Waste Management and Climate Change

Waste management has at least five types of impacts on climate change, attributable to: (1) landfill methane emissions; (2) reduction in industrial energy use and emissions due to recycling and waste reduction; (3) energy recovery from waste; (4) carbon sequestration in forests due to decreased demand for virgin paper; and (5) energy used in long-distance transport of waste: A recent USEPA study provides estimates of overall per-tonne greenhouse gas reductions due to recycling. Plausible calculations using these estimates suggest that countries such as the US or Australia could realise substantial greenhouse gas reductions through increased recycling, particularly of paper.     

Waste Management and Climate Change

Waste management has at least five types of impacts on climate change, attributable to: (1) landfill methane emissions; (2) reduction in industrial energy use and emissions due to recycling and waste reduction; (3) energy recovery from waste; (4) carbon sequestration in forests due to decreased demand for virgin paper; and (5) energy used in long-distance transport of waste: A recent USEPA study provides estimates of overall per-tonne greenhouse gas reductions due to recycling. Plausible calculations using these estimates suggest that countries such as the US or Australia could realise substantial greenhouse gas reductions through increased recycling, particularly of paper.     

Attitudes towards Recycling Household Waste in Exeter, Devon: quantitative and qualitative approaches

Recycling of household waste has become a very problematic area of British local government policy-making in which central government has set ambitious targets. Although local government can provide facilities for recycling, the attitudes of residents will be crucial if these targets are to be met. Accordingly, this paper outlines a framework for studying how households decide to recycle or not. The framework has been tested in Exeter in south-west England where a major survey found that respondents were much more likely to recycle if they had access to a structured kerbside recycling scheme. Many other factors influenced their attitudes and behaviours towards recycling, including their acceptance of the activity and their perception of the benefits and problems of recycling as a whole. The research uses the quantitative and qualitative data from the survey to demonstrate how individual attitudes can impact on recycling and how such research can yield useful data to enable policy-makers to adapt measures accordingly.     

A Successful Pilot Project of Decentralized Household Waste Management in Brazil

Summary Present municipal waste management paradigms in Brazil do not allow for flexible approaches to solving an extremely dynamic problem. This paper discusses the basic flaws in present thinking models of residents and municipal administrators. Fundamental arguments presented on municipal solid waste relate to nomenclature, destinations, definitions, logistics, social dynamics, social assistance programs, education and employment philosophies. In each case, the consequences of the stalemate are explained in terms of the unsustainable situation of constantly growing landfills. In sequence, a proactive thinking model is presented and explained that has the potential of drastically reducing landfill size. It is called Municipal Transit Material Processing. The model has been tested successfully in small communities and is now available for scale-up. The landfill diversion achieved stands at 62% of household waste in comparison with 15% theoretically possible in Brazil with selective collection models. Although of necessity the arguments apply directly to Brazil, the basic ideas behind the reasoning may be extrapolated to other Southern countries. The following simple example will illustrate to the reader the type of paradigm inversion the paper proposes to convey. The classical political slogan in Brazil is “get children out of garbage dumps”. The inversion proposed and explained is “do away with garbage dumps”.     

Normative Influences in Household Waste Recycling

It is often stated that social pressures to conform to the norm can help stimulate some individuals into recycling. Whilst this can be intuitively accepted by most people, there have been few scientific studies to show if and how these normative influences can make any significant impact on recycling behaviour within a community. Normative influences, however, are not directly measurable quantities. Their presence may only be supposed either: (1) by showing that models of the expected effects are consistent with observed behaviours; or (2) by questioning individuals on their motivation for recycling. This paper explores both approaches. Measured recycling performance indicators have been examined for evidence that non-chance behaviour is occurring. Results show that if natural normative influence is occurring, its measurable effects are likely to be small and substantially masked by natural random variation. The effects themselves serve more to increase recycling frequency than to increase absolute levels of participation. Simulation studies, based on a new model of normative influence, show that increased overall weight recovery may be achieved, from a recycling scheme, through management interventions to stimulate normative influences. This is, however, at the expense of substantially more pick-ups being required to collect the extra weight. The simulation results are consistent with the hypothesis that there needs to be a certain threshold level of participants within a locality before the normative influences are triggered.     

Household Demand for Waste Recycling Services

Municipalities everywhere are coping with increasing amounts of solid waste and need urgently to formulate efficient and sustainable solutions to the problem. This study examines the use of economic incentives in municipal waste management. Specifically, we address the issue of recycling, if and when this waste management option is—on social welfare grounds—a preferred solution.A number of studies have recently assessed the monetary value of the externalities of alternative solid waste management options. In the present context, these subsidies could be interpreted as the implicit value of the benefits from reducing environmental externalities associated with landfilling as perceived by local government authorities. We surmise that the difference between mean households willingness to pay (WTP) for recycling services, via the purchase of a subsidized waste disposal facility, and the above (proxy) value of externalities reflects the difference between private and public perception regarding the negative externality associated with landfilling. We believe that this information is useful in determining the level of subsidization needed (if at all) to sustain any recycling program.The study is unique in the sense that its conclusions are based on revealed household behavior when faced with increased disposal costs, as well as information on WTP responses in hypothetical but related (and, therefore, familiar) scenarios. The article also explores the influence of the subsidization schemes on recycling rates. It was found that with low levels of effort needed to participate in a curbside recycling program, households participation rates are mainly influenced by economic variables and age, and households are willing to pay a higher price for the recycling scheme. When the required effort level is relatively high, however, households would pay a lower price, and the rate is influenced mainly by their environmental commitment and by economic considerations. We found that in both cases a subsidy would be required in order to achieve an efficient level of recycling. The median price that households are willing to pay for recycling devices is found to be about NIS 370 (New Israeli Shekel, approximately $90).     

Improving Pro-environmental Behaviours in Spain. The Role of Attitudes and Socio-demographic and Political Factors

Over the last 30 years, Spain has witnessed great economic growth. Nevertheless, in spite of an increasing degree of environmental concern, environmentally friendly attitudes and behaviours are still clearly below the European average. In this context, this paper analyses the impact of personal control and attitudes, and of certain socio-demographic, economic and political variables in the development of two environmentally friendly behaviours in Spain: consumption and purchase. The data were provided by a survey carried out in 2007 by the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (Centre for Sociological Research) in Spain. The results show the importance of personal control, level of environmental information, political ideology, age and educational level variables to explaining the development of pro-environmental-related consumption behaviours. Personal attitudes, work situation, female gender and level of environmental information influence pro-environmental purchase behaviour in a positive way. Taking into account that personal attitudes are more determining of pro-environmental purchase than consumption behaviour, policy measures such as informal education, tax measures, social and individual norms and interpersonal and institutional trust are discussed to increase the development of pro-environmental behaviours in Spain.     

生活垃圾强制分类形势下的多源废荧光灯管回收管理机制建议

废荧光灯管的来源广泛,包括工业来源和社会来源,社会来源又包括居民来源,企业事业单位、公共场所等机构来源,具有多来源的特性。废荧光灯管中含有汞,若不经过妥善处理,会造成环境污染,对人的身体健康造成危害。随着国内生活垃圾分类的开展,废荧光灯管作为生活垃圾中有害垃圾的典型类别被强制分类,但仍存在很多问题。本文梳理了我国废荧光灯管的产生情况、LED灯替代情况,并对美国、欧盟、日本和我国国内典型城市的废荧光管理情况进行了总结。针对我国废荧光灯管的回收现状,从责任主体、责任划分、收集渠道、资金机制等角度提出了相关的管理建议,为推动我国废荧光灯管的管理提供借鉴。     

加强废旧家电回收利用与污染防范

本文论述了废旧家电回收利用与污染防范的重要性，并提出了建议。     

Waste Management in Guangdong Cities: The Waste Management Literacy and Waste Reduction Preferences of Domestic Waste Generators

A questionnaire survey was conducted in 2002 on 1365 households in two prefectural-level cities in the Pearl River Delta, Jiangmen and Zhongshan. Three groups of issues are covered in this paper: 1) waste management literacy, concerns, and public participation; 2) waste recycling practices and the potential for waste avoidance; and 3) public environmental literacy. This study confirms findings from previous surveys and provides new information on important issues such as imposing monetary charges on waste and environmental activities, littering, source separation programs (SSPs), and public participation and expectations in local waste management. Saving up recyclable materials for redemption in waste depots is commonly practiced in mainland China regardless of the level of development of a city, although at the household level, high-income families tend to place less value on the revenues to be gained from redemption than lower income groups do. Data from the previous and the present studies indicate that such voluntary but largely economically driven waste recovery behavior diverts at least 10% of the household waste from the waste stream. Although uncompensated SSP is less appealing in the two cities than compensated SSP, it was found that when the median per capita income of a city reaches RMB2000 per month, a high participation rate for uncompensated waste recovery is more likely to occur. Education and income levels are the chief factors affecting littering behavior and the potential for waste avoidance. Contrary to general belief, the local Chinese community is active in microwaste management. The concern, however, is over the inability of the grassroots bureaucracy to deal with rising expectations for waste collection services and neighborhood cleanliness.     

The Impact of a Change in Collection Frequency on Kerbside Recycling Behaviours

The research monitors the changes in recycling performance indicators arising from halving the collection frequency of a kerbside newspaper collection scheme. The changes in the performance parameters are explained in terms of the underlying behavioural changes that could have occurred within the community. This interpretation is aided by a computer simulation of the kerbside recycling activity of the community. Moving from a 2-week collection to a 4-week collection did not substantially affect the number of households recycling, nor the overall weights collected. A small weight loss, however, may have occurred, from a small minority of households, unable to accommodate the extra storage demand of the new regime. Model predictions were consistent with the observed performance data. It is postulated that the scheme could withstand considerable intervention before significant behavioural changes are induced. It demonstrates that cost-cutting interventions can be undertaken without significantly compromising individual participations. The case-study also highlights the caution needed in the interpretation of the recycling performance indicators themselves.     

Population,Development, and Waste Management in Botswana: Conceptual and Policy Implications for Climate Change

Based on government and other relevant documentation, this paper explores the conceptual linkage between population, development, and waste management in Botswana and the implications of this relationship for global climate change. Population is increasing, albeit at a decreasing rate. Spatially, the population is becoming more and more concentrated as the rates and level of urbanization increase. Economic growth has remained consistently high. The combined effect of population dynamics and economic development are having a noticeable imprint on the environment in the form of increased waste generation. Poor waste management poses a real threat to environmental sustainability in general and climate change in particular because of inadequate technology, weak institutional mechanisms to enforce regulations, and low levels of sensitization among the public to deal with the problem. Mitigation measures are suggested to minimize the negative effects of waste management on climate change.     

高校生活垃圾分类回收及资源化探讨

本文通过对高校生活垃圾组成的调查,探讨了教学区、宿舍区、食堂等区域生活垃圾的分类回收模式,并对废纸、废塑料、废金属、废电池、餐厨垃圾等资源化利用的可行性进行了分析,建议通过加强宣传工作,健全管理机制,完善资源化市场体系等途径对高校生活垃圾进行分类回收及资源化。     

试论居民有机生活垃圾处置的最佳模式

垃圾分类收集基础上的资源化再利用是处理城市固体废弃物的可行思路,但分类处置在哪种环节操作更具有合理性困惑着管理者的实际选择。为此,本文以上海为例,基于浦东新区"十二五"生活垃圾分类减量专项规划,对小区生化处理机源头消纳与分类收集集中生化处置模式进行了成本收益分析,指出当前适于居民有机垃圾分类减量的最佳模式仍是分类收集集中生化处置模式。只有当居民按量计征垃圾收费等对群体激励的制度出台后才有望驱动小区生化处理机使用。     

A Systematic Review of Public Attitudes,Perceptions and Behaviours Towards Production Diseases Associated with Farm Animal Welfare

Increased productivity may have negative impacts on farm animal welfare (FAW) in modern animal production systems. Efficiency gains in production are primarily thought to be due to the intensification of production, and this has been associated with an increased incidence of production diseases, which can negatively impact upon FAW. While there is a considerable body of research into consumer attitudes towards FAW, the extent to which this relates specifically to a reduction in production diseases in intensive systems, and whether the increased incidence of diseases represents a barrier to consumer acceptance of their increased use, requires further investigation. Therefore a systematic review of public attitudes towards FAW was conducted, with a specific focus on production diseases in intensive systems. Four databases were searched to identify relevant studies. A screening process, using a set of pre-determined inclusion criteria, identified 80 studies, with the strength of evidence and uncertainty assessed for each. A thematic analysis led to the identification of 6 overarching themes constructed from 15 subthemes. The results demonstrate that the public are concerned about FAW in modern production systems. Concern varied in relation to age, gender, education and familiarity with farming. Naturalness and humane treatment were central to what was considered good welfare. An evidence gap was highlighted in relation to attitudes towards specific production diseases, with no studies specifically addressing this. However, the prophylactic use of antibiotics was identified as a concern. A number of dissonance strategies were adopted by consumers to enable guilt free meat consumption.     

Land Use Planning and Waste Management in Scotland

This study considers the planning system in Scotland as it relates to waste management. It examines local, structure and waste disposal plans in nine areas to identify links between the two systems. Initial findings reveal that statutory plans have limited influence on the location of new waste facilities and the reasons for this are explored. The European Union now requires the preparation of a National Waste Strategy (NWS) based on the principle of the waste hierarchy. The research concludes that effective waste management requires a close relationship between the NWS and development plans.     

废弃家用电器与电子产品污染防治技术政策

为了从源头控制家用电器与电子产品的刻度量，控制其在回收利用过程中产生的环境污染，国家环保总局、科技部、信息产业部、商务部联合发布了《废弃家用电器与电子产品污染防治技术政策》（环发[2006]115号），全文如下：[编者按]     

Motives as Predictors of the Public's Attitudes Toward Solid Waste Issues

/ Surveys focusing on solid-waste-related issues, conducted over a period of several years, provided data from independent samples of residents of a Midwestern, USA, community. The collection of these data yielded useful information about the relationship between residents' recycling motives and their attitudes toward solid waste management in light of several changes in the solid waste infrastructure of the community over that time. The initial survey assessed baseline beliefs and attitudes, while later surveys were conducted after the implementation of a community educational program and a curbside recycling program. The findings indicated that for recyclers and nonrecyclers, different motives predicted endorsement of solid waste programs and policies. Although a similar percentage of recyclers and nonrecyclers were in support of various proposed programs and policies, concern for the environment was found to be positively related to nonrecyclers' support of proposed programs, particularly before these programs were implemented. Prior to program implementation, motives other than environmental altruism were found to be related to recyclers' support of the programs. Additional findings support the idea that educational programs and increased accessibility to recycling opportunities affect the relationship between people's attitudes toward solid waste management and their recycling motives.     

Solid Waste Management in Nigeria: Problems and Issues

/ This paper is a presentation of the problems of solid waste management in Nigeria and certain important issues that must be addressed in order to achieve success. At the core of the problems of solid waste management are the absence of adequate policies, enabling legislation, and an environmentally stimulated and enlightened public. Government policies on the environment are piecemeal where they exist and are poorly implemented. Public enlightenment programs lacked the needed coverage, intensity, and continuity to correct the apathetic public attitude towards the environment. Up to now the activities of the state environmental agencies have been hampered by poor funding, inadequate facilities and human resources, inappropriate technology, and an inequitable taxation system. Successful solid waste management in Nigeria will require a holistic program that will integrate all the technical, economic, social, cultural, and psychological factors that are often ignored in solid waste programs.KEY WORDS: Solid waste; Management; Problems; Solutions; Nigeria     

浅议城市固体废物的管理与处置

根据调查了解和资料分析，文章总结了城市固体废物的现状，针对现实处理过程中存在的问题，提出了改进城市垃圾管理方式和处置技术。