Review of LCA studies of solid waste management systems – Part I: Lessons learned and perspectives

The continuously increasing solid waste generation worldwide calls for management strategies that integrate concerns for environmental sustainability. By quantifying environmental impacts of systems, life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool, which can contribute to answer that call. But how, where and to which extent has it been applied to solid waste management systems (SWMSs) until now, and which lessons can be learnt from the findings of these LCA applications? To address these questions, we performed a critical review of 222 published LCA studies of SWMS. We first analysed the geographic distribution and found that the published studies have primarily been concentrated in Europe with little application in developing countries. In terms of technological coverage, they have largely overlooked application of LCA to waste prevention activities and to relevant waste types apart from household waste, e.g. construction and demolition waste. Waste management practitioners are thus encouraged to abridge these gaps in future applications of LCA. In addition to this contextual analysis, we also evaluated the findings of selected studies of good quality and found that there is little agreement in the conclusions among them. The strong dependence of each SWMS on local conditions, such as waste composition or energy system, prevents a meaningful generalisation of the LCA results as we find it in the waste hierarchy. We therefore recommend stakeholders in solid waste management to regard LCA as a tool, which, by its ability of capturing the local specific conditions in the modelling of environmental impacts and benefits of a SWMS, allows identifying critical problems and proposing improvement options adapted to the local specificities.     

Urban sustainable energy development: A case study of the city of Philadelphia

Cities throughout the world are key sites for energy sustainability activities. However, analysis of such efforts to date has focused on a sub-set of atypical cities: early adopters and/or world cities. This article undertakes a case-study analysis for an ordinary city, Philadelphia, PA in order to assess the extent to which prior research provides adequate policy explanation for ordinary cities and to gain empirical insight on two under-researched aspects: policy actors, and the policy-making and implementation sites (action sites) for urban energy sustainability. Overall, the types of policy drivers, modes of governance, and enabling factors and barriers in the Philadelphia case fit with prior studies. Focusing on actors and action sites, however, offers insight on the city’s relative policy-making approach based on “non-controversy”, the key role of third-sector actors in both policy-making and implementation, and the diversification of action sites through external-level policy-making operationalised locally nevertheless at the expense of reduced control by urban actors. These findings lead to recommendations for urban energy sustainability research and practice.     

A Pluralist–Expressivist Critique of the Pet Trade

Elizabeth Anderson’s “pluralist–expressivist” value theory, an alternative to the understanding of value and rationality underlying the “rational actor” model of human behavior, provides rich resources for addressing questions of environmental and animal ethics. It is particularly well-suited to help us think about the ethics of commodification, as I demonstrate in this critique of the pet trade. I argue that Anderson’s approach identifies the proper grounds for criticizing the commodification of animals, and directs our attention to the importance of maintaining social practices and institutions that respect the social meanings of animals. Her theory alone, however, does not adequately address the role of the state in this project. Drawing on social contract theory to fill this gap, I conclude that the state’s role in regulating the pet trade should be limited to ensuring the welfare of animals in the stream of commerce, not prohibiting their mass marketing altogether.     

Participatory environmental governance in China: public hearings on urban water tariff setting

In the late 1990s China started to expand its market economic reform to the public sector, such as water services. This reform led to major changes in urban water management, including water tariff management. The reforms in water tariff management relate not only to tariffs, but also to the decision-making on tariffs. Water tariff decision-making seems to move away from China's conventional mode of highly centralized and bureaucratic policy- and decision-making. The legalization, institutionalization and performance of public hearings in water tariff management forms a crucial innovation in this respect. This article analyzes the emergence, development and current functioning of public hearings in water tariff setting, and assesses to what extent public hearings are part of a turning point in China's tradition of centralized bureaucratic decision-making, towards more transparent, decentralized and participative governance.     

Ionic liquids as lubricants or lubrication additives: An ecotoxicity and biodegradability assessment

This paper reports on the (eco)toxicity and biodegradability of ionic liquids considered for application as lubricants or lubrication additives. Ammonium- and pyrrolidinium-based cations combined with methylsulphate, methylsulphonate and/or (CF₃SO₂)₂N⁻ anions were investigated in tests to determine their aquatic toxicity using water fleas Daphnia magna, green algae Selenastrum capricornutum and marine bacteria (Vibrio fischeri). Additional test systems with an isolated enzyme (acetylcholinesterase) and isolated leukaemia cells from rats (IPC-81) were used to assess the biological activity of the ionic liquids. These compounds generally exhibit low acute toxicity and biological activity. Their biodegradability was screened according to OECD test procedures 301 B and 301 F. For choline and methoxy-choline ionic liquids ready biodegradability was observed within 5 or 10 d, respectively. Some of the compounds selected have a considerable potential to contribute to the development of more sustainable products and processes.     

Ecological knowledge and North Sea environmental policies

In an analysis of North Sea eutrophication science and policies, focusing on the period 1980–2005, it was investigated how scientific information was used in policy-making. The analysis focused on the central assumptions of the rational policy-making model, i.e. that scientific information can be used to formulate decisions, based upon objective scientific information (rational decision-making), and secondly, can support implementing these decisions (rational management). In general terms, the following was concluded:

• •More knowledge has increased rather than reduced uncertainty;
• •In order to handle the problem of dealing with complexity and uncertainty at the political level, a simplification of facts has occurred, in this case focusing on nutrients as the main cause of the problem, at the same time excluding other possible causes;
• •Both the limited scientific view (i.e. the nutrient view) and the exaggeration of the seriousness of the problem (impacts, scope) have been used as an authoritative basis for the justification of political decisions. Both were not supported by the majority of the scientific community;
• •New scientific knowledge, not in support of existing policies, has been excluded from the policy process;
• •The science–policy interface, mainly consisting of “civil-servant scientists”, that emerged and increased its influence over the period of investigation, has been the central element in the simplification and exclusion process.

The main lesson learned is that work at the interface of science and policy must be subject to democratic principles, i.e. be transparent and involving all parties with a stake in the issue under consideration.     

The use of indicators in environmental policy appraisal: lessons from the design and evolution of water security policy measures

Drawing up environmental policy options is a complex activity which involves defining and weighing the merits and risks of various alternative courses of action governments could pursue. In its modern version, this task typically involves formal policy analysis or ‘policy appraisal’, that is, policy work specifically undertaken to generate and evaluate policy options in order to address problems or issues on a policy agenda. Indicators play a powerful but under-investigated role in this process. To shed light on this issue, the paper conducts a case study of the design and evolution of policy indicators in water security policy formulation, examining both their utilization and impact. The paper documents the origins of water security policy indicators; assesses their relevance and influence in policy formulation and identifies the reasons for the emergence of certain preferred indices, despite their having several well-known limitations. In particular, the discussion flags the significance of the political advantages surrounding their ease of use and interpretation, rather than their technical merits, as a key factor affecting the continued utilization and influence of specific indicators in environmental policy and planning.     

Regional intergovernmental institutions: Participation benefits and costs

Evaluators frequently cite the absence of effective participation by constituent governments and the need for consensus or even unanimity prior to action as the causes of poor performance by regional resource management institutions. Major governments either will not join the regional institution, will not participate even if legally members, or will exercise a veto over many important management projects.This paper examines the variables that may cause these problems and provides an improved understanding of why rational political actors would act in ways that inhibit the efficient management of resources. Among the principal variables determining participation are expected benefits of collective decisions, perceived losses of autonomy and representation, the number and homogeneity of other participants, decision costs, and the decision rule used to determine actions. Analysis of these factors suggests why consensus and unanimity decision rules are frequently chosen and why participation is usually limited.     

Technical assessment and public perception of environmental issues: the case of the Municipality of Pisa

The different approach of specialists and general public to environmental topics has often led to contrasting positions. After decades of strong debate, however, there seems to be a growing agreement on the need for overcoming a mere contraposition in favour of an integration of opinions. This paper aims to contribute to the topic by shifting the setting into the urban environment, through the case of Pisa Municipality, Italy. It compares the scenarios described by the latest State of the Environment Report – expression of the technical evaluation – with the perception of citizens measured by a direct survey. Results were first used to investigate any disagreements about quality of environmental matrices, entity of pressures exerted on them and characteristics of determinants. They were then used to identify the range where the integration of the two positions might be pursued and finally collect, in view of future policies, indications on locally adoptable key factors and strategies.     

上海地区的湿地资源及其保护

介绍了海地区的湿地类型、分布、湿地资源及其利用与保护，提出了加强湿地研究的重点领域。上海地区自然湿地面积为４３００９ｈｍ＾２，以海滨沼泽为主；人工湿地以稻田为主，约为２５００００ｈｍ＾２，湿地中的动，植物资源，土地资源相当丰富，是上海地区最重要的自然资源，目前，上海的湿地利用以发展农、林、渔业为主，工程利用率则呈逐年增加的势头。加强对湿地资源的动态研究，对湿地的环境功能，合理利用与保护模式及人类活