Approaches to systematic assessment of environmental exposures posed at hazardous waste sites in the developing world: the Toxic Sites Identification Program

In the developing world, environmental chemical exposures due to hazardous waste sites are poorly documented. We describe the approach taken by the Blacksmith Institute's Toxic Sites Identification Program in documenting environmental chemical exposures due to hazardous waste sites globally, identifying sites of concern and quantifying pathways, populations, and severity of exposure. A network of local environmental investigators was identified and trained to conduct hazardous waste site investigations and assessments. To date, 2,095 contaminated sites have been identified within 47 countries having an estimated population at risk of 71,500,000. Trained researchers and investigators have visited 1,400 of those sites. Heavy metals are the leading primary exposures, with water supply and ambient air being the primary routes of exposure. Even though chemical production has occurred largely in the developed world to date, many hazardous waste sites in the developing world pose significant hazards to the health of large portions of the population. Further research is needed to quantify potential health and economic consequences and identify cost-effective approaches to remediation.     

Global warming potential of food waste through the life cycle assessment: An analytical review

Food loss and waste represent an increasing concern under social, economic and environmental perspective, either in developed or developing realities. It is estimated that more than 1.3 billion tons of food waste are generated along the whole food supply chain, from agricultural to final consumption stages, with associated environmental impacts estimated in approximately 3.3 Gigatons of CO₂ equivalent per year (6% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gases emissions). Indeed, food waste issue has been accounted among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in terms of responsible production and consumption, with the aim of halving per capita global food waste and reduce food losses by 2030. The present paper, through a systematic, analytical and configurative review on food waste global warming potential, focuses on the role of Life Cycle Assessment and its related opportunities and challenges along upstream, core and downstream stages, considering at the same time the challenges embedded within alternative disposal technologies. Through the choice of 16 different research string and the selection of 33 papers out of more than 2000 articles between 2011 and 2021, the authors highlight the environmental impacts associated to food waste with regards to: (a) entire food baskets; (b) specific food commodities; (c) food service and households' experiences; (d) diverse disposal alternatives (e.g., anaerobic digestion, incineration, landfill), addressing future research and suitable opportunities to reach national and international sustainable goals.     

Application of processed organic municipal solid waste on agricultural land – a scenario analysis

Source separation, composting and anaerobic digestion, with associated land application, are increasingly being considered as alternative waste management strategies to landfilling and incineration of municipal solid waste (MSW). Environmental life cycle assessments are a useful tool in political decision-making about waste management strategies. However, due to the diversity of processed organic MSW and the situations in which it can be applied, the environmental impacts of land application are very hard to determine by experimental means. In the current study, we used the agroecosystem model Daisy to simulate a range of different scenarios representing different geographical areas, farm and soil types under Danish conditions and legislation. Generally, the application of processed organic MSW resulted in increased emissions compared with the corresponding standard scenarios, but with large differences between scenarios. Emission coefficients for nitrogen leaching to the groundwater ranged from 0.03 to 0.87, while those for nitrogen lost to surface waters through tile drains ranged from 0 to 0.30. Emission coefficients for N₂O formation ranged from 0.013 to 0.022 and for ammonia volatilization from 0.016 to 0.11. These estimates are within reasonable range of observed values under similar conditions. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis showed that the estimates were not very sensitive to the mineralization dynamics of the processed organic MSW. The results show that agroecosystem models can be powerful tools to estimate the environmental impacts of land application of processed MSW under different conditions. Despite this, agroecosystem models have only been used to a very limited degree for this purpose.     

An evaluation of alternative household solid waste treatment practices using life cycle inventory assessment mode

Waste disposal is an important part of the life cycle of a product and is associated with environmental burdens like any other life-cycle stages. In this study, an integrated assessment for solid waste treatment practices, especially household solid waste, was undertaken to evaluate the impact contribution of household solid waste treatment alternatives towards the sustainable development by using Life Cycle Inventory Assessment method. A case study has been investigated under various possible scenarios, such as (1) landfill without landfill gas recovery, (2) landfill with landfill gas recovery and flaring, (3) landfill with landfill gas recovery and electric generation, (4) composting, and (5) incineration. The evaluation utilized the Life Cycle Inventory Assessment method for multiple assessments based on various aspects, such as greenhouse gas emission/reduction, energy generation/consumption, economic benefit, investment and operating cost, and land use burden. The results showed that incineration was the most efficient alternative for greenhouse gas emission reduction, economic benefit, energy recovery, and land use reduction, although it was identified as the most expensive for investment and operating cost, while composting scenario was also an efficient alternative with quite economic benefit, low investment and operating cost, and high reduction of land use, although it was identified as existing greenhouse gas emission and no energy generation. Furthermore, the aim of this study was also to establish localized assessment methods that waste management agencies, environmental engineers, and environmental policy decision makers can use to quantify and compare the contribution to the impacts from different waste treatment options.     

Environmental Issues for the Chinese Strong Aromatic Liquor Industry: an Assessment for the Brewing System

Environmental assessments are often performed for industries due to a lot of issues produced in the processes. However, few studies are reported for environmental assessment of Chinese liquor production. A lot of material consumptions in Chinese liquor industries often bring about serious environmental pollution. Thus, Chinese strong aromatic liquor (CSAL) is taken as a representative for the environmental issues assessment of Chinese liquor industry in view of cleaner production (CP). The assessment is performed for the brewing system of CSAL including three main phases: crude liquor brewing, crude liquor blending, and steam production, which addresses resource and energy consumptions and environmental impacts. The results indicate that, according to the standards of Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, the consumptions of materials and energy are acceptable while the water consumption is higher than the requirement. Moreover, the discharge of chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the brewing phase is above the standard requirement and contributes much to eutrophication. The total environmental impacts in the blending phase are less than those in the brewing and steam production phases. In detail, in the brewing phase, high concentration of volatile organic compounds in the wastewater results in the odor threshold values and photochemical ozone creation. In the blending phase, the main environmental impact is eutrophication owing to the wastewater. In the steam production phase, the most and least significant impacts are global warming and soot emission, respectively, wherein waste gas emission is dominated. Cost analysis reveals that when the water consumption and COD discharge meet the requirements according to the CP option, there are plenty of economic and environmental benefits for the CSAL industry. The results confirm that the reform strategies for the Chinese liquor enterprise should be performed to decrease the water consumption, promote the utilization efficiency of water, improve recycle and reuse of by-products, reduce the pollutant discharge, and enhance waste treatment efficiency.     

电石法生产聚氯乙烯行业危险废物判定要点分析

聚氯乙烯树脂是用途极广的热塑性高分子材料,然而,电石法生产聚氯乙烯树脂(PVC)的过程中会产生大量的危险废物,如处置不当会对环境造成严重污染。本文对电石法生产聚氯乙烯树脂(PVC)过程中产生危险废物的类型、环节和产生特性进行了分析,以供环保部门和相关企业作为针对危险废物环境管理的判定依据。     

A Superiority-Inferiority-Based Inexact Fuzzy Stochastic Programming Approach for Solid Waste Management Under Uncertainty

A superiority–inferiority-based inexact fuzzy stochastic programming (SI-IFSP) model was developed for planning municipal solid waste management systems under uncertainty. The SI-IFSP approach represents a new attempt to tackle multiple uncertainties in objective function coefficients which are beyond the capabilities of existing inexact programming methods. Through introducing the concept of fuzzy random boundary interval, SI-IFSP is capable of reflecting multiple uncertainties (i.e., interval values, fuzzy sets, probability distributions, and their combinations) in both the objective function and constraints, leading to enhanced system robustness. The developed SI-IFSP method was applied to a case study of long-term municipal solid waste management. Useful solutions were generated. A number of decision alternatives could be generated based on projected applicable conditions, reflecting the compromise between system optimality and reliability as well as the tradeoffs between economic and environmental objectives. Moreover, the consequences of system violations could be quantified through introducing a set of economic penalties, reflecting the relationships between system costs and constraint violation risks. The results suggest that the proposed SI-IFSP method can explicitly address complexities in municipal solid waste management systems and is applicable to practical waste management problems.     

Management of hospitals solid waste in Khartoum State

This research had been conducted during year 2012 to review existing data on hospital waste management for some of Khartoum town hospitals and to try to produce appropriate proposals acceptable for waste management and final treatment methods. The overall status of hospital waste management in Khartoum has been assessed through direct visits and designated questionnaires. Eight main hospitals were covered in the study with an overall bed capacity of 2,978. The current waste management practice observed at all studied hospitals was that most of waste, office, general, food, construction debris, and hazardous chemical materials were all mixed together as they are generated, collected, and finally disposed of. Only a small portion of waste in some hospitals (part of potentially infectious, body parts, and sharps) are collected separately and treated in a central incinerator. The estimated value of per bed generation rate in the studied hospitals was found to be 0.87 kg/day, which lies within the range for the low-income countries. In all studied hospitals, it was found that workers were working under very poor unsafe conditions with very low salaries ($35 to $45 per month on average). About 90 % were completely illiterate or had very low education levels. At the national level, no laws considering hospital waste, or even hazardous waste, were found; only some federal general environmental regulations and some procedures from town and city localities for controlling general municipal waste exist. At the hospital level, no policies or rules were found, except in the radiotherapy center, where they manage radioactive wastes under the laws of the Sudanese Atomic Agency. Urgent actions are needed for the remediation and prevention of hazards associated with this type of waste.     

The spatial convergence and drivers of environmental efficiency under haze constraints - Evidence from China

Haze has seriously threatened the ecological environment and public health, so researching environmental efficiency under haze constraints is significant in managing pollution and evaluating the balance between economic development and environmental health. Based on the panel data of China's 99 cities during 2005–2017, this paper uses α-convergence and β-convergence models to analyze the spatial convergence of environmental efficiency under haze constraints and its drivers in China,specifically in Eastern China, Central China, and Western China.The main results are as follows: (1) The trend of environmental efficiency under haze constraints in these regions evidently follows a dumbbell curve. In recent years, it has been growing slowly in Eastern China, Central China, and Western China, and the environmental efficiency in the Eastern China is the highest, the Central China is the second, and the Western China is the lowest; (2) it demonstrates both α-convergence and β-convergence in Central China, Western China, and Eastern China, and the speed of convergence is the fastest in the Central China, the second in the Western China and the slowest in the Eastern China; there is a “catch-up effect” in cities from less environmentally efficient regions to more efficient regions; and (3) Industrial structure and degree of trade dependence have a significantly negative correlation; characteristics of the region and dependence on foreign investment have significantly positive correlations with the environmental efficiency of Eastern China and Central China; environmental regulations and economic scale limit the improvement of environmental efficiency of Central China and Western China; and technological innovation significantly impacts Eastern China only. Although the paper refers to the specific evidence of China, with haze as a new indicator in the comprehensive evaluation of environmental efficiency can be extended to other developing countries as well as to other pollutants such as land pollution and waste water. The understanding of drivers of environmental efficiency under haze constraints in China provides international policy-makers with valuable reference for formulating effective measures to balance the dilemma between economic development and environmental health.     

A mixed model-based Johnson's relative weights for eco-efficiency assessment: The case for global food consumption

Eco-efficiency composite indicators are widely accepted as the ratio of environmental impact to created economic value. These indicators are realistic measures for assessing sustainability performance considering the economy and environment. The weights reflect the importance of indicators to the aggregated environmental impacts. Estimating the relative weight of indicators is highly subjective, and therefore the search for a single unique weighting method has been going on for years. The regression-based weights are one of the most recent trends in sustainability modeling. Since these methods are designed initially to investigate the impact of multiple variables on a response variable rather than to estimate weights, some drawbacks are associated with their potential to provide proper weights. This paper presents a novel weighting approach integrating linear mixed-effect models with Johnson's relative weights to address these drawbacks and provide meaningful relative weights for eco-efficiency composite indicators. The proposed approach's operational and computational procedures are illustrated using a real example, and the eco-efficiency of food consumption of 38 countries is estimated for the period between 1990 and 2012 using a consumption-based sustainability accounting method. The findings have shown that energy use and GHG indicators are the most critical contributor to global food consumption's environmental impacts. The country-based eco-efficiency performance in this work has shown that China, India, and Russia are located in the low eco-efficiency score class. The Spatio-temporal analysis downgraded the geographical location's significance on the trends of eco-efficiency behavior in time and space. On the other hand, it revealed the different types of emerging hot spots over the world.     

Circular economy application for a Green Stadium construction towards sustainable FIFA world cup Qatar 2022™

The construction industry is responsible for a significant amount of raw material consumption and environmental footprints. Therefore, sustainable construction became a hot topic, which strives to reduce material consumption, limit constructional waste disposal, and decrease contribution to climate change. In line with Qatar's commitment to organizing a sustainable FIFA World Cup in 2022, this study aims to conduct an environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) for the construction of the Education City Stadium. The work presented here provides the first empirical LCA for analyzing the environmental and economic impacts of circular economy application in a World Cup stadium. In this research, the cyclopean concrete (CYC) methodology was utilized, which incorporate the site excavated boulders with the concrete mix to cast the under-raft foundation of the stadium. This approach was compared to the conventional concrete (CC) casting approach to assess the extent to which the newly developed methodology can reduce the environmental and economic burdens. The obtained results have shown a 32% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions when adapting the CYC approach. Thus, the CYC holds a strong promise to achieve the required structural behavior with a low-cost alternative material from existing waste products in Qatar and a lower environmental impact than the CC.     

生活垃圾与危险废物的焚烧工艺及污染防治措施比较

比较、归纳、总结了生活垃圾和工业危废焚烧项目在生产工艺、污染源产生及治理、污染物排放标准等方面的异同点,提出必须重视废气排污口设施与在线监测仪器的安装,应完善事故防范措施与应急预案等检查要求,为环保部门验收监测、监督管理工作提供技术支持.     

New Internet search volume-based weighting method for integrating various environmental impacts

Weighting is one of the steps in life cycle impact assessment that integrates various characterized environmental impacts as a single index. Weighting factors should be based on the society's preferences. However, most previous studies consider only the opinion of some people. Thus, this research proposes a new weighting method that determines the weighting factors of environmental impact categories by considering public opinion on environmental impacts using the Internet search volumes for relevant terms. To validate the new weighting method, the weighting factors for six environmental impacts calculated by the new weighting method were compared with the existing weighting factors. The resulting Pearson's correlation coefficient between the new and existing weighting factors was from 0.8743 to 0.9889. It turned out that the new weighting method presents reasonable weighting factors. It also requires less time and lower cost compared to existing methods and likewise meets the main requirements of weighting methods such as simplicity, transparency, and reproducibility. The new weighting method is expected to be a good alternative for determining the weighting factor.     

基于健康风险的危险废物智能化分级分类研究

在分析国内外危险废物分级管理经验的基础上,结合健康风险的评估步骤,提出了基于全过程危险废物污染物释放情景的精细化-动态健康风险评价方法。充分考虑处理利用工艺、企业管理水平等因素对于危险废物中污染物释放概率和能力的影响,并基于污染物向环境介质的迁移转化,定量评估危险废物的健康风险。基于危险废物污染特性数据库和事故情景数据库,结合全过程信息采集技术,构建危险废物分级分类管理平台,进行涉废企业的风险级别划分,实施差异化管理,形成更加科学有效的危险废物全过程精细化管理体系。     

Identification and leaching characteristics of sludge generated from metal pickling and electroplating industries by Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure (TCLP)

One of India's major concerns is the increasing level of land pollution largely due to the uncontrolled disposal of industrialsolid and hazardous waste. With rapid industrialization, thegeneration of industrial solid and hazardous waste has increasedappreciably and the nature of waste generated has become complex.Their impacts on the ecological bodies are noticeable. The article describes the details of studies conducted using Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure, to estimate the toxicity effects of the metals viz., chromium, zinc, manganese,iron, nickel, cobalt and copper by the Zero Headspace Extractorfor the sludges generated from effluent treatment plant of steeltube, wire and plating industries on environment constituentslike groundwater, surface water and land. Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure determines the mobility of organic and inorganic analytes of liquid, solid or multiphase waste from hazardous solid wastes in the form of primary and secondary extracts. These extracts are mixed in equal volumeproportion and analyzed by Direct Reading 2000 spectrophotometer.The amount of heavy metals observed during the studies in theleachates were found and the results were compared with HazardousWaste categories as per Indian Standards, TCLP regulatory limitsgiven by United States Environment Protection Agency (USEPA) andGermany Leachate Quality Standards and it was observed that theywere on higher side, needing a proper preventive concept of sludge management including handling, treatment, recovery and disposal.     

国内外尾矿管理制度比较研究和展望

2020年，《中华人民共和国固体废物污染环境防治法》修订完成，对固体废物的污染防治提出了新的要求。尾矿作为一般工业固体废物中产生量和贮存量最大的种类，存在突出的生态环境问题，已成为当前固体废物管理领域不可忽视的治理短板。通过梳理近年来尾矿产生和处置现状以及尾矿环境风险的特点，对比了国内外尾矿管理制度，并针对完善环境管理法规体系，落实尾矿减量化、资源化以及管控尾矿环境风险提出了对策建议。     

How does environmental pollution erode political trust in China? A multilevel analysis

The impacts of environmental pollution extend beyond the issue of health. Using Chinese survey and administrative data, this study sheds new light on the political costs of environmental pollution. We show that citizens' trust in government officials declines significantly with higher levels of measured pollution, perceptions of increased pollution, and a greater degree of willingness to support environmental protection. Political trust is particularly low when measured as well as perceived pollution are severe. However, the effect of greater willingness to support environmental protection on the erosion of political trust is independent of measured pollution. Our findings suggest that there is a tipping point at which legitimacy acquired primarily through economic achievements could be undermined by environmental degradation, which is a byproduct of economic achievements. It is imperative for the Chinese government to achieve a balance between fast-paced growth and environmental sustainability, to pay attention to the potential political consequences of environmental issues, and to permit more public dialogues and deliberations on the topic of environmental governance.     

Impacts and mitigation measures of plastic waste: A critical review

Overwhelmed plastic waste has been gradually appreciated as a global problematic issue. Scientific efforts either dedicated to comprehending its distribution and detrimental impacts on the environment or management measures to contain it. However, there is a concern asymmetry between the knowledge of detrimental impacts of plastic waste and corresponding mitigation measures. Microplastics in the marine ecosystem is the foremost research hotspot in terms of plastic waste's detrimental impacts. Recycling plastic waste is the utmost research topic in terms of plastic waste management. Plastic pollutants derived from plastic waste contaminates the environment and ultimately threatens human health. Current measures aimed at reducing the plastic waste ended in the environment via recycling, and emphasised its retention of material value via circular economy. However, these measures did not prioritise taking direct action to mitigate the threats to human health. This review aims to bridge these two research ends of plastic waste that provides a holistic view of this problematic issue.The keywords analysis function in VOSviewer is adopted in this study to map out the state-of-the-art of existing research in plastic waste. Four research mainstreams are highlighted: (1) Environmental concerns of plastic waste in aquatic ecosystems; (2) Potential threats to human health; (3) Plastic waste reduction options and recycling methods; (4) Plastic waste thermochemical treatment. Consequently, a future research agenda is proposed.