A new methodology to calculate the environmental protection index (Ep). A case study applied to a company producing composite materials

Environmental indicators can be used as a first stage in progress towards comprehensive environmental impact measures [J. Environ. Manage 65/3 (2002) 285]. In this article, we develop a 'pollutant interaction matrix method' that allows calculation of a global environmental protection index (Ep) in order to verify the eco-compatibility of an industrial activity. Two methods are proposed for the Ep index evaluation (which represents the numerical measure of the environmental sustainability): the Direct Method (Epd) and the Weighted Method (Epw). Both methods need to define, in the whole industrial process, homogeneous sectors (defined as construction sites where activities of the same type are carried out). Furthermore, for each activity a set of parameters (t, duration of pollution effect, P, quantity of pollutant produced,G, hazard of the pollutant) are required to evaluate the relative pollution index Y. All indices calculations were carried out using a set of matrices. The correct use of Ep evaluation provides an improvement in the total environmental performance of companies because it points out possible critical operations in each homogeneous sector which require solutions. The methodology is applied to evaluate the environmental pollution risk of a company that produces polymer materials and to improve their environmental performance. The results obtained show that the whole productive process has a low environmental impact factor. Nevertheless the applied methodology puts in evidence some processes that generate local pollution in specific areas of the factory and which could be dangerous for the workers' health.     

Electrical separation of plastics coming from special waste

Minimisation of waste to landfilling is recognised as a priority in waste management by European rules. In order to achieve this goal, developing suitable technologies for waste recycling is therefore of great importance. To achieve this aim the technologies utilised for mineral processing can be taken into consideration to develop recycling systems. In particular comminution and separation processes can be adopted to recover valuable materials from composite waste. In this work the possibility of recycling pharmaceutical blister packaging has been investigated. A suitable comminution process has been applied in order to obtain the liberation of the plastic and aluminium components. Experiments of electrical separation have been carried out in order to point out the influence of the process parameters on the selections of the different materials and to set up the optimum operating conditions.     

Microbial Inoculants on Woody Legumes to Recover a Municipal Landfill Site

Tree and shrubby legumes have great potential in degraded land rehabilitation because of their ability to form symbiotic associations with nitrogen fixing rhizobia and mycorrhizal fungi. Extensive soil disturbance reduces natural microbial propagules thus preventing the formation of beneficial plant-microbes symbiosis. Reintroduction of selected microbial symbionts may improve the recovery rate of disturbed ecosystems. We inoculated selected rhizobia and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on two woody legume species, the mediterranean shrub Spartium junceumL. and the exotic tree Acacia cyanophylla Lindl. in order to recover a sealed municipal landfill (Palermo, Sicily, Italy). Inoculated plants showed shoot growth parameters 2 to 12-fold higher than uninoculated plants. After transplanting on the municipal landfill site, inoculated plants showed no transplant shock and low mortality (6–15%). The chemical analysis of P and N plant content showed no differences between inoculated and uninoculated plants suggesting that a dilution effect occurred due to higher biomass production of the inoculated plants. The beneficial effects of mycorrhization and rhizobium inoculum on growth parameters were still detectable one year after transplanting in S. junceum.     

Copepods and Larvae of Nematodes Parasiting the White Mullet Mugil Curema (Valenciennes, 1836): Indicators of Anthropogenic Impacts in Tropical Coastal Lagoons?

The relationship between parasites and environmental stress were studied in two tropical coastal lagoons of Northwest Mexico: Urias estuary (highly polluted) and Teacapan estuary (slightly polluted). Metazoan parasites were examined in 292 white mullet (Mugil curema) specimens collected bimonthly during a year from both systems. Haliotrema mugilinus, Metamicrocotyla macracantha, Ergasilus sp., Caligus sp., Holobomolochus sp., and Lernaeopodidae were found in gills, while Contracaecum sp. larvae III was found liver, hepatic portal vein and kidneys. Ecological indices were influenced by the slightly higher number of parasitic species in Urias compared to Teacapan, as well as the clear dominance of two species: Ergasilus sp. and Contracaecum sp. in both systems. In fact, Ergasilus sp. showed considerably higher abundance in Urias, possibly indicating that its success was a result of adverse conditions affecting the host, while Contracaecum sp showed higher abundances in Teacapan, suggesting that the environmental conditions occurring in Urias could have produced negative impacts on the nematode's infective potential.     

Agro-Ecological Analysis for the EU Water Framework Directive: An Applied Case Study for the River Contract of the Seveso Basin (Italy)

The innovative approach to the protection and management of water resources at the basin scale introduced by the European Union water framework directive (WFD) requires new scientific tools. WFD implementation also requires the participation of many stakeholders (administrators, farmers and citizens) with the aim of improving the quality of river waters and basin ecosystems through cooperative planning. This approach encompasses different issues, such as agro-ecology, land use planning and water management. This paper presents the results of a methodology suggested for implementing the WFD in the case of the Seveso river contract in Italy, one of the recent WFD applications. The Seveso basin in the Lombardy region has been one of the most rapidly urbanizing areas in Italy over the last 50?years. First, land use changes in the last 50?years are assessed with the use of historical aerial photos. Then, elements of an ecological network along the river corridor are outlined, and different scenarios for enhancing existing ecological connections are assessed using indicators from graph theory. These scenarios were discussed in technical workshops with involved stakeholders of the river contract. The results show a damaged rural landscape, where urbanization processes have decimated the system of linear green features (hedges/rows). Progressive reconnections of some of the identified network nodes may significantly increase the connectivity and circuitry of the study area.     

Comparison of morphological defences in asexually and sexually reproduced eggs of Daphnia (D. galeata and D. similis) against fish kairomones

In the present study, we investigated morphological changes of hatchlings from asexually and sexually produced eggs of Daphnia galeata and D. similis against fish kairomones. In both species, hatchlings from asexual eggs showed induced traits, such as short body length, long tail spine and high relative tail spine length when influenced by fish kairomones. However, hatchlings from sexual eggs expressed high relative tail spine length regardless of kairomones presence. The results showed that the inducibility of morphological defences depends on the egg type, with inducible defences predominant in asexual eggs while fixed defences are employed by the offspring of sexual eggs in Daphnia.     

Organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyl residues in reared and wild Dicentrarchus labrax from the Mediterranean Sea (Sicily, Italy)

The aim of this research was to compare the levels of organochlorine pesticides and PCBs in samples of Dicentrarchus labrax living in the Straits of Messina with samples cultivated in cages in the Mediterranean Sea. Muscles and liver tissues sampled over the months, within the same year, were analyzed. The quantitative determination of the organochlorine compounds was performed by GC-ECD and confirmed with GC–MS. The results showed that the concentrations of DDTs in muscles and livers as such of reared sea bass were in the range 0.2–1.3 μg/kg and 9.6 –48.4 μg/kg, respectively. In wild fish the concentrations of DDTs were very much lower: 0.1 μg/kg in muscles, 5.1–9.0 μg/kg in livers. Total PCBs levels were higher in cultivated sea bass than in wild fish; the concentration ranges were 5.3–59.7 μg/kg and 74.4–267.4 μg/kg in muscle and liver of reared samples, respectively, and 1.1–1.5 μg/kg and 63.2–109.4 μg/kg in muscle and liver of wild samples, respectively.     

Autochthonous clams monitoring of Ganzirri Lake (Sicily)

Two autochthonous clams, Venerupis aurea laeta and Cerastoderma edule/glaucum, collected for a period of 1 year, from May 2007 to January 2008, were studied in the Cape Peloro lagoon. On the samples, it was evaluated the presence of pathogenic microorganisms and proteins, lipids and yield edible part were determined. It was evaluated the concentration of mineral elements (Cd, Cu, Mn, Se, Pb, Zn) and organic contaminants (∑DDT and PCBs). Salmonella is never present in any sample. Total and faecal coliform values have always been under law limits for alive bivalves mussels production and sale. Zn, Cu, Cd and Pb levels were found in clams where they are slightly lower too. Both species do not show significant changes for Mn and Se. DDT and PCBs traces were discovered in Ganzirri Lake’ samples, but in all observed cases, they were below law limits. As a result of all these observations, it is clear that, in recent years, the bivalve’s use of Ganzirri Lake does not denote toxicological risk to human health.     

Speciation of inorganic arsenic in coastal seawater from Ionian and Tyrrhenian Seas (Sicily, Italy) using derivative anodic stripping chronopotentiometry

The purpose of this paper was to use derivative anodic stripping chronopotentiometry (dASCP) as a sensitive and accurate technique, to determine the concentrations of dissolved As (III) and As (V) in coastal seawater samples from the Straits of Messina, the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian seas, and to investigate the relationship between the anthropogenic activities on the coastal areas and the concentration of dissolved inorganic arsenic in seawaters. The obtained data indicated that As (V) was the most abundant species, with concentration ranging from 26.7 to 307 nM, whereas As (III) levels were lower than 48 nM in all the samples. In particular, As (III) and As (V) levels significantly decreased from high to low anthropogenic activities zones (p < 0.00001, ANOVA), with the reference samples, from a wildlife reserve, showing the lowest values. Furthermore it was observed that human activities influenced inorganic arsenic speciation, since the zones that received high human input presented the highest As(V)/As (III) ratio.     

Local versus landscape spatial influence on biodiversity: a case study across five European industrialized areas

Land use change—mostly habitat loss and fragmentation—has been recognized as one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide. According to the habitat amount hypothesis, these phenomena are mostly driven by the habitat area effect. As a result, species richness is a function of both the extent of suitable habitats and their availability in the surrounding landscape, irrespective of the dimension and isolation of patches of suitable habitat. In this context, we tested how the extent of natural areas, selected as proxies of suitable habitats for biodiversity, influences species richness in highly anthropogenic landscapes. We defined five circular sampling areas of 5 km radius, including both natural reserves and anthropogenic land uses, centred in five major industrial sites in France, Italy and Germany. We monitored different biodiversity indicators for both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, including breeding birds, diurnal butterflies, grassland vegetation, odonata, amphibians, aquatic plants and benthic diatoms. We studied the response of the different indicators to the extent of natural land uses in the sampling area (local effect) and in the surrounding landscape (landscape effect), identified as a peripheral ring encircling the sampling area. Results showed a positive response of five out of seven biodiversity indicators, with aquatic plants and odonata responding positively to the local effect, while birds, vegetation and diatoms showed a positive response to the landscape effect. Diatoms also showed a significant combined response to both effects. We conclude that surrounding landscapes act as important biodiversity sources, increasing the local biodiversity in highly anthropogenic contexts.