Life cycle assessment of the waste hierarchy--a Danish case study on waste paper

The waste hierarchy is being widely discussed these days, not only by cost-benefit analysts, but a growing number of life cycle assessments (LCA) have also begun to question it. In this article, we investigate the handling of waste paper in Denmark and compare the present situation with scenarios of more waste being recycled, incinerated or consigned to landfill. The investigations are made in accordance with ISO 14040-43 and based on the newly launched methodology of consequential LCA and following the recent guidelines of the European Centre on Waste and Material Flows. The LCA concerns the Danish consumption of paper in 1999, totalling 1.2 million tons. The results of the investigation indicate that the waste hierarchy is reliable; from an environmental point of view recycling of paper is better than incineration and landfilling. For incineration, the reason for the advantage of landfilling mainly comes from the substitution of fossil fuels, when incinerators provide heat and electricity. For recycling, the advantage is related to the saved wood resources, which can be used for generating energy from wood, i.e., from renewable fuel which does not contribute to global warming.     

Biological Integrity in Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plains Headwater Streams

The objective of this study was to assess the applicability of using landscape variables in conjunction with water quality and benthic data to efficiently estimate stream condition of select headwater streams in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plains. Eighty-two streams with riffle sites were selected from eight-two independent watersheds across the region for sampling and analyses. Clustering of the watersheds by landscape resulted in three distinct groups (forest, crop, and urban) which coincided with watersheds dominant land cover or use. We used non-parametric analyses to test differences in benthos and water chemistry between groups, and used regression analyses to evaluate responses of benthic communities to water chemistry within each of the landscape groups. We found that typical water chemistry measures associated with urban runoff such as specific conductance and dissolved chloride were significantly higher in the urban group. In the crop group, we found variables commonly associated with farming such as nutrients and pesticides significantly greater than in the other two groups. Regression analyses demonstrated that the numbers of tolerant and facultative macroinvertebrates increased significantly in forested watersheds with small shifts in pollutants, while in human use dominated watersheds the intolerant macroinvertebrates were more sensitive to shifts in chemicals present at lower concentrations. The results from this study suggest that landscape based clustering can be used to link upstream landscape characteristics, water chemistry and biotic integrity in order to assess stream condition and likely cause of degradation without the use of reference sites. Notice: Although this work was reviewed by EPA and approved for publication, it may not necessarily reflect official Agency policy.     

Cyanotoxin management and human health risk mitigation in recreational waters

The occurrence and severity of harmful cyanobacterial or blue-green algal blooms (HABs) have increased in recent decades, posing a serious threat of illness to humans. In some countries, water contaminated with cyanotoxins that is used for drinking or haemodialysis has posed a particularly serious risk. However, it is now recognized that recreational exposure to natural toxins by skin contact, accidental swallowing of water or inhalation can also cause a wide range of acute or chronic illnesses. In this review, we focus on the importance of cyanotoxin management in recreational waters. The symptoms related with HAB poisonings, the recommended safety concentrations limit for cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins in such waters, as well as early health hazard indicators of their presence and their monitoring are all discussed. We also present in this review an overview of the methods developed in recent decades for eliminating cyanobacteria and the toxic compounds that they produce.     

Arctic terrestrial biodiversity status and trends: A synopsis of science supporting the CBMP State of Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity Report

Ambio - This review provides a synopsis of the main findings of individual papers in the special issue Terrestrial Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing Arctic. The special issue was developed to...     

Is Gray Water the Key to Unlocking Water for Resource-Poor Areas of the Middle East,North Africa,and Other Arid Regions of the World?

Support for the use of treated gray water as an alternative water resource in the Middle East and North Africa is high, especially given the lack of religious restrictions against its use, but several obstacles have kept application of treated gray water near 1 % in some areas. The largest of obstacles include the cost of treatment and the ambiguity surrounding the health safety of gray water and treated gray water. This paper aims to provide an overview of current gray water practices globally, with specific focus on household-level gray water practices in the Middle East and North Africa region, and highlight the need for cost reduction strategies and epidemiological evidence on the use of household-level gray water and treated gray water. Such actions are likely to increase the application of treated gray water in water-deprived areas of the Middle East and North Africa.     

17 β-estradiol and 17 α-ethinylestradiol mineralization in sewage sludge and biosolids

Natural steroid estrogens (e.g., 17 β-estradiol, E2), synthetic steroid estrogens (e.g., 17 α-ethinylestradiol, EE2) and pharmaceutical antibiotics (e.g., ciprofloxacin) are chemicals detected in biosolids and sewage sludges because they partition into the solids fraction during the wastewater treatment process. This research utilized a three-way factorial design (six media × two estrogens × three antibiotic treatments) to quantify cumulative E2 and EE2 mineralization over 133 d (MAX) in a range of sewage sludge and biosolid samples in the presence (4 and 40 mg kg^?1) and absence of ciprofloxacin. The same three-way factorial design was utilized to quantify the impact of the six media, E2 or EE2, and ciprofloxacin on cumulative soil respiration over 133 d (RESP). Minimal ciprofloxacin mineralization was observed (<0.05% over 133 d), but despite its persistence, ciprofloxacin had no significant effect on MAX of E2 or EE2, and, in general, no significant effect on RESP. MAX ranged from 38.38% to 48.44% for E2 but from only 0.72% to 24.27% for EE2 although RESP was relatively similar, ranging from 101.00 to 866.54 mg CO₂ in the presence of E2 and from 69.55 to 893.95 mg CO₂ in the presence of EE2. The sorption-limited bioavailability of EE2, which is inherently resistant to biodegradation due to chemical structure, as MAX and Freundlich sorption coefficients (K_f) were negatively correlated. As such, the K_f values of EE2 were largest in composted biosolids in which EE2 was particularly resistant to microbial degradation as the MAX of EE2 was <3%. In contrast, the MAX of E2 showed a positive association with the K_f values of E2 because some steps in the E2 transformation process have been found to occur in the sorbed phase. The MAX of E2 was significantly greater in the biosolid and composted biosolid media than in any other media, whereas the MAX of E2 decreased in the following order: secondary sewage sludge > primary sewage sludge > biosolid = composted biosolid. This suggests that sewage sludges in municipal lagoons and pre-treatment holding lagoons are a more favorable media for mineralization of EE2, whereas biosolids in post-treatment storage lagoons are a more favorable media for the mineralization of E2. The presence of ciprofloxacin will have no impact on the potential E2 or EE2 mineralization rates in these cases.     

Applicability of polar organic compound integrative samplers for monitoring pesticides in groundwater

Polar organic chemical integrative samplers (POCISs) for the monitoring of polar pesticides in groundwater were tested on two sites in order to evaluate their applicability by comparison with the spot-sampling approach. This preliminary study shows that, as in surface water, POCIS is a useful tool, especially for the screening of substances at low concentration levels that are not detected by laboratory analysis of spot samples. For quantitative results, a rough estimation is obtained. The challenge is now to define the required water-flow conditions for a relevant quantification of pesticides in groundwater and to establish more representative sampling rates for groundwater.     

The Challenges of Incorporating Cultural Ecosystem Services into Environmental Assessment

The ecosystem services concept is used to make explicit the diverse benefits ecosystems provide to people, with the goal of improving assessment and, ultimately, decision-making. Alongside material benefits such as natural resources (e.g., clean water, timber), this concept includes—through the ‘cultural’ category of ecosystem services—diverse non-material benefits that people obtain through interactions with ecosystems (e.g., spiritual inspiration, cultural identity, recreation). Despite the longstanding focus of ecosystem services research on measurement, most cultural ecosystem services have defined measurement and inclusion alongside other more ‘material’ services. This gap in measurement of cultural ecosystem services is a product of several perceived problems, some of which are not real problems and some of which can be mitigated or even solved without undue difficulty. Because of the fractured nature of the literature, these problems continue to plague the discussion of cultural services. In this paper we discuss several such problems, which although they have been addressed singly, have not been brought together in a single discussion. There is a need for a single, accessible treatment of the importance and feasibility of integrating cultural ecosystem services alongside others.     

Waterfowl foraging in winter-flooded ricefields: Any agronomic benefits for farmers?

Winter-flooding of ricefields provides foraging habitat to waterfowl, which in return may bring agronomic benefits to farmers. Our study experimentally tested the effect of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) on the standing stalks and weed seed bank in the Camargue (France), both of which present major challenges for farmers. Three duck densities were tested: (D1) 5 ducks ha⁻¹ (historical nocturnal density), (D2) 23 ducks ha⁻¹ (present nocturnal density), and (D3) 300 ducks ha⁻¹ (Asian rice-duck farming density). The ducks reduced the stalks significantly: −27 % (D1), −52 % (D2), and −91 % (D3). Conversely, they decreased the number of seeds by only 3 % (D3) and the seed mass by about 21 % (D1 and D3), which was not significant. Besides they had no effect on seed species richness. This study clearly demonstrates that the winter-flooding effect on straw decomposition can be enhanced by waterfowl foraging, hence showing an agronomic benefit from ducks to farmers. However, there was no clear effect in terms of seed bank reduction.     

Dawn chorusing in guereza colobus monkeys

Dawn chorusing by guereza black-and-white colobus monkeys is one of the most impressive spectacles of African rainforests. This vocal behaviour is highly contagious, travelling from one neighbouring group to the next, until a wide forest area is covered by calling monkeys. Chorusing usually occurs up to 2 h before dawn, sometimes more than once, unless the preceding night was cold and wet. We conducted a series of playback experiments, which showed that guerezas’ chorusing was difficult to elicit experimentally, suggesting that callers took several variables into account before responding to other monkeys’ predawn calls. Acoustic analyses showed that morning calls were individually distinct, but we found no evidence that callers took individual identity into account in their decision to participate in chorusing. The only way to reliably elicit chorusing in our study area was to broadcast recordings of morning choruses for longer than 30 s and at a time when a chorus simultaneously emerged in a distant part of the forest.