Household income,living and working conditions of dumpsite waste pickers in Bantar Gebang: Toward integrated waste management in Indonesia

This paper clarifies household income, living and working conditions of dumpsite waste pickers at Bantar Gebang final disposal site for municipal solid waste generated in Jakarta, and investigates the feasibility of integrating the informal sector into formal waste management in Indonesia. The first author did fieldwork for totally 16 months at the site and quantitative field surveys were conducted twice during the period. All respondents in the first round quantitative survey (n = 1390) were categorized as follows: waste pickers, family workers, wage labors, bosses, family of the bosses, housewives, pupils/students, preschoolers, the unemployed, and others. Based on the results of the second round quantitative survey (n = 69 households), their average household income was estimated to be approximately US 216 dollars per month (n = 59 households), which was virtually equivalent to the minimum wage in Jakarta in 2013. Living conditions of scavengers at the site were horrible, and their working conditions were dangerous due to medical waste and other sharp waste. Polluted groundwater was one of the serious environmental problems at the site. Despite the social, health and environmental problems, they were attracted to the freedom of entering the informal recycling system in Bantar Gebang and withdrawing from the system, in which a lot of opportunities were provided for the people having few marketable skills to obtain cash earnings. The freedom of their choice should be guaranteed as a prerequisite before integrating the informal sector into formal waste management. Furthermore, special attentions are required when incomes of scavengers are the same level as minimum wages and the national economy is rapidly growing, because scavengers cannot easily change their jobs due to few marketable skills. Indonesian national waste laws and regulations should be properly applied to facilitate a socialization process at final disposal sites. Measures need to be taken to prevent children from working as informal recycling actors, especially for waste pickers aged 15 or younger.     

Overview of non-hazardous solid waste in the small island state of Mauritius

In Mauritius, solid waste disposal has been a cause for concern since the 1980s. Currently, there is no segregation of waste and some 1200 tonnes of solid waste are generated daily by the 1.24 million inhabitants of the island. As processes such as recycling and composting are still in their infancy stage, most of the waste generated have to be disposed of at the sole landfill. The solid waste management practices of 1980s and early 1990s are no longer compatible with the changing composition and quantity of wastes now generated. As a result, there is an urgency to review the whole waste management system and come forward with sustainable solutions.This paper presents an overview of the disposal of non-hazardous solid waste in Mauritius and provides recommendations for improving the current disposal system.     

Critical review of industrial and medical waste practices in Dar es Salaam City

Industrial and medical wastes constitute a larger part on what is known as ‘hazardous wastes’. The production of these wastes is and will continue to be an on going phenomenon as long as human civilization persists. The health impacts of direct and indirect exposure to hazardous wastes include carcinogenic effects, reproductive system damage, respiratory effects, central nervous system effects, and many others. Today, many developed countries have legal provisions with regard to proper management of hazardous wastes. Tanzania, like many developing countries, has little emphasis on the proper handling and disposal of hazardous wastes. There is a serious inadequacy in handling industrial and medical solid wastes in the Dar es Salaam City. Improper waste deposition is increasingly becoming a potential public health risk and an environmental burden. Due to poor control of waste, industrialists and hospital owners are not well checked on how they handle and dispose of the wastes they produce with the result that many hazardous wastes reach the Vingunguti dumpsite without notice. Data on waste generation in Dar es Salaam is also inadequate, making it difficult to plan an efficient solid waste system. Promotion of public awareness, legislation and regulations enforcement and establishment of a proper sanitary landfill are considered to be principal remedial measures to ensure sound environmental maintenance. This paper summarizes the findings of the study on the practices of industrial and medical waste management in Dar es Salaam. The author aims to express the inadequacy in hazardous waste management and suggests possible measures to be applied in order to rectify the situation.     

The contemporary European silver cycle

This paper examines the 1-year anthropogenic stocks and flows of silver as it progresses from extraction to final disposal on the European continent. The primary flows of silver include production, fabrication and manufacturing, use, and waste management. A substance flow analysis (SFA) was used to trace the flows and inventory data, and mass balance equations were used to determine the quantity of flows. The results reveal that Europe has a low level of silver mine production (1580 Mg Ag/year) and instead relies on silver imports and the recycling of scrap in production and fabrication. In the year 1997, Europe imported 1160 Mg Ag of ore concentrate and 2010 Mg Ag of refined silver, and recycled 2750 Mg Ag of new and old scrap. There is a net addition of 3320 Mg Ag/year into silver reservoirs at the use stage. This is the result of a greater amount of silver entering the system from manufacturing than is leaving the system into waste management. The waste flow with the highest content of silver is municipal solid waste, which contains 1180 Mg Ag/year. In total, 62% of all discarded silver is recycled and 38% is sent to landfills. The results of this study and other element and material flow analyses can help guide resource managers, environmental policy makers, and environmental scientists in their efforts to increase material recovery and recycling, address resource sustainability, and ameliorate environmental problems.     

Municipal solid waste management in China: Status,problems and challenges

This paper presents an examination of MSW generation and composition in China, providing an overview of the current state of MSW management, an analysis of existing problems in MSW collection, separation, recycling and disposal, and some suggestions for improving MSW systems in the future. In China, along with urbanization, population growth and industrialization, the quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) generation has been increasing rapidly. The total MSW amount increased from 31.3 million tonnes in 1980 to 212 million tonnes in 2006, and the waste generation rate increased from 0.50 kg/capita/day in 1980 to 0.98 kg/capita/year in 2006. Currently, waste composition in China is dominated by a high organic and moisture content, since the concentration of kitchen waste in urban solid waste makes up the highest proportion (at approximately 60%) of the waste stream. The total amount of MSW collected and transported was 148 million tonnes in 2006, of which 91.4% was landfilled, 6.4% was incinerated and 2.2% was composted. The overall MSW treatment rate in China was approximately 62% in 2007. In 2007, there were 460 facilities, including 366 landfill sites, 17 composing plants, and 66 incineration plants. This paper also considers the challenges faced and opportunities for MSW management in China, and a number of recommendations are made aimed at improving the MSW management system.     

Medical waste management in Korea

The management of medical waste is of great importance due to its potential environmental hazards and public health risks. In the past medical waste was often mixed with municipal solid waste and disposed of in residential waste landfills or improper treatment facilities (e.g. inadequately controlled incinerators) in Korea. In recent years, many efforts have been made by environmental regulatory agencies and waste generators to better manage the waste from healthcare facilities. This paper presents an overview of the current management practices of medical waste in Korea. Information regarding generation, composition, segregation, transportation, and disposal of medical wastes is provided and discussed. Medical waste incineration is identified as the most preferred disposal method and will be the only available treatment option in late 2005. Faced with increased regulations over toxic air emissions (e.g. dioxins and furans), all existing small incineration facilities that do not have air pollution control devices will cease operation in the next few years. Large-scale medical waste incinerators would be responsible for the treatment of medical waste generated by most healthcare facilities in Korea. It is important to point out that there is a great potential to emit air toxic pollutants from such incinerators if improperly operated and managed, because medical waste typically contains a variety of plastic materials such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Waste minimization and recycling, control of toxic air emissions at medical waste incinerators, and alternative treatment methods to incineration are regarded to be the major challenges in the future.     

Design and implementation study of a Permanent Selective Collection Program (PSCP) on a University campus in Brazil

The selective collection and recycling of municipal solid waste are presented as stages of an integrated program of solid waste management to minimize the environmental impact of the treatment and final disposal of solid waste. Therefore, this program aims to save natural resources, such as energy and raw materials, in the manufacture of new products and to conserve areas for sites, such as to minimize the use of existing landfill sites, and to minimize the need for new waste treatment sites. A university is composed of educational professionals aware of their societal responsibilities, and, therefore, they play a fundamental role in the management of the university's solid waste. This study presents the design and implementation of a Permanent Selective Collection Program (PSCP) at the Federal University of Itajubá (Universidade Federal de Itajubá, UNIFEI), Itajubá-MG, Brazil. The material requirements for initiating the PSCP have been identified, and an action plan for continuous program improvement, which is initially based on the collection of performance indicator data for the PSCP campus, has been developed. Finally, the data from the PSCP performance indicators and software from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Landfill Gas Generation Model (LandGEM) and the Waste Reduction Model (WARM), were used to evaluate the impact of implementing PSCP in terms of energy and the generation of greenhouse gases (GHG). The results were promising, showing that there has been an improvement, since the inception of PSCP in 2006, in separating materials for selective collection, even though paper (41.00 wt%), plastic (6.00 wt%) and organic matter (26.00 wt%) are still highly generated wastes. The WARM simulations for a scenario in which 90% of the waste is sent for recycling resulted in an economy of −7 tCO₂ or −74.91 GJ (on an energy basis). The LandGEM (USEPA) simulations estimated 1424.60 kWh of energy in the peak production year.     

Storage and characterization of cotton gin waste for ethanol production

In 2002, about 17.1 million bales of cotton were ginned in the United States and the estimated cotton gin waste was 2.25 × 10⁹ kg. The disposal of cotton gin waste (CGW) is a significant problem in the cotton ginning industry, but CGW could be potentially used as feedstock for bioethanol. Freshly discharged CGW and stored CGW were characterized for storage stability and potential for ethanol production by determining their summative compositions. The bulk densities of the fresh wet and dry CGW were 210.2 ± 59.9 kg m⁻³ and 183.3 ± 52.2 kg m⁻³, respectively. After six months of storage the volume of piles A, B, and C decreased by 38.7%, 41.5%, and 33.3%, respectively, relative to the volume of the pile at the start of the storage. The ash content of the CGW was very high ranging from 10% to 21% and the acid-insoluble fraction was high (21–24%). The total carbohydrate content was very low and ranged from 34% to 49%. After three months storage, chemical compositional analysis showed the loss of total carbohydrates was minimal but after six months, the losses were as high as 25%. This loss of carbohydrates suggests that under open storage conditions, the feedstock must be processed within three months to reduce ethanol yield losses.     

高校实验室污染现状调查及排污管理方案研究

对某高校各实验室污染现状进行调查分析。结果表明,在所调查的16个院系中,12个院系其下属实验室存在污染物的排放,比例为75％;污染物涉及废气、废液、固体废物、噪音,其中废液与固体废物的排放量合计约11．09t／a;危险废物占国家危险废物名录所认定的47大类中的28类,比例高达59、6％。针对实验室排污的基本情况及特点,提出了“源头控制、分类收集、定点贮存、合理处置”的实验室排污管理方案。     

The use of bio-waste to revegetate eroded land areas in Ylläs,Northern Finland: Toward a zero waste perspective of tourism in the Finnish Lapland

Lapland is one of the most attractive nature-tourism areas in Europe, and tourism is vital for local economy. However, recreational tourist activities such as skiing, hiking and horse riding deteriorate the unique and vulnerable nature of Northern Finland. Erosion and wearing of tourist areas negatively affects biodiversity and ecosystem services and reduce the attractiveness of the region. Tourism is also the source of other environmental disturbances such as wastes. Currently, in Lapland, the prevalent waste treatment method is disposal, and wastes are transported over long distances due to lack of recipient facilities for waste management. The suggestion for sustainable waste management Scenario presented in this paper is to find a synergistic solution to both of these problems, by local treatment of bio-waste in an anaerobic digestor and utilization of digestate to revegetate eroded land. It is proposed that bio-waste is co-digested with sewage sludge and offal from slaughterhouses in Ylläs in the municipality of Kolari. An estimated 500–1000 t of digestate could be produced and used in tourist areas annually. Experiences from existing seasonal bio-waste collection schemes and interviews of local tourist enterprises and tourists indicate that there is willingness to extend the source separation of wastes. Assessment of the digestion Scenario suggests that economic costs of investment could be offset by avoided costs and by additional environmental and social benefits. It is concluded that this zero waste approach could lead to an improved image of Lapland as a sustainable tourist destination.     

上海市食品废弃物处理处置现状综述

对上海市生活垃圾中食品废弃物和餐厨垃圾近年来的产生状况进行了综述,讨论了上海市对生活垃圾中食品废弃物和餐厨垃圾的管理和处理处置现状,并分别进行了总结。最后对上海市食品废弃物的资源化利用进行了展望。     

Survey of household waste composition and quantities in Abuja,Nigeria

Inadequate management of household solid waste is a serious problem in many developing cities. The study aimed to evaluate the quantities and composition of household solid waste generation in Abuja within different socioeconomic groups. The wastes from 74 households across different socioeconomic levels in Abuja were collected, weighted and classified on a daily basis for seven days in February 2012. The result showed that the average daily per capita household waste generation is 0.634 kg/capita/day. The characteristic of solid waste in Abuja are typical for the developing cities and dominated by organic waste. Households waste consisted of 63.6% organic waste, 9.7% paper, 8.7% plastics, 3.2% metal, 2.6% glass, 1.6% textile and 10.6% others (unclassified) and the bulk density was 240 kg/m³. The evaluation of relationship between income and daily per capita household waste generation showed a positive relationship. The study revealed a statistically significant difference between household size and daily per capita household waste generation in high-income group; a slight significant difference between household size and daily per capita household waste generation in medium income group and no statistically significant difference between household size and daily per capita household waste generation in low-income group.     

Moving up the waste hierarchy: Car boot sales,reuse exchange and the challenges of consumer culture to waste prevention

Moving up the waste hierarchy is a key priority for UK waste policy. Waste prevention requires policy interventions to promote reuse. The term ‘reuse exchange’ has been adopted by UK policy makers to describe a variety of second-hand trading outlets including car boot sales, charity shops and online exchange sites. As waste policy is based on tonnage diverted from disposal (or landfill), policy interventions to promote reuse exchange will be based on the weight of goods estimated to be flowing through these sites. This paper uses a combination of field survey data and scale-up estimation to quantify and characterise the weight of goods exchanged at car boot sales in England in 2012. This is estimated at 50–60 000 tonnes per annum. The paper emphasises that movement up the waste hierarchy brings waste policy into closer contact with household consumption practices. It draws on qualitative research to show that, for participants, car boot sales are not associated with waste prevention. Instead, car boot sales rely on stocks of surplus household goods and exemplify the culture of thrift, which enables more, not less, consumption. The paper shows the collision between the social values that inform thrift and the environmental values that underpin reuse; and it argues that the policy goal of enhanced recovery for reuse might best be achieved by working with consumer culture. Two ways of achieving this are suggested: interventions that make it easier for consumers to do the right thing, through promoting opportunities for the circulation of stocks of surplus goods, for example, through increasing the frequency of car boot sales; and interventions which recognise that car boot sales also generate waste, which could be recovered for reuse.     

Environmental accounting for waste management: A study of local governments in Australia

Local governments in Australia, especially in large urban areas, have faced a challenge of the growing quantity of waste generated and the diminishing space for waste disposal in recent years. The central government has demonstrated the importance of developing strategies to make full environmental costs and impacts of waste disposal and material recovery accountable for waste management decision-making. However, research into this field is limited. This paper investigates environmental accounting practices in local government waste management. From a survey conducted with local government authorities in New South Wales (NSW) Australia, it is found that overall the level of direct waste flow and activity accounting is higher than the level of hidden and external environmental cost accounting, though local governments tend to identify and use more physical information associated with waste flows and activities than relevant monetary information. External environmental impacts of waste disposal are often overlooked and show the lowest level of practices. The survey results also indicate that urban local governments have taken more environmental information into account than rural local governments, but such difference is not significant between local governments of different sizes. The complexity of waste technical services and operations is confirmed to have a positive and significant effect on the level of environmental accounting for waste management across local governments surveyed.     

Greening of production in metal processing industry through process modifications and improved management practices

Although it was indicated through various studies from around the world that resource efficiency can be adapted in metal processing plants, a very limited number of projects could be realized in Turkish metal processing industry so far. In this study it was aimed at investigating process modifications and management practices to increase water and chemical use efficiency thus increasing environmental and economic performance of a metal processing company. As a result of the applications in heat treatment and zinc phosphating processes total water consumption of the company was reduced by 34.1% corresponding to an annual water saving of 18,831 m³. Moreover, total chemical consumption in zinc phosphating as one of the most chemical intensive processes in the company, was decreased by 1401 kg/year (26.1%). Applications in zinc phosphating process led to a significant decrease in the amount of treated wastewater and wastewater treatment sludge which is labelled as hazardous waste according to national legislations. Total wastewater generation was decreased by 3255 m³/year (50.9%) while wastewater treatment sludge was reduced 4656 kg/year (16.9%). Moreover, energy consumption of the company was reduced by 32.647 kW h/year which corresponds to 36% energy saving in water pumping. Implementation cost of the applications were 34,233$ which is calculated to be paid back in 2.3 years. This study is expected to fill a gap in Turkey by demonstrating that environmental performance in metal processing industry could be improved by process modifications and improved management practices resulting in tangible economic gains.     

Effects of an educational campaign on public environmental attitudes and behaviour in Poland

This paper examines the effects of educational campaigns on municipal solid waste management in Jasło City (Poland). In Jasło, a separate waste collection system for recyclables was introduced 11 years ago. Although household segregation was extensively promoted, the quality of recycled materials collected remained low. The City Council decided in 1999 to adopt a British approach to public education, based on home advisors (selected from the local schools and trained on the sustainable waste management principles) visiting as many households as possible, informing residents about the local waste segregation system, conducting a short survey about residential attitudes and behaviour, and providing people with appropriate educational materials. In 2003 and 2004, home advisors visited 687 households in the private housing estates situated in 37 streets of the city. Their effectiveness and the tonnage of recyclables segregated were monitored across the city. The educational campaign has proved a success, resulting in an increase in recycled wastes collected and the number of inhabitants participating, with the home advisors having positively influenced the way residents think and act towards the wastes they produce. Residents valued the home advisors and appreciated the involvement of young people in the campaign. The education campaign also impacted positively upon the students’ (home advisors) knowledge about waste issues, and provided opportunities for students’ relatives and the whole local community to become more environmentally conscious, through the process of intergenerational communication and influence.     

Health-care waste management in India.

Health-care waste management in India is receiving greater attention due to recent regulations (the Biomedical Wastes (Management & Handling) Rules, 1998). The prevailing situation is analysed covering various issues like quantities and proportion of different constituents of wastes, handling, treatment and disposal methods in various health-care units (HCUs). The waste generation rate ranges between 0.5 and 2.0 kg bed-1 day-1. It is estimated that annually about 0.33 million tonnes of waste are generated in India. The solid waste from the hospitals consists of bandages, linen and other infectious waste (30-35%), plastics (7-10%), disposable syringes (0.3-0.5%), glass (3-5%) and other general wastes including food (40-45%). In general, the wastes are collected in a mixed form, transported and disposed of along with municipal solid wastes. At many places, authorities are failing to install appropriate systems for a variety of reasons, such as non-availability of appropriate technologies, inadequate financial resources and absence of professional training on waste management. Hazards associated with health-care waste management and shortcomings in the existing system are identified. The rules for management and handling of biomedical wastes are summarised, giving the categories of different wastes, suggested storage containers including colour-coding and treatment options. Existing and proposed systems of health-care waste management are described. A waste-management plan for health-care establishments is also proposed, which includes institutional arrangements, appropriate technologies, operational plans, financial management and the drawing up of appropriate staff training programmes.     

Household solid waste generation and characteristic in a Mekong Delta city,Vietnam

This study was undertaken to evaluate the quantity and composition of household solid waste to identify opportunities for waste recycling in Can Tho city, the capital city of the Mekong Delta region in southern Vietnam. Two-stage survey of 100 households was conducted for dry season and rainy season in 2009. Household solid waste was collected from each household and classified into 10 physical categories and 83 subcategories. The average household solid waste generation rate was 285.28 g per capita per day. The compostable and recyclable shares respectively accounted for 80.02% and 11.73%. The authors also analyzed the relations between some socioeconomic factors and household solid waste generation rates by physical categories and subcategories. The household solid waste generation rate per capita per day was positively correlated with the population density and urbanization level, although it was negatively correlated with the household size. The authors also developed mathematical models of correlations between the waste generation rates of main physical categories and relevant factors, such as household size and household income. The models were proposed by linear models with three variables to predict household solid waste generation of total waste, food waste, and plastic waste. It was shown that these correlations were weak and a relationship among variables existed. Comparisons of waste generation by physical compositions associated with different factors, such as seasonal and daily variation were conducted. Results presented that the significant average differences were found by the different seasons and by the different days in a week; although these correlations were weak. The greenhouse gas baseline emission was also calculated as 292.25 g (CO₂ eq.) per capita per day from biodegradable components.     

Emergy evaluation of an integrated livestock wastewater treatment system

Wastewater treatment practices should pay more attention to their environmental performances due to their resources consumption and emissions’ impact. While reclaimed water reuse seems to have become a promising practice, is it always feasible in any condition? To address this issue, this study carried out an extended emergy evaluation of a holistic wastewater treatment system. On one hand, this method was extended to include the emissions’ impact. On the other hand, this study integrated a wastewater treatment plant, its excess sludge disposal system and treated water disposal system into an integrated wastewater treatment system (IWTS), so as to evaluate its performances more completely. And then several indicators, including cost per unit pollutant eliminated (CUPE), ratio of positive output (RPO), environmental load ratio (ELR), and sustainability index (SI), were proposed for evaluating the performances of an IWTS. Two scenarios (scenario A: wastewater treatment + sludge landfilling + treated water discharges; scenario B: wastewater treatment + sludge landfilling + reclaimed water reuse) for a livestock wastewater treatment plant in Sichuan Agricultural University located in Ya’an City in Southwest China, as cases, were researched. The results show that scenario B has lower positive output efficiency and greater environmental load than scenario A. Meanwhile, the reclaimed water reuse raises cost per unit pollutant eliminated compared with the treated water being discharged directly; emissions’ impact enhances the environmental load of the two scenarios to different degree; emissions’ impact has decisive effect on the sustainability of the two scenarios. These results mean that the reclaimed water reuse should not be advocated in this case. This study provides some policy implications: (1) wastewater treatment process should be comprehensively evaluated from its resources consumption and impact of emissions; (2) reclaimed water reuse should be carefully evaluated from its pros and cons simultaneously; (3) the local conditions should be considered when implementing reclaimed water reuse, such as local water body conditions, market demands, the related laws and regulations, corporations’ economic conditions, etc.     

Life cycle assessment for reuse/recycling of donated waste textiles compared to use of virgin material: An UK energy saving perspective

In the UK, between 4 and 5% of the municipal solid waste stream is composed of clothes/textiles. Approximately 25% of this is recycled by companies such as the Salvation Army Trading Company Limited (SATCOL) who provide a collection and distribution infrastructure for ‘donated’ clothing and shoes. Textiles can be reused or undergo a processing stage and enter a recycling stream. Research was conducted in order to quantify the energy used by a reuse/recycling operation and whether this resulted in a net energy benefit. The energy footprint was quantified using a streamlined life cycle assessment (LCA), an LCA restricted in scope in order to target specific aspects of the footprint, in this case energy consumption. Taking into account extraction of resources, manufacture of materials, electricity generation, clothing collection, processing and distribution and final disposal of wastes it was demonstrated that for every kilogram of virgin cotton displaced by second hand clothing approximately 65 kWh is saved, and for every kilogram of polyester around 90 kWh is saved. Therefore, the reuse and recycling of the donated clothing results in a reduction in the environmental burden compared to purchasing new clothing made from virgin materials.