Evolutionary game analysis of stakeholders' decision-making behaviours in construction and demolition waste management

Continuing industrial development has created large quantities of construction and demolition (C&D) waste, which has led to severe environmental and social problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the decision-making behaviours of stakeholders involved in C&D waste management. Based on evolutionary game theory, stakeholder decision-making behaviours in C&D waste management were analysed, and their influencing factors were identified, including government supervision costs, public participation costs, government penalties, government incentives, government supervisory intensity, probability of contractors conducting illegal dumping, probability of public participation, and probability of illegal dumping being detected. The results also revealed how government penalties and incentives impacted the decision-making behaviours of the contractors and public. Penalties and incentives can effectively reduce illegal C&D waste dumping behaviours, while excessive penalties and incentives have limitations in controlling illegal dumping. The model proposed in this research provides an experimental simulation platform to determine the appropriate values for government penalties and incentives for C&D waste management based on stakeholder decision-making behaviours. In addition, the research results for the stable strategy point of a three-party evolutionary game model demonstrated the importance of public participation in C&D waste management. These results may inform research hypotheses for future empirical studies and provide a simple model for developing appropriate government penalties and incentives in practice.     

Assessment of plastic waste generation and its potential recycling of household solid waste in Can Tho City, Vietnam

Plastic solid waste has become a serious problem when considering the disposal alternatives following the sequential hierarchy of sound solid waste management. This study was undertaken to assess the quantity and composition of household solid waste, especially plastic waste to identify opportunities for waste recycling. A 1-month survey of 130 households was carried out in Can Tho City, the capital city of the Mekong Delta region in southern Vietnam. Household solid waste was collected from each household and classified into ten physical categories; especially plastic waste was sorted into 22 subcategories. The average household solid waste generation rate was 281.27 g/cap/day. The compostable and recyclable shares respectively accounted for high percentage as 80.74% and 11%. Regarding plastic waste, the average plastic waste generation rate was 17.24 g/cap/day; plastic packaging and plastic containers dominated with the high percentage, 95.64% of plastic waste. Plastic shopping bags were especially identified as the major component, accounting for 45.72% of total plastic waste. Relevant factors such as household income and household size were found to have an existing correlation to plastic waste generation in detailed composition. The household habits and behaviors of plastic waste discharge and the aspects of environmental impacts and resource consumption for plastic waste disposal alternatives were also evaluated.     

Contamination by perfluorinated compounds in water near waste recycling and disposal sites in Vietnam

There are very few reports on the contamination by perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) in the environment of developing countries, especially regarding their emission from waste recycling and disposal sites. This is the first study on the occurrence of a wide range of PFCs (17 compounds) in ambient water in Vietnam, including samples collected from a municipal dumping site (MD), an e-waste recycling site (ER), a battery recycling site (BR) and a rural control site. The highest PFC concentration was found in a leachate sample from MD (360 ng/L). The PFC concentrations in ER and BR (mean, 57 and 16 ng/L, respectively) were also significantly higher than those detected in the rural control site (mean, 9.4 ng/L), suggesting that municipal solid waste and waste electrical and electronic equipment are potential contamination sources of PFCs in Vietnam. In general, the most abundant PFCs were perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUDA; <1.4–100, <1.2–100, and <0.5–20 ng/L, respectively). Interestingly, there were specific PFC profiles: perfluoroheptanoic acid and perfluorohexanoic acid (88 and 77 ng/L, respectively) were almost as abundant as PFOA in MD leachate (100 ng/L), whereas PFNA was prevalent in ER and BR (mean, 17 and 6.2 ng/L, respectively) and PFUDA was the most abundant in municipal wastewater (mean, 5.6 ng/L), indicating differences in PFC contents in different waste materials.     

Evolutionary game analysis on firms and banks' behavioral strategies: Impact of environmental governance on interest rate setting

The pollution emission of manufacturing firms is threatening the sustainability of economy and society across the globe. AI techniques have widely applied in firm's environmental governance and have improved the environmental pollution situation. However, such application requires support and inclination of bank credit capital allocation. Based on the evolutionary game theory, the interaction and influencing factors among interest rate setting of banks and environmental governance of firms are analyzed. Taking 89 heavy-polluting listed companies of China for example, the empirical analysis is carried out to investigate the findings of game theory analysis based on data from 2012 to 2018. Research results mainly show that: environmental governance by AI of firms has a negative effect on the interest rate setting of banks. Meanwhile, the interest rate setting of banks is also constrained by the environmental information disclosure and environmental regulation. Both improving the service-oriented and constrain-oriented environmental regulations can effectively stimulate environmental governance of firms. More importantly, service-oriented environmental regulations significantly promote the interest rate setting of banks, and the environmental governance plays a suppressing role between the service-oriented environmental regulation and the interest rate setting of banks. Our results also find that improving constrain-oriented regulations is conducive to decreasing interest rate setting. The environmental governance plays an intermediary role between the constrain-oriented regulations and the interest rate setting.     

An off-site snapshot methodology for estimating building construction waste composition - a case study of Hong Kong

Waste composition analysis is essential for implementing appropriate management strategies. In Hong Kong, on-site waste quantification is often not practical due to site space limitation at construction sites. In addition, as the construction waste problem urgently needs addressing, reliable waste generation rates need to be derived over a short time. To address these two issues, this study presents an off-site snapshot methodology for estimating construction waste composition. Three construction sites, at the initial stage, mid-stage, and end stage respectively, are selected for illustrating the proposed snapshot methodology. It is found that the composition of inert and non-inert waste varies significantly at different construction stages. Non-inert waste is an important component of building construction waste, of which wood & timber waste contributes the largest proportion. Following wood & timber waste, metal waste is the second largest source of non-inert waste. Results show that the proposed off-site snapshot methodology can sufficiently solve the problem of limited on-site sorting space and derive reliable detailed waste generation information over a certain short time.     

Profiles,sources, and transport of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soils affected by electronic waste recycling in Longtang,south China

We studied the profiles, possible sources, and transport of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils from the Longtang area, which is an electronic waste (e-waste) recycling center in south China. The sum of 16 PAH concentrations ranged from 25 to 4,300 ng/g (dry weight basis) in the following order: pond sediment sites (77 ng/g), vegetable fields (129 ng/g), paddy fields (180 ng/g), wastelands (258 ng/g), dismantling sites (678 ng/g), and former open burning sites (2,340 ng/g). Naphthalene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, chrysene, and benzo[b]fluoranthene were the dominant PAHs and accounted for approximately 75 % of the total PAHs. The similar composition characteristics of PAHs and the significant correlations among individual, low molecular weight, high molecular weight, and total PAHs were found in all six sampling site types, thus indicating that PAHs originated from similar sources. The results of both isomeric ratios and principal component analyses confirmed that PAHs were mainly derived from the incomplete combustion of e-waste. The former open burning sites and dismantling sites were the main sources of PAHs. Soil samples that were taken closer to the point sources had high PAH concentrations. PAHs are transported via different soil profiles, including those in agricultural fields, and have been detected not only in 0- to 40-cm-deep soil but also in 40 cm to 80 cm-deep soil. PAH concentrations in soils in Longtang have been strongly affected by primitive e-waste recycling, particularly by former open burning activities.     

Antifouling strategies for marine and riverine sensors

Traditionally, water quality has been monitored by sampling and lab based analysis. However, there are disadvantages associated with this method, for example, deterioration of samples with time, limited sampling points, limited temporal monitoring. This has provided impetus for the development of sensors which can be deployed from remote locations over extended deployment periods. However, a major limitation of these systems is their vulnerability to biofouling. This review outlines the research that has been carried out on strategies for the protection of marine and riverine sensors against fouling.     

The effects of pipeline construction disturbance on soil properties and restoration cycle

Disturbance to the physical–chemical properties of soil caused by pipeline installation was evaluated using two soil quality indices to identify the scale of disturbance and the restoration cycle. The integrated soil quality index (SQI) was used to evaluate soil property changes in different pipeline zones (0, 10, 20, and 50 m from the pipeline) at sites 1 and 2. The soil restoration index (SRI) was used to estimate soil recovery from three pipelines with different recovery periods (2, 6, and 8 years) at site 3. The results showed that the adverse effects of pipeline construction on soil properties mainly occurred in the right-of-way (ROW) areas and the impaired zones were in the order trench?>?piling and working areas?>?20 and 50 m. The soil restoration cycle may be complete within 6 years of construction. At site 3, the SRI in the ROW area of a pipeline after 6 years of restoration was close to 100 %, showing full soil recovery. However, the SRI in the disturbed areas of a pipeline after 2 years of restoration was much lower than that after 6 years of restoration, indicating that the soil was still recovering from the disturbance. The topography may change the intensity of disturbance in different areas due to the movement patterns of heavy machinery and traffic routes. There were local variations in the SQI within the pipeline zones, with flat areas suffering greater disturbance than hilly areas, indicating that topography should be considered in a pipeline’s environmental impact assessment.     

Joint prevention and control mechanism for air pollution regulations in China: A policy simulation approach with evolutionary game

China's environmentalism with autocratic characteristics has far-reaching effects for fighting air pollution effectively. Political blue sky is unsustainable because conflict of interest in China's authoritarian environmentalism leads to failure of joint prevention and control in air pollution regulations. This study aims to explore policy mechanisms that would integrate intergovernmental join efforts in air pollution control. A non-cooperative tripartite evolutionary game is employed to model the dynamic interactions among the central government, Beijing municipality, and local governments for fighting air pollution. A double-payment with dual-supervision mechanism is proposed for air pollution control in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region. Simulations are conducted to examine the effectiveness of air pollution regulations involving multiple policy instruments for yielding the ideal outcome. It is shown that appropriate coordination of these policy instruments can address the intergovernmental challenge in collective action against air pollution. In addition, two long-term scenarios per the Porter hypothesis are investigated regarding environmental tax reform and enterprise innovations. It is found that such long-term inspirations can improve regulatory flexibility and efficacy. The double-payment with dual-supervision mechanism can effectively engage all governmental stakeholders for promoting sustainable air pollution governance in China. From a methodology perspective, policy simulations in an evolutionary game framework provide a novel addition to the research toolkit for policy studies.     

Assessing the effects of domestic and international energy scenarios and emission reduction strategies on acidification in Finland

An integrated model system was developed and used to assess the effects of alternative energy production scenarios and reduction policies on acidification of lakes and forest soils in Finland. The analysis covered different energy scenarios and resulting emissions of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides in Finland, as well as ammonia emissions with various control requirements. In addition, emission reduction scenarios of varied ambition levels in the bordering areas of Finland and in other parts of Europe were included in the analysis. The impacts of the different scenarios were quantified with exceedances of critical loads for acidification and with the total areas where the critical loads are exceeded. The possibilities for reducing the areas with critical load exceedances with national or bilateral measures were investigated. The differences in areas at risk, if depositions from domestic and nearby sources are estimated with a regional model and point-source databases or with a continental scale model and coarser-scale emission data, were analyzed. The reasons for the differences and the implications for national-level assessment are discussed.     

Review of the effects of in-stream pipeline crossing construction on aquatic ecosystems and examination of Canadian methodologies for impact assessment

Pipeline crossing construction alters river and stream channels, hence may have detrimental effects on aquatic ecosystems. This review examines the effects of crossing construction on fish and fish habitat in rivers and streams, and recommends an approach to monitoring and assessment of impacts associated with these activities. Pipeline crossing construction is shown to not only compromise the integrity of the physical and chemical nature of fish habitat, but also to affect biological habitat (e.g., benthic invertebrates and invertebrate drift), and fish behavior and physiology. Indicators of effect include: water quality (total suspended solids TSS), physical habitat (substrate particle size, channel morphology), benthic invertebrate community structure and drift (abundance, species composition, diversity, standing crop), and fish behavior and physiology (hierarchy, feeding, respiration rate, loss of equilibrium, blood hematocrit and leukocrit levels, heart rate and stroke volume). The Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) approach, which is often applied in Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM), is recommended as a basis for impact assessment, as is consideration of site-specific sensitivities, assessment of significance, and cumulative effects.     

Potential effects of large linear pipeline construction on soil and vegetation in ecologically fragile regions

Long-distance pipeline construction results in marked human disturbance of the regional ecosystem and brings into question the safety of pipeline construction with respect to the environment. Thus, the direct environmental impact and proper handling of such large projects have received much attention. The potential environmental effects, however, have not been fully addressed, particularly for large linear pipeline projects, and the threshold of such effects is unclear. In this study, two typical eco-fragile areas in western China, where large linear construction projects have been conducted, were chosen as the case study areas. Soil quality indices (SQI) and vegetation indices (VI), representing the most important potential effects, were used to analyze the scope of the effect of large pipeline construction on the surrounding environment. These two indices in different buffer zones along the pipeline were compared against the background values. The analysis resulted in three main findings. First, pipeline construction continues to influence the nearby eco-environment even after a 4-year recovery period. During this period, the effect on vegetation due to pipeline construction reaches 300 m beyond the working area, and is much larger in distance than the effect on soil, which is mainly confined to within 30 m either side of the pipeline, indicating that vegetation is more sensitive than soil to this type of human disturbance. However, the effect may not reach beyond 500 m from the pipeline. Second, the scope of the effect in terms of distance on vegetation may also be determined by the frequency of disturbance and the intensity of the pipeline construction. The greater the number of pipelines in an area, the higher the construction intensity and the more frequent the disturbance. Frequent disturbance may expand the effect on vegetation on both sides of the pipeline, but not on soil quality. Third, the construction may eliminate the stable, resident plant community. During the recovery period, the plant community in the work area of the pipeline is replaced by some species that are rare or uncommon in the resident plant community because of human disturbance, thereby increasing the plant diversity in the work area. In terms of plant succession, the duration of the recovery period has a direct effect on the composition and structure of the plant community. The findings provide a theoretical basis and scientific foundation for improving the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of oil and gas pipeline construction as it pertains to the desert steppe ecosystem, and provide a reference point for recovery and management of the eco-environment during the pipeline construction period.     

A method for characterising natural and waste waters using plant seeds

Studies were conducted to describe a method for the characterisation of natural and waste waters using plant seed germination as a technique for toxicity testing. Maize seeds were found to be more sensitive to differences in water quality than cowpea seeds and also showed more consistency in results. Trials conducted using natural waters and effluents from gold mining and textile manufacturing operations are also reported.     

Information system for the registration of pollution sources associated with construction activities

A prospective builder in Czech Republic has to apply for approval by local (regional, state) authorities and is liable, in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process to make an accurate statement of stress factor values produced during the life cycle of the construction work.These data should be kept in the information system, as only a substantial amount of relevant high quality data can be used in the decision-making process.Identifying and quantifying stress factors produced by a given construction activity can present a problem due to inadequate knowledge and opinion in this field. For large construction works, a knowledge-based system proposed in the second part of this paper may be useful; small structures can be covered by the information given as to local factors, which form part of the information system proposed by Vlcek and Moos (1991).     

The effects of bio-solid and tea waste application into different levels of eroded soil on N, P and K concentrations

The main objective of the study was to find out the effects of various organic matter sources such as bio-solid (BS) and tea waste (TW) on macro nutrient content of eroded soils. In order to determine different soil erodibility levels (slightly, moderately and severely), erosion ratio (ER) and soil erodibility factor (K) parameters were used. Soil samples used in this research were taken from bulk surface (0-20 cm depth) located on agricultural lands of Asagi Aksu village that is 20 km far from Samsun province in the north part of Turkey. These lands have been used as agricultural activity. Some properties of the soil classified as Vertic calciudoll were determined as follows; fine in texture, organic matter content varies between 0.83% and 0.90%. In addition, pH and EC values of these soils are 8.0-8.1 and 0.64-0.79 dSm( - 1) respectively. This study was conducted by applying four different doses of BS and TW (0%, 2%, 4% and 6%) in eroded soils under greenhouse condition. Each treatment was replicated three times in a split block design. After 18 weeks incubation period associated parameters were determined in all pots. According to analysis results, it was found that while BS treatments increased total N, available P and exchangeable K content of all eroded soils comparing to control treatment, effectiveness of TW on P is very low in slightly and moderately erosion levels. BS and TW applications increased K content in soils. However, it was determined not significant statistically between effectiveness of these various organic residues whereas, N and P values significantly correlated with BS and TW (P < 0.05). In addition, change of N, P and K values depending on the application doses and soil erosion levels were found statistically significant (P < 0.001).     

Reproductive strategies and seasonal changes in the somatic indices of seven small-bodied fishes in Atlantic Canada in relation to study design for environmental effects monitoring

Small-bodied fishes are more commonly being used in environmental effects monitoring (EEM) studies. There is a lack of understanding of the biological characteristics of many small-bodied species, which hinders study designs for monitoring studies. For example, 72 % of fish population surveys in Canada’s EEM program for pulp and paper mills that used small-bodied fishes were conducted outside of the reproductive period of the species. This resulted in an inadequate assessment of the EEM program’s primary effect endpoint (reproduction) for these studies. The present study examined seasonal changes in liver size, gonad size, and condition in seven freshwater and estuarine small-bodied fishes in Atlantic Canada. These data were used to examine differences in reproductive strategies and patterns of energy storage among species. Female gonadal recrudescence in all seven species began primarily in the 2-month period in the spring before spawning. Male gonadal development was concurrent with females in five species; however, gonadal recrudescence began in the fall in male three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus). The spawning period for each species was estimated from the decline in relative ovary size after its seasonal maximum value in spring. The duration of the spawning period reflected the reproductive strategy (single vs multiple spawning) of the species. Optimal sampling periods to assess reproductive impacts in each species were determined based on seasonal changes in ovary size and were identified to be during the prespawning period when gonads are developing and variability in relative gonad size is at a minimum.     

Applying value analysis and fuzzy logic to select areas for installing waste fills

This article discusses a methodology for assessing and rankinga predefined universe of objects to assist in the selectionof suitable areas for the construction of sanitary landfills.The methodology is, in principle, for universal application. Its development was initially based on the `Value Analysis' methodology and then on the `Fuzzy Eigenvector Method', or `Fuzzy Logic' as it is sometimes referred to. The focus of thestudy herein is on the comparative appraisal of a group ofelements which are part of the guidelines to be adopted whendetermining the choice of the most suitable site for a sanitarylandfill. This set of guidelines includes technical, economical,environmental, social and political aspects. As an example of themethodology proposed, four different areas were chosen. They werestudied to determine which is the most appropriate site for thedevelopment of a new solid waste fill site. The results for thesefour areas, together with the functions chosen and functionweights, are presented here.     

Feature extraction using Hough transform for solid waste bin level detection and classification

This paper deals with the solid waste image detection and classification to detect and classify the solid waste bin level. To do so, Hough transform techniques is used for feature extraction to identify the line detection based on image’s gradient field. The feedforward neural network (FFNN) model is used to classify the level content of solid waste based on learning concept. Numbers of training have been performed using FFNN to learn and match the targets of the testing images to compute the sum squared error with the performance goal met. The images for each class are used as input samples for classification. Result from the neural network and the rules decision are used to build the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) graph. Decision graph shows the performance of the system waste system based on area under curve (AUC), WS-class reached 0.9875 for excellent result and WS-grade reached 0.8293 for good result. The system has been successfully designated with the motivation of solid waste bin monitoring system that can applied to a wide variety of local municipal authorities system.