A material flow analysis on current electrical and electronic waste disposal from Hong Kong households

A material flow study on five types of household electrical and electronic equipment, namely television, washing machine, air conditioner, refrigerator and personal computer (TWARC) was conducted to assist the Government of Hong Kong to establish an e-waste take-back system. This study is the first systematic attempt on identifying key TWARC waste disposal outlets and trade practices of key parties involved in Hong Kong. Results from two questionnaire surveys, on local households and private e-waste traders, were used to establish the material flow of household TWARC waste. The study revealed that the majority of obsolete TWARC were sold by households to private e-waste collectors and that the current e-waste collection network is efficient and popular with local households. However, about 65,000 tonnes/yr or 80% of household generated TWARC waste are being exported overseas by private e-waste traders, with some believed to be imported into developing countries where crude recycling methods are practiced. Should Hong Kong establish a formal recycling network with tight regulatory control on imports and exports, the potential risks of current e-waste recycling practices on e-waste recycling workers, local residents and the environment can be greatly reduced.     

Degradation of greenhouse twines derived from natural fibers and biodegradable polymer during composting

Commercial composting operations generally do not accept organic wastes with plastic twines from the greenhouse vegetable industry and the bulk of the waste materials ends up in landfills. The objectives of this paper are to identify environmentally compatible substitutes that could replace the current use of petrochemically derived plastic twines in greenhouse vegetable production, thus diverting them from landfills, and to assess the extent of their degradation via composting. Physical properties of the twines, including linear density, percent weight loss and tensile strength were monitored for the biodegradation tests. A pilot-scale composting trial was conducted in an in-vessel composting system. Results showed that the three biodegradable twine materials (cotton, jute and EcoPLA) could degrade readily in a composting environment within a reasonable time frame. Specifically, at the end of 105 days of composting, 85.3%, 84.8% and 81.1% of weight loss was observed for cotton, jute and EcoPLA, respectively. Furthermore, EcoPLA exhibited a slower decline in tensile strength with time, when compared to jute and cotton.     

Measuring bulky waste arisings in Hong Kong

All too often, waste authorities either assume that they know enough about their bulky waste stream or that it is too insignificant to deserve attention. In this paper, we use Hong Kong as an example to illustrate that official bulky waste figures can actually be very different from the reality and therefore important waste management decisions made based on such statistics may be wrong too. This study is also the first attempt in Hong Kong to outline the composition of bulky waste.It was found that about 342 tonnes/day of wood waste were omitted by official statistics owing to incomplete records on actual bulky waste flow. This is more than enough to provide all the feedstock needed for one regular-sized wood waste recycling facility in Hong Kong. In addition, the proportion of bulky waste in the municipal solid waste (MSW) streams in Hong Kong should be about 6.1% instead of the officially stated 1.43%. Admittedly, there are limitations with this study. Yet, present findings are suggestive of significant MSW data distortion in Hong Kong.     

Ultrafiltration tests for the reutilization of greenhouse wastewater

Abstract

A lab‐scale experiment was performed using two different pore‐size ultrafiltration membranes to investigate the removal efficiency of Tomato Mosaic Virus (ToMV), retainability of pollutant and nutrients, and flow characteristics. From the experiment, it may be concluded that ultrafiltration can be used effectively to eliminate ToMV. Tests with a 30K pore‐size ultrafiltration membrane achieved 99% virus removal efficiency and a 5K membrane practically removed 100% of the virus in greenhouse wastewater. Nutrient analysis indicated that all the essential nutrients could be retained and re‐utilized.     

大气污染物监测数据不确定度评估方法体系建立及其对PMF源解析的影响分析

目前,正定矩阵因子法(PMF)在大气污染物来源解析中得到了广泛应用,而监测数据不确定度评估是PMF源解析的重要内容之一.当前绝大部分研究采用的数据不确定度仅通过借鉴前人的方法简单计算而得,缺乏对计算方法的合理性和适用性进行评估.本研究通过3种常用的不确定度算法交互应用建立了一套有效评估不确定度的方法体系.通过对香港荃湾站点1998—2008年PM_(10)组分监测数据进行源解析并与平行采样数据源解析结果进行对比,对该方法体系的合理性进行了验证.结果发现,应用该方法体系可以将某些常规方法无法分离的因子进一步分解,得到的源解析结果的残差值甚至小于平行采样方法解析结果的残差值,得到的因子贡献率均处于常规方法得出的因子贡献率之间.这些均表明了该方法体系所得源解析结果的可靠性和全面性.因此,本研究建立的评估不确定度的方法体系具有较强的可行性,对确保源解析结果的准确性有重要意义.