Practices,attitudes and motives for domestic waste recycling

SUMMARY

Solid household waste management in Malaysia has reached a critical stage. Increasing population, urbanization and changing patterns of lifestyle have instigated the phenomenon. The 15 000 tonnes of garbage produced daily are thrown into 230 landfills nationwide, where 80% of them have only two years of life span left. Although recycling programmes were launched as early as 1990, only 5% of the wastes are recycled. The purpose of the present research was to ascertain the current management of household solid waste, attitude and motivational factors towards recycling. Data were collected using interview survey on 150 households in an urban residential area. The findings demonstrated that the respondents had very low awareness and knowledge regarding local domestic waste management. Separation of organic and non-organic wastes was rarely practised by 76% of the respondents. Most waste was thrown away, except for newspaper and aluminium cans which were regularly recycled, while furniture, and electrical items were reused by giving away or trading-in. The attitude of the respondents towards recycling was modest. Of the five motivational factors, intrinsic satisfaction and individual commitment were more important reasons for recycling than convenience, economic motivation and societal commitment. The results of the study indicated that, in order to overcome the solid waste crisis, the conscience of the individual needs to be raised through environmental awareness and concern, inculcation of sustainable consumption practices and education on waste management.     

Towards a sustainable future: a holistic inquiry of waste management behaviors of Singapore households

ABSTRACT

In 2018, Singapore produced a 7.7 million tonnes of waste, which is a significant amount of waste for a small nation-state. In line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) targets 11.6 and 12.5 of the 2030 Agenda, which addresses cities’ waste generation and management impacts, we ask the question of why Singapore households are not more proactively engaged in waste minimization, despite the presence of local waste minimization public campaigns. This study is the first known study to comparatively apply and test three major theories – social psychological, social-structural, and sociocultural theories, to explain household waste management behavior in Singapore. A national survey followed by regression analysis of 303 households was conducted. In our findings, we firstly describe current trends in household waste management behaviors. Secondly, we compared each applied theory’s ability to predict households’: (1) reuse and (2) recycling of a variety of household items; and (3) recycling frequency. We obtained partial evidence supporting the role of future-orientedness and environmental identity on householders’ variety reuse and recycling. Social-structural (age cohort x income, education) and situational variables (the convenience thesis), also predicted various waste minimization behaviors. Finally, householders’ knowledge of what is recyclable affected all forms of waste minimization behaviors. In view of the study’s findings, we propose a need for targeted planning and policy interventions for different segments of the Singapore population, and different short- and longer-term measures to initiate and achieve sustained household waste minimization.     

Evaluation of recycling waste materials and by-products in highway construction

SUMMARY

The generation, handling, and safe disposal of waste materials has become a major concern in North America. Approval of facilities for waste processing and proper disposal is becoming more difficult to obtain. Furthermore, there is a growing public awareness of the importance of conserving and preserving our valuable natural resources. This expanding awareness has given rise to the trend towards recycling or reuse of awide variety of solid wastes. Experiences with using waste materials in highway construction can vary considerably, depending on material characteristics, construction processes, and climatic differences. A number of waste materials may be suitable for use in highway construction, but others may not. The objective of this paper is introduced in two tasks. The first is to include a survey of the waste materials and by-products that have been used successfully, or may be used, as materials for highway construction or maintenance work. This also includes determination of the state of practice concerning economic and technical factors for these wastes. The second is to rank these materials based on three criteria: number of uses by State agencies, economic uses and performance aspects.     

The effects of pricing waste generation: A synthetic control approach

To internalize pollution externalities into household waste generation, Unit Pricing Systems (UPS) have been adopted worldwide. This paper evaluates the causal effects of a UPS on the disposal of municipal solid waste in Trento, Italy. Using a unique panel dataset of monthly waste generation in Italian municipalities, we employ the synthetic control method, which allows us to account for possible time-varying effects of unobservables. Our results show that the policy was effective, with a significant decrease of the priced waste stream, unsorted waste, by 37.5%. This effect seems to be largely driven by behavioral changes towards waste avoidance (−8.6%) and possibly by a smaller increase in recycling (+6.1%). By comparing these results to those obtained by a difference-in-differences approach, we show that failing to account for time-varying effects of unobservables may lead to a mismeasurement of policy effects.     

The Economics of Household Solid Waste Generation and Disposal

We develop a household production model of waste management that explicitly incorporates many of the technical and behavioral elements germane to current regulatory and non-regulatory solid waste policy initiatives. Examination of first-order conditions shows the interaction among household preferences, these production options, and external prices and fees. A simplified simulation of our model illustrates these relationships, showing that household response elasticities can vary widely over common price ranges and that relatively large household welfare gains may be obtained by adopting curbside recycling and unit pricing programs.     

废塑料资源化产品对土壤中过氧化氢酶和脲酶活性的影响(Effect of Waste Plastics Recycling Products on Activities of Soil Catalase and Urease)

为探讨废塑料资源化产品对土壤酶活性的影响,通过室内培养试验研究了废塑料资源化产品暴露后土壤中过氧化氢酶和脲酶活性的变化.结果表明:废塑料资源化产品对土壤酶活性具有显著影响.250mg·kg-1、1250mg·kg-1、7250mg·kg-1废塑料资源化产品浓度处理对土壤中过氧化氢酶和脲酶影响明显不同.在土壤培养l～5d内,添加废塑料资源化产品的3个浓度处理土壤中过氧化氢酶活性显著低于对照(p<0.05),表现出明显的抑制作用,且浓度越高抑制作用越强.而后(5～35d),低浓度(250mg·kg-1)废塑料资源化产品对土壤过氧化氢酶一直表现为激活作用,但是,高浓度(1250mg·kg-1和7250mg·kg-1)处理对土壤过氧化氢酶活性则表现为激活-抑制-激活作用,且抑制、激活程度与处理浓度成呈相关.3个废塑料资源化产品浓度处理对脲酶活性影响在培养1～28d内主要是激活作用,且激活作用随着处理浓度的增大而增强,而后(28～35d)对脲酶活性表现为抑制作用.     

Will unit‐pricing enhance recycling?

Unit pricing is a program in solid waste management that integrates market instruments to encourage households to reduce waste generation and increase recycling. Many studies have shown that unit pricing is effective, especially when the evaluation is based on comparing outcomes before and after implementation. In this paper, we use the so-called difference-in-differences approach to evaluate unit pricing. This approach can provide a less-biased estimation, and can help to examine whether a unit pricing program generates less waste and higher recycling or results in illegal dumping in neighboring regions. Using the fee-per-bag program implemented in Taipei City, Taiwan, as a case study, we found that unit pricing does reduce the amount of garbage but its impact on recycling is not as significant as the current literature suggests. Moreover, the program causes a serious negative externality: more than 60%?of the garbage reduction in the city is due to increased dumping of waste in neighboring regions. As the impact of unit‐pricing on recycling is limited, policy-makers cannot rely solely on this program to enhance recycling in the management of municipal solid waste.     

江苏省农户秸秆还田的影响因素分析

农户秸秆还田不仅有利于土壤有机质的增加,实现耕地的可持续利用,而且在发挥我国农田土壤固碳潜力,积极应对气候变化方面具有重要意义.文章以江苏省农户调查数据为基础,建立Logistic模型,对影响农户秸秆还田的因素进行分析,以期为制定促进农户秸秆还田的政策提供科学依据.结果表明,不同地区农户对于秸秆还田的决策存在差异:在较为发达地区,秸秆还田与否,农户更多的是从秸秆处理的边际成本出发;而略欠发达地区,则主要是基于秸秆的利用效益.此外,技术因素也影响农户秸秆还田的行为决策.在制定促进秸秆还田技术应用的激励政策时,要充分考虑地区农业生产以及农户生产经营的基本特征及差异,因地制宜,有效地促进秸秆还田在各地区最大限度地被应用和推广.     

整全,互动和可持续的EIA：香港上水屠宰场的例案研究

以香港上水屠宰场的ＥＩＡ为例，阐述了ＥＩＡ过程须结合“清洁工艺”、“环境管理系统”、“持续生的本底监测”和“开放的公众咨询”四个重要单元，互动灵活，以增强环保效益、省时及经济。传统的ＥＩＡ较为被动，如果项目“倡议人”缺乏环保意识，就会妨碍了它的实质功能。通行的末期性公众咨询，很容易激发冲突，与西方冗长的公众参与同样妨碍进度。文章探讨互动式ＥＩＡ的优点，论证它对改善环评工序和可持续发展的重要性。     

回收废旧镍氢电池中有价金属实验研究及成本估算

对采用全部氧化分步还原方法从废旧镍氢电池中回收氯化镍和氯化钴产品进行较系统的研究，确定了该方法的工艺参数，并根据实验数据进行投入产出估算。     

Aligning science and policy to achieve evolutionarily enlightened conservation

There is increasing recognition among conservation scientists that long‐term conservation outcomes could be improved through better integration of evolutionary theory into management practices. Despite concerns that the importance of key concepts emerging from evolutionary theory (i.e., evolutionary principles and processes) are not being recognized by managers, there has been little effort to determine the level of integration of evolutionary theory into conservation policy and practice. We assessed conservation policy at 3 scales (international, national, and provincial) on 3 continents to quantify the degree to which key evolutionary concepts, such as genetic diversity and gene flow, are being incorporated into conservation practice. We also evaluated the availability of clear guidance within the applied evolutionary biology literature as to how managers can change their management practices to achieve better conservation outcomes. Despite widespread recognition of the importance of maintaining genetic diversity, conservation policies provide little guidance about how this can be achieved in practice and other relevant evolutionary concepts, such as inbreeding depression, are mentioned rarely. In some cases the poor integration of evolutionary concepts into management reflects a lack of decision‐support tools in the literature. Where these tools are available, such as risk‐assessment frameworks, they are not being adopted by conservation policy makers, suggesting that the availability of a strong evidence base is not the only barrier to evolutionarily enlightened management. We believe there is a clear need for more engagement by evolutionary biologists with policy makers to develop practical guidelines that will help managers make changes to conservation practice. There is also an urgent need for more research to better understand the barriers to and opportunities for incorporating evolutionary theory into conservation practice.     

宁波市公众环境意识调查与分析

公众环境意识是一个国家和民族文明程度的重要标志,它从各个方面反映出所调查地区的环境现状、公众对环境问题的认知、环保素质和环保行为,能够为政府的宏观决策提供依据。文章在数据分析的基础上,阐述了宁波市公众在地区环境问题、公民环境责任、环保支付意愿、绿色消费和固体废物收集处理等方面的调查结果,并给出了结论和建议。     

Assessment of key parameters in municipal solid waste management: a prerequisite for sustainability

Municipal solid waste management was studied for 1 year in a representative urban area of Lahore city for environmental sustainability. The effects of financial status of the household and the seasonal variations on generation rate and compositions of municipal solid waste (MSW) were determined. MSW generation rate and the economic status of the households were positively correlated (p < 0.05). Seasonal variations observed were significant only for organics (p = 0.001), plastics (p = 0.008) and food waste fractions (p = 0.009) in MSW. Response surface regression model developed and analysed by Minitab-15® showed that the interaction of season and different economic zones of the town on the MSW generation rate was non-significant (p = 0.334). Elemental and heating value analyses of the mixed organic fractions in kitchen waste had carbon 47.93%, hydrogen 6.20%, nitrogen 2.24%, sulphur 0.23%, oxygen 39.01%, and C and N ratio 27.78. Findings concluded that food waste was 56% of total MSW with 71.03% moisture content and a modest heating value of 5566 J/g. Existing temporary storage capacity of MSW is 51% of the total MSW generated considering the weighted MSW generation rate of 0.57 kg/person/day calculated in this study. Composting could be a possible final disposal option due to high moisture and organic content and can be studied in future research. Development of a transfer station, introduction of home composting programmes and awareness towards proper segregation and reduction of waste at the household level is suggested to attain sustainability in the MSW management system.     

The impact of government incentives and penalties on willingness to recycle plastic waste: An evolutionary game theory perspective

• Punishments increase the participation probability of collectors and recyclers. • Policy-sponsored incentives make collectors and recyclers to participate earlier. • Recyclers are more sensitive to government punishments than collectors. Because governments have introduced policies involving incentives and penalties to promote the recycling of plastic waste, it is important to understand the impact of such incentives and penalties on the willingness of stakeholders to participate. In this study, government is included as a player, alongside waste collectors and recyclers, in a tripartite evolutionary game model of plastic waste recycling. The study explores the evolutionary equilibrium and performs a simulation analysis to elucidate the effect of government incentives and penalties on the willingness of other players to participate in recycling. Three conclusions are drawn from this research. First, an increase in incentives or in penalties increases the probability that collectors and recyclers will participate in the recycling process. Second, policy support incentives encourage collectors and recyclers to participate in plastic waste recycling earlier than subsidy incentives do. Finally, recyclers are more sensitive than collectors to government-imposed penalties.     

Repercussions of COVID-19 pandemic on solid waste generation and management strategies

• Implication of COVID-19 on medical waste and MSW generation is studied. • Challenges and effective strategy of solid waste generation is reviewed. • 2.9 million tons of COVID-19 related medical waste has been generated until Sep. 22. • The pandemic has postponed policies related to the reduction of plastic use. • Blockade resulted in a significant drop in waste generation in some regions. It has been over ten months since the beginning of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-2019), and its impact on solid waste management, especially medical waste, is becoming clearer. This study systematically reviews the potential influences of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical waste, personal protection equipment waste and municipal solid waste (MSW), and discusses the corresponding measures and policies of solid waste management in typical countries. The results show that the generation of medical waste from the pandemic increased significantly, with 18%‒425% growth. It is estimated that the daily output of COVID-19 medical waste increased from 200 t/d on Feb. 22 to over 29000 t/d at the end of September 2020 throughout the world. The use of personal protective equipment will continue to grow in the long-term, while the blockade and isolation measures greatly reduced the volume of commercial waste, especially for tourist cities, and part of this waste was transferred to household waste. Residents’ attitudes and behavior toward food waste have changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the pandemic, international organizations and several countries have issued new policies and guidelines and adjusted their management strategies for medical waste and MSW treatment. The pandemic has brought specific challenges to the disposal capacity of medical waste worldwide. It has also brought about the stagnation of policies related to the reduction of plastic products and waste recycling. This study will provide some useful information for managers and governmental officials on effective solid waste management during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.     

基于CVM方法分析牧民对禁牧政策的受偿意愿——以锡林郭勒草原为例

确定居民对生态措施实施的受偿意愿,对目前迫切需要的生态补偿政策制定以及生态恢复和保护的有效性具有重要的现实意义。选用锡林郭勒草原为案例区域,通过入户调查及在那达慕大会集中调查相结合的方式,调查锡林郭勒草原地区牧民对禁牧措施的态度和受偿意愿。分析结果显示:53%的牧民愿意参加禁牧,而不愿意参加禁牧主要是由于补偿标准不合理引起的。计量经济学模型分析表明,牧民对禁牧的支持态度与牧民的收入和草地面积呈正相关,与养羊数量呈负相关。牧民的受偿意愿由牧民养羊数量、受教育年限、草地现状以及对禁牧政策的支持程度决定。根据意愿调查法初步估算锡林郭勒草原地区禁牧措施实施后牧民的补偿意愿,牧民家庭对禁牧政策的平均受偿意愿为每年每户2.7717万元,人均受偿意愿为8399元,平均每1hm2草地受偿意愿为85.95元。     

Economic Efficiency Effects of Alternative Policies for Reducing Waste Disposal

Reducing the amount of municipal solid waste that is disposed of has become an important policy goal. Previous research argued that a virgin material tax offered an efficient method of meeting this goal and it continues to be considered as a policy option today. This paper demonstrates, however, that a virgin material tax is not an efficient method of reducing waste, but that an alternative policy-a combined disposal tax and reuse subsidy-is. The combined disposal tax and reuse subsidy is theoretically consistent with unit-based household charges for waste disposal, but may have advantages in some situations.     

宁波市常用家电产品回收回用调查分析

通过对宁波市居民的家电产品系列问题的随即抽样问卷调查,阐述了宁波家电拥有量、使用寿命、更新原因和速率、居民购买家电和处理废旧家电时环保意识和行为,了解了本地区废旧家电的基本情况以及废旧家电处理的途径,在对调查数据进行分析的基础上,给出了结论和建议。     

Hazardous waste management in educational and research centers: a case study

The hazardous waste management (HWM) practice at Tehran University of Medical Sciences Central Campus, Iran, was investigated in this study. Four schools were selected and the required information such as type and amount of wastes, temporary storage methods, waste discharge frequency, and final waste disposal methods using sampling, questionnaires, interviews with laboratory staff, and reference to available documents were gathered. The quantity of hazardous waste generation per year excluding the uncontrolled wastewater was found to be 2.072 tons per year. The obtained results show that wastes having features of being infectious, toxic, ignitable, carcinogenic, corrosive, and reactive were present at 32%, 28%, 16%, 14%, 8%, and 2%, respectively. In the central campus, hazardous solid wastes managed with household solid wastes and hazardous liquid waste were discharged into the sinks without any kind of control; improper HWM practices are evident from the point of waste production to final disposal.     

当代城市生活垃圾处理技术现状与展望——兼论中国城市生活垃圾对策视点的调整

以探究全球城市生活垃圾治理技术实践 ,展示人类面向 2 1世纪解决城市生活垃圾问题的新视点 ,并对我国垃圾对策视点的调整及垃圾产业化提出建议