generation rate less than 1kg/capita/day. The waste generation rates for the three SIDS regions averaged 1.29kg/capita/day while that for OECD countries was at a mean value of 1.35kg/capita/day. The waste compositions in the different SIDS regions were almost similar owing to comparable consumption patterns while these differed to a large extent with wastes generated in OECD countries. In SIDS, the major fraction of MSW comprised of organics (44%) followed by recyclables namely paper, plastics, glass and metals (total: 43%). In contrast, MSW in OECD countries consisted mainly of recyclables (43%) followed by organics (37%). This article also reviewed the other functional elements of the waste management systems in SIDS. Several shortcomings were noted in the process of waste collection, transfer and transport namely the fact of having outdated collection vehicles and narrow roads which are inaccessible. Among the waste management practices in SIDS, waste disposal via landfilling, illegal dumping and backyard burning were favoured most of the time at the expense of sustainable waste treatment technologies such as composting, anaerobic digestion and recycling. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Geotechnical behavior of the MSW in Tianziling landfill.

PubMed

Zhu, Xiang-Rong; Jin, Jian-Min; Fang, Peng-Fei

2003-01-01

The valley shaped Tianziling landfill of Hangzhou in China built in 1991 to dispose of municipal solid waste (MSW) was designed for a service life of 13 years. The problem of waste landfill slope stability and expansion must be considered from the geotechnical engineering point of view, for which purpose, it is necessary to understand the geotechnical properties of the MSW in the landfill, some of whose physical properties were measured by common geotechnical tests, such as those on unit weight, water content, organic matter content, specific gravity, coefficient of permeability, compressibility, etc. The mechanical properties were studied by direct shear test, triaxial compression test, and static and dynamic penetration tests. Some strength parameters for engineering analysis were obtained.

Study on the behavior of heavy metals during thermal treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW) components.

PubMed

Yu, Jie; Sun, Lushi; Wang, Ben; Qiao, Yu; Xiang, Jun; Hu, Song; Yao, Hong

2016-01-01

Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the volatilization behavior of heavy metals during pyrolysis and combustion of municipal solid waste (MSW) components at different heating rates and temperatures. The waste fractions comprised waste paper (Paper), disposable chopstick (DC), garbage bag (GB), PVC plastic (PVC), and waste tire (Tire). Generally, the release trend of heavy metals from all MSW fractions in rapid-heating combustion was superior to that in low-heating combustion. Due to the different characteristics of MSW fractions, the behavior of heavy metals varied. Cd exhibited higher volatility than the rest of heavy metals. For Paper, DC, and PVC, the vaporization of Cd can reach as high as 75% at 500 °C in the rapid-heating combustion due to violent combustion, whereas a gradual increase was observed for Tire and GB. Zn and Pb showed a moderate volatilization in rapid-heating combustion, but their volatilities were depressed in slow-heating combustion. During thermal treatment, the additives such as kaolin and calcium can react or adsorb Pb and Zn forming stable metal compounds, thus decreasing their volatilities. The formation of stable compounds can be strengthened in slow-heating combustion. The volatility of Cu was comparatively low in both high and slow-heating combustion partially due to the existence of Al, Si, or Fe in residuals. Generally, in the reducing atmosphere, the volatility of Cd, Pb, and Zn was accelerated for Paper, DC, GB, and Tire due to the formation of elemental metal vapor. TG analysis also showed the reduction of metal oxides by chars forming elemental metal vapor. Cu2S was the dominant Cu species in reducing atmosphere below 900 °C, which was responsible for the low volatility of Cu. The addition of PVC in wastes may enhance the release of heavy metals, while GB and Tire may play an opposite effect. In controlling heavy metal emission, aluminosilicate- and calcium-based sorbents can be co-treated with fuels. Moreover

On the prevailing construction waste recycling practices: a South East Queensland study.

PubMed

Tam, Vivian W Y; Kotrayothar, Duangthidar; Loo, Yew-Chaye

2009-03-01

Waste generated from construction and building demolition work constitutes about 68% of all solid waste generated each year in South East Queensland. Consequently, it has created a serious waste management problem. The State Governments of Victoria and New South Wales have been encouraging the use of recycled materials from construction and related waste; they have also promulgated specifications for their use. In Queensland, however, similar regulations are not anticipated in the near future, which explains the lack of funded research conducted in this important arena. This paper presents an evaluation of the prevailing waste recycling practices in Queensland. Nine sites were visited, including two construction sites, three demolition sites, three recycling plants and one landfill in South East Queensland. The difficulties encountered by the recycling programme operators and their associates at these sites are described and the benefits of recycling construction materials are presented. One of the major barriers is that the local councils disallow the use of recycled materials in new construction work. To help rectify these impediments to recycling, recommendations are given to increase the use of recycled construction waste in South East Queensland.

Direction of CRT waste glass processing: Electronics recycling industry communication

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mueller, Julia R., E-mail: mueller.143@osu.edu; Boehm, Michael W.; Drummond, Charles

2012-08-15

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Given a large flow rate of CRT glass {approx}10% of the panel glass stream will be leaded. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The supply of CRT waste glass exceeded demand in 2009. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Recyclers should use UV-light to detect lead oxide during the separation process. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Recycling market analysis techniques and results are given for CRT glass. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Academic initiatives and the necessary expansion of novel product markets are discussed. - Abstract: Cathode Ray Tube, CRT, waste glass recycling has plagued glass manufacturers, electronics recyclers and electronics waste policy makers for decades because the total supply of waste glass exceeds demand, andmore » the formulations of CRT glass are ill suited for most reuse options. The solutions are to separate the undesirable components (e.g. lead oxide) in the waste and create demand for new products. Achieving this is no simple feat, however, as there are many obstacles: limited knowledge of waste glass composition; limited automation in the recycling process; transportation of recycled material; and a weak and underdeveloped market. Thus one of the main goals of this paper is to advise electronic glass recyclers on how to best manage a diverse supply of glass waste and successfully market to end users. Further, this paper offers future directions for academic and industry research. To develop the recommendations offered here, a combination of approaches were used: (1) a thorough study of historic trends in CRT glass chemistry; (2) bulk glass collection and analysis of cullet from a large-scale glass recycler; (3) conversations with industry members and a review of potential applications; and (4) evaluation of the economic viability of specific uses for recycled CRT glass. If academia and industry can solve these problems (for example by creating a database of composition organized by manufacturer and glass

Municipal solid waste management in Phnom Penh, capital city of Cambodia.

PubMed

Seng, Bunrith; Kaneko, Hidehiro; Hirayama, Kimiaki; Katayama-Hirayama, Keiko

2011-05-01

This paper presents an overview of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) for both technical and regulatory arrangements in the municipality of Phnom Penh (MPP), Cambodia. Problems with the current MSWM are identified, and challenges and recommendations for future improvement are also given in this paper. MPP is a small city with a total area of approximately 374 km(2) and an urban population of about 1.3 million in 2008. For the last 14 years, average annual municipal solid waste (MSW) generated in MPP has increased rapidly from 0.136 million tons in 1995 to 0.361 million tons in 2008. The gross generation rate of MSW per capita was 0.74 kg day(-1). However, the per capita household waste generation was 0.487 kg day(- 1). At 63.3%, food waste is the predominant portion of generated waste, followed by plastics (15.5%), grass and wood (6.8%), and paper and cardboard (6.4%). The remaining waste, including metals, glass, rubber/leather, textiles, and ceramic/ stone, accounted for less than 3%. Waste recycling through informal sectors is very active; recycled waste accounted for about 9.3% of all waste generated in 2003. Currently, the overall technical arrangement, including storage and discharge, collection and transport, and disposal, is still in poor condition, which leads to environmental and health risks. These problems should be solved by improving legislation, environmental education, solid waste management facilities, and management of the waste scavengers.

Municipal solid waste recycling and the significance of informal sector in urban China.

PubMed

Linzner, Roland; Salhofer, Stefan

2014-09-01

The informal sector is active in the collection, processing and trading of recyclable materials in urban China. Formal waste management organisations have established pilot schemes for source separation of recyclables, but this strategy is still in its infancy. The amounts of recyclables informally picked out of the municipal solid waste stream are unknown as informal waste workers do not record their activities. This article estimates the size and significance of the current informal recycling system with a focus on the collection of recyclables. A majority of the reviewed literature detects that official data is displaying mainly 'municipal solid waste collected and transported', whereas less information is available on 'real' waste generation rates at the source. Based on a literature review the variables, the 'number of informal waste workers involved in collection activities', the 'amounts collected daily per informal collector' and the 'number of working days' are used to estimate yearly recyclable amounts that are informally diverted from municipal solid waste. The results show an interval of approximately 0.56%-0.93% of the urban population or 3.3-5.6 million people involved in informal waste collection and recycling activities in urban China. This is the equivalent to estimated informal recycling rates of approximately 17-38 w/w% of the municipal solid waste generated. Despite some uncertainties in these assessments, it can be concluded that a significant share of recyclables is collected and processed by informal waste workers. © The Author(s) 2014.

Mechanical and chemical recycling of solid plastic waste.

PubMed

Ragaert, Kim; Delva, Laurens; Van Geem, Kevin

2017-11-01

This review presents a comprehensive description of the current pathways for recycling of polymers, via both mechanical and chemical recycling. The principles of these recycling pathways are framed against current-day industrial reality, by discussing predominant industrial technologies, design strategies and recycling examples of specific waste streams. Starting with an overview on types of solid plastic waste (SPW) and their origins, the manuscript continues with a discussion on the different valorisation options for SPW. The section on mechanical recycling contains an overview of current sorting technologies, specific challenges for mechanical recycling such as thermo-mechanical or lifetime degradation and the immiscibility of polymer blends. It also includes some industrial examples such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling, and SPW from post-consumer packaging, end-of-life vehicles or electr(on)ic devices. A separate section is dedicated to the relationship between design and recycling, emphasizing the role of concepts such as Design from Recycling. The section on chemical recycling collects a state-of-the-art on techniques such as chemolysis, pyrolysis, fluid catalytic cracking, hydrogen techniques and gasification. Additionally, this review discusses the main challenges (and some potential remedies) to these recycling strategies and ground them in the relevant polymer science, thus providing an academic angle as well as an applied one. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Successful approaches to recycling urban wood waste

Treesearch

Solid Waste Association of North America

2002-01-01

This report presents eight case studies of successful urban wood waste recycling projects and businesses. These studies document the success of recovered products such as lumber and lumber products, mulch, boiler fuel, and alternative cover for landfills. Overall, wood waste accounts for about 17% of the total waste received at municipal solid waste landfills in the...

Advantages and disadvantages of a municipal solid waste collection service for citizens of Hanoi City, Vietnam.

PubMed

Kawai, Kosuke; Osako, Masahiro

2013-03-01

Governments of municipalities in Vietnam experiencing dynamic economic growth and dramatic population increases have been struggling to manage increased amounts of municipal solid waste (MSW). This study aimed to clarify the advantages and disadvantages of the current MSW collection service for citizens of the four central districts of Hanoi city, Vietnam, by conducting interviews with 200 households and 200 business entities regarding their satisfaction with the service. The survey results showed that Hanoi city provides an economical collection service with sufficient frequency and at appropriate times for citizens. However, a number of citizens complained about unsanitary conditions in the area surrounding their residence. Business entities had sufficient motivation to sell recyclable waste (RW) to the informal sector, not only to derive revenue from selling RW, but also to reduce the amount of MSW generated, thus reducing the MSW collection fee. Households were not motivated to reduce MSW by selling RW to the informal sector because they paid a fixed collection fee. As a result, an improvement in living standards in the near future is expected to contribute to increasing the amount of MSW generated from households.

A hybrid procedure for MSW generation forecasting at multiple time scales in Xiamen City, China.

PubMed

Xu, Lilai; Gao, Peiqing; Cui, Shenghui; Liu, Chun

2013-06-01

Accurate forecasting of municipal solid waste (MSW) generation is crucial and fundamental for the planning, operation and optimization of any MSW management system. Comprehensive information on waste generation for month-scale, medium-term and long-term time scales is especially needed, considering the necessity of MSW management upgrade facing many developing countries. Several existing models are available but of little use in forecasting MSW generation at multiple time scales. The goal of this study is to propose a hybrid model that combines the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) model and grey system theory to forecast MSW generation at multiple time scales without needing to consider other variables such as demographics and socioeconomic factors. To demonstrate its applicability, a case study of Xiamen City, China was performed. Results show that the model is robust enough to fit and forecast seasonal and annual dynamics of MSW generation at month-scale, medium- and long-term time scales with the desired accuracy. In the month-scale, MSW generation in Xiamen City will peak at 132.2 thousand tonnes in July 2015 - 1.5 times the volume in July 2010. In the medium term, annual MSW generation will increase to 1518.1 thousand tonnes by 2015 at an average growth rate of 10%. In the long term, a large volume of MSW will be output annually and will increase to 2486.3 thousand tonnes by 2020 - 2.5 times the value for 2010. The hybrid model proposed in this paper can enable decision makers to develop integrated policies and measures for waste management over the long term. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Research on Recycling and Utilization of Solid Waste in Civil Airport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Bo; Zhang, Wen; Wang, Jianping; Yi, Wei

2018-05-01

The aviation industry is embracing unprecedented prosperity together with the economic development. Building green airports resource-saving, environment-friendly and sustainable has become the inevitability of the times. The operation of airport will generate the large amount of waste every day, which certainly exposes airports and surrounding regions to waste disposal and ecological environment pressure. Waste disposal directly affects the surrounding environment of airports, which can be effectively mitigated by disposing waste into resources, i.e., sorting and recycling them into renewable materials. The development of green airport can also be promoted in this process. The article elaborates on the current methods of waste disposal adopted by airports. According to the principle of waste reduction, harmlessness, and resource recycling, a set of solid waste recycling and utilization methods suitable for airports are proposed, which can reduce the costs of waste transported to other places and landfilled. Various environmental pollution caused by landfill and other disposal methods can also be contained effectively. At the same time, resources can be fully recycled, converting waste into useful resources in an efficient and environmental-friendly way.

Counting (green) jobs in Queensland's waste and recycling sector.

PubMed

Davis, Georgina

2013-09-01

The waste and recycling sector has been identified as a green industry and, as such, jobs within this sector may be classed as 'green jobs'. Many governments have seen green jobs as a way of increasing employment, particularly during the global financial crisis. However, the methods used to define and quantify green jobs directly affect the quantification of these green jobs. In December 2010, Queensland introduced a waste strategy that stated intent to increase green jobs within the waste sector. This article discusses the milieu and existing issues associated with quantifying green jobs within Queensland's waste and recycling sector, and provides a review of the survey that has sought to quantify the true size of the Queensland industry sector. This research has identified nearly 5500 jobs in Queensland's private waste management and recycling sector, which indicates that official data do not accurately reflect the true size of the sector.

Recycling of waste lead storage battery by vacuum methods.

PubMed

Lin, Deqiang; Qiu, Keqiang

2011-07-01

Waste lead storage battery is the most important recyclable lead material not only in various European and other OECD countries but also in China. Pollution control of lead has become the focus of people's attention in the world. A vacuum process for recycling waste lead storage battery was developed in this work. The experimental results showed that all the valuable materials in waste lead storage battery could be satisfactorily recycled by vacuum technologies. The vacuum melting of lead grids and the vacuum reduction of lead pastes produce the lead bullion with the direct recovery ratio of 96.29% and 98.98%, respectively. The vacuum pyrolysis of plastics can produce pyrolysis oil with yield of more than 93 wt.%. These vacuum recycling technologies offer improvements in metallurgical and environmental performance. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Design of experiment (DOE) based screening of factors affecting municipal solid waste (MSW) composting.

PubMed

Kazemi, Khoshrooz; Zhang, Baiyu; Lye, Leonard M; Cai, Qinghong; Cao, Tong

2016-12-01

A design of experiment (DOE) based methodology was adopted in this study to investigate the effects of multiple factors and their interactions on the performance of a municipal solid waste (MSW) composting process. The impact of four factors, carbon/nitrogen ratio (C/N), moisture content (MC), type of bulking agent (BA) and aeration rate (AR) on the maturity, stability and toxicity of compost product was investigated. The statistically significant factors were identified using final C/N, germination index (GI) and especially the enzyme activities as responses. Experimental results validated the use of enzyme activities as proper indices during the course of composting. Maximum enzyme activities occurred during the active phase of decomposition. MC has a significant effect on dehydrogenase activity (DGH), β-glucosidase activity (BGH), phosphodiesterase activity (PDE) and the final moisture content of the compost. C/N is statistically significant for final C/N, DGH, BGH, and GI. The results provided guidance to optimize a MSW composting system that will lead to increased decomposition rate and the production of more stable and mature compost. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Waste reduction and recycling initiatives in Japanese cities: lessons from Yokohama and Kamakura.

PubMed

Hotta, Yasuhiko; Aoki-Suzuki, Chika

2014-09-01

Waste reduction and recycling at the city level will acquire greater significance in the near future due to rising global volumes of waste. This paper seeks to identify policy-relevant drivers for successful promotion of waste reduction and recycling. Factors influencing the success of waste reduction and recycling campaigns are identified. Two case study cities in Japan which depict the successful use of the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) at the municipal level are presented. In these cases, the existence of incinerators, which are generally considered as disincentives for recycling, was not functioning as a disincentive but rather as an incentive for waste reduction. Owing to the high cost of incineration facilities, the movement to close incinerators has become a strong incentive for waste reduction and recycling in these two cities. The study suggests that careful consideration is necessary when making decisions concerning high-cost waste treatment facilities with high installation, maintenance and renewal outlays. In addition, intensive source separation and other municipal recycling initiatives have a high potential for producing positive results. © The Author(s) 2014.

Waste management, informal recycling, environmental pollution and public health.

PubMed

Yang, Hong; Ma, Mingguo; Thompson, Julian R; Flower, Roger J

2018-03-01

With rapid population growth, especially in low-income and middle-income countries, the generation of waste is increasing at an unprecedented rate. For example, annual global waste arising from waste electrical and electronic equipment alone will have increased from 33.8 to 49.8 million tonnes between 2010 and 2018. Despite incineration and other waste treatment techniques, landfill still dominates waste disposal in low-income and middle-income countries. There is usually insufficient funding for adequate waste management in these countries and uptake of more advanced waste treatment technologies is poor. Without proper management, many landfills represent serious hazards as typified by the landslide in Shenzhen, China on 20 December 2015. In addition to formal waste recycling systems, approximately 15million people around the world are involved in informal waste recycling, mainly for plastics, metals, glass and paper. This review examines emerging public health challenges, in particular within low-income and middle-income countries, associated with the informal sector. While informal recyclers contribute to waste recycling and reuse, the relatively primitive techniques they employ, combined with improper management of secondary pollutants, exacerbate environmental pollution of air, soil and water. Even worse, insufficient occupational health measures expose informal waste workers to a range of pollutants, injuries, respiratory and dermatological problems, infections and other serious health issues that contribute to low life expectancy. Integration of the informal sector with its formal counterparts could improve waste management while addressing these serious health and livelihood issues. Progress in this direction has already been made notably in several Latin American countries where integrating the informal and formal sectors has had a positive influence on both waste management and poverty alleviation. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless

Utilization of biocatalysts in cellulose waste minimization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Woodward, J.; Evans, B.R.

1996-09-01

Cellulose, a polymer of glucose, is the principal component of biomass and, therefore, a major source of waste that is either buried or burned. Examples of biomass waste include agricultural crop residues, forestry products, and municipal wastes. Recycling of this waste is important for energy conservation as well as waste minimization and there is some probability that in the future biomass could become a major energy source and replace fossil fuels that are currently used for fuels and chemicals production. It has been estimated that in the United States, between 100-450 million dry tons of agricultural waste are produced annually,more » approximately 6 million dry tons of animal waste, and of the 190 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated annually, approximately two-thirds is cellulosic in nature and over one-third is paper waste. Interestingly, more than 70% of MSW is landfilled or burned, however landfill space is becoming increasingly scarce. On a smaller scale, important cellulosic products such as cellulose acetate also present waste problems; an estimated 43 thousand tons of cellulose ester waste are generated annually in the United States. Biocatalysts could be used in cellulose waste minimization and this chapter describes their characteristics and potential in bioconversion and bioremediation processes.« less

MSW fly ash stabilized with coal ash for geotechnical application.

PubMed

Kamon, M; Katsumi, T; Sano, Y

2000-09-15

The solidification and stabilization of municipal solid waste (MSW) fly ash for the purpose of minimizing the geo-environmental impact caused by toxic heavy metals as well as ensuring engineering safety (strength and soaking durability) are experimentally evaluated. The mixtures of MSW fly ash stabilized with cement and fluidized bed combustion coal fly ash (FCA) were used for unconfined compressive strength tests, leachate tests, and soaking tests. The behavior of soluble salts contained in the MSW fly ash significantly affects strength development, soaking durability, and the hardening reaction of the stabilized MSW fly ash mixtures. The cement stabilization of the MSW fly ash does not have enough effect on strength development and soaking durability. The addition of cement only contributes to the containment of heavy metals due to the high level of alkalinity. When using FCA as a stabilizing agent for MSW fly ash, the mixture exhibits high strength and durability. However, the Cd leachate cannot be prevented in the early stages of curing. Using a combination of cement and FCA as a MSW fly ash stabilizer can attain high strength, high soaking durability, and the containment of heavy metals. The stabilized MSW fly ash with cement and FCA can be practically applied to embankments.

Biochemical, hydrological and mechanical behaviors of high food waste content MSW landfill: Preliminary findings from a large-scale experiment.

PubMed

Zhan, Liang-Tong; Xu, Hui; Chen, Yun-Min; Lü, Fan; Lan, Ji-Wu; Shao, Li-Min; Lin, Wei-An; He, Pin-Jing

2017-05-01

A large-scale bioreactor experiment lasting for 2years was presented in this paper to investigate the biochemical, hydrological and mechanical behaviors of high food waste content (HFWC) MSW. The experimental cell was 5m in length, 5m in width and 7.5m in depth, filled with unprocessed HFWC-MSWs of 91.3 tons. In the experiment, a surcharge loading of 33.4kPa was applied on waste surface, mature leachate refilling and warm leachate recirculation were performed to improve the degradation process. In this paper, the measurements of leachate quantity, leachate level, leachate biochemistry, gas composition, waste temperature, earth pressure and waste settlement were presented, and the following observations were made: (1) 26.8m 3 leachate collected from the 91.3 tons HFWC-MSW within the first two months, being 96% of the total amount collected in one year. (2) The leachate level was 88% of the waste thickness after waste filling in a close system, and reached to over 100% after a surcharge loading of 33.4kPa. (3) The self-weight effective stress of waste was observed to be close to zero under the condition of high leachate mound. Leachate drawdown led to a gain of self-weight effective stress. (4) A rapid development of waste settlement took place within the first two months, with compression strains of 0.38-0.47, being over 95% of the strain recorded in one year. The compression strain tended to increase linearly with an increase of leachate draining rate during that two months. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Visualization of Microfloral Metabolism for Marine Waste Recycling

PubMed Central

Ogura, Tatsuki; Hoshino, Reona; Date, Yasuhiro; Kikuchi, Jun

2016-01-01

Marine biomass including fishery products are precious protein resources for human foods and are an alternative to livestock animals in order to reduce the virtual water problem. However, a large amount of marine waste can be generated from fishery products and it is not currently recycled. We evaluated the metabolism of digested marine waste using integrated analytical methods, under anaerobic conditions and the fertilization of abandoned agricultural soils. Dynamics of fish waste digestion revealed that samples of meat and bony parts had similar dynamics under anaerobic conditions in spite of large chemical variations in input marine wastes. Abandoned agricultural soils fertilized with fish waste accumulated some amino acids derived from fish waste, and accumulation of l-arginine and l-glutamine were higher in plant seedlings. Therefore, we have proposed an analytical method to visualize metabolic dynamics for recycling of fishery waste processes. PMID:26828528

Guidance: Policy for Municipality and MSW CERCLA Settlements at NPL Co-Disposal Sites

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Transmittal memorandum and policy supplementing the 9/30/89 Interim Policy on CERCLA Settlements Involving Municipalities and Municipal Wastes. 1998 MSW Policy states that EPA will continue its policy of generally not identifying generators and transporters of MSW as PRPs at NPL sites.

Global status of recycling waste solar panels: A review.

PubMed

Xu, Yan; Li, Jinhui; Tan, Quanyin; Peters, Anesia Lauren; Yang, Congren

2018-05-01

With the enormous growth in the development and utilization of solar-energy resources, the proliferation of waste solar panels has become problematic. While current research into solar panels has focused on how to improve the efficiency of the production capacity, the dismantling and recycling of end-of-life (EOL) panels are seldom considered, as can be seen, for instance, in the lack of dedicated solar-panel recycling plants. EOL solar-panel recycling can effectively save natural resources and reduce the cost of production. To address the environmental conservation and resource recycling issues posed by the huge amount of waste solar panels regarding environmental conservation and resource recycling, the status of the management and recycling technologies for waste solar panels are systemically reviewed and discussed in this article. This review can provide a quantitative basis to support the recycling of PV panels, and suggests future directions for public policy makers. At present, from the technical aspect, the research on solar panel recovery is facing many problems, and we need to further develop an economically feasible and non-toxic technology. The research on solar photovoltaic panels' management at the end of life is just beginning in many countries, and there is a need for further improvement and expansion of producer responsibility. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High levels of antimony in dust from e-waste recycling in southeastern China.

PubMed

Bi, Xiangyang; Li, Zhonggen; Zhuang, Xiaochun; Han, Zhixuan; Yang, Wenlin

2011-11-01

Environmental contamination due to uncontrolled e-waste recycling is an emerging global issue. Antimony (Sb) is a toxic element used in semiconductor components and flame retardants for circuit board within electronic equipment. When e-waste is recycled, Sb is released and contaminates the surrounding environment; however, few studies have characterized the extent of this problem. In this study, we investigated Sb and arsenic (As) distributions in indoor dust from 13 e-waste recycling villages in Guiyu, Guangdong Province, southeastern China. Results revealed significantly elevated concentrations of Sb (6.1-232 mg/kg) in dust within all villages, which were 3.9-147 times higher than those from the non e-waste sites, indicating e-waste recycling was an important source of Sb pollution. On the contrary, As concentrations (5.4-17.7 mg/kg) in e-waste dusts were similar to reference values from the control sites. Therefore, dusts emitted from e-waste recycling may be characterized by high Sb/As ratios, which may help identify the contamination due to the e-waste recycling activities. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Application of TOPSIS and VIKOR improved versions in a multi criteria decision analysis to develop an optimized municipal solid waste management model.

PubMed

Aghajani Mir, M; Taherei Ghazvinei, P; Sulaiman, N M N; Basri, N E A; Saheri, S; Mahmood, N Z; Jahan, A; Begum, R A; Aghamohammadi, N

2016-01-15

Selecting a suitable Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method is a crucial stage to establish a Solid Waste Management (SWM) system. Main objective of the current study is to demonstrate and evaluate a proposed method using Multiple Criteria Decision Making methods (MCDM). An improved version of Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) applied to obtain the best municipal solid waste management method by comparing and ranking the scenarios. Applying this method in order to rank treatment methods is introduced as one contribution of the study. Besides, Viekriterijumsko Kompromisno Rangiranje (VIKOR) compromise solution method applied for sensitivity analyses. The proposed method can assist urban decision makers in prioritizing and selecting an optimized Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) treatment system. Besides, a logical and systematic scientific method was proposed to guide an appropriate decision-making. A modified TOPSIS methodology as a superior to existing methods for first time was applied for MSW problems. Applying this method in order to rank treatment methods is introduced as one contribution of the study. Next, 11 scenarios of MSW treatment methods are defined and compared environmentally and economically based on the waste management conditions. Results show that integrating a sanitary landfill (18.1%), RDF (3.1%), composting (2%), anaerobic digestion (40.4%), and recycling (36.4%) was an optimized model of integrated waste management. An applied decision-making structure provides the opportunity for optimum decision-making. Therefore, the mix of recycling and anaerobic digestion and a sanitary landfill with Electricity Production (EP) are the preferred options for MSW management. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Risks of municipal solid waste incineration: an environmental perspective.

PubMed

Denison, R A; Silbergeld, E K

1988-09-01

The central focus of the debate over incineration of municipal solid waste (MSW) has shifted from its apparent management advantages to unresolved risk issues. This shift is a result of the lack of comprehensive consideration of risks associated with incineration. We discuss the need to expand incinerator risk assessment beyond the limited view of incinerators as stationary air pollution sources to encompass the following: other products of incineration, ash in particular, and pollutants other than dioxins, metals in particular; routes of exposure in addition to direct inhalation; health effects in addition to cancer; and the cumulative nature of exposure and health effects induced by many incinerator-associated pollutants. Rational MSW management planning requires that the limitations as well as advantages of incineration be recognized. Incineration is a waste-processing--not a waste disposal--technology, and its products pose substantial management and disposal problems of their own. Consideration of the nature of these products suggests that incineration is ill-suited to manage the municipal wastestream in its entirety. In particular, incineration greatly enhances the mobility and bioavailability of toxic metals present in MSW. These factors suggest that incineration must be viewed as only one component in an integrated MSW management system. The potential for source reduction, separation, and recycling to increase the safety and efficiency of incineration should be counted among their many benefits. Risk considerations dictate that alternatives to the use of toxic metals at the production stage also be examined in designing an effective, long-term MSW management strategy.

State-of-the-art of recycling e-wastes by vacuum metallurgy separation.

PubMed

Zhan, Lu; Xu, Zhenming

2014-12-16

In recent era, more and more electric and electronic equipment wastes (e-wastes) are generated that contain both toxic and valuable materials in them. Most studies focus on the extraction of valuable metals like Au, Ag from e-wastes. However, the recycling of metals such as Pb, Cd, Zn, and organics has not attracted enough attentions. Vacuum metallurgy separation (VMS) processes can reduce pollution significantly using vacuum technique. It can effectively recycle heavy metals and organics from e-wastes in an environmentally friendly way, which is beneficial for both preventing the heavy metal contaminations and the sustainable development of resources. VMS can be classified into several methods, such as vacuum evaporation, vacuum carbon reduction and vacuum pyrolysis. This paper respectively reviews the state-of-art of these methods applied to recycling heavy metals and organics from several kinds of e-wastes. The method principle, equipment used, separating process, optimized operating parameters and recycling mechanism of each case are illustrated in details. The perspectives on the further development of e-wastes recycling by VMS are also presented.

Attitudes of Preservice Social Studies Teachers towards Solid Wastes and Recycle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karatekin, Kadir; Merey, Zihni

2015-01-01

The objective of this study is to determine the attitudes of preservice social studies-teachers towards solid wastes and recycle. This study used the screening model, In order to determine the attitudes of preservice teachers towards solid wastes and recycle, we used the "Scale for the Attitudes of Preservice Teachers towards Solid Wastes and…

Biochemical, hydrological and mechanical behaviors of high food waste content MSW landfill: Liquid-gas interactions observed from a large-scale experiment.

PubMed

Zhan, Liang-Tong; Xu, Hui; Chen, Yun-Min; Lan, Ji-Wu; Lin, Wei-An; Xu, Xiao-Bing; He, Pin-Jing

2017-10-01

The high food waste content (HFWC) MSW at a landfill has the characteristics of rapid hydrolysis process, large leachate production rate and fast gas generation. The liquid-gas interactions at HFWC-MSW landfills are prominent and complex, and still remain significant challenges. This paper focuses on the liquid-gas interactions of HFWC-MSW observed from a large-scale bioreactor landfill experiment (5m×5m×7.5m). Based on the connected and quantitative analyses on the experimental observations, the following findings were obtained: (1) The high leachate level observed at Chinese landfills was attributed to the combined contribution from the great quantity of self-released leachate, waste compression and gas entrapped underwater. The contribution from gas entrapped underwater was estimated to be 21-28% of the total leachate level. (2) The gas entrapped underwater resulted in a reduction of hydraulic conductivity, decreasing by one order with an increase in gas content from 13% to 21%. (3) The "breakthrough value" in the gas accumulation zone was up to 11kPa greater than the pore liquid pressure. The increase of the breakthrough value was associated with the decrease of void porosity induced by surcharge loading. (4) The self-released leachate from HFWC-MSW was estimated to contribute to over 30% of the leachate production at landfills in Southern China. The drainage of leachate with a high organic loading in the rapid hydrolysis stage would lead to a loss of landfill gas (LFG) potential of 13%. Based on the above findings, an improved method considering the quantity of self-released leachate was proposed for the prediction of leachate production at HFWC-MSW landfills. In addition, a three-dimensional drainage system was proposed to drawdown the high leachate level and hence to improve the slope stability of a landfill, reduce the hydraulic head on a bottom liner and increase the collection efficiency for LFG. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Characterization and open windrow composting of MSW in Jodhpur City, Rajasthan, India.

PubMed

Ambade, Bhushan; Sharma, Sunil; Sharma, Yukti; Sharma, Yagya

2013-07-01

Solid waste is sometimes not suitable for direct land application. Processing solid waste through composting converts it to a humus-containing organic material advantageous for agriculture/horticulture use. Major advantages of composting are stabilization of the wastes; substantially reduced C/N ratio and gas formation, and virtually elimination of odors and pathogens. Composting is accomplished under aerobic conditions developing temperatures of 55 degrees C or above. The windrow technique is simple and accomplished easily with standard equipments. The open windrow composting of municipal solid waste (MSW) in windrows was analyzed in this study for six weeks. The raw MSW was introduced to active composting without any source segregations. The moisture content of the MSW dropped from 58.88% to 48.06% and windrow attained a thermophillic temperature for about two weeks. It was observed that the pH, C/N ratio and temperature variations were comparable to that of traditional windrow composting. The peak temperature recorded was 68 degrees C and temperature remained above 60 degrees C for more than three weeks. The volume reduction was obtained by using one-cu.m. cage. The results indicate that the bulk composting could reduce by about 29% the total mass of the waste.

Ternary ionic liquid-water pretreatment systems of an agave bagasse and municipal solid waste blend.

PubMed

Perez-Pimienta, Jose A; Sathitsuksanoh, Noppadon; Thompson, Vicki S; Tran, Kim; Ponce-Noyola, Teresa; Stavila, Vitalie; Singh, Seema; Simmons, Blake A

2017-01-01

Pretreatment is necessary to reduce biomass recalcitrance and enhance the efficiency of enzymatic saccharification for biofuel production. Ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment has gained a significant interest as a pretreatment process that can reduce cellulose crystallinity and remove lignin, key factors that govern enzyme accessibility. There are several challenges that need to be addressed for IL pretreatment to become viable for commercialization, including IL cost and recyclability. In addition, it is unclear whether ILs can maintain process performance when utilizing low-cost, low-quality biomass feedstocks such as the paper fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW), which are readily available in high quantities. One approach to potentially reduce IL cost is to use a blend of ILs at different concentrations in aqueous mixtures. Herein, we describe 14 IL-water systems with mixtures of 1-ethyl-3-ethylimidazolium acetate ([C 2 C 1 Im][OAc]), 1-butyl-3-ethylimidazolium acetate ([C 4 C 1 Im][OAc]), and water that were used to pretreat MSW blended with agave bagasse (AGB). The detailed analysis of IL recycling in terms of sugar yields of pretreated biomass and IL stability was examined. Both biomass types (AGB and MSW) were efficiently disrupted by IL pretreatment. The pretreatment efficiency of [C 2 C 1 Im][OAc] and [C 4 C 1 Im][OAc] decreased when mixed with water above 40%. The AGB/MSW (1:1) blend demonstrated a glucan conversion of 94.1 and 83.0% using IL systems with ~10 and ~40% water content, respectively. Chemical structures of fresh ILs and recycle ILs presented strong similarities observed by FTIR and 1 H-NMR spectroscopy. The glucan and xylan hydrolysis yields obtained from recycled IL exhibited a slight decrease in pretreatment efficiency (less than 10% in terms of hydrolysis yields compared to that of fresh IL), and a decrease in cellulose crystallinity was observed. Our results demonstrated that mixing ILs such as [C 2 C 1 Im][OAc] and [C 4 C 1 Im][OAc] and

Polyethylene recycling: Waste policy scenario analysis for the EU-27.

PubMed

Andreoni, Valeria; Saveyn, Hans G M; Eder, Peter

2015-08-01

This paper quantifies the main impacts that the adoption of the best recycling practices together with a reduction in the consumption of single-use plastic bags and the adoption of a kerbside collection system could have on the 27 Member States of the EU. The main consequences in terms of employment, waste management costs, emissions and energy use have been quantified for two scenarios of polyethylene (PE) waste production and recycling. That is to say, a "business as usual scenario", where the 2012 performances of PE waste production and recycling are extrapolated to 2020, is compared to a "best practice scenario", where the best available recycling practices are modelled together with the possible adoption of the amended Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive related to the consumption of single-use plastic bags and the implementation of a kerbside collection system. The main results show that socio-economic and environmental benefits can be generated across the EU by the implementation of the best practice scenario. In particular, estimations show a possible reduction of 4.4 million tonnes of non-recycled PE waste, together with a reduction of around €90 million in waste management costs in 2020 for the best practice scenario versus the business as usual scenario. An additional 35,622 jobs are also expected to be created. In environmental terms, the quantity of CO2 equivalent emissions could be reduced by around 1.46 million tonnes and the net energy requirements are expected to increase by 16.5 million GJ as a consequence of the reduction in the energy produced from waste. The main analysis provided in this paper, together with the data and the model presented, can be useful to identify the possible costs and benefits that the implementation of PE waste policies and Directives could generate for the EU. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Technical specifications for mechanical recycling of agricultural plastic waste

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Briassoulis, D., E-mail: briassou@aua.gr; Hiskakis, M.; Babou, E.

Highlights: • Technical specifications for agricultural plastic wastes (APWs) recycling proposed. • Specifications are the base for best economical and environmental APW valorisation. • Analysis of APW reveals inherent characteristics and constraints of APW streams. • Thorough survey on mechanical recycling processes and industry as it applies to APW. • Specifications for APW recycling tested, adjusted and verified through pilot trials. - Abstract: Technical specifications appropriate for the recycling of agricultural plastic wastes (APWs), widely accepted by the recycling industry were developed. The specifications establish quality standards to be met by the agricultural plastics producers, users and the agricultural plasticmore » waste management chain. They constitute the base for the best economical and environmental valorisation of the APW. The analysis of the APW streams conducted across Europe in the framework of the European project “LabelAgriWaste” revealed the inherent characteristics of the APW streams and the inherent constraints (technical or economical) of the APW. The APW stream properties related to its recycling potential and measured during pilot trials are presented and a subsequent universally accepted simplified and expanded list of APW recycling technical specifications is proposed and justified. The list includes two sets of specifications, applied to two different quality categories of recyclable APW: one for pellet production process (“Quality I”) and another one for plastic profile production process (“Quality II”). Parameters that are taken into consideration in the specifications include the APW physical characteristics, contamination, composition and degradation. The proposed specifications are focused on polyethylene based APW that represents the vast majority of the APW stream. However, the specifications can be adjusted to cover also APW of different materials (e.g. PP or PVC) that are found in very small

Systematic Review: Occupational illness in the waste and recycling sector

PubMed Central

Poole, C J M; Basu, S

2017-01-01

Abstract Background The waste and recycling sector is a growing part of industry. Whether health surveillance is indicated and how it should be undertaken is unclear. Aims To undertake a review of the literature to identify hazards to health, biological effects and occupational illnesses for workers in the sector. Methods A systematic review of the published literature and two UK databases. Results Rates of fatal, non-fatal injuries and self-reported work-related illness were found to be higher in the waste and recycling sector than in UK industry as a whole. There was an increased prevalence of respiratory, gastro-intestinal and skin complaints in workers exposed to compost relative to controls. They may also be at increased risk of extrinsic allergic alveolitis, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, occupational asthma and abnormalities of lung function. Workers involved with the recycling of batteries and cables may be at risk of lead poisoning and exposure to other heavy metals. There were case reports of mercury poisoning from the recycling of fluorescent lights. Cases of occupational asthma have been reported in association with wood and paper recycling. The recycling of e-waste may cause exposure to heavy metals and organic pollutants, such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers, dioxins and polyaromatic hydrocarbons, which have been associated with damage to DNA and adverse neonatal outcomes. Conclusions Ill-health and adverse biological effects have been described in waste and recycling workers, but their true prevalence has probably not been captured. Targeted health surveillance may be required to assess exposure and to identify occupational illness. PMID:29165683

Towards zero waste: a case study in the City of Tshwane.

PubMed

Snyman, Jacques; Vorster, Kobus

2011-05-01

Tshwane is presently landfilling all of its municipal solid waste (MSW) with no pre-processing or minimization efforts. This is a result of the available capacity of its existing landfills, thought to be able to satisfy the city's needs for, at most, the next 10 years. It is possible that the authorities will not wake up to the problem before it is too late. This study addresses these challenges. This study first identified and evaluated technologies available in developed countries for processing the various components of the MSW stream, appropriate to local conditions, as an alternative to landfilling, to ensure that these components will be either reused, recycled or rendered harmless to the environment before disposal. Then most appropriate technologies for Tshwane were selected and assembled into an optimal configuration to achieve a zero waste situation in Tshwane within a decade or two. This represents a significant change in MSW management in Tshwane, from total landfill to zero waste to landfill. Although the study focused on Tshwane, it can be argued that the findings can be implemented in any other South African municipality, and even implemented in other emerging countries.

The effects of recycling loops in food waste management in Japan: based on the environmental and economic evaluation of food recycling.

PubMed

Takata, Miki; Fukushima, Kazuyo; Kino-Kimata, Noriko; Nagao, Norio; Niwa, Chiaki; Toda, Tatsuki

2012-08-15

In Japan, a revised Food Recycling Law went into effect in 2007 to promote a "recycling loop" that requires food industries to purchase farm products that are grown using food waste-derived compost/animal feed. To realize and expand food recycling, it is necessary to evaluate how the recycling facilities work in the recycling loop. The purpose of this study is to assess the environmental and economic efficiency of the food recycling facilities that are involved in the recycling loop, which are also known as looped facilities. The global warming potential and running cost of five looped facilities were evaluated by LCA (life cycle assessment) and LCC (life cycle cost) approaches: machine integrated compost, windrow compost, liquid feed, dry feed, and bio-gasification. The LCA results showed low total GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions of -126 and -49 kg-CO(2)/t-waste, respectively, for dry feed and bio-gasification facilities, due to a high substitution effect. The LCC study showed a low running cost for composting facilities of -15,648 and -18,955 yen/t-waste, respectively, due to high revenue from the food waste collection. It was found that the mandatory reporting of food waste emitters to the government increased collection fees; however, the collection fee in animal feed facilities was relatively low because food waste was collected at a low price or nutritious food waste was purchased to produce quality feed. In the characterisation survey of various treatment methods, the composting facilities showed a relatively low environmental impact and a high economic efficiency. Animal feed facilities had a wide distribution of the total GHG emissions, depending on both the energy usage during the drying process and the substitution effect, which were related to the water content of the food waste and the number of recycled products. In comparison with incineration, the majority of the food recycling facilities showed low GHG emissions and economic effectiveness. This

Case study: apparel industry waste management: a focus on recycling in South Africa.

PubMed

Larney, M; van Aardt, A M

2010-01-01

The need for effective apparel waste management is motivated by the increasing cost and decreasing availability of landfill space and the dwindling of natural resources. The aim of this study was to identify the current solid waste disposal and recycling practices of the apparel industry in South Africa and to determine their attitude and willingness towards recycling, their perception of the feasibility thereof, barriers to recycling and marketing strategies that would be appropriate for products made from recycled materials. A structured questionnaire was mailed to apparel manufacturers in South Africa. The results indicated that most apparel manufacturers use landfills to dispose of their waste, while approximately half recycle some of the waste. They are fairly positive towards recycling, with consideration of economical feasibility. Phi-coefficients show no practically significant relationship between company size and the use of recycled materials. The most important barriers to recycling are lack of equipment and technology, lack of material to recycle and lack of consumer awareness. Marketing strategies for recycled products are recommended. It is concluded that consumer awareness and knowledge regarding recycled apparel products should be developed in order to ensure a market and that apparel manufacturers should be encouraged to recycle more extensively, in order to ensure that resources will not be exhausted unnecessarily and the environment will be preserved optimally.

Marshall Space Flight Center solid waste characterization and recycling improvement study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eley, Michael H.; Crews, Lavonne; Johnston, Ben; Lee, David; Colebaugh, James

1995-01-01

The MSFC Facilities Office, which is responsible for disposing of all waste generated by MSFC, issued a delivery order to the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) to characterize current MSFC waste streams and to evaluate their existing recycling program. The purpose of the study was to define the nature, quantity, and types of waste produced and to generate ideas for improving the present recycling program. Specifically, the following tasks were to be performed: Identify various surplus and waste materials--as identified by the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR)--by source, location, and type; Analyze MSFC's current methods for handling, storage, transport, and disposition of waste and surplussed materials; Determine the composition of various surplus and waste materials as to type and quantities from various sources and locations; Analyze different methods for the disposition of various surplus and waste materials, including quality, quantity, preparation, transport cost, and value; Study possible alternatives to current methods of handling, storage, transport, and disposition of surplus and waste materials to improve the quality and quantities recycled or sold and to reduce and minimize the quantities of surplus and waste material currently being disposed of or stored; Provide recommendations for source and centralized segregation and aggregation of materials for recycling and/or disposition; and The analysis could include identification and laboratory level evaluation of methods and/or equipment, including capital costs, operating costs, maintenance requirements, life cycle and return on investment for systems to support the waste reduction program mission.

Production of energy and high-value chemicals from municipal solid waste

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Colucci-Raeos, J.A.; Saliceti-Piazza, L.; Herncndez, A.

1996-12-31

Landfills have been used for decades in Puerto Rico as the only alternative for the disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW). In the present, 7,300 metric tons (8,000 tons) of MSW are generated on a daily basis, of which about 43% are generated in the San Juan Metropolitan Area. Garbage dumps in the Metropolitan Area have an estimated useful life of two years from now. Furthermore, Puerto Rico`s average daily per capita generation exceeds that of US and is almost as twice as that of Europe. A novel alternative for the disposal of MSW needs to be implemented. The Universitymore » of Puerto Rico (Department of Chemical Engineering), in a collaborative effort with the Sandia National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Puerto Rico`s Energy Affairs Administration, and the Institute of Chemical Engineers of Puerto Rico, have conceptualized a research program that would address the utilization of MSW and other agricultural residues for the generation of energy and/or high-value chemical products. The concept, {open_quotes}biorefinery{close_quotes} would consist of the collection of MSW and other agricultural wastes, separation of materials for recycling (glass, ceramics, metals), and use of gasification and/or hydrolysis of the screened material to produce energy and/or chemicals (such as alcohols and oxyaromatics).« less

Current organic waste recycling and the potential for local recycling through urban agriculture in Metro Manila.

PubMed

Hara, Yuji; Furutani, Takashi; Murakami, Akinobu; Palijon, Armando M; Yokohari, Makoto

2011-11-01

Using the solid waste management programmes of three barangays (the smallest unit of local government in the Philippines) in Quezon City, Metro Manila, as a case study, this research aimed to further the development of efficient organic waste recycling systems through the promotion of urban agricultural activities on green and vacant spaces. First, the quantity of organic waste and compost produced through ongoing barangay projects was measured. The amount of compost that could potentially be utilized on farmland and vacant land within the barangays was then identified to determine the possibility of a local recycling system. The results indicate that, at present, securing buyers for compost is difficult and, therefore, most compost is distributed to large neighbouring farm villages. However, the present analysis of potential compost use within the barangay demonstrates that a more local compost recycling system is indeed feasible.

Current status of solid waste management in small island developing states: A review

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mohee, Romeela; Mauthoor, Sumayya, E-mail: sumayya.mauthoor@umail.uom.ac.mu; Bundhoo, Zumar M.A.

Highlights: • Waste management is a matter of great concern for small island developing states. • On average, waste generation rate in these islands amounts to 1.29 kg/capita/day. • Illegal dumping and landfilling prevail in most small island developing states. • Sustainable waste management practices, previously absent, are now emerging. • However, many challenges still hinder the implementation of these practices. - Abstract: This article reviews the current status of waste management in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and the challenges that are faced in solid waste management. The waste generation rates of SIDS were compared within the three geographicmore » regions namely Caribbean SIDS, Pacific SIDS and Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and South China (AIMS) SIDS and with countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). Only Pacific SIDS had a waste generation rate less than 1 kg/capita/day. The waste generation rates for the three SIDS regions averaged 1.29 kg/capita/day while that for OECD countries was at a mean value of 1.35 kg/capita/day. The waste compositions in the different SIDS regions were almost similar owing to comparable consumption patterns while these differed to a large extent with wastes generated in OECD countries. In SIDS, the major fraction of MSW comprised of organics (44%) followed by recyclables namely paper, plastics, glass and metals (total: 43%). In contrast, MSW in OECD countries consisted mainly of recyclables (43%) followed by organics (37%). This article also reviewed the other functional elements of the waste management systems in SIDS. Several shortcomings were noted in the process of waste collection, transfer and transport namely the fact of having outdated collection vehicles and narrow roads which are inaccessible. Among the waste management practices in SIDS, waste disposal via landfilling, illegal dumping and backyard burning were favoured most of the time at the

Moving from recycling to waste prevention: A review of barriers and enables.

PubMed

Bartl, Andreas

2014-09-01

Current European waste policy does not mainly aim to treat waste streams but rather place in the foreground of interest the complete supply chain of a product. Waste prevention and re-use do have the highest priority and they take effect before the end-of-life phase of a product or a material is reached. Recycling only takes the third place whereas recovery and disposal represent the least favourable options. Recycling can help to decrease the consumption of primary resources but it does not tackle the causes but only the symptoms. In principle, recycling processes require energy and will generate side streams (i.e. waste). Furthermore, there are insuperable barriers and the practice is far from 100% recycling. The philosophy of waste prevention and re-use is completely different since they really tackle the causes. It is self-evident that a decrease of waste will also decrease the consumption of resources, energy and money to process the waste. However, even if European legislation is proceeding in the right direction, a clear decrease in waste generation did not occur up to now. Unfortunately, waste generation represents a positive factor of economic growth. Basically, waste generation is a huge business and numerous stakeholders are not interested to reduce waste. More sophisticated incentives are required to decouple economic growth from waste generation. © The Author(s) 2014.

Domestic waste recycling, collective action and economic incentive: the case in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Yau, Yung

2010-12-01

Efficacy of waste recycling is one of the key determinants of environmental sustainability of a city. Like other pro-environmental activities, waste recycling cannot be successfully accomplished by just one or two people, but only by a concerted effort of the community. The collective-action dilemma creates a common underlying difficulty in formulating workable solutions to many environmental problems. With a view to the non-excludability of the outcome, rationality drives people to free-ride efforts of others in waste recycling. To solve this free-rider problem, some scholars suggest the use of economic incentive. This article attempts to study the impacts of reward schemes on waste recycling behaviour of residents in 122 private housing estates in Hong Kong. The study is differentiable from the others as the latter mainly focus on domestic waste recycling in low-rise low-density housing while this one looks into the same in a high-rise high-density residential setting. According to the results of analyses on a set of aggregate data, reward schemes are found to have a significant positive relationship with the per-household weight of recyclables collected, keeping other things constant. The research findings suggest that economic incentives do work in promoting waste recycling in Hong Kong. Practical and policy implications follow. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Industrial waste recycling strategies optimization problem: mixed integer programming model and heuristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Jiafu; Liu, Yang; Fung, Richard; Luo, Xinggang

2008-12-01

Manufacturers have a legal accountability to deal with industrial waste generated from their production processes in order to avoid pollution. Along with advances in waste recovery techniques, manufacturers may adopt various recycling strategies in dealing with industrial waste. With reuse strategies and technologies, byproducts or wastes will be returned to production processes in the iron and steel industry, and some waste can be recycled back to base material for reuse in other industries. This article focuses on a recovery strategies optimization problem for a typical class of industrial waste recycling process in order to maximize profit. There are multiple strategies for waste recycling available to generate multiple byproducts; these byproducts are then further transformed into several types of chemical products via different production patterns. A mixed integer programming model is developed to determine which recycling strategy and which production pattern should be selected with what quantity of chemical products corresponding to this strategy and pattern in order to yield maximum marginal profits. The sales profits of chemical products and the set-up costs of these strategies, patterns and operation costs of production are considered. A simulated annealing (SA) based heuristic algorithm is developed to solve the problem. Finally, an experiment is designed to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method. By comparing a single strategy to multiple strategies in an example, it is shown that the total sales profit of chemical products can be increased by around 25% through the simultaneous use of multiple strategies. This illustrates the superiority of combinatorial multiple strategies. Furthermore, the effects of the model parameters on profit are discussed to help manufacturers organize their waste recycling network.

Hydrothermal Processing of Base Camp Solid Wastes To Allow Onsite Recycling

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-01

ER D C/ CE R L TR -0 8 -1 3 Hydrothermal Processing of Base Camp Solid Wastes To Allow Onsite Recycling Gary L. Gerdes, Deborah...release; distribution is unlimited. ERDC/CERL TR-08-13 September 2008 Hydrothermal Processing of Base Camp Solid Wastes To Allow Onsite Recycling...a technology to process domestic solid waste using a unique hydrothermal system. The process was successfully demonstrated at Forts Benning and

UTILIZATION OF SCRAP PREPREG WASTES AS A REINFORCEMENT IN A WHOLLY RECYCLED PLASTIC - PHASE II

EPA Science Inventory

Foster-Miller is proposing to combine Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) commingled plastics with a high performance reinforcement (scrap prepreg) to form a durable and cost competitive wood substitute with superior moisture, rodent and insect resistance. This proposed technology ...

Packaging waste recycling in Europe: Is the industry paying for it?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ferreira da Cruz, Nuno, E-mail: nunocruz@ist.utl.pt; Ferreira, Sandra; Cabral, Marta

Highlights: • We study the recycling schemes of France, Germany, Portugal, Romania and the UK. • The costs and benefits of recycling are compared for France, Portugal and Romania. • The balance of costs and benefits depend on the perspective (strictly financial/economic). • Financial supports to local authorities ought to promote cost-efficiency. - Abstract: This paper describes and examines the schemes established in five EU countries for the recycling of packaging waste. The changes in packaging waste management were mainly implemented since the Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste entered into force. The analysis of the five systems allowedmore » the authors to identify very different approaches to cope with the same problem: meet the recovery and recycling targets imposed by EU law. Packaging waste is a responsibility of the industry. However, local governments are generally in charge of waste management, particularly in countries with Green Dot schemes or similar extended producer responsibility systems. This leads to the need of establishing a system of financial transfers between the industry and the local governments (particularly regarding the extra costs involved with selective collection and sorting). Using the same methodological approach, the authors also compare the costs and benefits of recycling from the perspective of local public authorities for France, Portugal and Romania. Since the purpose of the current paper is to take note of who is paying for the incremental costs of recycling and whether the industry (i.e. the consumer) is paying for the net financial costs of packaging waste management, environmental impacts are not included in the analysis. The work carried out in this paper highlights some aspects that are prone to be improved and raises several questions that will require further research. In the three countries analyzed more closely in this paper the industry is not paying the net financial cost of packaging

Experimental Investigation and Aspen Plus Simulation of the MSW Pyrolysis Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ansah, Emmanuel

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a potential feedstock for producing transportation fuels because it is readily available using an existing collection/transportation infrastructure and fees are provided by the suppliers or government agencies to treat MSW. North Carolina with a population of 9.4 millions generates 3.629 million metric tons of MSW each year, which contains about 113,396,356 TJs of energy. The average moisture content of MSW samples is 44.3% on a wet basis. About 77% of the dry MSW mass is combustible components including paper, organics, textile and plastics. The average heating values of MSW were 9.7, 17.5, and 22.7 MJ/kg on a wet basis, dry basis and dry combustible basis, respectively. The MSW generated in North Carolina can produce 7.619 million barrels of crude bio-oil or around 4% of total petroleum consumption in North Carolina. MSW can be thermally pyrolyzed into bio-oil in the absence of oxygen or air at a temperature of 500°C or above. As bio-oil can be easily stored and transported, compared to bulky MSW, landfill gas and electricity, pyrolysis offers significant logistical and economic advantages over landfilling and other thermal conversion processes such as combustion and gasification. Crude bio-oils produced from the pyrolysis of MSW can be further refined to transportation fuels in existing petroleum refinery facilities. The objective of this research is to analyze the technical and economic feasibility of pyrolyzing MSW into liquid transportation fuels. A combined thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) instrument, which can serve as a micro-scale pyrolysis reactor, was used to simultaneously determine the degradation characteristics of MSW during pyrolysis. An ASPEN Plus-based mathematical model was further developed to analyze the technical and economic feasibility of pyrolysing of MSW into liquid transportation fuels in fixed bed reactors at varying operating conditions

Characterization and recycling of cadmium from waste nickel-cadmium batteries.

PubMed

Huang, Kui; Li, Jia; Xu, Zhenming

2010-11-01

A severe threat was posed due to improper and inefficient recycling of waste batteries in China. The present work considered the fundamental aspects of the recycling of cadmium from waste nickel-cadmium batteries by means of vacuum metallurgy separation in scale-up. In the first stage of this work, the characterization of waste nickel-cadmium batteries was carried out. Five types of batteries from different brands and models were selected and their components were characterized in relation to their elemental chemical composition and main phase. In the second stage of this work, the parameters affecting the recycling of cadmium by means of vacuum metallurgy separation were investigated and a L(16) (4(4)) orthogonal design was applied to optimize the parameters. With the thermodynamics theory and numerical analysis, it can be seen that the orthogonal design is an effective tool for investigating the parameters affecting the recycling of cadmium. The optimum operating parameters for the recycling of cadmium obtained by orthogonal design and verification test were 1073 K (temperature), 2.5h (heating time), 2 wt.% (the addition of carbon powder), and 30 mm (the loaded height), respectively, with recycling efficiency approaching 99.98%. The XRD and ICP-AES analyzed results show that the condensed product was characterized as metallic cadmium, and cadmium purity was 99.99% under the optimum condition. Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Technical specifications for mechanical recycling of agricultural plastic waste.

PubMed

Briassoulis, D; Hiskakis, M; Babou, E

2013-06-01

Technical specifications appropriate for the recycling of agricultural plastic wastes (APWs), widely accepted by the recycling industry were developed. The specifications establish quality standards to be met by the agricultural plastics producers, users and the agricultural plastic waste management chain. They constitute the base for the best economical and environmental valorisation of the APW. The analysis of the APW streams conducted across Europe in the framework of the European project "LabelAgriWaste" revealed the inherent characteristics of the APW streams and the inherent constraints (technical or economical) of the APW. The APW stream properties related to its recycling potential and measured during pilot trials are presented and a subsequent universally accepted simplified and expanded list of APW recycling technical specifications is proposed and justified. The list includes two sets of specifications, applied to two different quality categories of recyclable APW: one for pellet production process ("Quality I") and another one for plastic profile production process ("Quality II"). Parameters that are taken into consideration in the specifications include the APW physical characteristics, contamination, composition and degradation. The proposed specifications are focused on polyethylene based APW that represents the vast majority of the APW stream. However, the specifications can be adjusted to cover also APW of different materials (e.g. PP or PVC) that are found in very small quantities in protected cultivations in Europe. The adoption of the proposed specifications could transform this waste stream into a labelled commodity traded freely in the market and will constitute the base for the best economical and environmental valorisation of the APW. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Construction and demolition waste as a source of PVC for recycling.

PubMed

Prestes, Sabrina Moretto Darbello; Mancini, Sandro Donnini; Rodolfo, Antonio; Keiroglo, Raquel Carramillo

2012-02-01

Construction and demolition waste can contain considerable amounts of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). This paper describes a study of the recycling of PVC pipes collected from such waste materials. In a sorting facility for the specific disposal of construction and demolition waste, PVC was found to represent one-third of the plastics separated by workers. Pipes were sorted carefully to preclude any possible contamination by poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) found in the waste. The material was ground into two distinct particle sizes (final mesh of 12.7 and 8 mm), washed, dried and recycled. The average formulation of the pipes was determined based on ash content tests and used in the fabrication of a similar compound made mainly of virgin PVC. Samples of recycled pipes and of compound based on virgin material were subjected to tensile and impact tests and provided very similar results. These results are a good indication of the application potential of the recycled material and of the fact that longer grinding to obtain finer particles is not necessarily beneficial.

TRANSPORT PLANNING MODEL FOR WIDE AREA RECYCLING SYSTEM OF INDUSTRIAL WASTE PLASTIC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arai, Yasuhiro; Kawamura, Hisashi; Koizumi, Akira; Mogi, Satoshi

To date, the majority of industrial waste plastic generated in an urban city has been processed into landfill. However, it is now necessary to actively utilize that plastic as a useful resource to create a recycling society with a low environment influence. In order to construct a reasonable recycling system, it is necessary to address the "transportation problem," which means determining how much industrial waste plastic is to be transported to what location. With the goal of eliminating landfill processing, this study considers a transport planning model for industrial waste plastic applying linear programming. The results of running optimized calculations under given scenarios clarified not only the possibilities for recycle processing in the Metropolitan area, but also the validity of wide area recycling system.

Recycle technology for recovering resources and products from waste printed circuit boards.

PubMed

Li, Jia; Lu, Hongzhou; Guo, Jie; Xu, Zhenming; Zhou, Yaohe

2007-03-15

The printed circuit board (PCB) contains nearly 28% metals that are abundant non-ferrous metals such as Cu, Al, Sn, etc. The purity of precious metals in PCBs is more than 10 times higher than that of rich-content minerals. Therefore, recycling of PCBs is an important subject not only from the treatment of waste but also from the recovery of valuable materials. Chemical and mechanical methods are two traditional recycling processes for waste PCBs. However, the prospect of chemical methods will be limited since the emission of toxic liquid or gas brings secondary pollution to the environment during the process. Mechanical processes, such as shape separation, jigging, density-based separation, and electrostatic separation have been widely utilized in the recycling industry. But, recycling of waste PCBs is only beginning. In this study, a total of 400 kg of waste PCBs was processed by a recycle technology without negative impact to the environment. The technology contained mechanical two-step crushing, corona electrostatic separating, and recovery. The results indicated that (i) two-step crushing was an effect process to strip metals from base plates completely; (ii) the size of particles between 0.6 and 1.2 mm was suitable for corona electrostatic separating during industrial application; and (iii) the nonmetal of waste PCBs attained 80% weight of a kind of nonmetallic plate that expanded the applying prospect of waste nonmetallic materials.

Mobile phone waste management and recycling: Views and trends.

PubMed

Sarath, P; Bonda, Sateesh; Mohanty, Smita; Nayak, Sanjay K

2015-12-01

There is an enormous growth in mobile phone consumption worldwide which leads to generation of a large volume of mobile phone waste every year. The aim of this review is to give an insight on the articles on mobile phone waste management and recycling, published in scientific journals, major proceedings and books from 1999 to 2015. The major areas of research have been identified and discussed based on available literature in each research topic. It was observed that most of these articles were published during the recent years, with the number of articles increasing yearly. Material recovery and review on management options of waste are found to be the leading topics in this area. Researchers have proved that economically viable refurbishing or recycling of such waste is possible in an environmentally friendly manner. However, the literatures indicate that without proper consumer awareness, a recycling system cannot perform to its maximum efficiency. The methodologies followed and analytical techniques employed by the researchers to attain their objectives have been discussed. The graphical representations of available literature on current topic with respect to year of publication, topics and location have also been explored. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recycled industrial and construction waste for mutual beneficial use.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-08-01

Instead of going to landfills, certain waste materials from industry and building construction can be recycled in transportation infrastructure projects, such as roadway paving. The beneficial use of waste materials in the construction of transportat...

40 CFR 260.41 - Procedures for case-by-case regulation of hazardous waste recycling activities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... of hazardous waste recycling activities. 260.41 Section 260.41 Protection of Environment... Rulemaking Petitions § 260.41 Procedures for case-by-case regulation of hazardous waste recycling activities... hazardous waste recycling activities described in § 261.6(a)(2)(iii) under the provisions of § 261.6 (b) and...

40 CFR 260.41 - Procedures for case-by-case regulation of hazardous waste recycling activities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... of hazardous waste recycling activities. 260.41 Section 260.41 Protection of Environment... Rulemaking Petitions § 260.41 Procedures for case-by-case regulation of hazardous waste recycling activities... hazardous waste recycling activities described in § 261.6(a)(2)(iii) under the provisions of § 261.6 (b) and...

40 CFR 260.41 - Procedures for case-by-case regulation of hazardous waste recycling activities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... of hazardous waste recycling activities. 260.41 Section 260.41 Protection of Environment... Rulemaking Petitions § 260.41 Procedures for case-by-case regulation of hazardous waste recycling activities... hazardous waste recycling activities described in § 261.6(a)(2)(iii) under the provisions of § 261.6 (b) and...

40 CFR 260.41 - Procedures for case-by-case regulation of hazardous waste recycling activities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... of hazardous waste recycling activities. 260.41 Section 260.41 Protection of Environment... Rulemaking Petitions § 260.41 Procedures for case-by-case regulation of hazardous waste recycling activities... hazardous waste recycling activities described in § 261.6(a)(2)(iii) under the provisions of § 261.6 (b) and...

40 CFR 260.41 - Procedures for case-by-case regulation of hazardous waste recycling activities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... of hazardous waste recycling activities. 260.41 Section 260.41 Protection of Environment... Rulemaking Petitions § 260.41 Procedures for case-by-case regulation of hazardous waste recycling activities... hazardous waste recycling activities described in § 261.6(a)(2)(iii) under the provisions of § 261.6 (b) and...

Waste Treatment Technology Process Development Plan For Hanford Waste Treatment Plant Low Activity Waste Recycle

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McCabe, Daniel J.; Wilmarth, William R.; Nash, Charles A.

2013-08-29

The purpose of this Process Development Plan is to summarize the objectives and plans for the technology development activities for an alternative path for disposition of the recycle stream that will be generated in the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant Low Activity Waste (LAW) vitrification facility (LAW Recycle). This plan covers the first phase of the development activities. The baseline plan for disposition of this stream is to recycle it to the WTP Pretreatment Facility, where it will be concentrated by evaporation and returned to the LAW vitrification facility. Because this stream contains components that are volatile at melter temperatures andmore » are also problematic for the glass waste form, they accumulate in the Recycle stream, exacerbating their impact on the number of LAW glass containers. Approximately 32% of the sodium in Supplemental LAW comes from glass formers used to make the extra glass to dilute the halides to acceptable concentrations in the LAW glass, and reducing the halides in the Recycle is a key component of this work. Additionally, under possible scenarios where the LAW vitrification facility commences operation prior to the WTP Pretreatment facility, this stream does not have a proven disposition path, and resolving this gap becomes vitally important. This task seeks to examine the impact of potential future disposition of this stream in the Hanford tank farms, and to develop a process that will remove radionuclides from this stream and allow its diversion to another disposition path, greatly decreasing the LAW vitrification mission duration and quantity of glass waste. The origin of this LAW Recycle stream will be from the Submerged Bed Scrubber (SBS) and the Wet Electrostatic Precipitator (WESP) from the LAW melter off-gas system. The stream is expected to be a dilute salt solution with near neutral pH, and will likely contain some insoluble solids from melter carryover or precipitates of scrubbed components (e.g. carbonates). The

The quality study of recycled glass phosphor waste for LED

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsai, Chun-Chin; Chen, Guan-Hao; Yue, Cheng-Feng; Chen, Cin-Fu; Cheng, Wood-Hi

2017-02-01

To study the feasibility and quality of recycled glass phosphor waste for LED packaging, the experiments were conducted to compare optical characteristics between fresh color conversion layer and that made of recycled waste. The fresh color conversion layer was fabricated through sintering pristine mixture of Y.A.G. powder [yellow phosphor (Y3AlO12 : Ce3+). Those recycled waste glass phosphor re-melted to form Secondary Molten Glass Phosphor (S.M.G.P.). The experiments on such low melting temperature glass results showed that transmission rates of S.M.G.P. are 9% higher than those of first-sintered glass phosphor, corresponding to 1.25% greater average bubble size and 36% more bubble coverage area in S.M.G.P. In the recent years, high power LED modules and laser projectors have been requiring higher thermal stability by using glass phosphor materials for light mixing. Nevertheless, phosphor and related materials are too expensive to expand their markets. It seems a right trend and research goal that recycling such waste of high thermal stability and quality materials could be preferably one of feasible cost-down solutions. This technical approach could bring out brighter future for solid lighting and light source module industries.

The potential environmental gains from recycling waste plastics: Simulation of transferring recycling and recovery technologies to Shenyang, China

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen Xudong, E-mail: chen.xudong@nies.go.jp; National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506; Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya City 464-8601

Research highlights: {yields} Urban symbiosis creates compatibility of industrial development and waste management. {yields} Mechanical technology leads to more CO{sub 2} emission reduction. {yields} Energy recovery technology leads to more fossil fuel saving. {yields} Clean energy makes recycling technologies cleaner. {yields} Demand management is crucial for realizing potential environmental gains of recycling. - Abstract: With the increasing attention on developing a low-carbon economy, it is necessary to seek appropriate ways on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through innovative municipal solid waste management (MSWM), such as urban symbiosis. However, quantitative assessments on the environmental benefits of urban symbiosis, especially in developingmore » countries, are limited because only a limited number of planned synergistic activities have been successful and it is difficult to acquire detailed inventory data from private companies. This paper modifies and applies a two-step simulation system and used it to assess the potential environmental benefits, including the reduction of GHG emissions and saving of fossil fuels, by employing various Japanese plastics recycling/energy-recovery technologies in Shenyang, China. The results showed that among various recycling/energy-recovery technologies, the mechanical waste plastics recycling technology, which produces concrete formwork boards (NF boards), has the greatest potential in terms of reducing GHG emissions (1.66 kg CO{sub 2}e/kg plastics), whereas the technology for the production of refuse plastic fuel (RPF) has the greatest potential on saving fossil fuel consumption (0.77 kgce/kg-plastics). Additional benefits can be gained by applying combined technologies that cascade the utilization of waste plastics. Moreover, the development of clean energy in conjunction with the promotion of new waste plastics recycling programs could contribute to additional reductions in GHG emissions and fossil fuel

Municipal Solid Waste Resources

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

2016-06-01

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a source of biomass material that can be utilized for bioenergy production with minimal additional inputs. MSW resources include mixed commercial and residential garbage such as yard trimmings, paper and paperboard, plastics, rubber, leather, textiles, and food wastes. Waste resources such as landfill gas, mill residues, and waste grease are already being utilized for cost-effective renewable energy generation. MSW for bioenergy also represents an opportunity to divert greater volumes of residential and commercial waste from landfills.

Effects of the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway on municipal solid waste management generation in Lhasa.

PubMed

Ding, Xu-Tong; Wang, Ji-Hua

2018-03-01

Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, is located on the Tibetan Plateau. Accelerated economic development and flourishing tourism resulting from the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway (QTR) have increased solid waste generation and contamination in recent years. Using data from Lhasa Statistical Yearbooks and previous studies, this study estimates the future population of permanent residents and tourists using the least squares method to extrapolate the population from 2015-2025, and evaluates the effects of the QTR on municipal solid waste (MSW) generation in Lhasa and estimates future MSW generation. There were approximately 1.35 million tourists in 2008 when the QTR had been operating for 2 years and MSW generation was approximately 470 tons per day. The amount of MSW generated increased dramatically with time after opening the QTR. This study estimates that MSW generation will reach 962 tons per day in 2025. Due to the existence of the QTR, increasing numbers of people are traveling to Lhasa, and tourism has driven the development of the local economy. During the studies, the proportion of MSW produced by tourists increased from 2.99% to 20.06%, and it is estimated that it will increase to 33.49% in 2025. If the current trend continues, Lhasa will face significant challenges from garbage disposal. This study analyzes the current situation of urban garbage treatment in Lhasa, and it suggests several options for improvement to MSW generation, transportation equipment, disposal, and resource recycling.

Emission of volatile sulfur compounds during composting of municipal solid waste (MSW)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Hongyu; College of Resources and Environment Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094; Schuchardt, Frank

2013-04-15

Highlights: ► We compare the volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) emissions during three types of municipal solid wastes (MSWs) composting. ► The VSCs released from the kitchen waste composting was significantly higher than that from 15–80 mm fraction of MSW. ► Among the five VSCs, H{sub 2}S was the most abundant compound with 39.0–43.0% of total VSCs released. ► Addition of 20% cornstalks could significantly reduce the VSCs emissions during kitchen waste composting. - Abstract: Volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) are the main source for malodor from composting plants. In this study, the VSCs generated from composting of 15–80 mm municipal solidmore » waste (T0), kitchen waste (T1) and kitchen waste mixed dry cornstalks (T2) were measured in 60 L reactors with forced aeration for a period of 30 days. The VSCs detected in all treatments were hydrogen sulfide (H{sub 2}S), methyl mercaptan (MM), dimethyl sulfide (DMS), carbon bisulfide (CS{sub 2}) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS). Over 90% of the VSCs emissions occurred during the first 15 days, and reached their peak values at days 4–7. The emission profiles of five VSCs species were significantly correlated with internal materials temperature and outlet O{sub 2} concentration (p < 0.05). Total emissions of the VSCs were 216.1, 379.3 and 126.0 mg kg{sup −1} (dry matter) for T0, T1 and T2, respectively. Among the five VSCs, H{sub 2}S was the most abundant compound with 39.0–43.0% of total VSCs released. Composting of kitchen waste from separate collection posed a negative influence on the VSC and leachate production because of its high moisture content. An addition of dry cornstalks at a mixing ratio of 4:1 (wet weight) could significantly reduce the VSCs emissions and avoid leachate. Compared to pure kitchen waste, VSCs were reduced 66.8%.« less

Resource recovery from municipal solid waste by mechanical heat treatment: An opportunity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamaruddin, Mohamad Anuar; Yusoff, Mohd Suffian; Ibrahim, Nurazim; Zawawi, Mohd Hafiz

2017-04-01

Municipal solid waste (MSW) stream in Malaysia consists of 50 to 60 % of food wastes. In general, food wastes are commingled in nature and very difficult to be managed in sustainable manner due to high moisture content. Consequently, by dumping food wastes together with inert wastes to the landfill as final disposal destination incurs large space area and reducing the lifespan of landfill. Therefore, certain fraction of the MSW as such; food wastes (FW) can be diverted from total disposal at the landfill that can improve landfill lifespan and environmental conservation. This study aims to determine the resource characteristics of FW extracted from USM cafeteria by means of mechanical heat treatment in the presence of autoclaving technology. Sampling of FW were conducted by collecting FW samples from disposal storage at designated area within USM campus. FW characteristics was performed prior and autoclaving process. The results have demonstrated that bones fraction was the highest followed by vegetable and rice with 39, 27 and 10%, respectively. Meanwhile, based on autoclaving technique, moisture content of the FW (fresh waste) were able to be reduced ranging from 65-85% to 59-69% (treated waste). Meanwhile, chemical characteristics of treated FW results in pH, TOC, TKN, C/N ratio, TP, and TK 5.12, 27,6%, 1.6%, 17.3%, 0.9% and 0.36%. The results revealed that autoclaving technology is a promising approach for MSW diversion that can be transformed into useful byproducts such as fertilizer, RDF and recyclable items.

Triboelectrostatic separation for granular plastic waste recycling: a review.

PubMed

Wu, Guiqing; Li, Jia; Xu, Zhenming

2013-03-01

The world's plastic consumption has increased incredibly in recent decades, generating more and more plastic waste, which makes it a great public concern. Recycling is the best treatment for plastic waste since it cannot only reduce the waste but also reduce the consumption of oil for producing new virgin plastic. Mechanical recycling is recommended for plastic waste to avoid the loss of its virgin value. As a mechanical separation technology, triboelectrostatic separation utilizes the difference between surface properties of different materials to get them oppositely charged, deflected in the electric field and separately collected. It has advantages such as high efficiency, low cost, no concern of water disposal or secondary pollution and a relatively wide processing range of particle size especially suitable for the granular plastic waste. The process of triboelectrostatic separation for plastic waste is reviewed in this paper. Different devices have been developed and proven to be effective for separation of plastic waste. The influence factors are also discussed. It can be concluded that the triboelectrostatic separation of plastic waste is a promising technology. However, more research is required before it can be widely applied in industry. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization and potential recycling of home building wood waste

Treesearch

Philip A. Araman; D.P. Hindman; M.F. Winn

2010-01-01

Construction waste represents a significant portion of landfill waste, estimated as 17% of the total waste stream. Wood construction waste of a 2000 square foot single family home we found to be 1500-3700 lbs of solid-sawn wood, and 1000-1800 lbs of engineered wood products (EWP). Much of the solid-sawn lumber and EWPs could be recycled into several products. Through a...

Response to waste electrical and electronic equipments in China: legislation, recycling system, and advanced integrated process.

PubMed

Zhou, Lei; Xu, Zhenming

2012-05-01

Over the past 30 years, China has been suffering from negative environmental impacts from distempered waste electrical and electronic equipments (WEEE) recycling activities. For the purpose of environmental protection and resource reusing, China made a great effort to improve WEEE recycling. This article reviews progresses of three major fields in the development of China's WEEE recycling industry: legal system, formal recycling system, and advanced integrated process. Related laws concerning electronic waste (e-waste) management and renewable resource recycling are analyzed from aspects of improvements and loopholes. The outcomes and challenges for existing formal recycling systems are also discussed. The advantage and deficiency related to advanced integrated recycling processes for typical e-wastes are evaluated respectively. Finally, in order to achieve high disposal rates of WEEE, high-quantify separation of different materials in WEEE and high added value final products produced by separated materials from WEEE, an idea of integrated WEEE recycling system is proposed to point future development of WEEE recycling industry. © 2012 American Chemical Society

Mechanical recycling of waste electric and electronic equipment: a review.

PubMed

Cui, Jirang; Forssberg, Eric

2003-05-30

The production of electric and electronic equipment (EEE) is one of the fastest growing areas. This development has resulted in an increase of waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE). In view of the environmental problems involved in the management of WEEE, many counties and organizations have drafted national legislation to improve the reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery of such wastes so as to reduce disposal. Recycling of WEEE is an important subject not only from the point of waste treatment but also from the recovery of valuable materials.WEEE is diverse and complex, in terms of materials and components makeup as well as the original equipment's manufacturing processes. Characterization of this waste stream is of paramount importance for developing a cost-effective and environmentally friendly recycling system. In this paper, the physical and particle properties of WEEE are presented. Selective disassembly, targeting on singling out hazardous and/or valuable components, is an indispensable process in the practice of recycling of WEEE. Disassembly process planning and innovation of disassembly facilities are most active research areas. Mechanical/physical processing, based on the characterization of WEEE, provides an alternative means of recovering valuable materials. Mechanical processes, such as screening, shape separation, magnetic separation, Eddy current separation, electrostatic separation, and jigging have been widely utilized in recycling industry. However, recycling of WEEE is only beginning. For maximum separation of materials, WEEE should be shredded to small, even fine particles, generally below 5 or 10mm. Therefore, a discussion of mechanical separation processes for fine particles is highlighted in this paper. Consumer electronic equipment (brown goods), such as television sets, video recorders, are most common. It is very costly to perform manual dismantling of those products, due to the fact that brown goods contain very low

Packaging waste recycling in Europe: is the industry paying for it?

PubMed

da Cruz, Nuno Ferreira; Ferreira, Sandra; Cabral, Marta; Simões, Pedro; Marques, Rui Cunha

2014-02-01

This paper describes and examines the schemes established in five EU countries for the recycling of packaging waste. The changes in packaging waste management were mainly implemented since the Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste entered into force. The analysis of the five systems allowed the authors to identify very different approaches to cope with the same problem: meet the recovery and recycling targets imposed by EU law. Packaging waste is a responsibility of the industry. However, local governments are generally in charge of waste management, particularly in countries with Green Dot schemes or similar extended producer responsibility systems. This leads to the need of establishing a system of financial transfers between the industry and the local governments (particularly regarding the extra costs involved with selective collection and sorting). Using the same methodological approach, the authors also compare the costs and benefits of recycling from the perspective of local public authorities for France, Portugal and Romania. Since the purpose of the current paper is to take note of who is paying for the incremental costs of recycling and whether the industry (i.e. the consumer) is paying for the net financial costs of packaging waste management, environmental impacts are not included in the analysis. The work carried out in this paper highlights some aspects that are prone to be improved and raises several questions that will require further research. In the three countries analyzed more closely in this paper the industry is not paying the net financial cost of packaging waste management. In fact, if the savings attained by diverting packaging waste from other treatment (e.g. landfilling) and the public subsidies to the investment on the "recycling system" are not considered, it seems that the industry should increase the financial support to local authorities (by 125% in France, 50% in Portugal and 170% in Romania). However, in France and

Fires at storage sites of organic materials, waste fuels and recyclables.

PubMed

Ibrahim, Muhammad Asim; Alriksson, Stina; Kaczala, Fabio; Hogland, William

2013-09-01

During the last decade, the European Union has enforced the diversion of organic wastes and recyclables to waste management companies operating incineration plants, composting plants and recycling units instead of landfills. The temporary storage sites have been established as a buffer against fluctuations in energy demand throughout the year. Materials also need to be stored at temporary storage sites before recovery and recycling. However, regulations governing waste fuel storage and handling have not yet been developed, and, as a result, companies have engaged in risky practices that have resulted in a high number of fire incidents. In this study, a questionnaire survey was distributed to 249 of the 400 members of Avfall Sverige (Swedish Waste Management Association), which represents the waste management of 95% of the Swedish population. Information regarding 122 storage facilities owned by 69 companies was obtained; these facilities were responsible for the storage of 47% of the total treated waste (incineration + digestion + composting) in 2010 in Sweden. To identify factors related to fire frequency, the questionnaire covered the amounts of material handled and burnt per year, financial losses due to fires, storage duration, storage method and types of waste. The results show that 217 fire incidents corresponded to 170 kilotonnes of material burnt and cumulative losses of 49 million SEK (€4.3 million). Fire frequency and amount of material burnt per fire was found to be dependent upon type of management group (waste operator). Moreover, a correlation was found between fire frequency and material recycled during past years. Further investigations of financial aspects and externalities of fire incidents are recommended.

Life cycle assessment of a packaging waste recycling system in Portugal

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ferreira, S.; Cabral, M.; Cruz, N.F. da, E-mail: nunocruz@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Highlights: • We modeled a real packaging waste recycling system. • The analysis was performed using the life cycle assessment methodology. • The 2010 situation was compared with scenarios where the materials were not recycled. • The “Baseline” scenario seems to be more beneficial to the environment. - Abstract: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been used to assess the environmental impacts associated with an activity or product life cycle. It has also been applied to assess the environmental performance related to waste management activities. This study analyses the packaging waste management system of a local public authority in Portugal. Themore » operations of selective and refuse collection, sorting, recycling, landfilling and incineration of packaging waste were considered. The packaging waste management system in operation in 2010, which we called “Baseline” scenario, was compared with two hypothetical scenarios where all the packaging waste that was selectively collected in 2010 would undergo the refuse collection system and would be sent directly to incineration (called “Incineration” scenario) or to landfill (“Landfill” scenario). Overall, the results show that the “Baseline” scenario is more environmentally sound than the hypothetical scenarios.« less

Recycled agricultural wastes: biochars multifunctional role in agriculture and environment

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The rapid population growth, urbanization and modernization worldwide have resulted in the significant increase of waste generated. Waste production is a major environmental problem in our society. In fact, recycling and using raw materials from the waste we generate are some of the environmental ch...

Greenhouse gas emissions from municipal solid waste management in Vientiane, Lao PDR.

PubMed

Babel, Sandhya; Vilaysouk, Xaysackda

2016-01-01

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is one of the major environmental problems throughout the world including in Lao PDR. In Vientiane, due to the lack of a collection service, open burning and illegal dumping are commonly practised. This study aims to estimate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from the current situation of MSW management (MSWM) in Vientiane and proposes an alternative solution to reduce the GHG emission and environmental impacts. The 2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (IPCC 2006 model) are used for the estimation of GHG emission from landfill and composting. For the estimation of GHG emission from open burning, the Atmospheric Brown Clouds Emission Inventory Manual (ABC EIM) is used. In Vientiane, a total of 232, 505 tonnes year(-1) of MSW was generated in 2011. Waste generation in Vientiane is 0.69 kg per capita per day, and about 31% of the total MSW generated was directly sent to landfill (71,162 tonnes year(-1)). The total potential GHG emission from the baseline scenario in 2011 was 110,182 tonnes year(-1) CO2-eq, which is 0.15 tonne year(-1) CO2-eq per capita. From the three MSWM scenarios proposed, scenario S3, which includes recycling, composting and landfilling, seems to be an effective solution for dealing with MSW in Vientiane with less air pollution, and is environmentally friendly. The total GHG emission in scenario S3 is reduced to 91,920 tonnes year(-1) CO2-eq (47% reduction), compared with the S1 scenario where all uncollected waste is diverted to landfill. © The Author(s) 2015.

Impacts of policy and market incentives for solid waste recycling in Dhaka, Bangladesh

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Matter, Anne; Swisscontact: Swiss Foundation for Technical Cooperation, South Asian Regional Office, House No. 19, Road No. 11, Baridhara, Dhaka 1212; Ahsan, Mehedi

Highlights: • Bangladesh’s industry and population are growing rapidly, producing more urban waste. • Recycling reduces the solid waste management burden of Municipalities. • A wide array of informal and formal actors is involved in collection and recycling. • Demand for recycled materials and renewable energy creates market incentives. • Policy incentives exist, but they only reach the formal industry. - Abstract: Solid waste mismanagement in Dhaka, Bangladesh, illustrates a well-known market failure which can be summarized as: waste is a resource in the wrong place. Inorganic materials such as plastic or paper can be used to feed the demandmore » for recycled materials in the industrial sector. Organic materials can be converted and used in the nutrient-starved agricultural sector which is currently heavily depending on chemical fertilizers. They are also a feedstock to generate renewable energy in the form of biogas for this energy-starved country relying on diminishing natural gas reserves and increasing import of coal. Reality however does not capitalize on this potential; instead the waste is a burden for municipal authorities who spend large portions of their budgets attempting to transport it out of the city for discharge into landfills. The major part of these materials still remains uncollected in the residential areas and is discarded indiscriminately in open spaces, polluting the residents’ living environment including water, soil and air resources, in the city and beyond. Bangladeshi authorities have, to some extent, recognized this market failure and have developed policies to encourage the development of waste recycling activities. It is also important to note that this market failure is only partial: a large, mostly informal recycling sector has developed in Bangladesh, focusing on inorganic recyclables of market value. The fact that this sector remains largely informal means that these actors perceive significant barriers to

Separability studies of construction and demolition waste recycled sand.

PubMed

Ulsen, Carina; Kahn, Henrique; Hawlitschek, Gustav; Masini, Eldon A; Angulo, Sérgio C

2013-03-01

The quality of recycled aggregates from construction and demolition waste (CDW) is strictly related to the content of porous and low strength phases, and specifically to the patches of cement that remain attached to the surface of natural aggregates. This phase increases water absorption and compromises the consistency and strength of concrete made from recycled aggregates. Mineral processing has been applied to CDW recycling to remove the patches of adhered cement paste on coarse recycled aggregates. The recycled fine fraction is usually disregarded due to its high content of porous phases despite representing around 50% of the total waste. This paper focus on laboratory mineral separability studies for removing particles with a high content of cement paste from natural fine aggregate particles (quartz/feldspars). The procedure achieved processing of CDW by tertiary impact crushing to produce sand, followed by sieving and density and magnetic separability studies. The attained results confirmed that both methods were effective in reducing cement paste content and producing significant mass recovery (80% for density concentration and 60% for magnetic separation). The production of recycled sand contributes to the sustainability of the construction environment by reducing both the consumption of raw materials and disposal of CDW, particularly in large Brazilian centers with a low quantity of sand and increasing costs of this material due to long transportation distances. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hanford Low-Activity Waste Processing: Demonstration of the Off-Gas Recycle Flowsheet - 13443

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ramsey, William G.; Esparza, Brian P.

2013-07-01

Vitrification of Hanford Low-Activity Waste (LAW) is nominally the thermal conversion and incorporation of sodium salts and radionuclides into borosilicate glass. One key radionuclide present in LAW is technetium-99. Technetium-99 is a low energy, long-lived beta emitting radionuclide present in the waste feed in concentrations on the order of 1-10 ppm. The long half-life combined with a high solubility in groundwater results in technetium-99 having considerable impact on performance modeling (as potential release to the environment) of both the waste glass and associated secondary waste products. The current Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) process flowsheet calls formore » the recycle of vitrification process off-gas condensates to maximize the portion of technetium ultimately immobilized in the waste glass. This is required as technetium acts as a semi-volatile specie, i.e. considerable loss of the radionuclide to the process off-gas stream can occur during the vitrification process. To test the process flowsheet assumptions, a prototypic off-gas system with recycle capability was added to a laboratory melter (on the order of 1/200 scale) and testing performed. Key test goals included determination of the process mass balance for technetium, a non-radioactive surrogate (rhenium), and other soluble species (sulfate, halides, etc.) which are concentrated by recycling off-gas condensates. The studies performed are the initial demonstrations of process recycle for this type of liquid-fed melter system. This paper describes the process recycle system, the waste feeds processed, and experimental results. Comparisons between data gathered using process recycle and previous single pass melter testing as well as mathematical modeling simulations are also provided. (authors)« less

Assessment of Food Waste Prevention and Recycling Strategies Using a Multilayer Systems Approach.

PubMed

Hamilton, Helen A; Peverill, M Samantha; Müller, Daniel B; Brattebø, Helge

2015-12-15

Food waste (FW) generates large upstream and downstream emissions to the environment and unnecessarily consumes natural resources, potentially affecting future food security. The ecological impacts of FW can be addressed by the upstream strategies of FW prevention or by downstream strategies of FW recycling, including energy and nutrient recovery. While FW recycling is often prioritized in practice, the ecological implications of the two strategies remain poorly understood from a quantitative systems perspective. Here, we develop a multilayer systems framework and scenarios to quantify the implications of food waste strategies on national biomass, energy, and phosphorus (P) cycles, using Norway as a case study. We found that (i) avoidable food waste in Norway accounts for 17% of sold food; (ii) 10% of the avoidable food waste occurs at the consumption stage, while industry and retailers account for only 7%; (iii) the theoretical potential for systems-wide net process energy savings is 16% for FW prevention and 8% for FW recycling; (iv) the theoretical potential for systems-wide P savings is 21% for FW prevention and 9% for FW recycling; (v) while FW recycling results in exclusively domestic nutrient and energy savings, FW prevention leads to domestic and international savings due to large food imports; (vi) most effective is a combination of prevention and recycling, however, FW prevention reduces the potential for FW recycling and therefore needs to be prioritized to avoid potential overcapacities for FW recycling.

Combustible and incombustible speciation of Cl and S in various components of municipal solid waste.

PubMed

Watanabe, Nobuhisa; Yamamoto, Osamu; Sakai, Mamoru; Fukuyama, Johji

2004-01-01

Chlorine (Cl) and sulfur (S) in municipal solid waste (MSW) are important reactive elements during combustion. They generate the acidic pollutants HCl and SOx, and, furthermore, produce and suppress organic chlorinated compounds. Nevertheless, few practical reports about Cl and S content in MSW have been published. In combustion and recycling processes, both combustible Cl and S, and incombustible Cl and S species are equally important. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive study about combustible and incombustible Cl and S in MSW components, including kitchen garbage, paper, textiles, wood and leaves, plastics and small chips. By integrating this collected data with data about MSW composition, not only the overall content of Cl and S in MSW, but also the origins of both combustible and incombustible Cl and S were estimated. The average Cl content in bulk MSW was 3.7 g/kg of raw MSW, of which 2.7 and 1.0 g/kg were combustible and incombustible, respectively. The Cl contribution from plastics was 76% and 27% with respect to combustible and incombustible states. The average S content in bulk MSW was 0.81 g/kg of raw MSW, of which 0.46 g/kg was combustible and 0.35 g/kg was incombustible. Combustible S was mainly due to synthetic textiles, while incombustible S was primarily from paper.

Networks of recyclable material waste-picker’s cooperatives: An alternative for the solid waste management in the city of Rio de Janeiro

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tirado-Soto, Magda Martina, E-mail: magda@pep.ufrj.br; Zamberlan, Fabio Luiz, E-mail: fabio@pep.ufrj.br

Highlights: ► In the marketing of recyclable materials, the waste-pickers are the least wins. ► It is proposed creating a network of recycling cooperatives to achieve viability. ► The waste-pickers contribute to waste management to the city. - Abstract: The objective of this study is to discuss the role of networks formed of waste-picker cooperatives in ameliorating problems of final disposal of solid waste in the city of Rio de Janeiro, since the city’s main landfill will soon have to close because of exhausted capacity. However, it is estimated that in the city of Rio de Janeiro there are aroundmore » five thousand waste-pickers working in poor conditions, with lack of physical infrastructure and training, but contributing significantly by diverting solid waste from landfills. According to the Sustainable Development Indicators (IBGE, 2010a,b) in Brazil, recycling rates hover between 45% and 55%. In the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, only 1% of the waste produced is collected selectively by the government (COMLURB, 2010), demonstrating that recycling is mainly performed by waste-pickers. Furthermore, since the recycling market is an oligopsony that requires economies of scale to negotiate directly with industries, the idea of working in networks of cooperatives meets the demands for joint marketing of recyclable materials. Thus, this work presents a method for creating and structuring a network of recycling cooperatives, with prior training for working in networks, so that the expected synergies and joint efforts can lead to concrete results. We intend to demonstrate that it is first essential to strengthen the waste-pickers’ cooperatives in terms of infrastructure, governance and training so that solid waste management can be environmentally, socially and economically sustainable in the city of Rio de Janeiro.« less

Full cost accounting in the analysis of separated waste collection efficiency: A methodological proposal.

PubMed

D'Onza, Giuseppe; Greco, Giulio; Allegrini, Marco

2016-02-01

Recycling implies additional costs for separated municipal solid waste (MSW) collection. The aim of the present study is to propose and implement a management tool - the full cost accounting (FCA) method - to calculate the full collection costs of different types of waste. Our analysis aims for a better understanding of the difficulties of putting FCA into practice in the MSW sector. We propose a FCA methodology that uses standard cost and actual quantities to calculate the collection costs of separate and undifferentiated waste. Our methodology allows cost efficiency analysis and benchmarking, overcoming problems related to firm-specific accounting choices, earnings management policies and purchase policies. Our methodology allows benchmarking and variance analysis that can be used to identify the causes of off-standards performance and guide managers to deploy resources more efficiently. Our methodology can be implemented by companies lacking a sophisticated management accounting system. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of informal electronic waste recycling on metal concentrations in soils and dusts.

PubMed

Ohajinwa, Chimere May; van Bodegom, Peter M; Vijver, Martina G; Peijnenburg, Willie J G M

2018-07-01

Electronic and electrical equipment contains over 1000 different substances, including metals. During informal e-waste recycling some of these substances such as metals, are released into the environment causing environmental pollution. This study assessed the impact of different informal e-waste recycling activities (burning, dismantling, and repairing) on metal concentrations in top soils and various dust. A comparative cross-sectional study design was adopted to assess metal concentrations in top soils and in various dust samples from multiple e-waste recycling sites. Metal concentrations at e-waste recycling sites were compared to the concentrations at control sites in three study locations in Nigeria (Lagos, Ibadan, and Aba). In the three study locations, mean metal concentrations at the e-waste recycling sites exceeded the concentrations at the control sites and the Nigerian standard guideline values by 100 s to 1000 s times. Burning sites showed the highest pollution level, followed by dismantling sites, then repair sites. Our findings show serious environmental and public health concerns. The metal concentrations were also higher than levels reported in other studies at the same locations in Nigeria, indicating that the situation is worsening. This study provides scientific evidence for an urgent need to develop effective strategies to strengthen enforcement of existing e-waste regulations in Nigeria. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Optimal waste-to-energy strategy assisted by GIS For sustainable solid waste management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, S. T.; Hashim, H.

2014-02-01

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management has become more complex and costly with the rapid socio-economic development and increased volume of waste. Planning a sustainable regional waste management strategy is a critical step for the decision maker. There is a great potential for MSW to be used for the generation of renewable energy through waste incineration or landfilling with gas capture system. However, due to high processing cost and cost of resource transportation and distribution throughout the waste collection station and power plant, MSW is mostly disposed in the landfill. This paper presents an optimization model incorporated with GIS data inputs for MSW management. The model can design the multi-period waste-to-energy (WTE) strategy to illustrate the economic potential and tradeoffs for MSW management under different scenarios. The model is capable of predicting the optimal generation, capacity, type of WTE conversion technology and location for the operation and construction of new WTE power plants to satisfy the increased energy demand by 2025 in the most profitable way. Iskandar Malaysia region was chosen as the model city for this study.

Interactive analysis of waste recycling and energy recovery program in a small-scale incinerator.

PubMed

Chen, Jeng-Chung; Chen, Wei-Hsin; Chang, Ni-Bin; Davila, Eric; Tsai, Cheng-Hsien

2005-09-01

Conflicting goals affecting solid waste management are explored in this paper to find the best implementation of resource recovery with a small-scale waste-to-energy process. Recycling paper and plastic material often leaves a shortage of thermal energy to support incineration that forces operators to supplement the process with auxiliary fuels. Although there are considerable profits to be made from material recovery, the increase of fuel usage causes conflict given that it is cost prohibitive. A series of trials performed on a small-scale 1.5-t/day incineration plant with a cyclone heat recovery system found that material recycling can impede performance. Experimental results are expressed as empirical regression formulas with regard to combustion temperature, energy transfer, and heat recovery. Process optimization is possible if the waste moisture content remains <30%. To test the robustness of the optimization analysis, a series of sensitivity analyses clarify the extent of material recycling needed with regard to plastic, paper, and metal. The experiments also test whether the moisture in the waste would decrease when recycling paper because of its exceptional capacity to absorb moisture. Results show that recycling paper is strongly recommended when the moisture content is >20%, whereas plastic recycling is not necessary at that moisture condition. Notably, plastic recovery reduces the heat needed to vaporize the water content of the solid waste, thus it is recommended only when the moisture content is <10%. For above-normal incineration temperatures, plastic recycling is encouraged, because it removes excess energy. Metal is confirmed as an overall priority in material recycling regardless of the moisture content of the incoming waste.

Approach of technical decision-making by element flow analysis and Monte-Carlo simulation of municipal solid waste stream.

PubMed

Tian, Bao-Guo; Si, Ji-Tao; Zhao, Yan; Wang, Hong-Tao; Hao, Ji-Ming

2007-01-01

This paper deals with the procedure and methodology which can be used to select the optimal treatment and disposal technology of municipal solid waste (MSW), and to provide practical and effective technical support to policy-making, on the basis of study on solid waste management status and development trend in China and abroad. Focusing on various treatment and disposal technologies and processes of MSW, this study established a Monte-Carlo mathematical model of cost minimization for MSW handling subjected to environmental constraints. A new method of element stream (such as C, H, O, N, S) analysis in combination with economic stream analysis of MSW was developed. By following the streams of different treatment processes consisting of various techniques from generation, separation, transfer, transport, treatment, recycling and disposal of the wastes, the element constitution as well as its economic distribution in terms of possibility functions was identified. Every technique step was evaluated economically. The Mont-Carlo method was then conducted for model calibration. Sensitivity analysis was also carried out to identify the most sensitive factors. Model calibration indicated that landfill with power generation of landfill gas was economically the optimal technology at the present stage under the condition of more than 58% of C, H, O, N, S going to landfill. Whether or not to generate electricity was the most sensitive factor. If landfilling cost increases, MSW separation treatment was recommended by screening first followed with incinerating partially and composting partially with residue landfilling. The possibility of incineration model selection as the optimal technology was affected by the city scale. For big cities and metropolitans with large MSW generation, possibility for constructing large-scale incineration facilities increases, whereas, for middle and small cities, the effectiveness of incinerating waste decreases.

Comparisons of four categories of waste recycling in China's paper industry based on physical input-output life-cycle assessment model.

PubMed

Liang, Sai; Zhang, Tianzhu; Xu, Yijian

2012-03-01

Waste recycling for paper production is an important component of waste management. This study constructs a physical input-output life-cycle assessment (PIO-LCA) model. The PIO-LCA model is used to investigate environmental impacts of four categories of waste recycling in China's paper industry: crop straws, bagasse, textile wastes and scrap paper. Crop straw recycling and wood utilization for paper production have small total intensity of environmental impacts. Moreover, environmental impacts reduction of crop straw recycling and wood utilization benefits the most from technology development. Thus, using crop straws and wood (including wood wastes) for paper production should be promoted. Technology development has small effects on environmental impacts reduction of bagasse recycling, textile waste recycling and scrap paper recycling. In addition, bagasse recycling and textile waste recycling have big total intensity of environmental impacts. Thus, the development of bagasse recycling and textile waste recycling should be properly limited. Other pathways for reusing bagasse and textile wastes should be explored and evaluated. Moreover, imports of scrap paper should be encouraged to reduce large indirect impacts of scrap paper recycling on domestic environment. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Urban Waste Recycling Behavior: Antecedents of Participation in a Selective Collection Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcés, Conchita; Lafuente, Alberto; Pedraja, Marta; Rivera, Pilar

2002-09-01

The aim of this study is to analyze the antecedents of urban waste recycling behavior. To achieve this goal, a concrete urban waste management program was chosen. The study focuses on the Selective Collection Program (SCP) in Zaragoza, a medium-sized city in northeastern Spain. The research starts with a conceptual model in which the variables that potentially affect recycling behavior can be classified into two groups: incentives and barriers. Moreover, the sociodemographic characteristics of the individuals are included in our study. Given that the proposed model requires specification of latent variables or constructs, the analysis is based on the Structural Equation Models (SEM) methodology. The results revealed that environmental awareness, knowledge of the environmental impact of urban waste, and the positive perception of management by local government exercise a positive effect on individual recycling behavior, while perceived personal difficulties (space and time availability) and distance to and from the container have a negative effect. As regards sociodemographic variables, this study found that annual family income sustains a negative relationship with recycling behavior, while age maintains a positive one. The results obtained clearly show the important role that the public authorities play, especially municipal governments, in achieving the waste recycling objectives established in accordance with international legislation.

Toward zero waste to landfill: an effective method for recycling zeolite waste from refinery industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Homchuen, K.; Anuwattana, R.; Limphitakphong, N.; Chavalparit, O.

2017-07-01

One-third of landfill waste of refinery plant in Thailand was spent chloride zeolite, which wastes a huge of land, cost and time for handling. Toward zero waste to landfill, this study was aimed at determining an effective method for recycling zeolite waste by comparing the chemical process with the electrochemical process. To investigate the optimum conditions of both processes, concentration of chemical solution and reaction time were carried out for the former, while the latter varied in term of current density, initial pH of water, and reaction time. The results stated that regenerating zeolite waste from refinery industry in Thailand should be done through the chemical process with alkaline solution because it provided the best chloride adsorption efficiency with cost the least. A successful recycling will be beneficial not only in reducing the amount of landfill waste but also in reducing material and disposal costs and consumption of natural resources as well.

Recycling polyethylene terephthalate wastes as short fibers in Strain-Hardening Cementitious Composites (SHCC).

PubMed

Lin, Xiuyi; Yu, Jing; Li, Hedong; Lam, Jeffery Y K; Shih, Kaimin; Sham, Ivan M L; Leung, Christopher K Y

2018-05-26

As an important portion of the total plastic waste bulk but lack of reuse and recycling, the enormous amounts of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) solid wastes have led to serious environmental issues. This study explores the feasibility of recycling PET solid wastes as short fibers in Strain-Hardening Cementitious Composites (SHCCs), which exhibit strain-hardening and multiple cracking under tension, and therefore have clear advantages over conventional concrete for many construction applications. Based on micromechanical modeling, fiber dispersion and alkali resistance, the size of recycled PET fibers was first determined. Then the hydrophobic PET surface was treated with NaOH solution followed by a silane coupling agent to achieve the dual purpose of improving the fiber/matrix interfacial frictional bond (from 0.64 MPa to 0.80 MPa) and enhancing the alkali resistance for applications in alkaline cementitious environment. With surface treatment, recycling PET wastes as fibers in SHCCs is a promising approach to significantly reduce the material cost of SHCCs while disposing hazardous PET wastes in construction industry. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nutrient recycling of lipid-extracted waste in the production of an oleaginous thraustochytrid.

PubMed

Lowrey, Joshua; Brooks, Marianne S; Armenta, Roberto E

2016-05-01

Improving the economics of microalgae production for the recovery of microbial oil requires a comprehensive exploration of the measures needed to improve productivity as well as to reduce the overall processing costs. One avenue for cost reduction involves recycling the effluent waste water remaining after lipid extraction. This study investigates the feasibility of recycling those wastes for growing thraustochytrid biomass, a heterotrophic microalgae, where wastes were generated from the enzymatic extraction of the lipids from the cell biomass. It was demonstrated that secondary cultures of the tested thraustochytrid grown in the recycled wastes performed favorably in terms of cell and oil production (20.48 g cells L(-1) and 40.9 % (w/w) lipid) compared to the control (13.63 g cells L(-1) and 56.8 % (w/w) lipid). Further, the significant uptake of solubilized cell material (in the form of amino acids) demonstrated that the recycled waste has the potential for offsetting the need for fresh medium components. These results indicate that the implementation of a nutrient recycling strategy for industrial microalgae production could be possible, with significant added benefits such as conserving water resources, improving production efficiency, and decreasing material inputs.

Recovery of metals and nonmetals from electronic waste by physical and chemical recycling processes.

PubMed

Kaya, Muammer

2016-11-01

This paper reviews the existing and state of art knowledge for electronic waste (e-waste) recycling. Electrical and/or electronic devices which are unwanted, broken or discarded by their original users are known as e-waste. The main purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of e-waste problem, strategies of e-waste management and various physical, chemical and metallurgical e-waste recycling processes, their advantages and disadvantages towards achieving a cleaner process of waste utilization, with special attention towards extraction of both metallic values and nonmetallic substances. The hazards arise from the presence of heavy metals Hg, Cd, Pb, etc., brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and other potentially harmful substances in e-waste. Due to the presence of these substances, e-waste is generally considered as hazardous waste and, if improperly managed, may pose significant human and environmental health risks. This review describes the potential hazards and economic opportunities of e-waste. Firstly, an overview of e-waste/printed circuit board (PCB) components is given. Current status and future perspectives of e-waste/PCB recycling are described. E-waste characterization, dismantling methods, liberation and classification processes are also covered. Manual selective dismantling after desoldering and metal-nonmetal liberation at -150μm with two step crushing are seen to be the best techniques. After size reduction, mainly physical separation processes employing gravity, electrostatic, magnetic separators, froth floatation, etc. have been critically reviewed here for separation of metals and nonmetals, along with useful utilizations of the nonmetallic materials. The recovery of metals from e-waste material after physical separation through pyrometallurgical, hydrometallurgical or biohydrometallurgical routes is also discussed along with purification and refining. Suitable PCB recycling flowsheets for industrial applications are also given

Heavy metals in MSW incineration fly ashes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira, C.; Ribeiro, A.; Ottosen, L.

2003-05-01

Incineration is a common solution for dealing with the increasing amount of municipal solid waste (MSW). During the process, the heavy metals initially present in the waste go through several transformations, ending up in combustion products, such as fly ash. This article deals with some issues related to the combustion of MSW and the formation of fly ash, especially in what concerns heavy metals. Treatment of the flue gas in air pollution control equipment plays an important role and the basic processes to accomplish this are explained. Fly ash from a semi-dry flue gas treatment system is characterized regarding its physical-chemical properties: pH, solubility, chemical composition, and leaching, amongst others. Results indicate a high alkalinity and the presence of large amounts of calcium, chlorides, sulfates, carbonates, sodium and potassium. Metal concentrations in fly ash are: 6,2g/kg for zinc, 2,4g/kg for lead, 1,7g/kg for iron, and 7,9g/kg for magnesium. Copper, manganese, chromium and cadmium are also present with 546, 338, 104 and 91mg/kg of fly ash, respectively. These results are extremely important in subsequent studies on the treatment of fly ash.

Comparisons of four categories of waste recycling in China's paper industry based on physical input-output life-cycle assessment model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liang Sai; Zhang, Tianzhu, E-mail: zhangtz@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn; Xu Yijian

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Using crop straws and wood wastes for paper production should be promoted. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Bagasse and textile waste recycling should be properly limited. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Imports of scrap paper should be encouraged. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Sensitivity analysis, uncertainties and policy implications are discussed. - Abstract: Waste recycling for paper production is an important component of waste management. This study constructs a physical input-output life-cycle assessment (PIO-LCA) model. The PIO-LCA model is used to investigate environmental impacts of four categories of waste recycling in China's paper industry: crop straws, bagasse, textile wastes and scrap paper. Crop straw recycling and wood utilization for papermore » production have small total intensity of environmental impacts. Moreover, environmental impacts reduction of crop straw recycling and wood utilization benefits the most from technology development. Thus, using crop straws and wood (including wood wastes) for paper production should be promoted. Technology development has small effects on environmental impacts reduction of bagasse recycling, textile waste recycling and scrap paper recycling. In addition, bagasse recycling and textile waste recycling have big total intensity of environmental impacts. Thus, the development of bagasse recycling and textile waste recycling should be properly limited. Other pathways for reusing bagasse and textile wastes should be explored and evaluated. Moreover, imports of scrap paper should be encouraged to reduce large indirect impacts of scrap paper recycling on domestic environment.« less

Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) - Materials and Waste Management in the United States Key Facts and Figures

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Each year EPA produces a report called Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: Facts and Figures. It includes information on municipal solid waste (MSW) generation, recycling, composting, combustion with energy recovery and landfilling. The 2014 report provides information on historical tipping fees for MSW, and information on the construction and demolition debris generation, which is outside of the scope of MSW. The Facts and Figures website includes recent reports (2012 to 2014 as well as historical information on materials in the U.S. Municipal Waste Stream, 1960 to 2014 (in tons). The reports for both current and historical waste prevention can be accessed at EPA's SMM website. The recent Annual Facts and Figures reports are accessible at the following link: https://www.epa.gov/smm/advancing-sustainable-materials-management-facts-and-figures-report. Historical data as well as studies and summary tables related to the Advancing Sustainable Materials Management Report are accessible here: https://www.epa.gov/smm/studies-summary-tables-and-data-related-advancing-sustainable-materials-management-report. An excel file containing the data from 1960 - 2014 is located here: https://edg.epa.gov/data/PUBLIC/OLEM/Materials_Municipal_Waste_Stream_1960_to_2014.xlsx. EPA also maintains a list of state and local waste characterization studies (reports are not available for all states). You can search for your state at https://www.epa.gov/smm/advancing-

Monitoring household waste recycling centres performance using mean bin weight analyses.

PubMed

Maynard, Sarah; Cherrett, Tom; Waterson, Ben

2009-02-01

This paper describes a modelling approach used to investigate the significance of key factors (vehicle type, compaction type, site design, temporal effects) in influencing the variability in observed nett amenity bin weights produced by household waste recycling centres (HWRCs). This new method can help to quickly identify sites that are producing significantly lighter bins, enabling detailed back-end analyses to be efficiently targeted and best practice in HWRC operation identified. Tested on weigh ticket data from nine HWRCs across West Sussex, UK, the model suggests that compaction technique, vehicle type, month and site design explained 76% of the variability in the observed nett amenity weights. For each factor, a weighting coefficient was calculated to generate a predicted nett weight for each bin transaction and three sites were subsequently identified as having similar characteristics but returned significantly different mean nett bin weights. Waste and site audits were then conducted at the three sites to try and determine the possible sources of the remaining variability. Significant differences were identified in the proportions of contained waste (bagged), wood, and dry recyclables entering the amenity waste stream, particularly at one site where significantly less contaminated waste and dry recyclables were observed.

Persistent toxic substances released from uncontrolled e-waste recycling and actions for the future.

PubMed

Man, Ming; Naidu, Ravi; Wong, Ming H

2013-10-01

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was adopted on March 22, 1989 and enforced on May 5, 1992. Since then, the USA, one of the world's largest e-waste producers, has not ratified this Convention or the Basel Ban Amendment. Communities are still debating the legal loophole, which permits the export of whole products to other countries provided it is not for recycling. In January 2011, China's WEEE Directive was implemented, providing stricter control over e-waste imports to China, including Hong Kong, while emphasizing that e-waste recycling is the producers' responsibility. China is expected to supersede the USA as the principal e-waste producer, by 2020, according to the UNEP. Uncontrolled e-waste recycling activities generate and release heavy metals and POPs into the environment, which may be re-distributed, bioaccumulated and biomagnified, with potentially adverse human health effects. Greater efforts and scientific approaches are needed for future e-product designs of minimal toxic metal and compound use, reaping greater benefits than debating the definition and handling responsibilities of e-waste recycling. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Design of an innovative, ecological portable waste compressor for in-house recycling of paper, plastic and metal packaging waste.

PubMed

Xevgenos, D; Athanasopoulos, N; Kostazos, P K; Manolakos, D E; Moustakas, K; Malamis, D; Loizidou, M

2015-05-01

Waste management in Greece relies heavily on unsustainable waste practices (mainly landfills and in certain cases uncontrolled dumping of untreated waste). Even though major improvements have been achieved in the recycling of municipal solid waste during recent years, there are some barriers that hinder the achievement of high recycling rates. Source separation of municipal solid waste has been recognised as a promising solution to produce high-quality recycled materials that can be easily directed to secondary materials markets. This article presents an innovative miniature waste separator/compressor that has been designed and developed for the source separation of municipal solid waste at a household level. The design of the system is in line with the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC), since it allows for the separate collection (and compression) of municipal solid waste, namely: plastic (polyethylene terephthalate and high-density polyethylene), paper (cardboard and Tetrapak) and metal (aluminium and tin cans). It has been designed through the use of suitable software tools (LS-DYNA, INVENTROR and COMSOL). The results from the simulations, as well as the whole design process and philosophy, are discussed in this article. © The Author(s) 2015.

The causes of the municipal solid waste and the greenhouse gas emissions from the waste sector in the United States.

PubMed

Lee, Seungtaek; Kim, Jonghoon; Chong, Wai K O

2016-10-01

The United States generated approximately 730kg of waste per capita in 2013, which is the highest amount of waste among OECD countries. The waste has adverse effects to human health and the environment. One of the most serious adverse effects is greenhouse gas emissions, especially methane (CH4), which causes global warming. However, the United States' amount of waste generation is not decreasing, and the recycling rate is only 26%, which is lower than other OECD countries. In order to decrease waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions, identifying the causality of the waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions from waste sector should be made a priority. The research objective is to verify whether the Environmental Kuznets Curve relationship is supported for waste generation and GDP across the U.S. Moreover, it also confirmed that total waste generation and recycling of waste influences carbon dioxide emissions from the waste sector. Based on the results, critical insight and suggestions were offered to policymakers, which is the potential way to lower the solid waste and greenhouse gas emissions from the waste sector. This research used annually based U.S. data from 1990 to 2012, and these data were collected from various data sources. To verify the causal relationship, the Granger causality test was applied. The results showed that there is no causality between GDP and waste generation, but total waste and recycling generate significantly increasing and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions from the waste sector, respectively. This implies that waste generation will not decrease even if GDP increases. And, if waste generation decreases or the recycling rate increases, greenhouse gas emission will decrease. Based on these results, increasing the recycling rate is first suggested. The second suggestion is to break the causal relationship between MSW and greenhouse gas emission from the waste sector. The third is that the U.S. government should benchmark a

Multi-objective optimization of solid waste flows: environmentally sustainable strategies for municipalities.

PubMed

Minciardi, Riccardo; Paolucci, Massimo; Robba, Michela; Sacile, Roberto

2008-11-01

An approach to sustainable municipal solid waste (MSW) management is presented, with the aim of supporting the decision on the optimal flows of solid waste sent to landfill, recycling and different types of treatment plants, whose sizes are also decision variables. This problem is modeled with a non-linear, multi-objective formulation. Specifically, four objectives to be minimized have been taken into account, which are related to economic costs, unrecycled waste, sanitary landfill disposal and environmental impact (incinerator emissions). An interactive reference point procedure has been developed to support decision making; these methods are considered appropriate for multi-objective decision problems in environmental applications. In addition, interactive methods are generally preferred by decision makers as they can be directly involved in the various steps of the decision process. Some results deriving from the application of the proposed procedure are presented. The application of the procedure is exemplified by considering the interaction with two different decision makers who are assumed to be in charge of planning the MSW system in the municipality of Genova (Italy).

Toward zero waste: composting and recycling for sustainable venue based events.

PubMed

Hottle, Troy A; Bilec, Melissa M; Brown, Nicholas R; Landis, Amy E

2015-04-01

This study evaluated seven different waste management strategies for venue-based events and characterized the impacts of event waste management via waste audits and the Waste Reduction Model (WARM). The seven waste management scenarios included traditional waste handling methods (e.g. recycle and landfill) and management of the waste stream via composting, including purchasing where only compostable food service items were used during the events. Waste audits were conducted at four Arizona State University (ASU) baseball games, including a three game series. The findings demonstrate a tradeoff among CO2 equivalent emissions, energy use, and landfill diversion rates. Of the seven waste management scenarios assessed, the recycling scenarios provide the greatest reductions in CO2 eq. emissions and energy use because of the retention of high value materials but are compounded by the difficulty in managing a two or three bin collection system. The compost only scenario achieves complete landfill diversion but does not perform as well with respect to CO2 eq. emissions or energy. The three game series was used to test the impact of staffed bins on contamination rates; the first game served as a baseline, the second game employed staffed bins, and the third game had non staffed bins to determine the effect of staffing on contamination rates. Contamination rates in both the recycling and compost bins were tracked throughout the series. Contamination rates were reduced from 34% in the first game to 11% on the second night (with the staffed bins) and 23% contamination rates at the third game. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Atmospheric emissions of typical toxic heavy metals from open burning of municipal solid waste in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yan; Cheng, Ke; Wu, Weidong; Tian, Hezhong; Yi, Peng; Zhi, Guorui; Fan, Jing; Liu, Shuhan

2017-03-01

Municipal solid waste (MSW) contains considerable hazardous components and the widely-distributed open MSW burning in heavily-populated urban areas can cause direct exposure of hazardous materials to citizens. By determining the best available representation of composition-varying and time-varying emission factors with fuzzy mathematics method and S-shape curves, a comprehensive atmospheric emission inventories of 9 typical toxic heavy metals (THMs, e.g. mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), selenium (Se), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and nickel (Ni)) from open MSW burning activities in China is established during the period of 2000-2013 for the first time. Further, the emissions in 2013 are allocated at a high spatial resolution of 0.5° × 0.5° grid by surrogate indexes. The results show that 9 typical THMs emissions from open MSW burning are estimated at 21.25 t for Hg, 131.52 t for As, 97.12 t for Pb, 10.12 t for Cd, 50.58 t for Cr, 81.95 t for Se, 382.42 t for Cu, 1790.70 t for Zn, and 43.50 t for Ni, respectively. In terms of spatial variation, the majority of emissions are concentrated in relatively developed and densely-populated regions, especially for the eastern, central and southern regions. Moreover, future emissions are also projected for the period of 2015-2030 based on different scenarios of the independent and collaborative effects of control proposals including minimizing waste, improving MSW incineration ratio, and enhancing waste sorting and recycling, etc. The collaborative effect of the above proposals is expected to bring the most effective reduction to THMs emissions from open MSW burning in China except for Hg. The results will be supplementary to all anthropogenic emissions and useful for relevant policy-making and the improvement of urban air quality as well as human health.

The potential environmental gains from recycling waste plastics: simulation of transferring recycling and recovery technologies to Shenyang, China.

PubMed

Chen, Xudong; Xi, Fengming; Geng, Yong; Fujita, Tsuyoshi

2011-01-01

With the increasing attention on developing a low-carbon economy, it is necessary to seek appropriate ways on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through innovative municipal solid waste management (MSWM), such as urban symbiosis. However, quantitative assessments on the environmental benefits of urban symbiosis, especially in developing countries, are limited because only a limited number of planned synergistic activities have been successful and it is difficult to acquire detailed inventory data from private companies. This paper modifies and applies a two-step simulation system and used it to assess the potential environmental benefits, including the reduction of GHG emissions and saving of fossil fuels, by employing various Japanese plastics recycling/energy-recovery technologies in Shenyang, China. The results showed that among various recycling/energy-recovery technologies, the mechanical waste plastics recycling technology, which produces concrete formwork boards (NF boards), has the greatest potential in terms of reducing GHG emissions (1.66 kg CO(2)e/kg plastics), whereas the technology for the production of refuse plastic fuel (RPF) has the greatest potential on saving fossil fuel consumption (0.77 kg ce/kg-plastics). Additional benefits can be gained by applying combined technologies that cascade the utilization of waste plastics. Moreover, the development of clean energy in conjunction with the promotion of new waste plastics recycling programs could contribute to additional reductions in GHG emissions and fossil fuel consumption. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluating waste printed circuit boards recycling: Opportunities and challenges, a mini review.

PubMed

Awasthi, Abhishek Kumar; Zlamparet, Gabriel Ionut; Zeng, Xianlai; Li, Jinhui

2017-04-01

Rapid generation of waste printed circuit boards has become a very serious issue worldwide. Numerous techniques have been developed in the last decade to resolve the pollution from waste printed circuit boards, and also recover valuable metals from the waste printed circuit boards stream on a large-scale. However, these techniques have their own certain specific drawbacks that need to be rectified properly. In this review article, these recycling technologies are evaluated based on a strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis. Furthermore, it is warranted that, the substantial research is required to improve the current technologies for waste printed circuit boards recycling in the outlook of large-scale applications.

Flotation separation of waste plastics for recycling-A review.

PubMed

Wang, Chong-qing; Wang, Hui; Fu, Jian-gang; Liu, You-nian

2015-07-01

The sharp increase of plastic wastes results in great social and environmental pressures, and recycling, as an effective way currently available to reduce the negative impacts of plastic wastes, represents one of the most dynamic areas in the plastics industry today. Froth flotation is a promising method to solve the key problem of recycling process, namely separation of plastic mixtures. This review surveys recent literature on plastics flotation, focusing on specific features compared to ores flotation, strategies, methods and principles, flotation equipments, and current challenges. In terms of separation methods, plastics flotation is divided into gamma flotation, adsorption of reagents, surface modification and physical regulation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Identification of junk buyers' contribution to recycling of household waste in Hanoi, Vietnam, through a physical composition analysis.

PubMed

Kawai, Kosuke; Osako, Masahiro; Matsui, Saburo; Dong, Nguyen The

2012-07-01

Even in developing countries, the amount of containers and packaging waste are increasing in line with population concentration and lifestyle changes in urban areas. This can cause serious problems for the disposal of municipal solid waste. Through a physical composition analysis of household waste in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, this study aimed to identify the contribution made by junk buyers to recycling. Interviews on the handling of recyclable waste by households were conducted. About 232 kg of recyclable waste was sampled from a total of 115 households, and about 230 kg of municipal solid waste was sampled from a total of 101 households and sorted into 69 categories for measurement by volume and weight. The interview survey revealed that a high proportion of households tended to routinely store recyclable waste for sale or donation to junk buyers. Junk buyers accounted for 8.8% of recycling by weight or 26.0% by volume according to the results of the physical composition analysis. In addition, the results suggested that containers and packaging waste accounted for the largest proportion of household waste by volume. Junk buyers recycled 25.5% by weight of containers and packaging waste. In the formulation of new plans for municipal solid waste management to improve the current situation and handle future challenges, the role of the informal sector should be monitored carefully and reliable data on recyclable waste should be collected continuously.

Recycling and reuse of chosen kinds of waste materials in a building industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferek, B.; Harasymiuk, J.; Tyburski, J.

2016-08-01

The article describes the current state of knowledge and practice in Poland concerning recycling as a method of reuse of chosen groups of waste materials in building industry. The recycling of building scraps is imposed by environmental, economic and technological premises. The issue of usage of sewage residues is becoming a problem of ever -growing gravity as the presence of the increasing number of pernicious contaminants makes their utilization for agricultural purposes more and more limited. The strategies of using waste materials on Polish building sites were analyzed. The analysis of predispositions to salvage for a group of traditional materials, such as: timber, steel, building debris, insulation materials, plastics, and on the example of new materials, such as: artificial light aggregates made by appropriate mixing of siliceous aggregates, glass refuses and sewage residues in order to obtain a commodity which is apt for economic usage also was made in the article. The issue of recycling of waste materials originating from building operations will be presented in the context of the binding home and EU legal regulations. It was proved that the level of recycling of building wastes in Poland is considerably different from one which is achieved in the solid market economies, both in quantity and in assortment. The method of neutralization of building refuses in connection with special waste materials, which are sewage sludge that is presented in the article may be one of the alternative solutions to the problem of recycling of these wastes not only on the Polish scale.

Oyster Shell Recycling and Bone Waste Treatment Using Plasma Pyrolysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jae, Ou Chae; Knak, S. P.; Knak, A. N.; Koo, H. J.; Ravi, V.

2006-11-01

Investigations on the recycling of oyster shells and bone waste treatment using the plasma pyrolysis technique are presented in this paper. A arc based plasma torch operated at 25 kW was employed for the experiments. Fresh oyster shells were recycled using the plasma torch to convert them to a useful product such as CaO. Bone waste was treated to remove the infectious organic part and to vitrify the inorganic part. The time required for treatment in both cases was significantly short. Significant reduction in the weight of the samples was observed in both cases.

Waste heat generation: A comprehensive review.

PubMed

Yeşiller, Nazli; Hanson, James L; Yee, Emma H

2015-08-01

A comprehensive review of heat generation in various types of wastes and of the thermal regime of waste containment facilities is provided in this paper. Municipal solid waste (MSW), MSW incineration ash, and mining wastes were included in the analysis. Spatial and temporal variations of waste temperatures, thermal gradients, thermal properties of wastes, average temperature differentials, and heat generation values are provided. Heat generation was influenced by climatic conditions, mean annual earth temperatures, waste temperatures at the time of placement, cover conditions, and inherent heat generation potential of the specific wastes. Time to onset of heat generation varied between months and years, whereas timelines for overall duration of heat generation varied between years and decades. For MSW, measured waste temperatures were as high as 60-90°C and as low as -6°C. MSW incinerator ash temperatures varied between 5 and 87°C. Mining waste temperatures were in the range of -25 to 65°C. In the wastes analyzed, upward heat flow toward the surface was more prominent than downward heat flow toward the subsurface. Thermal gradients generally were higher for MSW and incinerator ash and lower for mining waste. Based on thermal properties, MSW had insulative qualities (low thermal conductivity), while mining wastes typically were relatively conductive (high thermal conductivity) with ash having intermediate qualities. Heat generation values ranged from -8.6 to 83.1MJ/m(3) and from 0.6 to 72.6MJ/m(3) for MSW and mining waste, respectively and was 72.6MJ/m(3) for ash waste. Conductive thermal losses were determined to range from 13 to 1111MJ/m(3)yr. The data and analysis provided in this review paper can be used in the investigation of heat generation and thermal regime of a wide range of wastes and waste containment facilities located in different climatic regions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Data summary of municipal solid waste management alternatives. Volume 3, Appendix A: Mass burn technologies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

This appendix on Mass Burn Technologies is the first in a series designed to identify, describe and assess the suitability of several currently or potentially available generic technologies for the management of municipal solid waste (MSW). These appendices, which cover eight core thermoconversion, bioconversion and recycling technologies, reflect public domain information gathered from many sources. Representative sources include: professional journal articles, conference proceedings, selected municipality solid waste management plans and subscription technology data bases. The information presented is intended to serve as background information that will facilitate the preparation of the technoeconomic and life cycle mass, energy and environmental analysesmore » that are being developed for each of the technologies. Mass burn has been and continues to be the predominant technology in Europe for the management of MSW. In the United States, the majority of the existing waste-to-energy projects utilize this technology and nearly 90 percent of all currently planned facilities have selected mass burn systems. Mass burning generally refers to the direct feeding and combustion of municipal solid waste in a furnace without any significant waste preprocessing. The only materials typically removed from the waste stream prior to combustion are large bulky objects and potentially hazardous or undesirable wastes. The technology has evolved over the last 100 or so years from simple incineration to the most highly developed and commercially proven process available for both reducing the volume of MSW and for recovering energy in the forms of steam and electricity. In general, mass burn plants are considered to operate reliably with high availability.« less

Analysis of efficiency of waste reverse logistics for recycling.

PubMed

Veiga, Marcelo M

2013-10-01

Brazil is an agricultural country with the highest pesticide consumption in the world. Historically, pesticide packaging has not been disposed of properly. A federal law requires the chemical industry to provide proper waste management for pesticide-related products. A reverse logistics program was implemented, which has been hailed a great success. This program was designed to target large rural communities, where economy of scale can take place. Over the last 10 years, the recovery rate has been very poor in most small rural communities. The objective of this study was to analyze the case of this compulsory reverse logistics program for pesticide packaging under the recent Brazilian Waste Management Policy, which enforces recycling as the main waste management solution. This results of this exploratory research indicate that despite its aggregate success, the reverse logistics program is not efficient for small rural communities. It is not possible to use the same logistic strategy for small and large communities. The results also indicate that recycling might not be the optimal solution, especially in developing countries with unsatisfactory recycling infrastructure and large transportation costs. Postponement and speculation strategies could be applied for improving reverse logistics performance. In most compulsory reverse logistics programs, there is no economical solution. Companies should comply with the law by ranking cost-effective alternatives.

Comparison of soil heavy metal pollution caused by e-waste recycling activities and traditional industrial operations.

PubMed

He, Kailing; Sun, Zehang; Hu, Yuanan; Zeng, Xiangying; Yu, Zhiqiang; Cheng, Hefa

2017-04-01

The traditional industrial operations are well recognized as an important source of heavy metal pollution, while that caused by the e-waste recycling activities, which have sprouted in some developing countries, is often overlooked. This study was carried out to compare the status of soil heavy metal pollution caused by the traditional industrial operations and the e-waste recycling activities in the Pearl River Delta, and assess whether greater attention should be paid to control the pollution arising from e-waste recycling activities. Both the total contents and the chemical fractionation of major heavy metals (As, Cr, Cd, Ni, Pb, Cu, and Zn) in 50 surface soil samples collected from the e-waste recycling areas and 20 soil samples from the traditional industrial zones were determined. The results show that the soils in the e-waste recycling areas were mainly polluted by Cu, Zn, As, and Cd, while Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb were the major heavy metals in the soils from the traditional industrial zones. Statistical analyses consistently show that Cu, Cd, Pb, and Zn in the surface soils from both types of sites were contributed mostly by human activities, while As, Cr, and Ni in the soils were dominated by natural background. No clear distinction was found on the pollution characteristic of heavy metals in the surface soils between the e-waste recycling areas and traditional industrial zones. The potential ecological risk posed by heavy metals in the surface soils from both types of sites, which was dominated by that from Cd, ranged from low to moderate. Given the much shorter development history of e-waste recycling and its largely unregulated nature, significant efforts should be made to crack down on illegal e-waste recycling and strengthen pollution control for related activities.

Optimization of municipal solid waste collection and transportation routes.

PubMed

Das, Swapan; Bhattacharyya, Bidyut Kr

2015-09-01

Optimization of municipal solid waste (MSW) collection and transportation through source separation becomes one of the major concerns in the MSW management system design, due to the fact that the existing MSW management systems suffer by the high collection and transportation cost. Generally, in a city different waste sources scatter throughout the city in heterogeneous way that increase waste collection and transportation cost in the waste management system. Therefore, a shortest waste collection and transportation strategy can effectively reduce waste collection and transportation cost. In this paper, we propose an optimal MSW collection and transportation scheme that focus on the problem of minimizing the length of each waste collection and transportation route. We first formulize the MSW collection and transportation problem into a mixed integer program. Moreover, we propose a heuristic solution for the waste collection and transportation problem that can provide an optimal way for waste collection and transportation. Extensive simulations and real testbed results show that the proposed solution can significantly improve the MSW performance. Results show that the proposed scheme is able to reduce more than 30% of the total waste collection path length. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Waste paper for recycling: Overview and identification of potentially critical substances.

PubMed

Pivnenko, Kostyantyn; Eriksson, Eva; Astrup, Thomas F

2015-11-01

Paper product manufacturing involves a variety of chemicals used either directly in paper and pulp production or in the conversion processes (i.e. printing, gluing) that follow. Due to economic and environmental initiatives, paper recycling rates continue to rise. In Europe, recycling has increased by nearly 20% within the last decade or so, reaching a level of almost 72% in 2012. With increasing recycling rates, lower quality paper fractions may be included. This may potentially lead to accumulation or un-intended spreading of chemical substances contained in paper, e.g. by introducing chemicals contained in waste paper into the recycling loop. This study provides an overview of chemicals potentially present in paper and applies a sequential hazard screening procedure based on the intrinsic hazard, physical-chemical and biodegradability characteristics of the substances. Based on the results, 51 substances were identified as potentially critical (selected mineral oils, phthalates, phenols, parabens, as well as other groups of chemicals) in relation to paper recycling. It is recommended that these substances receive more attention in waste paper. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Web-GIS oriented systems viability for municipal solid waste selective collection optimization in developed and transient economies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rada, E.C., E-mail: Elena.Rada@ing.unitn.it; Ragazzi, M.; Fedrizzi, P.

Highlights: ► As an appropriate solution for MSW management in developed and transient countries. ► As an option to increase the efficiency of MSW selective collection. ► As an opportunity to integrate MSW management needs and services inventories. ► As a tool to develop Urban Mining actions. - Abstract: Municipal solid waste management is a multidisciplinary activity that includes generation, source separation, storage, collection, transfer and transport, processing and recovery, and, last but not least, disposal. The optimization of waste collection, through source separation, is compulsory where a landfill based management must be overcome. In this paper, a few aspectsmore » related to the implementation of a Web-GIS based system are analyzed. This approach is critically analyzed referring to the experience of two Italian case studies and two additional extra-European case studies. The first case is one of the best examples of selective collection optimization in Italy. The obtained efficiency is very high: 80% of waste is source separated for recycling purposes. In the second reference case, the local administration is going to be faced with the optimization of waste collection through Web-GIS oriented technologies for the first time. The starting scenario is far from an optimized management of municipal solid waste. The last two case studies concern pilot experiences in China and Malaysia. Each step of the Web-GIS oriented strategy is comparatively discussed referring to typical scenarios of developed and transient economies. The main result is that transient economies are ready to move toward Web oriented tools for MSW management, but this opportunity is not yet well exploited in the sector.« less

Municipal solid waste generation in municipalities: Quantifying impacts of household structure, commercial waste and domestic fuel

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lebersorger, S.; Beigl, P., E-mail: peter.beigl@boku.ac.at

Waste management planning requires reliable data concerning waste generation, influencing factors on waste generation and forecasts of waste quantities based on facts. This paper aims at identifying and quantifying differences between different municipalities' municipal solid waste (MSW) collection quantities based on data from waste management and on socio-economic indicators. A large set of 116 indicators from 542 municipalities in the Province of Styria was investigated. The resulting regression model included municipal tax revenue per capita, household size and the percentage of buildings with solid fuel heating systems. The model explains 74.3% of the MSW variation and the model assumptions aremore » met. Other factors such as tourism, home composting or age distribution of the population did not significantly improve the model. According to the model, 21% of MSW collected in Styria was commercial waste and 18% of the generated MSW was burned in domestic heating systems. While the percentage of commercial waste is consistent with literature data, practically no literature data are available for the quantity of MSW burned, which seems to be overestimated by the model. The resulting regression model was used as basis for a waste prognosis model (Beigl and Lebersorger, in preparation).« less

Municipal solid waste generation in municipalities: quantifying impacts of household structure, commercial waste and domestic fuel.

PubMed

Lebersorger, S; Beigl, P

2011-01-01

Waste management planning requires reliable data concerning waste generation, influencing factors on waste generation and forecasts of waste quantities based on facts. This paper aims at identifying and quantifying differences between different municipalities' municipal solid waste (MSW) collection quantities based on data from waste management and on socio-economic indicators. A large set of 116 indicators from 542 municipalities in the Province of Styria was investigated. The resulting regression model included municipal tax revenue per capita, household size and the percentage of buildings with solid fuel heating systems. The model explains 74.3% of the MSW variation and the model assumptions are met. Other factors such as tourism, home composting or age distribution of the population did not significantly improve the model. According to the model, 21% of MSW collected in Styria was commercial waste and 18% of the generated MSW was burned in domestic heating systems. While the percentage of commercial waste is consistent with literature data, practically no literature data are available for the quantity of MSW burned, which seems to be overestimated by the model. The resulting regression model was used as basis for a waste prognosis model (Beigl and Lebersorger, in preparation). Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High levels of PAH-metabolites in urine of e-waste recycling workers from Agbogbloshie, Ghana.

PubMed

Feldt, Torsten; Fobil, Julius N; Wittsiepe, Jürgen; Wilhelm, Michael; Till, Holger; Zoufaly, Alexander; Burchard, Gerd; Göen, Thomas

2014-01-01

The informal recycling of electronic waste (e-waste) is an emerging source of environmental pollution in Africa. Among other toxins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a major health concern for exposed individuals. In a cross-sectional study, the levels of PAH metabolites in the urine of individuals working on one of the largest e-waste recycling sites of Africa, and in controls from a suburb of Accra without direct exposure to e-waste recycling activities, were investigated. Socioeconomic data, basic health data and urine samples were collected from 72 exposed individuals and 40 controls. In the urine samples, concentrations of the hydroxylate PAH metabolites (OH-PAH) 1-hydroxyphenanthrene (1-OH-phenanthrene), the sum of 2- and 9-hydroxyphenanthrene (2-/9-OH-phenanthrene), 3-hydroxyphenanthrene (3-OH-phenanthrene), 4-hydroxyphenanthrene (4-OH-phenanthrene) and 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OH-pyrene), as well as cotinine and creatinine, were determined. In the exposed group, median urinary concentrations were 0.85 μg/g creatinine for 1-OH-phenanthrene, 0.54 μg/g creatinine for 2-/9-OH-phenanthrene, 0.99 μg/g creatinine for 3-OH-phenanthrene, 0.22 μg/g creatinine for 4-OH-phenanthrene, and 1.33 μg/g creatinine for 1-OH-pyrene, all being significantly higher compared to the control group (0.55, 0.37, 0.63, 0.11 and 0.54 μg/g creatinine, respectively). Using a multivariate linear regression analysis including sex, cotinine and tobacco smoking as covariates, exposure to e-waste recycling activities was the most important determinant for PAH exposure. On physical examination, pathological findings were rare, but about two thirds of exposed individuals complained about cough, and one quarter about chest pain. In conclusion, we observed significantly higher urinary PAH metabolite concentrations in individuals who were exposed to e-waste recycling compared to controls who were not exposed to e-waste recycling activities. The impact of e-waste recycling on exposure to

Networks of recyclable material waste-picker's cooperatives: an alternative for the solid waste management in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

PubMed

Tirado-Soto, Magda Martina; Zamberlan, Fabio Luiz

2013-04-01

The objective of this study is to discuss the role of networks formed of waste-picker cooperatives in ameliorating problems of final disposal of solid waste in the city of Rio de Janeiro, since the city's main landfill will soon have to close because of exhausted capacity. However, it is estimated that in the city of Rio de Janeiro there are around five thousand waste-pickers working in poor conditions, with lack of physical infrastructure and training, but contributing significantly by diverting solid waste from landfills. According to the Sustainable Development Indicators (IBGE, 2010a,b) in Brazil, recycling rates hover between 45% and 55%. In the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, only 1% of the waste produced is collected selectively by the government (COMLURB, 2010), demonstrating that recycling is mainly performed by waste-pickers. Furthermore, since the recycling market is an oligopsony that requires economies of scale to negotiate directly with industries, the idea of working in networks of cooperatives meets the demands for joint marketing of recyclable materials. Thus, this work presents a method for creating and structuring a network of recycling cooperatives, with prior training for working in networks, so that the expected synergies and joint efforts can lead to concrete results. We intend to demonstrate that it is first essential to strengthen the waste-pickers' cooperatives in terms of infrastructure, governance and training so that solid waste management can be environmentally, socially and economically sustainable in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparing urban solid waste recycling from the viewpoint of urban metabolism based on physical input-output model: A case of Suzhou in China.

PubMed

Liang, Sai; Zhang, Tianzhu

2012-01-01

Investigating impacts of urban solid waste recycling on urban metabolism contributes to sustainable urban solid waste management and urban sustainability. Using a physical input-output model and scenario analysis, urban metabolism of Suzhou in 2015 is predicted and impacts of four categories of solid waste recycling on urban metabolism are illustrated: scrap tire recycling, food waste recycling, fly ash recycling and sludge recycling. Sludge recycling has positive effects on reducing all material flows. Thus, sludge recycling for biogas is regarded as an accepted method. Moreover, technical levels of scrap tire recycling and food waste recycling should be improved to produce positive effects on reducing more material flows. Fly ash recycling for cement production has negative effects on reducing all material flows except solid wastes. Thus, other fly ash utilization methods should be exploited. In addition, the utilization and treatment of secondary wastes from food waste recycling and sludge recycling should be concerned. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparison of real waste (MSW and MPW) pyrolysis in batch reactor over different catalysts. Part II: contaminants, char and pyrolysis oil properties.

PubMed

Miskolczi, Norbert; Ateş, Funda; Borsodi, Nikolett

2013-09-01

Pyrolysis of real wastes (MPW and MSW) has been investigated at 500°C, 550°C and 600°C using Y-zeolite, β-zeolite, equilibrium FCC, MoO3, Ni-Mo-catalyst, HZSM-5 and Al(OH)3 as catalysts. The viscosity of pyrolysis oils could be decreased by the using of catalysts, especially by β-zeolite and MoO3. Both carbon frame and double bound isomerization was found in case of thermo-catalytic pyrolysis. Char morphology and texture analysis showed more coke deposits on the catalyst surface using MSW raw material. Pyrolysis oils had K, S, P Cl, Ca, Zn, Fe, Cr, Br and Sb as contaminants; and the concentrations of K, S, P, Cl and Br could be decreased by the using of catalysts. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The major components of particles emitted during recycling of waste printed circuit boards in a typical e-waste workshop of South China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bi, Xinhui; Simoneit, Bernd R. T.; Wang, ZhenZhen; Wang, Xinming; Sheng, Guoying; Fu, Jiamo

2010-11-01

Electronic waste from across the world is dismantled and disposed of in China. The low-tech recycling methods have caused severe air pollution. Air particle samples from a typical workshop of South China engaged in recycling waste printed circuit boards have been analyzed with respect to chemical constituents. This is the first report on the chemical composition of particulate matter (PM) emitted in an e-waste recycling workshop of South China. The results show that the composition of PM from this recycling process was totally different from other emission sources. Organic matter comprised 46.7-51.6% of the PM. The major organic constituents were organophosphates consisting mainly of triphenyl phosphate (TPP) and its methyl substituted compounds, methyl esters of hexadecanoic and octadecanoic acids, levoglucosan and bisphenol A. TPP and bisphenol A were present at 1-5 orders of magnitude higher than in other indoor and outdoor environments throughout the world, which implies that they might be used as potential markers for e-waste recycling. The elemental carbon, inorganic elements and ions had a minor contribution to the PM (<5% each). The inorganic elements were dominated by phosphorus and followed by crustal elements and metal elements Pb, Zn, Sn, and lesser Cu, Sb, Mn, Ni, Ba and Cd. The recycling of printed circuit boards was demonstrated as an important contributor of heavy metal contamination, particularly Cd, Pb and Ni, to the local environment. These findings suggest that this recycling method represents a strong source of PM associated with pollutants to the ambient atmosphere of an e-waste recycling locale.

Heart Rate, Stress, and Occupational Noise Exposure among Electronic Waste Recycling Workers

PubMed Central

Burns, Katrina N.; Sun, Kan; Fobil, Julius N.; Neitzel, Richard L.

2016-01-01

Electronic waste (e-waste) is a growing occupational and environmental health issue around the globe. E-waste recycling is a green industry of emerging importance, especially in low-and middle-income countries where much of this recycling work is performed, and where many people’s livelihoods depend on this work. The occupational health hazards of e-waste recycling have not been adequately explored. We performed a cross-sectional study of noise exposures, heart rate, and perceived stress among e-waste recycling workers at a large e-waste site in Accra, Ghana. We interviewed 57 workers and continuously monitored their individual noise exposures and heart rates for up to 24 h. More than 40% of workers had noise exposures that exceeded recommended occupational (85 dBA) and community (70 dBA) noise exposure limits, and self-reported hearing difficulties were common. Workers also had moderate to high levels of perceived stress as measured via Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale, and reported a variety of symptoms that could indicate cardiovascular disease. Noise exposures were moderately and significantly correlated with heart rate (Spearman’s ρ 0.46, p < 0.001). A mixed effects linear regression model indicated that a 1 dB increase in noise exposure was associated with a 0.17 increase in heart rate (p-value = 0.01) even after controlling for work activities, age, smoking, perceived stress, and unfavorable physical working conditions. These findings suggest that occupational and non-occupational noise exposure is associated with elevations in average heart rate, which may in turn predict potential cardiovascular damage. PMID:26797626

Heart Rate, Stress, and Occupational Noise Exposure among Electronic Waste Recycling Workers.

PubMed

Burns, Katrina N; Sun, Kan; Fobil, Julius N; Neitzel, Richard L

2016-01-19

Electronic waste (e-waste) is a growing occupational and environmental health issue around the globe. E-waste recycling is a green industry of emerging importance, especially in low-and middle-income countries where much of this recycling work is performed, and where many people's livelihoods depend on this work. The occupational health hazards of e-waste recycling have not been adequately explored. We performed a cross-sectional study of noise exposures, heart rate, and perceived stress among e-waste recycling workers at a large e-waste site in Accra, Ghana. We interviewed 57 workers and continuously monitored their individual noise exposures and heart rates for up to 24 h. More than 40% of workers had noise exposures that exceeded recommended occupational (85 dBA) and community (70 dBA) noise exposure limits, and self-reported hearing difficulties were common. Workers also had moderate to high levels of perceived stress as measured via Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale, and reported a variety of symptoms that could indicate cardiovascular disease. Noise exposures were moderately and significantly correlated with heart rate (Spearman's ρ 0.46, p < 0.001). A mixed effects linear regression model indicated that a 1 dB increase in noise exposure was associated with a 0.17 increase in heart rate (p-value = 0.01) even after controlling for work activities, age, smoking, perceived stress, and unfavorable physical working conditions. These findings suggest that occupational and non-occupational noise exposure is associated with elevations in average heart rate, which may in turn predict potential cardiovascular damage.

Mechanical properties of concrete containing recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) and ceramic waste as coarse aggregate replacement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khalid, Faisal Sheikh; Azmi, Nurul Bazilah; Sumandi, Khairul Azwa Syafiq Mohd; Mazenan, Puteri Natasya

2017-10-01

Many construction and development activities today consume large amounts of concrete. The amount of construction waste is also increasing because of the demolition process. Much of this waste can be recycled to produce new products and increase the sustainability of construction projects. As recyclable construction wastes, concrete and ceramic can replace the natural aggregate in concrete because of their hard and strong physical properties. This research used 25%, 35%, and 45% recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) and ceramic waste as coarse aggregate in producing concrete. Several tests, such as concrete cube compression and splitting tensile tests, were also performed to determine and compare the mechanical properties of the recycled concrete with those of the normal concrete that contains 100% natural aggregate. The concrete containing 35% RCA and 35% ceramic waste showed the best properties compared with the normal concrete.

Effects of high-pressure extruding pretreatment on MSW upgrading and hydrolysis enhancement.

PubMed

Xu, Shuang; Kong, Xin; Liu, Jianguo; Zhao, Ke; Zhao, Guangqi; Bahdolla, Amanjol

2016-12-01

High-pressure extruding (HPE) is an efficient technology used to separate municipal solid waste (MSW) into wet (biodegradable) and dry (combustible) fractions. Effects of pressure, 10, 20, 30, and 40MPa on quality upgrading of the MSW and hydrolysis of the wet fraction were examined. TS of the dry fraction increased from 48.5% to 59.4% when the extruding pressure increased from 10 to 40MPa, meanwhile the biochemical methane potential (BMP) of the wet fraction extruded under 40MPa was 674mL CH 4 /g·VS, 33% higher than that of the organic fraction of the MSW (OFMSW) control. Furthermore, in the initial stage of hydrolysis experiment, the extruded wet fractions had lower pH and higher COD, volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and COD/VFA than those of the OFMSW control. The results confirmed that HPE upgraded the MSW and enhanced hydrolysis of the wet fractions. However, high extruding pressure as 40MPa aggravated the excessive acidification of the wet fractions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparing urban solid waste recycling from the viewpoint of urban metabolism based on physical input-output model: A case of Suzhou in China

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liang Sai, E-mail: liangsai09@gmail.com; Zhang Tianzhu, E-mail: zhangtz@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Impacts of solid waste recycling on Suzhou's urban metabolism in 2015 are analyzed. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Sludge recycling for biogas is regarded as an accepted method. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Technical levels of reusing scrap tires and food wastes should be improved. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Other fly ash utilization methods should be exploited. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Secondary wastes from reusing food wastes and sludge should be concerned. - Abstract: Investigating impacts of urban solid waste recycling on urban metabolism contributes to sustainable urban solid waste management and urban sustainability. Using a physical input-output model and scenario analysis, urban metabolism of Suzhou in 2015 is predicted and impactsmore » of four categories of solid waste recycling on urban metabolism are illustrated: scrap tire recycling, food waste recycling, fly ash recycling and sludge recycling. Sludge recycling has positive effects on reducing all material flows. Thus, sludge recycling for biogas is regarded as an accepted method. Moreover, technical levels of scrap tire recycling and food waste recycling should be improved to produce positive effects on reducing more material flows. Fly ash recycling for cement production has negative effects on reducing all material flows except solid wastes. Thus, other fly ash utilization methods should be exploited. In addition, the utilization and treatment of secondary wastes from food waste recycling and sludge recycling should be concerned.« less

Sintering of MSW fly ash for reuse as a concrete aggregate.

PubMed

Mangialardi, T

2001-10-12

The sintering process of municipal solid waste (MSW) fly ash was investigated in order to manufacture sintered products for reuse as concrete aggregates. Four types of fly ash resulting from different Italian MSW incineration plants were tested in this study. A modification of the chemical composition of MSW fly ash--through a preliminary four-stage washing treatment of this material with water--was attempted to improve the chemical and mechanical characteristics of sintered products.The sintering treatment of untreated or washed fly ash was performed on cylindrical compact specimens (15 mm in diameter and 20mm in height) at different compact pressures, sintering temperatures and times.The sintering process of untreated MSW fly ashes proved to be ineffective for manufacturing sintered products for reuse as a construction material, because of the adverse chemical characteristics of these fly ashes in terms of sulfate, chloride, and vitrifying oxide contents.A preliminary washing treatment of MSW fly ash with water greatly improved the chemical and mechanical characteristics of sintered products and, for all the types of fly ash tested, the sintered products satisfied the Italian requirements for normal weight aggregates for use in concretes having a specified strength not greater than 12 and 15N/mm(2), when measured on cylindrical and cubic specimens, respectively.A compact pressure of 28 N/mm(2), a sintering temperature of 1140 degrees C, and a sintering time of 60 min were the best operating conditions for manufacturing sintered products of washed MSW fly ash.

Reduce--recycle--reuse: guidelines for promoting perioperative waste management.

PubMed

Laustsen, Gary

2007-04-01

The perioperative environment generates large amounts of waste, which negatively affects local and global ecosystems. To manage this waste health care facility leaders must focus on identifying correctable issues, work with relevant stakeholders to promote solutions, and adopt systematic procedural changes. Nurses and managers can moderate negative environmental effects by promoting reduction, recycling, and reuse of materials in the perioperative setting.

Multi-stakeholder policy modeling for collection and recycling of spent portable battery waste.

PubMed

Gupta, Vimal Kumar; Kaushal, Rajendra Kumar; Shukla, Sheo Prasad

2018-06-01

Policies have been structured for collection and recycling of spent portable battery waste within a framework of stakeholders (recycling council body, producer, recycler and consumer) especially for those battery units that are discarded worldwide because of their expensive cost of recycling. Applicability of stakeholders' policies in their coalition framework have been reviewed and critically analyzed using the Shapley value of cooperative game theory models. Coalition models for 'manufacturer and recycler' indicated the dominating role of manufacturers over the recyclers, and waste management is highly influenced by producer responsibility. But, the take-back policy enables recyclers' dominance role in the management and yields maximum benefit to both recyclers and consumers. The polluter pays principle has been implemented in formulating policies to key stakeholders, 'manufacturers' as well as 'consumers', of battery products by the introduction of penalties to encourage their willingness to join the Environment, Health and Safety program. Results indicated that the policies of the framework have the potential to be implemented within a marginal rise in battery price by 12% to 14.3% in the range of recycling cost per tonne of US$2000 to US$5000. The policy of the stakeholders' framework presented in the study could be an important aid to achieve high collection and recycling rates of spent portable batteries.

Ternary ionic liquid–water pretreatment systems of an agave bagasse and municipal solid waste blend

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Perez-Pimienta, Jose A.; Sathitsuksanoh, Noppadon; Thompson, Vicki S.

Background: Pretreatment is necessary to reduce biomass recalcitrance and enhance the enzymatic saccharification for biofuel production. Ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment has gained a significant interest as a pretreatment process that can reduce biomass crystallinity, remove lignin, and thus obtain higher enzymatic saccharification yields. However, there are several challenges that need to be overcome for the IL pretreatment to become viable for commercialization, including IL cost and recyclability. In addition to maintain process performance by blending high quality (e.g. agave bagasse) and low cost biomass feedstocks such as municipal solid waste (MSW) which is readily available in high quantities. One approachmore » to potentially reduce IL cost is to use a blend of ILs at different concentrations in aqueous mixtures. Herein, we describe 14 IL-water systems with mixtures of 1-ethyl-3-ethylimidazolium acetate ([C2C1Im][OAc]) and 1-butyl-3-ethylimidazolium acetate ([C4C1Im][OAc]) used to pretreat MSW blended with agave bagasse (AGB). The detailed analysis of IL recycling in terms of sugar yields of pretreated biomass and IL stability was examined. Results: Both biomass types (AGB and MSW) were efficiently disrupted by IL pretreatment. The pretreatment efficiency of [C2C1Im][OAc] and [C4C1Im][OAc] decreased when mixed with water above 40%. The AGB/MSW (1:1) blend demonstrated a glucan conversion of 94.1% and 83.0% using IL systems with ~10% and ~40% water content, respectively. Chemical structures of fresh ILs and recycle ILs presented strong similarities observed by FTIR and 1H-NMR spectroscopy. The glucan and xylan hydrolysis yields obtained from recycled IL exhibited a slight decrease in pretreatment efficiency (less than 10% in terms of hydrolysis yields compared to that of fresh IL), and a decrease in cellulose crystallinity trend was observed. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated the mixing ILs such as [C2C1Im][OAc] and [C4C1Im][OAc] and blending MSW with

Ternary ionic liquid–water pretreatment systems of an agave bagasse and municipal solid waste blend

DOE PAGES

Perez-Pimienta, Jose A.; Sathitsuksanoh, Noppadon; Thompson, Vicki S.; ...

2017-03-21

Background: Pretreatment is necessary to reduce biomass recalcitrance and enhance the enzymatic saccharification for biofuel production. Ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment has gained a significant interest as a pretreatment process that can reduce biomass crystallinity, remove lignin, and thus obtain higher enzymatic saccharification yields. However, there are several challenges that need to be overcome for the IL pretreatment to become viable for commercialization, including IL cost and recyclability. In addition to maintain process performance by blending high quality (e.g. agave bagasse) and low cost biomass feedstocks such as municipal solid waste (MSW) which is readily available in high quantities. One approachmore » to potentially reduce IL cost is to use a blend of ILs at different concentrations in aqueous mixtures. Herein, we describe 14 IL-water systems with mixtures of 1-ethyl-3-ethylimidazolium acetate ([C2C1Im][OAc]) and 1-butyl-3-ethylimidazolium acetate ([C4C1Im][OAc]) used to pretreat MSW blended with agave bagasse (AGB). The detailed analysis of IL recycling in terms of sugar yields of pretreated biomass and IL stability was examined. Results: Both biomass types (AGB and MSW) were efficiently disrupted by IL pretreatment. The pretreatment efficiency of [C2C1Im][OAc] and [C4C1Im][OAc] decreased when mixed with water above 40%. The AGB/MSW (1:1) blend demonstrated a glucan conversion of 94.1% and 83.0% using IL systems with ~10% and ~40% water content, respectively. Chemical structures of fresh ILs and recycle ILs presented strong similarities observed by FTIR and 1H-NMR spectroscopy. The glucan and xylan hydrolysis yields obtained from recycled IL exhibited a slight decrease in pretreatment efficiency (less than 10% in terms of hydrolysis yields compared to that of fresh IL), and a decrease in cellulose crystallinity trend was observed. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated the mixing ILs such as [C2C1Im][OAc] and [C4C1Im][OAc] and blending MSW with

Assessing recycling versus incineration of key materials in municipal waste: The importance of efficient energy recovery and transport distances

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Merrild, Hanna; Larsen, Anna W., E-mail: awla@env.dtu.dk; Christensen, Thomas H.

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We model the environmental impact of recycling and incineration of household waste. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Recycling of paper, glass, steel and aluminium is better than incineration. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Recycling and incineration of cardboard and plastic can be equally good alternatives. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Recyclables can be transported long distances and still have environmental benefits. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Paper has a higher environmental benefit than recyclables found in smaller amounts. - Abstract: Recycling of materials from municipal solid waste is commonly considered to be superior to any other waste treatment alternative. For the material fractions with a significant energy content this might not be the casemore » if the treatment alternative is a waste-to-energy plant with high energy recovery rates. The environmental impacts from recycling and from incineration of six material fractions in household waste have been compared through life cycle assessment assuming high-performance technologies for material recycling as well as for waste incineration. The results showed that there are environmental benefits when recycling paper, glass, steel and aluminium instead of incinerating it. For cardboard and plastic the results were more unclear, depending on the level of energy recovery at the incineration plant, the system boundaries chosen and which impact category was in focus. Further, the environmental impact potentials from collection, pre-treatment and transport was compared to the environmental benefit from recycling and this showed that with the right means of transport, recyclables can in most cases be transported long distances. However, the results also showed that recycling of some of the material fractions can only contribute marginally in improving the overall waste management system taking into consideration their limited content in average Danish household waste.« less

Global responses for recycling waste CRTs in e-waste.

PubMed

Singh, Narendra; Li, Jinhui; Zeng, Xianlai

2016-11-01

The management of used cathode ray tube (CRT) devices is a major problem worldwide due to rapid uptake of the technology and early obsolescence of CRT devices, which is considered an environment hazard if disposed improperly. Previously, their production has grown in step with computer and television demand but later on with rapid technological innovation; TVs and computer screens has been replaced by new products such as Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) and Plasma Display Panel (PDPs). This change creates a large volume of waste stream of obsolete CRTs waste in developed countries and developing countries will be becoming major CRTs waste producers in the upcoming years. We studied that there is also high level of trans-boundary movement of these devices as second-hand electronic equipment into developing countries in an attempt to bridge the 'digital divide'. Moreover, the current global production of e-waste is estimated to be '41million tonnes per year' where a major part of the e-waste stream consists of CRT devices. This review article provides a concise overview of world's current CRTs waste scenario, namely magnitude of the demand and processing, current disposal and recycling operations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mechanochemical pre-treatment for viable recycling of plastic waste containing haloorganics.

PubMed

Cagnetta, Giovanni; Zhang, Kunlun; Zhang, Qiwu; Huang, Jun; Yu, Gang

2018-05-01

Chemical recycling technologies are the most promising for a waste-to-energy/material recovery of plastic waste. However, 30% of such waste cannot be treated in this way due to the presence of halogenated organic compounds, which are often utilized as flame retardants. In fact, high quantities of hydrogen halides and dioxin would form. In order to enabling such huge amount of plastic waste as viable feedstock for recycling, an investigation on mechanochemical pre-treatment by high energy ball milling is carried out on polypropylene containing decabromodiphenyl ether. Results demonstrate that co-milling with zero valent iron and quartz sand ensures complete debromination and mineralization of the flame retardant. Furthermore, a comparative experiment demonstrates that the mechanochemical debromination kinetics is roughly proportional to the polymer-to-haloorganics mass ratio. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantifying solid waste and recycling employment in Florida, USA: Trends in public and private sectors.

PubMed

Park, Sunjoo; Yi, Hongtao; Feiock, Richard C

2015-12-01

Measuring and tracking the numbers of jobs in solid waste management and recycling industries over time provide basic data to inform decision makers about the important role played by this sector in a state or region's 'green economy'. This study estimates the number of people employed in the solid waste and recycling industry from 1989 through 2011 in the state of Florida (USA), applying a classification scheme based on the Standard Industrial Code (SIC) and utilizing the National Establishment Time Series (NETS) database. The results indicate that solid waste and recycling jobs in the private sector steadily increased from 1989 to 2011, whereas government employment for solid waste management fluctuated over the same period. © The Author(s) 2015.

Characterisation of recycled acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and high-impact polystyrene from waste computer equipment in Brazil.

PubMed

Hirayama, Denise; Saron, Clodoaldo

2015-06-01

Polymeric materials constitute a considerable fraction of waste computer equipment and polymers acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and high-impact polystyrene are the main thermoplastic polymeric components found in waste computer equipment. Identification, separation and characterisation of additives present in acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and high-impact polystyrene are fundamental procedures to mechanical recycling of these polymers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the methods for identification of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and high-impact polystyrene from waste computer equipment in Brazil, as well as their potential for mechanical recycling. The imprecise utilisation of symbols for identification of the polymers and the presence of additives containing toxic elements in determinate computer devices are some of the difficulties found for recycling of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and high-impact polystyrene from waste computer equipment. However, the considerable performance of mechanical properties of the recycled acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and high-impact polystyrene when compared with the virgin materials confirms the potential for mechanical recycling of these polymers. © The Author(s) 2015.

On the effectiveness of a license scheme for E-waste recycling: The challenge of China and India

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shinkuma, Takayoshi, E-mail: shinkuma@kansai-u.ac.j; Managi, Shunsuke, E-mail: managi@ynu.ac.j

2010-07-15

It is well known that China and India have been recycling centers of WEEE, especially printed circuit boards, and that serious environmental pollution in these countries has been generated by improper recycling methods. After the governments of China and India banned improper recycling by the informal sector, improper recycling activities spread to other places. Then, these governments changed their policies to one of promoting proper recycling by introducing a scheme, under which E-waste recycling requires a license issued by the government. In this paper, the effectiveness of that license scheme is examined by means of an economic model. It canmore » be shown that the license scheme can work effectively only if disposers of E-waste have a responsibility to sell E-waste to license holders. Our results run counter to the idea that international E-waste trade should be banned and provide an alternative solution to the problem.« less

Closed-loop recycling of construction and demolition waste in Germany in view of stricter environmental threshold values.

PubMed

Weil, Marcel; Jeske, Udo; Schebek, Liselotte

2006-06-01

Recycling of construction and demolition waste contributes decisively to the saving of natural mineral resources. In Germany, processed mineral construction and demolition waste from structural engineering is used nearly exclusively in civil engineering (earthwork and road construction sector) as open-loop recycling. Due to the planned stricter limit values for the protection of soil and water, however, this recycling path in civil engineering may no longer be applicable in the future. According to some new guidelines and standards adopted recently, recycled aggregates may also be used for concrete production in the structural engineering sector (closed-loop recycling). Wastes from the structural engineering sector can thus be kept in a closed cycle, and their disposal on a landfill can be avoided. The present report focuses on the determination of maximum waste volumes that may be handled by this new recycling option. Potential adverse effects on the saving of resources and climate protection have been analysed. For this purpose, materials flow analysis and ecobalancing methods have been used.

Estimating the possible range of recycling rates achieved by dump waste pickers: The case of Bantar Gebang in Indonesia.

PubMed

Sasaki, Shunsuke; Araki, Tetsuya

2014-06-01

This article presents informal recycling contributions made by scavengers in the surrounding area of Bantar Gebang final disposal site for municipal solid waste generated in Jakarta. Preliminary fieldwork was conducted through daily conversations with scavengers to identify recycling actors at the site, and then quantitative field surveys were conducted twice. The first survey (n = 504 households) covered 33% of all households in the area, and the second survey (n = 69 households) was conducted to quantify transactions of recyclables among scavengers. Mathematical equations were formulated with assumptions made to estimate the possible range of recycling rates achieved by dump waste pickers. Slightly over 60% of all respondents were involved in informal recycling and over 80% of heads of households were waste pickers, normally referred to as live-in waste pickers and live-out waste pickers at the site. The largest percentage of their spouses were family workers, followed by waste pickers and housewives. Over 95% of all households of respondents had at least one waste picker or one small boss who has a coequal status of a waste picker. Average weight of recyclables collected by waste pickers at the site was estimated to be approximately 100 kg day(-1) per household on the net weight basis. The recycling rate of solid wastes collected by all scavengers at the site was estimated to be in the range of 2.8-7.5% of all solid wastes transported to the site. © The Author(s) 2014.

Optimization of municipal solid waste collection and transportation routes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Das, Swapan, E-mail: swapan2009sajal@gmail.com; Bhattacharyya, Bidyut Kr., E-mail: bidyut53@yahoo.co.in

2015-09-15

Graphical abstract: Display Omitted - Highlights: • Profitable integrated solid waste management system. • Optimal municipal waste collection scheme between the sources and waste collection centres. • Optimal path calculation between waste collection centres and transfer stations. • Optimal waste routing between the transfer stations and processing plants. - Abstract: Optimization of municipal solid waste (MSW) collection and transportation through source separation becomes one of the major concerns in the MSW management system design, due to the fact that the existing MSW management systems suffer by the high collection and transportation cost. Generally, in a city different waste sources scattermore » throughout the city in heterogeneous way that increase waste collection and transportation cost in the waste management system. Therefore, a shortest waste collection and transportation strategy can effectively reduce waste collection and transportation cost. In this paper, we propose an optimal MSW collection and transportation scheme that focus on the problem of minimizing the length of each waste collection and transportation route. We first formulize the MSW collection and transportation problem into a mixed integer program. Moreover, we propose a heuristic solution for the waste collection and transportation problem that can provide an optimal way for waste collection and transportation. Extensive simulations and real testbed results show that the proposed solution can significantly improve the MSW performance. Results show that the proposed scheme is able to reduce more than 30% of the total waste collection path length.« less

Rethinking Recycling: An Oregon Waste Reduction Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oregon State Dept. of Environmental Quality, Portland.

This updated curriculum guide is designed to provide teachers of elementary school science with a set of activities on recycling and waste reduction. The curriculum has three sections: (1) Grades K-3 Lessons; (2) Grades 4-5 Lessons; and (3) Teacher's Resource Guide. It is designed to take students from an introduction to natural resources and…

Toward zero waste: Composting and recycling for sustainable venue based events

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hottle, Troy A., E-mail: troy.hottle@asu.edu; Bilec, Melissa M., E-mail: mbilec@pitt.edu; Brown, Nicholas R., E-mail: nick.brown@asu.edu

Highlights: • Venues have billions of customers per year contributing to waste generation. • Waste audits of four university baseball games were conducted to assess venue waste. • Seven scenarios including composting were modeled using EPA’s WARM. • Findings demonstrate tradeoffs between emissions, energy, and landfill avoidance. • Sustainability of handling depends on efficacy of collection and treatment impacts. - Abstract: This study evaluated seven different waste management strategies for venue-based events and characterized the impacts of event waste management via waste audits and the Waste Reduction Model (WARM). The seven waste management scenarios included traditional waste handling methods (e.g.more » recycle and landfill) and management of the waste stream via composting, including purchasing where only compostable food service items were used during the events. Waste audits were conducted at four Arizona State University (ASU) baseball games, including a three game series. The findings demonstrate a tradeoff among CO{sub 2} equivalent emissions, energy use, and landfill diversion rates. Of the seven waste management scenarios assessed, the recycling scenarios provide the greatest reductions in CO{sub 2} eq. emissions and energy use because of the retention of high value materials but are compounded by the difficulty in managing a two or three bin collection system. The compost only scenario achieves complete landfill diversion but does not perform as well with respect to CO{sub 2} eq. emissions or energy. The three game series was used to test the impact of staffed bins on contamination rates; the first game served as a baseline, the second game employed staffed bins, and the third game had non staffed bins to determine the effect of staffing on contamination rates. Contamination rates in both the recycling and compost bins were tracked throughout the series. Contamination rates were reduced from 34% in the first game to 11% on the second

Impacts of policy and market incentives for solid waste recycling in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

PubMed

Matter, Anne; Ahsan, Mehedi; Marbach, Michelle; Zurbrügg, Christian

2015-05-01

Solid waste mismanagement in Dhaka, Bangladesh, illustrates a well-known market failure which can be summarized as: waste is a resource in the wrong place. Inorganic materials such as plastic or paper can be used to feed the demand for recycled materials in the industrial sector. Organic materials can be converted and used in the nutrient-starved agricultural sector which is currently heavily depending on chemical fertilizers. They are also a feedstock to generate renewable energy in the form of biogas for this energy-starved country relying on diminishing natural gas reserves and increasing import of coal. Reality however does not capitalize on this potential; instead the waste is a burden for municipal authorities who spend large portions of their budgets attempting to transport it out of the city for discharge into landfills. The major part of these materials still remains uncollected in the residential areas and is discarded indiscriminately in open spaces, polluting the residents' living environment including water, soil and air resources, in the city and beyond. Bangladeshi authorities have, to some extent, recognized this market failure and have developed policies to encourage the development of waste recycling activities. It is also important to note that this market failure is only partial: a large, mostly informal recycling sector has developed in Bangladesh, focusing on inorganic recyclables of market value. The fact that this sector remains largely informal means that these actors perceive significant barriers to formalization. Comparatively, the organic waste recycling sector is less driven by market mechanisms. Competition from chemical fertilizers and fossil fuels is fierce and hinders the development of market opportunities for compost and renewable energy. Nevertheless commercial production of compost and biogas from organic municipal waste is formalized and benefiting from policy incentives. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recycling agroindustrial waste by lactic fermentations: coffee pulp silage

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carrizales, V.; Ferrer, J.

1985-04-03

This UNIDO publication on lactic acid fermentation of coffee pulp for feed production covers (1) a process which can be adapted to existing coffee processing plants for drying the product once harvesting time has finished (2) unit operations involved: pressing (optional), silaging, liming and drying (3) experiments, results and discussion, bibliography, process statistics, and diagrams. Additional references: storage, biotechnology, lime, agricultural wastes, recycling, waste utilization.

U.S. Navy Shipboard-Generated Plastic Waste Pilot Recycling Program

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-03-01

2: Recyclable Plastic Items Collected from Lexington Waste at Escambia County MRF Shampoo containers Plastic garbage bags Tyvek suit Shower thongs...bale consisted of polystyrene foam cups, bread bags, bottles, disposable razors, latex gloves, shampoo bottles, and othermiscellaneous items listed in...recent csws telephone survey of recycling firms involved in the separation of mixed 46 plastic bottles, the cost of sorting plastic bottles is

Separation of polyethylene terephthalate from municipal waste plastics by froth flotation for recycling industry.

PubMed

Wang, Chong-Qing; Wang, Hui; Liu, You-Nian

2015-01-01

Recycling is an effective way to manage plastic wastes and receives considerable attention. Since plastic mixtures are difficult to recycle because of their intrinsic characteristics, separation of mixed plastics is the key problem for recycling. Separation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from municipal waste plastics (MWP) by froth flotation combined with alkaline pretreatment was investigated for recycling industry. The effect of process variables was estimated by L9 (3(4)) orthogonal array of experiments and single factor experiments. The optimum conditions of alkaline pretreatment are 10 wt% sodium hydroxide, 20 min and 70°C. After alkaline pretreatment under optimum conditions, flotation separation PET from acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, polystyrene, polycarbonate or polyvinyl chloride was achieved with high purity and efficiency. The purity of PET is up to 98.46% and the recovery is above 92.47%. A flow sheet of separation PET from MWP by a combination of froth flotation and sink float separation was designed. This study facilitates industrial application of plastics flotation and provides technical insights into recycling of waste plastics. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recycling of quarry waste as part of sustainable aggregate production: Norwegian and Italian point of view

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Antonella Dino, Giovanna; Willy Danielsen, Svein; Chiappino, Claudia; Primavori, Piero; Engelsen, Christian John

2016-04-01

Resource preservation is one of the main challenges in Europe, together with waste management and recycling; recently several researchers are interested in the recovering of critical raw materials and secondary raw materials from landfill. Aggregate supply, even if it is not "critical" sensus stricto (s.s.), is one of the European priorities (low value but high volume needs). On the other side, the management of quarry waste , mainly from dimension stones, but also as fines from aggregate crushing, is still a matter of concern. Such materials are managed in different ways both locally and nationwide, and often they are landfilled, because of an unclear legislation and a general lack of data. Most of time the local authorities adopt the maximum precaution principle or the enterprises find it little profitable to recover them, so that the sustainable recycling of such material is not valued. Several studies have shown, depending on the material specific characteristics, the viability of recycling quarry waste into new raw materials used in glass and ceramic industries, precast concrete production, infrastructures etc. (Loudes et al. 2012, Dino&Marian 2015, Bozzola et al 2012, Dino et al. 2012, etc.). Thus, aggregate production may be one of the profitable ways to use quarry waste and is falling under the priority of EU (aggregate supply). Positive economic and environmental effects are likely to be achieved by systematic recycling of quarry waste planned by industries (industrial planning) and public authorities (national and local planning of aggregate exploitation). Today, the recycling level varies to a great extent and systematic recovery is not common among European Countries. In Italy and Norway no significant incentives on recycling or systematic approaches for local aggregate exploitation exist. The environmental consequences can be overexploitation of the natural resources, land take for the landfills, environmental contamination and landscape alteration by

Pilot-based assessment of the economics of recycling construction demolition waste.

PubMed

Srour, Issam M; Chehab, Ghassan R; El-Fadel, Mutasem; Tamraz, Sandy

2013-11-01

The significant amount of waste generated from construction demolition has become a chronic problem in many developing countries. Using data obtained from demolition contractors and various other sources, this paper proposes a framework for proper handling of construction demolition waste (CDW) to serve as a decision support tool in countries suffering from the lack of national CDW management guidelines. The framework is then demonstrated through a case study in the city of Beirut, Lebanon, and a sensitivity analysis is carried out to examine the economic feasibility of developing a recycling facility. The analysis showed that in order for a facility to be feasible, a gate fee should be charged in the presence of a market for recycled aggregates. The results confirm the significance of instigating and implementing legislation to control illegal dumping, constructing, and managing engineered landfills, and establishing markets for recycled CDW.

Heating value prediction for combustible fraction of municipal solid waste in Semarang using backpropagation neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khuriati, Ainie; Setiabudi, Wahyu; Nur, Muhammad; Istadi, Istadi

2015-12-01

Backpropgation neural network was trained to predict of combustible fraction heating value of MSW from the physical composition. Waste-to-Energy (WtE) is a viable option for municipal solid waste (MSW) management. The influence of the heating value of municipal solid waste (MSW) is very important on the implementation of WtE systems. As MSW is heterogeneous material, direct heating value measurements are often not feasible. In this study an empirical model was developed to describe the heating value of the combustible fraction of municipal solid waste as a function of its physical composition of MSW using backpropagation neural network. Sampling process was carried out at Jatibarang landfill. The weight of each sorting sample taken from each discharged MSW vehicle load is 100 kg. The MSW physical components were grouped into paper wastes, absorbent hygiene product waste, styrofoam waste, HD plastic waste, plastic waste, rubber waste, textile waste, wood waste, yard wastes, kitchen waste, coco waste, and miscellaneous combustible waste. Network was trained by 24 datasets with 1200, 769, and 210 epochs. The results of this analysis showed that the correlation from the physical composition is better than multiple regression method .

Properties of Concrete Paving Blocks and Hollow Tiles with Recycled Aggregate from Construction and Demolition Wastes.

PubMed

Rodríguez, Carlos; Miñano, Isabel; Aguilar, Miguel Ángel; Ortega, José Marcos; Parra, Carlos; Sánchez, Isidro

2017-11-30

In recent years there has been an increasing tendency to recycle the wastes generated by building companies in the construction industry, demolition wastes being the most important in terms of volume. The aim of this work is to study the possibility of using recycled aggregates from construction and demolition wastes in the preparation of precast non-structural concretes. To that purpose, two different percentages (15% and 30%) of natural aggregates were substituted by recycled aggregates in the manufacture of paving blocks and hollow tiles. Dosages used by the company have not been changed by the introduction of recycled aggregate. Precast elements have been tested by means of compressive and flexural strength, water absorption, density, abrasion, and slipping resistance. The results obtained show the possibility of using these wastes at an industrial scale, satisfying the requirements of the Spanish standards for these elements.

Environmental friendly technology for aluminum electrolytic capacitors recycling from waste printed circuit boards.

PubMed

Wang, Jianbo; Xu, Zhenming

2017-03-15

up to now, the recycling of e-waste should be developed towards more depth and refinement to promote industrial production of e-waste resource recovery. in the present study, the recycling of aluminum electrolytic capacitors (AECs) from waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) is focused on. First of all, AECs are disassembled from WPCBs by a self-designed machine; meanwhile, the disassembled AECs are subjected to an integrated process, involving heating treatment, crushing, sieving, and magnetic separating, to recover aluminum and iron; finally, the off-gas and residue generated during the aforementioned processes are analyzed to evaluate environmental risks. The results indicate that 96.52% and 98.68% of aluminum and iron, respectively, can be recovered from AECs under the optimal condition. The off-gas generated during the process is mainly composed of elements of C, H, and O, indicating that the off-gas is non-toxic and could be re-utilized as clean energy source. The residue according with toxicity characteristics leaching standard can be landfilled safely in sanitary landfill site. The present study provides an environmentally friendly and industrial application potential strategy to recycle AECs to promote e-waste recycling industry. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Assessing recycling versus incineration of key materials in municipal waste: The importance of efficient energy recovery and transport distances.

PubMed

Merrild, Hanna; Larsen, Anna W; Christensen, Thomas H

2012-05-01

Recycling of materials from municipal solid waste is commonly considered to be superior to any other waste treatment alternative. For the material fractions with a significant energy content this might not be the case if the treatment alternative is a waste-to-energy plant with high energy recovery rates. The environmental impacts from recycling and from incineration of six material fractions in household waste have been compared through life cycle assessment assuming high-performance technologies for material recycling as well as for waste incineration. The results showed that there are environmental benefits when recycling paper, glass, steel and aluminium instead of incinerating it. For cardboard and plastic the results were more unclear, depending on the level of energy recovery at the incineration plant, the system boundaries chosen and which impact category was in focus. Further, the environmental impact potentials from collection, pre-treatment and transport was compared to the environmental benefit from recycling and this showed that with the right means of transport, recyclables can in most cases be transported long distances. However, the results also showed that recycling of some of the material fractions can only contribute marginally in improving the overall waste management system taking into consideration their limited content in average Danish household waste. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Food waste impact on municipal solid waste angle of internal friction.

PubMed

Cho, Young Min; Ko, Jae Hac; Chi, Liqun; Townsend, Timothy G

2011-01-01

The impact of food waste content on the municipal solid waste (MSW) friction angle was studied. Using reconstituted fresh MSW specimens with different food waste content (0%, 40%, 58%, and 80%), 48 small-scale (100-mm-diameter) direct shear tests and 12 large-scale (430 mm × 430 mm) direct shear tests were performed. A stress-controlled large-scale direct shear test device allowing approximately 170-mm sample horizontal displacement was designed and used. At both testing scales, the mobilized internal friction angle of MSW decreased considerably as food waste content increased. As food waste content increased from 0% to 40% and from 40% to 80%, the mobilized internal friction angles (estimated using the mobilized peak (ultimate) shear strengths of the small-scale direct shear tests) decreased from 39° to 31° and from 31° to 7°, respectively, while those of large-scale tests decreased from 36° to 26° and from 26° to 15°, respectively. Most friction angle measurements produced in this study fell within the range of those previously reported for MSW. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Informal e-waste recycling: environmental risk assessment of heavy metal contamination in Mandoli industrial area, Delhi, India.

PubMed

Pradhan, Jatindra Kumar; Kumar, Sudhir

2014-01-01

Nowadays, e-waste is a major source of environmental problems and opportunities due to presence of hazardous elements and precious metals. This study was aimed to evaluate the pollution risk of heavy metal contamination by informal recycling of e-waste. Environmental risk assessment was determined using multivariate statistical analysis, index of geoaccumulation, enrichment factor, contamination factor, degree of contamination and pollution load index by analysing heavy metals in surface soils, plants and groundwater samples collected from and around informal recycling workshops in Mandoli industrial area, Delhi, India. Concentrations of heavy metals like As (17.08 mg/kg), Cd (1.29 mg/kg), Cu (115.50 mg/kg), Pb (2,645.31 mg/kg), Se (12.67 mg/kg) and Zn (776.84 mg/kg) were higher in surface soils of e-waste recycling areas compared to those in reference site. Level exceeded the values suggested by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). High accumulations of heavy metals were also observed in the native plant samples (Cynodon dactylon) of e-waste recycling areas. The groundwater samples collected form recycling area had high heavy metal concentrations as compared to permissible limit of Indian Standards and maximum allowable limit of WHO guidelines for drinking water. Multivariate analysis and risk assessment studies based on total metal content explains the clear-cut differences among sampling sites and a strong evidence of heavy metal pollution because of informal recycling of e-waste. This study put forward that prolonged informal recycling of e-waste may accumulate high concentration of heavy metals in surface soils, plants and groundwater, which will be a matter of concern for both environmental and occupational hazards. This warrants an immediate need of remedial measures to reduce the heavy metal contamination of e-waste recycling sites.

Effect of MSW source-classified collection on the emission of PCDDs/Fs and heavy metals from incineration in China.

PubMed

Shi, De-Zhi; Wu, Wei-Xiang; Lu, Sheng-Yong; Chen, Tong; Huang, Hui-Liang; Chen, Ying-Xu; Yan, Jian-Hua

2008-05-01

Municipal solid waste (MSW) source-classified collection represents a change in MSW management in China and other developing countries. Comparative experiments were performed to evaluate the effect of a newly established MSW source-classified collection system on the emission of PCDDs/Fs (polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans) and heavy metals (HMs) from a full-scale incinerator in China. As a result of presorting and dewatering, the chlorine level, heavy metal and water content were lower, but heat value was higher in the source-classified MSW (classified MSW) as compared with the conventionally mixed collected MSW (mixed MSW). The generation of PCDDs/Fs in flue gas from the classified MSW incineration was 9.28 ng I-TEQ/Nm(3), only 69.4% of that from the mixed MSW incineration, and the final emission of PCDDs/Fs was only 0.12 ng I-TEQ/Nm(3), although activated carbon injection was reduced by 20%. The level of PCDDs/Fs in fly ash from the bag filter was 0.27 ng I-TEQ/g. These results indicated that the source-classified collection with pretreatment could improve the characteristics of MSW for incineration, and significantly decrease formation of PCDDs/Fs in MSW incineration. Furthermore, distributions of HMs such as Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Cr, As, Ni, Hg in bottom ash and fly ash were investigated to assess the need for treatment of residual ash.

Marshall Space Flight Center solid waste characterization and recycling improvement study: General office and laboratory waste, scrap metal, office and flight surplus

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eley, Michael H.; Crews, Lavonne; Johnston, Ben; Lee, David; Colebaugh, James

1995-01-01

The primary objectives of the study were to characterize the solid waste stream for MSFC facilities in Huntsville, Alabama, and to evaluate their present recycling program. The purpose of the study was to determine if improvements could be made in terms of increasing quantities of the present commodities collected, adding more recyclables to the program, and streamlining or improving operational efficiency. In conducting the study, various elements were implemented. These included sampling and sorting representative samples of the waste stream; visually inspecting each refuse bin, recycle bin, and roll-off; interviewing employees and recycling coordinators of other companies; touring local material recycling facilities; contacting experts in the field; and performing a literature search.

Informal E-waste recycling in developing countries: review of metal(loid)s pollution, environmental impacts and transport pathways.

PubMed

Ackah, Michael

2017-11-01

Crude or primitive recycling practices are often adopted in material resource recovery from E-waste in developing nations. Significant human health and environmental impacts may occur because of such practices. Literature on metal(loid)s pollution during E-waste processing is fragmented. Here, I review the health and environmental impacts of E-waste recycling operations and transport pathways of metal(loid)s, dispersed during operations. This paper is organised into five sections. Section 1 relates to the background of global E-waste generation and legal/illegal trade, citing specific cases from Ghana and other developing nations. Section 2 provides a brief information on sources of metal(loid)s in E-waste. Section 3 describes characteristics of informal E-waste recycling operations in developing nations. Section 4 examines the health and environmental impacts in E-waste recycling while section 5 evaluates major transport pathways of metal(loid)s contaminants.

Impact of MSWI Bottom Ash Codisposed with MSW on Landfill Stabilization with Different Operational Modes

PubMed Central

Li, Wen-Bing; Yao, Jun; Zhou, Gen-Di; Dong, Ming; Shen, Dong-Sheng

2014-01-01

The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) bottom ash (BA) codisposed with municipal solid waste (MSW) on landfill stabilization according to the leachate quality in terms of organic matter and nitrogen contents. Six simulated landfills, that is, three conventional and three recirculated, were employed with different ratios of MSWI BA to MSW. The results depicted that, after 275-day operation, the ratio of MSWI BA to fresh refuse of 1 : 10 (V : V) in the landfill was still not enough to provide sufficient acid-neutralizing capacity for a high organic matter composition of MSW over 45.5% (w/w), while the ratio of MSWI BA to fresh refuse of 1 : 5 (V : V) could act on it. Among the six experimental landfills, leachate quality only was improved in the landfill operated with the BA addition (the ratio of MSWI BA to fresh refuse of 1 : 5 (V : V)) and leachate recirculation. PMID:24779006

Evaluation of monitoring indicators for the post-closure care of a landfill for MSW characterized with low lignin content.

PubMed

Zheng, Wei; Lü, Fan; Bolyard, Stephanie C; Shao, Liming; Reinhart, Debra R; He, Pinjing

2015-02-01

To understand the applicability of the termination indicators for landfill municipal solid waste (MSW) with low initial lignin content, four different accelerated landfill stabilization techniques were applied to anaerobic landfilled waste, including anaerobic flushing with water, anaerobic flushing with Fenton-treated leachate, and aerobic flushing with Fenton-treated and UV/H2O2-treated leachate. Termination indicators, including total organic carbon (TOC), ammonia-N (NH4(+)-N), the ratio of UV absorbance at 254 nm to TOC concentration (SUVA254), fluorescence spectra of leachate, methane production, oxygen consumption, lignocellulose content, and humus-like content were evaluated. Results suggest that oxygen consumption related indicators used as a termination indicator for low-lignin-content MSW were more sensitive than methane consumption related indicators. Aeration increased humic acid (HA) and (HA+FA)/HyI content by 2.9 and 1.7 times compared to the anaerobically stabilized low-lignin-content MSW. On the other hand, both the fulvic acid (FA) and hydrophilic (HyI) fractions remained constant regardless of stabilization technique. The target value developed for low-lignin-content MSW was quite different than developed countries mainly due to low residual biodegradable organic carbon content in stabilized low-lignin-content MSW. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Challenges in legislation, recycling system and technical system of waste electrical and electronic equipment in China.

PubMed

Zhang, Shengen; Ding, Yunji; Liu, Bo; Pan, De'an; Chang, Chein-chi; Volinsky, Alex A

2015-11-01

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has been one of the fastest growing waste streams worldwide. Effective and efficient management and treatment of WEEE has become a global problem. As one of the world's largest electronic products manufacturing and consumption countries, China plays a key role in the material life cycle of electrical and electronic equipment. Over the past 20 years, China has made a great effort to improve WEEE recycling. Centered on the legal, recycling and technical systems, this paper reviews the progresses of WEEE recycling in China. An integrated recycling system is proposed to realize WEEE high recycling rate for future WEEE recycling. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Research and Development of a New Waste Collection Bin to Facilitate Education in Plastic Recycling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chow, Cheuk-fai; So, Wing-Mui Winnie; Cheung, Tsz-Yan

2016-01-01

Plastic recycling has been an alternative method for solid waste management apart from landfill and incineration. However, recycling quality is affected when all plastics are discarded into a single recycling bin that increases cross contaminations and operation cost to the recycling industry. Following the engineering design process, a new…

Integrated waste management as a climate change stabilization wedge.

PubMed

Bahor, Brian; Van Brunt, Michael; Stovall, Jeff; Blue, Katherine

2009-11-01

Anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gas emissions are known to contribute to global increases in greenhouse gas concentrations and are widely believed to contribute to climate change. A reference carbon dioxide concentration of 383 ppm for 2007 is projected to increase to a nominal 500 ppm in less than 50 years according to business as usual models. This concentration change is equivalent to an increase of 7 billion tonnes of carbon per year (7 Gt C year(-1)). The concept of a stabilization wedge was introduced by Pacala and Socolow (Science, 305, 968-972, 2004) to break the 7 Gt C year(- 1) into more manageable 1 Gt C year(- 1) reductions that would be achievable with current technology. A total of fifteen possible 'wedges' were identified; however, an integrated municipal solid waste (MSW) management system based on the European Union's waste management hierarchy was not evaluated as a wedge. This analysis demonstrates that if the tonnage of MSW is allocated to recycling, waste to energy and landfilling in descending order in lieu of existing 'business-as-usual' practices with each option using modern technology and best practices, the system would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 1 Gt C year( -1). This integrated waste management system reduces CO(2) by displacing fossil electrical generation and avoiding manufacturing energy consumption and methane emissions from landfills.

Properties of Concrete Paving Blocks and Hollow Tiles with Recycled Aggregate from Construction and Demolition Wastes

PubMed Central

Rodríguez, Carlos; Miñano, Isabel; Aguilar, Miguel Ángel; Parra, Carlos

2017-01-01

In recent years there has been an increasing tendency to recycle the wastes generated by building companies in the construction industry, demolition wastes being the most important in terms of volume. The aim of this work is to study the possibility of using recycled aggregates from construction and demolition wastes in the preparation of precast non-structural concretes. To that purpose, two different percentages (15% and 30%) of natural aggregates were substituted by recycled aggregates in the manufacture of paving blocks and hollow tiles. Dosages used by the company have not been changed by the introduction of recycled aggregate. Precast elements have been tested by means of compressive and flexural strength, water absorption, density, abrasion, and slipping resistance. The results obtained show the possibility of using these wastes at an industrial scale, satisfying the requirements of the Spanish standards for these elements. PMID:29189745

Towards sustainable consumption: A socio-economic analysis of household waste recycling outcomes in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Lo, Alex Y; Liu, Shuwen

2018-05-15

Many high-density cities struggle to find space for disposing municipal solid waste. Hong Kong is one of these cities, seeking to scale up waste recovery efforts as an alternative to disposal. However, territory-wide recovery initiatives do not account for socio-economic variations across place, leading to mixed outcomes among diverse communities. This study aims to investigate socio-economic effects on recycling behavior in a sample of subsidized rental housing estates. It constitutes an improvement from previous studies by using the entire estate as a unit of analysis and analyzing actual recycling outcomes, which have received limited attention from researchers. The analysis focused on the volume of recyclables collected from 158 public housing estates in Hong Kong, with an average population of 12,285. Results suggest that recycling outcomes vary with a limited set of socio-economic factors. Housing estates managed by a private property management company and populated by better off households collected more recyclables from their residents. Measures of absolute and relative recycling intensity achieved similar results. The findings will be useful for identifying residential communities requiring additional support for promoting waste separation and recycling. Differentiated policies for economically disadvantaged communities are warranted. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mercury emission to the atmosphere from municipal solid waste landfills: A brief review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tao, Zhengkai; Dai, Shijin; Chai, Xiaoli

2017-12-01

Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill is regarded as an important emission source of atmospheric mercury (Hg), which is associated with potential health and environmental risks, as outlined by the Minamata Convention on Hg. This review presents the current state of knowledge with regards to landfill Hg sources, Hg levels in MSW and cover soils, Hg emission to the atmosphere, available Hg biogeochemical transformations, research methods for Hg emission, and important areas for future research. In addition, strategies for controlling landfill Hg emissions are considered, including reducing the Hg load in landfill and in situ controls. These approaches mainly focus on Hg source reduction, Hg recycling programs, public education, and in situ technology such as timely soil cover, vegetation, and end-of-pipe technology for controlling Hg emission from landfill gas.

STUDY ON THE RECYCLING SYSTEM OF WASTE PLASTICS AND MIXED PAPER FROM A LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujii, Minoru; Fujita, Tsuyoshi; Chen, Xudong; Ohnishi, Satoshi; Osako, Masahiro; Moriguchi, Yuichi; Yamaguchi, Naohisa

Plastics and mixed paper in municipal solid waste are valuable resources with high calorific value. However, the recycling cost to utilize them tends to be expensive. In addition, recycling system has to be consistent with the reduce of wastes on which should be put higher-priority to lower carbon emission and save resources in the long term. In this paper, we proposed a recycling system (smart recycling system) which consists of a local center an d existing facilities in arterial industries. In the local center, collected waste plastics and mixed paper from household are processed on the same line into a form suitable for transportation and handling in a facility of arterial in dustry which can utilize those wastes effectively. At the same time, a part of plastics with high quality is processed into a recycled resin in the center. It was suggested that, by utilizing existing facilities in arterial industries which have enough and flexible capacity to accept those wastes, the system can be a robust system even if the amount of wastes generation fluctuates widely. The effect of CO2 reduction and cost by installing the system were calculated and it was estimated that 3.5 million ton of additional annual CO2 reduction could be brought in Tokyo and surrounding three prefectures without co nsiderable increase in cost.

Awareness about biomedical waste management and knowledge of effective recycling of dental materials among dental students.

PubMed

Ranjan, Rajeev; Pathak, Ruchi; Singh, Dhirendra K; Jalaluddin, Md; Kore, Shobha A; Kore, Abhijeet R

2016-01-01

Biomedical waste management has become a concern with increasing number of dental practitioners in India. Being health care professionals, dentists should be aware regarding safe disposal of biomedical waste and recycling of dental materials to minimize biohazards to the environment. The aim of the present study was to assess awareness regarding biomedical waste management as well as knowledge of effective recycling and reuse of dental materials among dental students. This cross-sectional study was conducted among dental students belonging from all dental colleges of Bhubaneswar, Odisha (India) from February 2016 to April 2016. A total of 500 students (208 males and 292 females) participated in the study, which was conducted in two phases. A questionnaire was distributed to assess the awareness of biomedical waste management and knowledge of effective recycling of dental materials, and collected data was examined on a 5-point unipolar scale in percentages to assess the relative awareness regarding these two different categorizes. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used to analyzed collected data. Forty-four percent of the dental students were not at all aware about the management of biomedical waste, 22% were moderately aware, 21% slightly aware, 7% very aware, and 5% fell in extremely aware category. Similarly, a higher percentage of participants (61%) were completely unaware regarding recycling and reusing of biomedical waste. There is lack of sufficient knowledge among dental students regarding management of biomedical waste and recycling or reusing of dental materials. Considering its impact on the environment, biomedical waste management requires immediate academic assessment to increase the awareness during training courses.

Recycled blocks with improved sound and fire insulation containing construction and demolition waste.

PubMed

Leiva, Carlos; Solís-Guzmán, Jaime; Marrero, Madelyn; García Arenas, Celia

2013-03-01

The environmental problem posed by construction and demolition waste (C&D waste) is derived not only from the high volume produced, but also from its treatment and disposal. Treatment plants receive C&D waste which is then transformed into a recycled mixed aggregate. The byproduct is mainly used for low-value-added applications such as land escape restoration, despite the high quality of the aggregate. In the present work, the chemical composition properties and grading curve properties of these aggregates are defined. Furthermore, the resulting recycled concrete with a high proportion of recycled composition, from 20% to 100% replacement of fine and coarse aggregate, is characterized physically and mechanically. An environmental study of the new construction material when all aggregates are substituted by C&D waste shows a low toxicity level, similar to that of other construction materials. The new material also has improved properties with respect to standard concrete such as high fire resistance, good heat insulation, and acoustic insulation. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Auditing an intensive care unit recycling program.

PubMed

Kubicki, Mark A; McGain, Forbes; O'Shea, Catherine J; Bates, Samantha

2015-06-01

The provision of health care has significant direct environmental effects such as energy and water use and waste production, and indirect effects, including manufacturing and transport of drugs and equipment. Recycling of hospital waste is one strategy to reduce waste disposed of as landfill, preserve resources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and potentially remain fiscally responsible. We began an intensive care unit recycling program, because a significant proportion of ICU waste was known to be recyclable. To determine the weight and proportion of ICU waste recycled, the proportion of incorrect waste disposal (including infectious waste contamination), the opportunity for further recycling and the financial effects of the recycling program. We weighed all waste and recyclables from an 11-bed ICU in an Australian metropolitan hospital for 7 non-consecutive days. As part of routine care, ICU waste was separated into general, infectious and recycling streams. Recycling streams were paper and cardboard, three plastics streams (polypropylene, mixed plastics and polyvinylchloride [PVC]) and commingled waste (steel, aluminium and some plastics). ICU waste from the waste and recycling bins was sorted into those five recycling streams, general waste and infectious waste. After sorting, the waste was weighed and examined. Recycling was classified as achieved (actual), potential and total. Potential recycling was defined as being acceptable to hospital protocol and local recycling programs. Direct and indirect financial costs, excluding labour, were examined. During the 7-day period, the total ICU waste was 505 kg: general waste, 222 kg (44%); infectious waste, 138 kg (27%); potentially recyclable waste, 145 kg (28%). Of the potentially recyclable waste, 70 kg (49%) was actually recycled (14% of the total ICU waste). In the infectious waste bins, 82% was truly infectious. There was no infectious contamination of the recycling streams. The PVC waste was 37% contaminated

Using vacuum pyrolysis and mechanical processing for recycling waste printed circuit boards.

PubMed

Long, Laishou; Sun, Shuiyu; Zhong, Sheng; Dai, Wencan; Liu, Jingyong; Song, Weifeng

2010-05-15

The constant growth in generation of waste printed circuit boards (WPCB) poses a huge disposal problem because they consist of a heterogeneous mixture of organic and metallic chemicals as well as glass fiber. Also the presence of heavy metals, such as Pb and Cd turns this scrap into hazardous waste. Therefore, recycling of WPCB is an important subject not only from the recovery of valuable materials but also from the treatment of waste. The aim of this study was to present a recycling process without negative impact to the environment as an alternative for recycling WPCB. In this work, a process technology containing vacuum pyrolysis and mechanical processing was employed to recycle WPCB. At the first stage of this work, the WPCB was pyrolyzed under vacuum in a self-made batch pilot-scale fixed bed reactor to recycle organic resins contained in the WPCB. By vacuum pyrolysis the organic matter was decomposed to gases and liquids which could be used as fuels or chemical material resources, however, the inorganic WPCB matter was left unaltered as solid residues. At the second stage, the residues obtained at the first stage were investigated to separate and recover the copper through mechanical processing such as crushing, screening, and gravity separation. The copper grade of 99.50% with recovery of 99.86% based on the whole WPCB was obtained. And the glass fiber could be obtained by calcinations in a muffle furnace at 600 degrees C for 10 min. This study had demonstrated the feasibility of vacuum pyrolysis and mechanical processing for recycling WPCB. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Residents' behaviors, attitudes, and willingness to pay for recycling e-waste in Macau.

PubMed

Song, Qingbin; Wang, Zhishi; Li, Jinhui

2012-09-15

Large quantities of e-waste are presently being generated in Macau, but since recycling facilities and laws on e-waste still need to be developed, most e-waste cannot currently be properly treated. Moreover, little is known about residents' behaviors, attitudes, and their willingness to pay (WTP) for recycling e-waste. These issues are discussed in this study, based on a questionnaire survey on household electronic product usage. In 2010, "Life span completed" was the primary reason respondents abandoned their electronic products, accounting for about 37.97% of responses; the main disposal methods of e-waste in Macau were "Retailers retrieve from consumer" and "Sale to a recycling corporation." While having little understanding of e-waste disposal issues, most residents were still willing to hand their e-waste into the government for centralized collection. In addition, the respondents gave "telephone reservation" as their preferred collection method. Finally, the residents' WTP in Macau was estimated by the logistic regression method. It was found that education level, age and household income were the significant factors affecting residents' WTP. The monthly mean WTP was 20.03MOP (2.50 US dollar) per household, and the annual WTP was approximately 40,185,067 MOP (5,023,133 US dollar) for all of Macau. The results of our study can help managers develop more effective environmental management policies for e-waste disposal. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A degradation model for high kitchen waste content municipal solid waste.

PubMed

Chen, Yunmin; Guo, Ruyang; Li, Yu-Chao; Liu, Hailong; Zhan, Tony Liangtong

2016-12-01

Municipal solid waste (MSW) in developing countries has a high content of kitchen waste (KW), and therefore contains large quantities of water and non-hollocellulose degradable organics. The degradation of high KW content MSW cannot be well simulated by the existing degradation models, which are mostly established for low KW content MSW in developed countries. This paper presents a two-stage anaerobic degradation model for high KW content MSW with degradations of hollocellulose, sugars, proteins and lipids considered. The ranges of the proportions of chemical compounds in MSW components are summarized with the recommended values given. Waste components are grouped into rapidly or slowly degradable categories in terms of the degradation rates under optimal water conditions for degradation. In the proposed model, the unionized VFA inhibitions of hydrolysis/acidogenesis and methanogenesis are considered as well as the pH inhibition of methanogenesis. Both modest and serious VFA inhibitions can be modeled by the proposed model. Default values for the parameters in the proposed method can be used for predictions of degradations of both low and high KW content MSW. The proposed model was verified by simulating two laboratory experiments, in which low and high KW content MSW were used, respectively. The simulated results are in good agreement with the measured data of the experiments. The results show that under low VFA concentrations, the pH inhibition of methanogenesis is the main inhibition to be considered, while the inhibitions of both hydrolysis/acidogenesis and methanogenesis caused by unionized VFA are significant under high VFA concentrations. The model is also used to compare the degradation behaviors of low and high KW content MSW under a favorable environmental condition, and it shows that the gas potential of high KW content MSW releases more quickly. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Applying multi-criteria decision-making to improve the waste reduction policy in Taiwan.

PubMed

Su, Jun-Pin; Hung, Ming-Lung; Chao, Chia-Wei; Ma, Hwong-wen

2010-01-01

Over the past two decades, the waste reduction problem has been a major issue in environmental protection. Both recycling and waste reduction policies have become increasingly important. As the complexity of decision-making has increased, it has become evident that more factors must be considered in the development and implementation of policies aimed at resource recycling and waste reduction. There are many studies focused on waste management excluding waste reduction. This study paid more attention to waste reduction. Social, economic, and management aspects of waste treatment policies were considered in this study. Further, a life-cycle assessment model was applied as an evaluation system for the environmental aspect. Results of both quantitative and qualitative analyses on the social, economic, and management aspects were integrated via the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method into the comprehensive decision-making support system of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). A case study evaluating the waste reduction policy in Taoyuan County is presented to demonstrate the feasibility of this model. In the case study, reinforcement of MSW sorting was shown to be the best practice. The model in this study can be applied to other cities faced with the waste reduction problems.

Geotechnical properties of municipal solid waste at different phases of biodegradation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reddy, Krishna R., E-mail: kreddy@uic.edu; Hettiarachchi, Hiroshan, E-mail: hiroshan@ltu.edu; Gangathulasi, Janardhanan, E-mail: jganga2@uic.edu

Highlights: > Degraded synthetic municipal solid waste (MSW) anaerobically in controlled bench-scale reactors. > Performed laboratory tests to determine geotechnical properties of MSW at different phases of degradation. > Hydraulic conductivity decreased by two orders of magnitude due to degradation. > Compression ratio reduced from 0.34 for initial fresh waste to 0.15 for the mostly degraded waste. > Friction angle reduced, but cohesion increased with degradation. - Abstract: This paper presents the results of laboratory investigation conducted to determine the variation of geotechnical properties of synthetic municipal solid waste (MSW) at different phases of degradation. Synthetic MSW samples were preparedmore » based on the composition of MSW generated in the United States and were degraded in bioreactors with leachate recirculation. Degradation of the synthetic MSW was quantified based on the gas composition and organic content, and the samples exhumed from the bioreactor cells at different phases of degradation were tested for the geotechnical properties. Hydraulic conductivity, compressibility and shear strength of initial and degraded synthetic MSW were all determined at constant initial moisture content of 50% on wet weight basis. Hydraulic conductivity of synthetic MSW was reduced by two orders of magnitude due to degradation. Compression ratio was reduced from 0.34 for initial fresh waste to 0.15 for the mostly degraded waste. Direct shear tests showed that the fresh and degraded synthetic MSW exhibited continuous strength gain with increase in horizontal deformation, with the cohesion increased from 1 kPa for fresh MSW to 16-40 kPa for degraded MSW and the friction angle decreased from 35{sup o} for fresh MSW to 28{sup o} for degraded MSW. During the triaxial tests under CU condition, the total strength parameters, cohesion and friction angle, were found to vary from 21 to 57 kPa and 1{sup o} to 9{sup o}, respectively, while the effective strength

Assessment of plastic waste generation and its potential recycling of household solid waste in Can Tho City, Vietnam.

PubMed

Thanh, Nguyen Phuc; Matsui, Yasuhiro; Fujiwara, Takeshi

2011-04-01

Plastic solid waste has become a serious problem when considering the disposal alternatives following the sequential hierarchy of sound solid waste management. This study was undertaken to assess the quantity and composition of household solid waste, especially plastic waste to identify opportunities for waste recycling. A 1-month survey of 130 households was carried out in Can Tho City, the capital city of the Mekong Delta region in southern Vietnam. Household solid waste was collected from each household and classified into ten physical categories; especially plastic waste was sorted into 22 subcategories. The average household solid waste generation rate was 281.27 g/cap/day. The compostable and recyclable shares respectively accounted for high percentage as 80.74% and 11%. Regarding plastic waste, the average plastic waste generation rate was 17.24 g/cap/day; plastic packaging and plastic containers dominated with the high percentage, 95.64% of plastic waste. Plastic shopping bags were especially identified as the major component, accounting for 45.72% of total plastic waste. Relevant factors such as household income and household size were found to have an existing correlation to plastic waste generation in detailed composition. The household habits and behaviors of plastic waste discharge and the aspects of environmental impacts and resource consumption for plastic waste disposal alternatives were also evaluated.

Paper waste - recycling, incineration or landfilling? A review of existing life cycle assessments.

PubMed

Villanueva, A; Wenzel, H

2007-01-01

A review of existing life cycle assessments (LCAs) on paper and cardboard waste has been undertaken. The objectives of the review were threefold. Firstly, to see whether a consistent message comes out of published LCA literature on optimum disposal or recycling solutions for this waste type. Such message has implications for current policy formulation on material recycling and disposal in the EU. Secondly, to identify key methodological issues of paper waste management LCAs, and enlighten the influence of such issues on the conclusions of the LCA studies. Thirdly, in light of the analysis made, to discuss whether it is at all valid to use the LCA methodology in its current development state to guide policy decisions on paper waste. A total of nine LCA studies containing altogether 73 scenarios were selected from a thorough, international literature search. The selected studies are LCAs including comparisons of different management options for waste paper. Despite claims of inconsistency, the LCAs reviewed illustrate the environmental benefits in recycling over incineration or landfill options, for paper and cardboard waste. This broad consensus was found despite differences in geographic location and definitions of the paper recycling/disposal systems studied. A systematic exploration of the LCA studies showed, however, important methodological pitfalls and sources of error, mainly concerning differences in the definition of the system boundaries. Fifteen key assumptions were identified that cover the three paper cycle system areas: raw materials and forestry, paper production, and disposal/recovery. It was found that the outcome of the individual LCA studies largely depended on the choices made in some of these assumptions, most specifically the ones concerning energy use and generation, and forestry.

A methodology for optimal MSW management, with an application in the waste transportation of Attica Region, Greece

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Economopoulou, M.A.; Economopoulou, A.A.; Economopoulos, A.P., E-mail: eco@otenet.gr

2013-11-15

Highlights: • A two-step (strategic and detailed optimal planning) methodology is used for solving complex MSW management problems. • A software package is outlined, which can be used for generating detailed optimal plans. • Sensitivity analysis compares alternative scenarios that address objections and/or wishes of local communities. • A case study shows the application of the above procedure in practice and demonstrates the results and benefits obtained. - Abstract: The paper describes a software system capable of formulating alternative optimal Municipal Solid Wastes (MSWs) management plans, each of which meets a set of constraints that may reflect selected objections and/ormore » wishes of local communities. The objective function to be minimized in each plan is the sum of the annualized capital investment and annual operating cost of all transportation, treatment and final disposal operations involved, taking into consideration the possible income from the sale of products and any other financial incentives or disincentives that may exist. For each plan formulated, the system generates several reports that define the plan, analyze its cost elements and yield an indicative profile of selected types of installations, as well as data files that facilitate the geographic representation of the optimal solution in maps through the use of GIS. A number of these reports compare the technical and economic data from all scenarios considered at the study area, municipality and installation level constituting in effect sensitivity analysis. The generation of alternative plans offers local authorities the opportunity of choice and the results of the sensitivity analysis allow them to choose wisely and with consensus. The paper presents also an application of this software system in the capital Region of Attica in Greece, for the purpose of developing an optimal waste transportation system in line with its approved waste management plan. The formulated plan was

An industrial ecology approach to municipal solid waste ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Municipal solid waste (MSW) can be viewed as a feedstock for industrial ecology inspired conversions of wastes to valuable products and energy. The industrial ecology principle of symbiotic processes using waste streams for creating value-added products is applied to MSW, with examples suggested for various residual streams. A methodology is presented to consider individual waste-to-energy or waste-to-product system synergies, evaluating the economic and environmental issues associated with each system. Steps included in the methodology include identifying waste streams, specific waste components of interest, and conversion technologies, plus steps for determining the economic and environmental effects of using wastes and changes due to transport, administrative handling, and processing. In addition to presenting the methodology, technologies for various MSW input streams are categorized as commercialized or demonstrated to provide organizations that are considering processes for MSW with summarized information. The organization can also follow the methodology to analyze interesting processes. Presents information useful for analyzing the sustainability of alternatives for the management of municipal solid waste.

Awareness about biomedical waste management and knowledge of effective recycling of dental materials among dental students

PubMed Central

Ranjan, Rajeev; Pathak, Ruchi; Singh, Dhirendra K.; Jalaluddin, Md.; Kore, Shobha A.; Kore, Abhijeet R.

2016-01-01

Aims and Objectives: Biomedical waste management has become a concern with increasing number of dental practitioners in India. Being health care professionals, dentists should be aware regarding safe disposal of biomedical waste and recycling of dental materials to minimize biohazards to the environment. The aim of the present study was to assess awareness regarding biomedical waste management as well as knowledge of effective recycling and reuse of dental materials among dental students. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among dental students belonging from all dental colleges of Bhubaneswar, Odisha (India) from February 2016 to April 2016. A total of 500 students (208 males and 292 females) participated in the study, which was conducted in two phases. A questionnaire was distributed to assess the awareness of biomedical waste management and knowledge of effective recycling of dental materials, and collected data was examined on a 5-point unipolar scale in percentages to assess the relative awareness regarding these two different categorizes. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used to analyzed collected data. Results: Forty-four percent of the dental students were not at all aware about the management of biomedical waste, 22% were moderately aware, 21% slightly aware, 7% very aware, and 5% fell in extremely aware category. Similarly, a higher percentage of participants (61%) were completely unaware regarding recycling and reusing of biomedical waste. Conclusion: There is lack of sufficient knowledge among dental students regarding management of biomedical waste and recycling or reusing of dental materials. Considering its impact on the environment, biomedical waste management requires immediate academic assessment to increase the awareness during training courses. PMID:27891315

Upgrading of recycled plastics obtained from flexible packaging waste by adding nanosilicates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garofalo, E.; Claro, M.; Scarfato, P.; Di Maio, L.; Incarnato, L.

2015-12-01

Currently, the growing consumption of polymer products creates large quantities of waste materials resulting in public concern in the environment and people life. The efficient treatment of polymer wastes is still a difficult challenge and the recycling process represents the best way to manage them. Recently, many researchers have tried to develop nanotechnology for polymer recycling. The products prepared through the addition of nanoparticles to post-used plastics could offer the combination of improved properties, low weight, easy of processing and low cost which is not easily and concurrently found by other methods of plastic recycling. In this study materials, obtained by the separation and mechanical recycling of post-consumer packaging films of small size (recycled plastics (denoted as Recyclate A and Recyclate B) evidenced that they are mainly constituted of polyethylene (PE) and of a small fraction of polypropylene (PP). PE/PP incompatibility has been proved and explained in many studies reported in the literature and it represents the main reason for the unsatisfactory mechanical properties of these recycled plastics. The aim of this work was to improve the mechanical properties of these recycled polymeric mixtures by the addition of two different types of organo-modified silicates, also taking advantage of the function of nanofillers as potential blend compatibilizers. In particular, three organoclays (Dellite 67G, sepiolite PM15 and sepiolite UNISA1), differing for the morphology (lamellar or acicular) and/or the type of organic modifier, were melt compounded with the recycled materials in a twin-screw extruder. The morphological, thermal, rheological and mechanical properties of the prepared nanocomposites were extensively discussed.

Why Waste a Second Chance? A Small Town Guide to Recycling.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Association of Towns and Townships, Washington, DC.

In many communities, garbage disposal--solid waste management--is the third largest municipal expenditure and a fast growing budget item. Many small local governments have controlled the growth of these costs by recycling up to 40% of the total solid waste they produce. This guidebook can help communities identify and develop opportunities…

CONTINUOUS MICRO-SORTING OF COMPLEX WASTE PLASTICS PARTICLEMIXTURES VIA LIQUID-FLUIDIZED BED CLASSIFICATION (LFBC) FOR WASTE MINIMIZATIONAND RECYCLING

EPA Science Inventory

A fundamental investigation is proposed to provide a technical basis for the development of a novel, liquid-fluidized bed classification (LFBC) technology for the continuous separation of complex waste plastic mixtures for in-process recycling and waste minimization. Although ...

Optimal control of greenhouse gas emissions and system cost for integrated municipal solid waste management with considering a hierarchical structure.

PubMed

Li, Jing; He, Li; Fan, Xing; Chen, Yizhong; Lu, Hongwei

2017-08-01

This study presents a synergic optimization of control for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and system cost in integrated municipal solid waste (MSW) management on a basis of bi-level programming. The bi-level programming is formulated by integrating minimizations of GHG emissions at the leader level and system cost at the follower level into a general MSW framework. Different from traditional single- or multi-objective approaches, the proposed bi-level programming is capable of not only addressing the tradeoffs but also dealing with the leader-follower relationship between different decision makers, who have dissimilar perspectives interests. GHG emission control is placed at the leader level could emphasize the significant environmental concern in MSW management. A bi-level decision-making process based on satisfactory degree is then suitable for solving highly nonlinear problems with computationally effectiveness. The capabilities and effectiveness of the proposed bi-level programming are illustrated by an application of a MSW management problem in Canada. Results show that the obtained optimal management strategy can bring considerable revenues, approximately from 76 to 97 million dollars. Considering control of GHG emissions, it would give priority to the development of the recycling facility throughout the whole period, especially in latter periods. In terms of capacity, the existing landfill is enough in the future 30 years without development of new landfills, while expansion to the composting and recycling facilities should be paid more attention.

Technical, economic and environmental feasibility of recycling nutrients in waste in Southern Thailand.

PubMed

Schouw, Nanette Levanius; Bregnhøj, Henrik; Mosbaek, Hans; Tjell, Jens Christian

2003-06-01

Technical, economic and environmental criteria were used to evaluate the feasibility of recycling plant nutrients in kitchen waste, human excreta and sullage from households in Phattalung (urban), Kuan Lang (peri urban) and Prik (rural) in Southern Thailand. The difference in situation and context of the three areas called for individual solutions, and for each area three sanitation systems were evaluated. However, in all three areas recycling human excreta and kitchen waste via composting latrines was found to be more environmental feasible than human excreta managed in septic tanks or sub surface trickle irrigation and kitchen waste disposed of at landfill sites or treated at composting plants. Sullage should in Kuan Lang and Prik be used directly on garden crops, but in Phattalung be treated in waste stabilisation ponds before discharge, to be environmentally feasible. The economic feasibility results varied among the three areas and among the involved stakeholders: farmers and Kuan Lang administration benefited from recycling waste, at the expense of other private users, Phattalung municipality and Prik municipality. The main cause of these conflicting interests was lack of cost recovery and public participation, which should therefore serve as the fundament of any future environmental and economic feasible sanitation system.

An illicit economy: scavenging and recycling of medical waste.

PubMed

Patwary, Masum A; O'Hare, William Thomas; Sarker, M H

2011-11-01

This paper discusses a significant illicit economy, including black and grey aspects, associated with medical waste scavenging and recycling in a megacity, considering hazards to the specific group involved in scavenging as well as hazards to the general population of city dwellers. Data were collected in Dhaka, Bangladesh, using a variety of techniques based on formal representative sampling for fixed populations (such as recycling operatives) and adaptive sampling for roaming populations (such as scavengers). Extremely hazardous items (including date expired medicines, used syringes, knives, blades and saline bags) were scavenged, repackaged and resold to the community. Some HCE employees were also observed to sell hazardous items directly to scavengers, and both employees and scavengers were observed to supply contaminated items to an informal plastics recycling industry. This trade was made possible by the absence of segregation, secure storage and proper disposal of medical waste. Corruption, a lack of accountability and individual responsibility were also found to be contributors. In most cases the individuals involved with these activities did not understand the risks. Although motivation was often for personal gain or in support of substance abuse, participants sometimes felt that they were providing a useful service to the community. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

MSW oxy-enriched incineration technology applied in China: combustion temperature, flue gas loss and economic considerations.

PubMed

Fu, Zhe; Zhang, Shihong; Li, Xiangpeng; Shao, Jingai; Wang, Ke; Chen, Hanping

2015-04-01

To investigate the application prospect of MSW oxy-enriched incineration technology in China, the technical and economical analyses of a municipal solid waste (MSW) grate furnace with oxy-fuel incineration technology in comparison to co-incineration with coal are performed. The rated capacity of the grate furnace is 350 tonnes MSW per day. When raw MSW is burned, the amount of pure oxygen injected should be about 14.5 wt.% under 25% O2 oxy-fuel combustion conditions with the mode of oxygen supply determined by the actual situation. According to the isothermal combustion temperature (Ta), the combustion effect of 25% O2 oxy-enriched incineration (α = 1.43) is identical with that of MSW co-incineration with 20% mass ratio of coal (α = 1.91). However, the former is better than the latter in terms of plant cost, flue gas loss, and environmental impact. Despite the lower costs of MSW co-incineration with mass ratio of 5% and 10% coal (α = 1.91), 25% O2 oxy-enriched incineration (α = 1.43) is far more advantageous in combustion and pollutant control. Conventional combustion flue gas loss (q2) for co-incineration with 0% coal, 20% coal, 10% coal, 5% coal are around 17%, 13%, 14% and 15%, respectively, while that under the condition of 25% O2 oxy-enriched combustion is approximately 12% (α = 1.43). Clearly, q2 of oxy-enriched incineration is less than other methods under the same combustion conditions. High moisture content presents challenges for MSW incineration, therefore it is necessary to dry MSW prior to incineration, and making oxy-enriched incineration technology achieves higher combustion temperature and lower flue gas loss. In conclusion, based on technical and economical analysis, MSW oxy-enriched incineration retains obvious advantages and demonstrates great future prospects for MSW incineration in China. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Solid waste management in Thailand: an overview and case study (Tha Khon Yang sub-district).

PubMed

Yukalang, Nachalida; Clarke, Beverley Dawn; Ross, Kirstin Elizabeth

2017-09-26

Due to rapid urbanization, solid waste management (SWM) has become a significant issue in several developing countries including Thailand. Policies implemented by the Central Thai Government to manage SWM issues have had only limited success. This article reviews current municipal waste management plans in Thailand and examines municipal waste management at the local level, with focus on the Tha Khon Yang sub-district surrounding Mahasarakham University in Mahasarakham Province. Within two decades this area has been converted from a rural to an urban landscape featuring accommodation for over 45,000 university students and a range of business facilities. This development and influx of people has outpaced the government's ability to manage municipal solid waste (MSW). There are significant opportunities to improve local infrastructure and operational capacity; but there are few mechanisms to provide and distribute information to improve community participation in waste management. Many community-based waste management projects, such as waste recycling banks, the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle), and waste-to-biogas projects have been abandoned. Additionally, waste from Tha Kon Yang and its surrounding areas has been transferred to unsanitary landfills; there is also haphazard dumping and uncontrolled burning of waste, which exacerbate current pollution issues.

Public opinion about the source separation of municipal solid waste in Shanghai, China.

PubMed

Zhang, Weiqian; Che, Yue; Yang, Kai; Ren, Xiangyu; Tai, Jun

2012-12-01

For decades the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Shanghai has been increasing. Despite the long-time efforts aimed at MSW management (MSWM), the disposal of MSW achieves poor performance. Thus, a MSW minimisation plan for Shanghai was proposed in December 2010. In this study, direct face-to-face interviews and a structured questionnaire survey were used in four different Shanghai community types. We conducted an econometric analysis of the social factors that influence the willingness to pay for MSW separation and discussed the household waste characteristics, the daily waste generation and the current treatment of kitchen wastes. The results suggested that the respondents are environmentally aware of separation, but only practise minimal separation. Negative neighbour effects, confused classification of MSW, and mixed transportation and disposal are the dominant limitations of MSW source-separated collection. Most respondents are willing to pay for MSWM. Public support is influenced by household population, income and cost. The attitudes and behaviours of citizens are important for reducing the amount of MSW disposal by 50% per capita by 2020 (relative to 2010). Concerted efforts should be taken to enlarge pilot areas. In addition, the source separation of kitchen wastes should be promoted.

Comminution and sizing processes of concrete block waste as recycled aggregates.

PubMed

Gomes, P C C; Ulsen, C; Pereira, F A; Quattrone, M; Angulo, S C

2015-11-01

Due to the environmental impact of construction and demolition waste (CDW), recycling is mandatory. It is also important that recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) are used in concrete to meet market demands. In the literature, the influence of RCAs on concrete has been investigated, but very limited studies have been conducted on how the origin of concrete waste and comminution processes influence RCA characteristics. This paper aims to investigate the influence of three different comminution and sizing processes (simple screening, crushing and grinding) on the composition, shape and porosity characteristics of RCA obtained from concrete block waste. Crushing and grinding implies a reduction of RCA porosity. However, due to the presence of coarse quartz rounded river pebbles in the original concrete block mixtures, the shape characteristics deteriorated. A large amount of powder (<0.15 mm) without detectable anhydrous cement was also generated. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Forecasting municipal solid waste generation using artificial intelligence modelling approaches.

PubMed

Abbasi, Maryam; El Hanandeh, Ali

2016-10-01

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is a major concern to local governments to protect human health, the environment and to preserve natural resources. The design and operation of an effective MSW management system requires accurate estimation of future waste generation quantities. The main objective of this study was to develop a model for accurate forecasting of MSW generation that helps waste related organizations to better design and operate effective MSW management systems. Four intelligent system algorithms including support vector machine (SVM), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), artificial neural network (ANN) and k-nearest neighbours (kNN) were tested for their ability to predict monthly waste generation in the Logan City Council region in Queensland, Australia. Results showed artificial intelligence models have good prediction performance and could be successfully applied to establish municipal solid waste forecasting models. Using machine learning algorithms can reliably predict monthly MSW generation by training with waste generation time series. In addition, results suggest that ANFIS system produced the most accurate forecasts of the peaks while kNN was successful in predicting the monthly averages of waste quantities. Based on the results, the total annual MSW generated in Logan City will reach 9.4×10(7)kg by 2020 while the peak monthly waste will reach 9.37×10(6)kg. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electrical and electronic plastics waste co-combustion with municipal solid waste for energy recovery

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vehlow, J.; Mark, F.E.

1997-12-01

The recovery or disposal of end-of-life electrical and electronic (E+E) equipment is receiving considerable attention from industry organisations such as APME in order to supply factual information which can be used in the development of a clear industry strategy. It is hoped that such information will persuade EU member states to define the best management practices for this waste stream. One of the difficulties regarding the recovery or disposal of E+E waste is a lack of data regarding its behaviour when incinerated. This lack of data has led to unfounded conclusions by sonic parties that plastic wastes contain harmful halogenatedmore » species which are difficult to treat and remove, and when incinerated contribute to the emission of halogenated species and are responsible for the major portion of emissions. APME has a comprehensive testing program investigating the impact of plastics on municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration. APME`s previous work has demonstrated the positive, beneficial effects of mixed waste plastics in the MSW energy recovery process as well as studying halogen behaviour during the combustion of packaging plastics waste and construction foam from the building industry. The current study was designed to evaluate the incineration of MSW containing typical levels of electrical and electronic (E+E) plastic waste, as well as MSW containing E+E waste in amounts up to 12%.« less

A Group Approach in a Community Empowerment: A Case Study of Waste Recycling Group in Jakarta

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hadiyanti, Puji

2016-01-01

This study reviews a group approach in empowering the community through waste recycling activities related to the development of human resources in Jakarta. The specific objectives to be achieved are the wish to understand and find: (1) Conditions of waste recycling empowerment in Jakarta, (2) Mechanisms of a group approach in empowering…

Multi-trace element levels and arsenic speciation in urine of e-waste recycling workers from Agbogbloshie, Accra in Ghana.

PubMed

Asante, Kwadwo Ansong; Agusa, Tetsuro; Biney, Charles Augustus; Agyekum, William Atuobi; Bello, Mohammed; Otsuka, Masanari; Itai, Takaaki; Takahashi, Shin; Tanabe, Shinsuke

2012-05-01

To understand human contamination by multi-trace elements (TEs) in electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) recycling site at Agbogbloshie, Accra in Ghana, this study analyzed TEs and As speciation in urine of e-waste recycling workers. Concentrations of Fe, Sb, and Pb in urine of e-waste recycling workers were significantly higher than those of reference sites after consideration of interaction by age, indicating that the recycling workers are exposed to these TEs through the recycling activity. Urinary As concentration was relatively high, although the level in drinking water was quite low. Speciation analysis of As in human urine revealed that arsenobetaine and dimethylarsinic acid were the predominant As species and concentrations of both species were positively correlated with total As concentration as well as between each other. These results suggest that such compounds may be derived from the same source, probably fish and shellfish and greatly influence As exposure levels. To our knowledge, this is the first study on human contamination resulting from the primitive recycling of e-waste in Ghana. This study will contribute to the knowledge about human exposure to trace elements from an e-waste site in a less industrialized region so far scantly covered in the literature. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Determinants of recycling common types of plastic product waste in environmental horticulture industry: The case of Georgia.

PubMed

Meng, Ting; Klepacka, Anna M; Florkowski, Wojciech J; Braman, Kristine

2016-02-01

Environmental horticulture firms provide a variety of commercial/residential landscape products and services encompassing ornamental plant production, design, installation, and maintenance. The companies generate tons of waste including plastic containers, trays, and greenhouse/field covers, creating the need to reduce and utilize plastic waste. Based on survey data collected in Georgia in 2013, this paper investigates determinants of the environmental horticulture firms' recycling decision (plastic containers, flats, and greenhouse poly). Our findings indicate that the decision to discard vs. recycle plastic containers, flats, and greenhouse poly is significantly influenced by firm scope, size, location, and partnership with recycling providers, as well as whether recycling providers offer additional waste pickup services. Insights from this study are of use to local governments and environmental organizations interested in increasing horticultural firm participation in recycling programs and lowering the volume of plastic destined for landfills. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Waste recycling issues in bioregenerative life support

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macelroy, R. D.; Wang, D.

1989-01-01

Research and technology development issues centering on the recycling of materials within a bioregenerative life support system are reviewed. The importance of recovering waste materials for subsequent use is emphasized. Such material reclamation will substantially decrease the energy penalty paid for bioregenerative life support systems, and can potentially decrease the size of the system and its power demands by a significant amount. Reclamation of fixed nitrogen and the sugars in cellulosic materials is discussed.

Municipal solid-waste management in Istanbul.

PubMed

Kanat, Gurdal

2010-01-01

Istanbul, with a population of around 13 million people, is located between Europe and Asia and is the biggest city in Turkey. Metropolitan Istanbul produces about 14,000 tons of solid waste per day. The aim of this study was to assess the situation of municipal solid-waste (MSW) management in Istanbul. This was achieved by reviewing the quantity and composition of waste produced in Istanbul. Current requirements and challenges in relation to the optimization of Istanbul's MSW collection and management system are also discussed, and several suggestions for solving the problems identified are presented. The recovery of solid waste from the landfills, as well as the amounts of landfill-generated biogas and electricity, were evaluated. In recent years, MSW management in Istanbul has improved because of strong governance and institutional involvement. However, efforts directed toward applied research are still required to enable better waste management. These efforts will greatly support decision making on the part of municipal authorities. There remains a great need to reduce the volume of MSW in Istanbul. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Physical and thermal behavior of cement composites reinforced with recycled waste paper fibers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hospodarova, Viola; Stevulova, Nadezda; Vaclavik, Vojtech; Dvorsky, Tomas

2017-07-01

In this study, three types of recycled waste paper fibers were used to manufacture cement composites reinforced with recycled cellulosic fibers. Waste cellulosic fibers in quantity of 0.2, 0.3, and 0.5 wt.% were added to cement mixtures. Physical properties such as density, water capillarity, water absorbability and thermal conductivity of fiber cement composites were studied after 28 days of hardening. However, durability of composites was tested after their water storage up to 90 days. Final results of tested properties of fiber cement composites were compared with cement reference sample without cellulosic fibers.

Levels and risk factors of antimony contamination in human hair from an electronic waste recycling area, Guiyu, China.

PubMed

Huang, Yue; Ni, Wenqing; Chen, Yaowen; Wang, Xiaoling; Zhang, Jingwen; Wu, Kusheng

2015-05-01

The primitive electronic waste (e-waste) recycling has brought a series of environmental pollutants in Guiyu, China. Antimony is one of the important metal contaminants and has aroused the global concerns recently. We aimed to investigate concentrations of antimony in human hair from Guiyu and compared them with those from a control area where no e-waste recycling exists, and assessed the potential risk factors. A total of 205 human hair samples from Guiyu and 80 samples from Jinping were collected for analysis. All volunteers were asked to complete a questionnaire including socio-demographic characteristics and other possible factors related to hair antimony exposure. The concentrations of hair antimony were analyzed using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Our results indicated that the level of hair antimony in volunteers from Guiyu (median, 160.78; range, 6.99-4412.59 ng/g) was significantly higher than those from Jinping (median, 61.74; range, 2.98-628.43 ng/g). The residents who engaged in e-waste recycling activities in Guiyu had higher hair antimony concentrations than others (P < 0.001). There was no significant difference of hair antimony concentrations among different occupation types in e-waste recycling. Multiple stepwise regression analysis indicated that hair antimony concentrations were associated with education level (β = -0.064), the time of residence in Guiyu (β = 0.112), living house also served as e-waste workshop (β = 0.099), the work related to e-waste (β = 0.169), and smoking (β = 0.018). The elevated hair antimony concentrations implied that the residents in Guiyu might be at high risk of antimony contamination, especially the e-waste recycling workers. Work related to e-waste recycling activities and long-time residence in Guiyu contributed to the high hair antimony exposure.

Solid Waste Educational Resources and Activities: Let's Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. [CD-ROM].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. Solid Waste and Emergency Response.

This contains games, activities, publications, and resources for students and teachers on how to reduce, reuse, recycle, and properly manage waste. It also contains a screen saver featuring runners-up from the Earth Day 2000 art contest. Activities and games include titles such as "Planet Protectors,""Recycle City,""Trash…

Relationship between recycling rate and air pollution: Waste management in the state of Massachusetts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Giovanis, Eleftherios, E-mail: giovanis95@gmail.com

Highlights: • This study examines the relationship between recycling rate of solid waste and air pollution. • Fixed effects Stochastic Frontier Analysis model with panel data are employed. • The case study is a waste municipality survey in the state of Massachusetts during 2009–2012. • The findings support that a negative relationship between air pollution and recycling. - Abstract: This study examines the relationship between recycling rate of solid waste and air pollution using data from a waste municipality survey in the state of Massachusetts during the period 2009–2012. Two econometric approaches are applied. The first approach is a fixedmore » effects model, while the second is a Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) with fixed effects model. The advantage of the first approach is the ability of controlling for stable time invariant characteristics of the municipalities, thereby eliminating potentially large sources of bias. The second approach is applied in order to estimate the technical efficiency and rank of each municipality accordingly. The regressions control for various demographic, economic and recycling services, such as income per capita, population density, unemployment, trash services, Pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) program and meteorological data. The findings support that a negative relationship between particulate particles in the air 2.5 μm or less in size (PM{sub 2.5}) and recycling rate is presented. In addition, the pollution is increased with increases on income per capita up to $23,000–$26,000, while after this point income contributes positively on air quality. Finally, based on the efficiency derived by the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) model, the municipalities which provide both drop off and curbside services for trash, food and yard waste and the PAYT program present better performance regarding the air quality.« less

Formal recycling of e-waste leads to increased exposure to toxic metals: an occupational exposure study from Sweden.

PubMed

Julander, Anneli; Lundgren, Lennart; Skare, Lizbet; Grandér, Margaretha; Palm, Brita; Vahter, Marie; Lidén, Carola

2014-12-01

Electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) contains multiple toxic metals. However, there is currently a lack of exposure data for metals on workers in formal recycling plants. The objective of this study was to evaluate workers' exposure to metals, using biomarkers of exposure in combination with monitoring of personal air exposure. We assessed exposure to 20 potentially toxic metals among 55 recycling workers and 10 office workers at three formal e-waste recycling plants in Sweden. Workers at two of the plants were followed-up after 6 months. We collected the inhalable fraction and OFC (37-mm) fraction of particles, using personal samplers, as well as spot samples of blood and urine. We measured metal concentrations in whole blood, plasma, urine, and air filters using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry following acid digestion. The air sampling indicated greater airborne exposure, 10 to 30 times higher, to most metals among the recycling workers handling e-waste than among the office workers. The exposure biomarkers showed significantly higher concentrations of chromium, cobalt, indium, lead, and mercury in blood, urine, and/or plasma of the recycling workers, compared with the office workers. Concentrations of antimony, indium, lead, mercury, and vanadium showed close to linear associations between the inhalable particle fraction and blood, plasma, or urine. In conclusion, our study of formal e-waste recycling shows that workers performing recycling tasks are exposed to multiple toxic metals. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Chromium exposure among children from an electronic waste recycling town of China.

PubMed

Xu, Xijin; Yekeen, Taofeek Akangbe; Liu, Junxiao; Zhuang, Bingrong; Li, Weiqiu; Huo, Xia

2015-02-01

Guiyu is one of the most heavily chromium-polluted areas in China due to the numerous informal electronic waste (e-waste) recycling activities. A 3-year (2004, 2006, and 2008) independent cross-sectional study on blood chromium (BCr) levels of 711 children from Guiyu and a control area was investigated. Questionnaire completed by parents/guardians was used to assess the risk factors of chromium (Cr) exposure, while physical examination, for the year 2008 only, was used to evaluate the effects of long-term exposure to Cr on child physical development. Children living in Guiyu had significantly higher BCr levels compared with those living in Chendian at the same period from 2004 to 2008 (P < 0.001). The predominant risk factors related to elevated child BCr levels included the use of house as a family workshop, parent involved in e-waste recycling, and child residence in Guiyu. Children's weight and chest circumferences in group with high exposure to Cr (upper quartile) were higher than in the low-exposure group (P < 0.01), although the difference was less significant for boys between the two groups (P < 0.05). The results suggest that elevated child BCr in Guiyu due to informal e-waste recycling activities might be threatening the health of children, with implications on physical growth and development.

Assessing the variables affecting on the rate of solid waste generation and recycling: An empirical analysis in Prespa Park.

PubMed

Grazhdani, Dorina

2016-02-01

Economic development, urbanization, and improved living standards increase the quantity and complexity of generated solid waste. Comprehensive study of the variables influencing household solid waste production and recycling rate is crucial and fundamental for exploring the generation mechanism and forecasting future dynamics of household solid waste. The present study is employed in the case study of Prespa Park. A model, based on the interrelationships of economic, demographic, housing structure and waste management policy variables influencing the rate of solid waste generation and recycling is developed and employed. The empirical analysis is based on the information derived from a field questionnaire survey conducted in Prespa Park villages for the year 2014. Another feature of this study is to test whether a household's waste generation can be decoupled from its population growth. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlation analysis and F-tests are used to know the relationship between variables. One-way and two-way fixed effects models data analysis techniques are used to identify variables that determine the effectiveness of waste generation and recycling at household level in the study area. The results reveal that households with heterogeneous characteristics, such as education level, mean building age and income, present different challenges of waste reduction goals. Numerically, an increase of 1% in education level of population corresponds to a waste reduction of 3kg on the annual per capita basis. A village with older buildings, in the case of one year older of the median building age, corresponds to a waste generation increase of 12kg. Other economic and policy incentives such as the mean household income, pay-as-you-throw, percentage of population with access to curbside recycling, the number of drop-off recycling facilities available per 1000 persons and cumulative expenditures on recycling education per capita are also found to be effective

Electrostatic separation for recycling conductors, semiconductors, and nonconductors from electronic waste.

PubMed

Xue, Mianqiang; Yan, Guoqing; Li, Jia; Xu, Zhenming

2012-10-02

Electrostatic separation has been widely used to separate conductors and nonconductors for recycling e-waste. However, the components of e-waste are complex, which can be classified as conductors, semiconductors, and nonconductors according to their conducting properties. In this work, we made a novel attempt to recover the mixtures containing conductors (copper), semiconductors (extrinsic silicon), and nonconductors (woven glass reinforced resin) by electrostatic separation. The results of binary mixtures separation show that the separation of conductor and nonconductor, semiconductor and nonconductor need a higher voltage level while the separation of conductor and semiconductor needs a higher roll speed. Furthermore, the semiconductor separation efficiency is more sensitive to the high voltage level and the roll speed than the conductor separation efficiency. An integrated process was proposed for the multiple mixtures separation. The separation efficiency of conductors and semiconductors can reach 82.5% and 88%, respectively. This study contributes to the efficient recycling of valuable resources from e-waste.

Cooperative urban mining in Brazil: Collective practices in selective household waste collection and recycling.

PubMed

Gutberlet, J

2015-11-01

Solid waste is a major urban challenge worldwide and reclaiming the resources embedded in waste streams, involving organized recyclers, is a smart response to it. Informal and organized recyclers, mostly in the global south, already act as important urban miners in resource recovery. The paper describes the complex operations of recycling cooperatives and draws attention to their economic, environmental, and social contributions. A detailed discussion based on empirical data from the recycling network COOPCENT-ABC in metropolitan São Paulo, Brazil, contextualizes this form of urban mining. The analysis is situated within Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) and Ecological Economy (EE) theory. Current challenges related to planning, public policy, and the implementation of cooperative recycling are analysed on the level of individual recyclers, cooperatives, municipalities and internationally. There are still many hurdles for the informal, organized recycling sector to become recognized as a key player in efficient material separation and to up-scale these activities for an effective contribution to the SSE and EE. Policies need to be in place to guarantee fair and safe work relations. There is a win-win situation where communities and the environment will benefit from organized urban mining. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of Airborne Particles in an Electronic Waste Recycling Facility and Their Toxicity Assessment

EPA Science Inventory

Improper disposal of electronic waste (e-waste) can lead to release of toxic chemicals into the environment and also may pose health risks. Thus, recycling e-waste, instead of landfilling, is considered to be an effective way to reduce pollutant release and exposure. However, lit...

Separation of polyethylene terephthalate from municipal waste plastics by froth flotation for recycling industry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Chong-Qing; Wang, Hui, E-mail: huiwang1968@163.com; Liu, You-Nian

Highlights: • Factors of NaOH treatment were studied by orthogonal and single factor experiments. • Mechanism of alkaline treatment for facilitating flotation was manifested. • Flotation separation of PET was achieved with high purity and efficiency. • A flow sheet of purification PET from MWP was designed. - Abstract: Recycling is an effective way to manage plastic wastes and receives considerable attention. Since plastic mixtures are difficult to recycle because of their intrinsic characteristics, separation of mixed plastics is the key problem for recycling. Separation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from municipal waste plastics (MWP) by froth flotation combined with alkalinemore » pretreatment was investigated for recycling industry. The effect of process variables was estimated by L{sub 9} (3{sup 4}) orthogonal array of experiments and single factor experiments. The optimum conditions of alkaline pretreatment are 10 wt% sodium hydroxide, 20 min and 70 °C. After alkaline pretreatment under optimum conditions, flotation separation PET from acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene, polystyrene, polycarbonate or polyvinyl chloride was achieved with high purity and efficiency. The purity of PET is up to 98.46% and the recovery is above 92.47%. A flow sheet of separation PET from MWP by a combination of froth flotation and sink float separation was designed. This study facilitates industrial application of plastics flotation and provides technical insights into recycling of waste plastics.« less

Recycling the construction and demolition waste to produce polymer concrete

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamza, Mohammad T.; Hameed, Awham M., Dr.

2018-05-01

The sustainable management for solid wastes of the construction and demolition waste stimulates searching for safety applications for these wastes. The aim of this research is recycling of construction and demolition waste with some different types of polymeric resins to be used in manufacturing process of polymer mortar or polymer concrete, and studying their mechanical and physical properties, and also Specify how the values of compressive strength and the density are affected via the different parameters. In this research two types of construction and demolition waste were used as aggregates replacement (i.e. waste cement/concrete debris, and the waste blocks) while the two types of polymer resins (i.e. Unsaturated polyester and Epoxy) as cement replacements. The used weight percentages of the resins were changed within (1°, 20, 25 and 30) % to manufacture this polymer concrete.

Finding urban waste management solutions and policies: Waste-to-energy development and livelihood support system in Payatas, Metro Manila, Philippines.

PubMed

Serrona, Kevin Roy; Yu, Jeong-Soo

2009-01-01

One of the potential solutions in social and environmental sustainability in municipal solid waste management (MSW) in Metro Manila is to combine community-based recycling and sound landfill management strategies. The marriage of the two puts importance on recycling as a source of livelihood while proper landfill management aims to improve the aesthetic and environmental quality of disposal facilities in urban areas. To do this, a social mapping of wastepickers, junkshops and local recycling practices needs to be undertaken and at the same time assess strategies of the national and local governments vis-à-vis existing laws on municipal solid waste. The case of Payatas controlled disposal facility was taken as a pilot study because it represents the general condition of disposal sites in Metro Manila and the social landscape that it currently has. In addition, a waste-to-energy (WTE) project has been established in Payatas to produce electricity from methane gas. Preliminary interviews with wastepickers show that development interventions in disposal sites such as WTE pose no opposition from host communities for as long as alternative livelihood opportunities are provided. Regulating the flow of wastepickers into the landfill has advantages like improved income and security. Felt needs were also articulated like provision of financial support or capital for junkshop operation and skills training. Overall, a smooth relationship between the local government and community associations pays well in a transitioning landfill management scheme such as Payatas.