The collection system for residential recyclables in communities in Haidian District, Beijing: a possible approach for China recycling

Recycling and reusing recyclables is an important way to solve the municipal solid waste (MSW) problem. As the collection of solid waste takes up the largest percentage of MSW management budgets, improving the collection of recyclables is important. Since the decline of government-run waste buying depots in the late 1980s, the collection of recyclables from households and waste deposit sites in China is done by buyers with small informal bases and waste pickers, who are usually unskilled rural people who have come to the cities. Because of this, the current system is seen to have social problems. So, the recyclable collection system has both social as well as economic significance. China is in the process of rapid industrialization and urbanization, and a new mode of community collection system is emerging. It operates by market mechanisms, with waste collection companies that are supported by the municipal government, establishing recycle service sites, and employing workers to buy recyclables door-to-door. This paper is a case study of the new system in the Haidian District, Beijing. It summarizes the system, compares it to experiences in other countries and discusses whether the new approach contributes to resources recycling in China.     

湘西民族地区农村剩余劳动力转移问题探讨——以湘西龙山县劳动力转移情况为例

对中西方关于农村剩余劳动力转移理论进行了比较,在介绍Lee E S“推拉”模型的基础之上,结合湘西龙山县的具体情况分析了民族地区农村剩余劳动力转移的动因和湘西农村剩余劳动力转移存在的问题,提出了解决的对策,并将“推拉理论”运用到我国民族地区农村剩余劳动力转移的实证分析上。     

PCDDs/PCDFs and PCBs in water samples from the Three Gorge Reservoir

The Three Gorge Reservoir (TGR) is the largest reservoir in China and its water quality is an important health concern, we have determined the concentrations of PCDDs/PCDFs and PCBs in the water samples collected at three seasons: August 2004, January 2005 and August 2005. The results showed that the average WHO-TEQ of total dioxins-like compounds (PCDDs/PCDFs+PCBs) was 0.06558 pg l(-1), ranged from 0.0008 to 0.32439 pg l(-1), which are much lower than other reported water sources. The main dioxins (PCDDs/PCDFs) are hepta- and octa-chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (CDDs) and chlorinated dibenzofurans (CDFs). Since the levels of dioxins may change after the last water-store stage, the present study provides important data to compare the water quality in the TGR in the future.     

城市环境质量多级模糊综合评价

文章将模糊聚类与层次分析相结合,提出了城市环境质量多级模糊综合评价法,并将该方法应用于宣州市环境质量综合评价,结果表明,该方法克服了综合指数法受人为因素影响大的缺点,较好地反映了环境质量分级界限的模糊性,并且较好地解决了权值分配问题,使评价结论更合理,可靠,是一种有价值的城市环境质量综合评价方法。     

Rapid determination of ETS markers with a prototype field-portable GC employing a microsensor array detector

The adaptation of a portable gas chromatograph (GC) prototype with several unique design features to the determination of vapor-phase markers of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is described. This instrument employs a dual-stage adsorbent preconcentrator, two series-coupled separation columns that can be independently temperature programmed, and a detector consisting of an array of nanoparticle-coated chemiresistors, whose response patterns are used together with retention times for vapor recognition. An adsorbent pre-trap was developed to remove semi-volatile organics from the sample stream. Conditions were established to quantitatively capture two ETS markers, 2,5-dimethylfuran (2,5-DMF) and 4-ethenylpyridine (4-EP, as a surrogate for 3-EP), and to separate them from the 34 most prominent co-contaminants present in ETS using ambient air as the carrier gas. A complete analysis can be performed every 15 min. Projected detection limits are 0.58 and 0.08 ppb for 2,5-DMF and 4-EP, respectively, assuming a 1 L sample volume, which are sufficiently low to determine these markers in typical smoking-permitted environments.     

Continuous, intermittent and passive sampling of airborne VOCs

Long sampling periods are often advantageous or required for measuring air quality and characterizing exposures. However, sampling periods exceeding 8 to 24 h using thermally desorbable adsorbent tube (TDT) samplers for the measurement of airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs) face several challenges, including maintaining stable and low flow rates, and avoiding breakthrough of the adsorbent. These problems may be avoided using intermittent sampling; however, the literature contains few if any reports that have evaluated this technique in environmental, occupational or other applications. The purpose of this study is to evaluate continuous, intermittent and passive sampling methods using both laboratory and real-world tests. Laboratory tests compared continuous and intermittent (active) samplers in a controlled dynamic test gas generation system. Field tests used side-by-side active and passive samplers in an office, home workshop and four smokers' homes. All samples were analyzed for a wide range of VOCs by GC-MS. In most instances, intermittent sampling yielded better reproducibility (duplicate precision of 10 +/- 6%) than continuous low-flow sampling (18 +/- 5%), in part due to difficulty maintaining low flows. Concentrations obtained using intermittent sampling agreed with those for continuous sampling, with downward biases resulting primarily from errors in flow rate measurements. In the field, more VOC species were detected using active rather than passive sampling. Passive measurements were 12% lower than continuous measurements, a difference attributed to declining uptake rates at higher concentrations over the 3 to 4 d sampling period. Overall, most measurements obtained using the three sampling methods agreed within 20% for a wide range of concentrations (0.1 to 230 microg m(-3)). Both passive and intermittent sampling approaches are suitable for long sampling periods, but intermittent sampling provides greater flexibility with respect to sampling period, and permits the use of multi-bed adsorbents that can capture a wider range of VOCs.     

Application of a novel cold activated carbon fiber-solid phase microextraction for analysis of organochlorine pesticides in soil

A novel and simple analytical procedure using cold activated carbon fiber-solid phase microextraction (CACF-SPME) was applied to determine organochlorine pesticides (OCs) in soil samples. The pesticides in this study consist of alpha -, beta -, gamma -, and delta -hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH). By heating the sample while cooling the fiber, the developed method not only provides better performance in terms of sensitivity, linearity and recovery but also offers shorter adsorption procedure than that of traditional headspace-solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME). The experimental conditions such as the amount of water, adsorption time and adsorption temperature were optimized. Matrix effects were investigated with different types of soils. We concluded that using the standard addition method was required for quantification purposes. The limits of detection obtained using the proposed method range from 0.01 to 0.05 ng/g, and the recoveries for CACF-SPME are in the range of 80.01% to 89.68% with relative standard deviation (RSDs) better than 8.60%. The proposed method was further applied to determine OCs in real agricultural soil. The results are in good agreement with those obtained using traditional ultrasonic extraction. The research demonstrates the suitability of the CACF-SPME for the analysis of OCs in soil.     

Trends of brominated diphenyl ethers in fresh and archived Great Lakes fish (1979-2005)

While few environmental measurements of brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs) were completed prior to the mid-1990s, analysis of appropriately archived samples might enable the determination of contaminant trends back to the introduction of these chemicals. In this paper, we first investigate the stability of BDEs in archived frozen and extracted fish samples, and then characterize trends of these chemicals in rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) and lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in each of the Great Lakes between 1979 and 2005. We focus on the four most common congeners (BDE-47, 100, 99 and 153) and use a change-point analysis to detect shifts in trends. Analyses of archived fish samples yielded precise BDE concentration measurements with only small losses (0.8% per year in frozen fish tissues, 2.2% per year in refrigerated extracts). Trends in fish from all Great Lakes showed large increases in BDE concentrations that started in the early to mid-1980s with fairly consistent doubling times (generally 2-4 years except in Lake Erie smelt where levels increased very slowly), though concentrations and trends show differences by congener, fish species and lake. The most recent data show that accumulation rates are slowing, and concentrations of penta- and hexa-congeners in trout from Lakes Ontario and Michigan and smelt from Lake Ontario started to decrease in the mid-1990s. Trends in smelt and trout are evolving somewhat differently, and trout concentrations in the five lakes are now ranked as Michigan>Superior=Ontario>Huron=Erie, and smelt concentrations as Michigan>Ontario>Huron>Superior>Erie. The analysis of properly archived samples permits the reconstruction of historical trends, congener distributions, biomagnification and other information that can aid the understanding and management of these contaminants.     

加强全过程管理提升环境监测质量

环境监测是环境保护的基本工作,是环境管理的耳目和手段。做好环境监测的管理,提高环境监测的质量极为重要。文章从环境监测管理工作实际出发,介绍了环境监测过程管理,分析了样品采集、样品管理、实验室分析等影响环境监测质量的主要因素,结合环境监测日常运行管理,对环境监测进行全过程分析,提出了监测人员综合素养、设备设施、全过程质量控制等质量管理措施,以持续提升环境监测水平,促进生态文明和经济社会的共同发展。     

不同碳源和碳氮比对一株好氧反硝化细菌脱氮性能的影响

利用间歇培养装置研究了好氧条件下丁二酸盐、乙酸盐和苹果酸盐3种不同碳源对好氧反硝化细菌X31脱氮性能的影响,并就不同碳氮比(C/N)条件下菌株X31的反硝化能力展开了研究.结果显示,不同碳源种类对菌株硝酸还原酶活性有明显影响.以丁二酸盐和乙酸盐作为碳源时,其脱氮效果均要明显好于苹果酸盐作为碳源.以乙酸盐作为碳源时菌株的反硝化速率要稍高于丁二酸盐作为碳源,其反硝化速率可以达到11.86 mg·g-1·h-1.不同碳氮比(C/N)条件下,X31菌株的好氧反硝化能力亦不相同.当C/N大于5时,脱氮率能达到90%以上.最适宜的碳氮比是5～6,在此区间能进行完全的反硝化.当C/N在1～14之间变化时,硝酸盐还原基本都发生在菌株生长的第4～10 h,整个反硝化过程中亚硝酸盐浓度一直保持在极低的水平.