19th century London dust-yards: A case study in closed-loop resource efficiency

The material recovery methods used by dust-yards in early 19th century London, England and the conditions that led to their development, success and decline are reported. The overall system developed in response to the market value of constituents of municipal waste, and particularly the high coal ash content of household ‘dust’. The emergence of lucrative markets for ‘soil’ and ‘breeze’ products encouraged dust-contractors to recover effectively 100% of the residual wastes remaining after readily saleable items and materials had been removed by the thriving informal sector. Contracting dust collection to the private sector allowed parishes to keep the streets relatively clean, without the need to develop institutional capacity, and for a period this also generated useful income. The dust-yard system is, therefore, an early example of organised, municipal-wide solid waste management, and also of public–private sector participation. The dust-yard system had been working successfully for more than 50 years before the Public Health Acts of 1848 and 1875, and was thus important in facilitating a relatively smooth transition to an institutionalised, municipally-run solid waste management system in England. The dust-yards can be seen as early precursors of modern materials recycling facilities (MRFs) and mechanical–biological treatment (MBT) plants; however, it must be emphasised that dust-yards operated without any of the environmental and occupational health considerations that are indispensable today. In addition, there are analogies between dust-yards and informal sector recycling systems currently operating in many developing countries.     

Seeking,Thinking, Acting: Understanding Suburban Resident Perceptions and Behaviors Related to Stream Quality

Theories in risk, psychology, and communication suggest aiming to inform the public about basic ecological facts may not be enough to influence knowledge of risks or behaviors to mitigate water quality risks. The risk information‐seeking and processing model and the theory of planned behavior suggest several additional variables that are likely to influence risk‐mitigating behaviors. We used data from a survey of watershed residents in Ohio to explore a model of behavioral intentions to positively impact stream health. Residents' informational norms, or the perceived pressure to know about local stream health, strongly predicted their information‐seeking behaviors. Active‐seeking behaviors predicted positive attitudes toward behaviors impacting stream health, which predicted intentions to positively impact stream health. Implications for outreach include couching communication in terms of risk found important to the local community, here wildlife were seen as negatively influenced by water quality, as opposed to plain reports typically provided by utility companies. Increasing social pressure to feel informed by emphasizing the existing knowledge of stream ecology among residents could change the norm for the less informed. A low response rate limits the generalizability of findings here, but leveraging these findings in outreach efforts could prove more successful in engaging the public to improve stream health and support policies to improve stream health.     

The Detection Rate of Enteric Viruses and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Clostridium difficile</Emphasis> in a Waste Water Treatment Plant Effluent

Waste water treatment plant (WWTP) is considered as an important source of surface water contamination by enteric pathogens. In this study, we describe the occurrence of enteric viruses (group A rotaviruses, noroviruses, astroviruses, sapoviruses, hepatitis A virus, and hepatitis E virus) and Clostridium difficile in the effluent of a wastewater treatment plant during a 1-year period. Enteric viruses were simultaneously and efficiently concentrated in a single step using methacrylate monolithic chromatographic support. Rotaviruses, noroviruses (genogroup I and II), and sapoviruses were detected in all 12 concentrated samples, whereas astroviruses were not detected in August and September and hepatitis A and E viruses were not detected at all. Clostridium difficile was detected in all samples and altogether 121 strains were isolated and grouped into 32 different ribotypes of which 014/020 and 010 were most prevalent. Pathogens detected in WWTP effluent partially reflect the epidemiological situation of enteric viruses and C. difficile in human population and open the discussion on implementation of possible techniques for virus and bacteria removal from WWTP effluent prior to release into the surface water system.