Environmental performance indicators: an empirical study of Canadian manufacturing firms

The aim of this exploratory study is to examine the importance of measurement and use of environmental performance indicators (EPIs) within manufacturing firms. Two research questions are investigated: (i) To what extent are firm characteristics associated with the importance of measurement of various categories of EPIs? (ii) To what extent are firm characteristics associated with global and specific uses of EPIs? More specifically, this paper examines four uses of EPIs (i.e. to monitor compliance, to motivate continuous improvement, to support decision making, and to provide data for external reporting) as well as four characteristics of firms, namely environmental strategy, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 compliance, size, and ownership. This study contributes to the environmental management accounting literature by collecting and analyzing empirical evidence that provides a better understanding of the associations among firm characteristics and EPIs.     

Influence of academic education on the perception of wood in watercourses

Human perception of in-channel wood can influence decision-making about wood reintroduction in watercourses for restoration purposes. A questionnaire survey was conducted among first-year and advanced Polish students and professionals involved in the management and protection of watercourses in Poland. The purpose was to assess their perception of river scenes with and without wood in terms of naturalness, aesthetics, danger and need for improvement. Generally, students perceived riverscapes with wood to be less aesthetic, more dangerous and needing more improvement than riverscapes without wood. However, many aspects of the riverscape perception are subject to changes as the student progresses in studying. The culturally conditioned, negative perception of in-channel wood is reduced during the education of geography and biology students but enhanced in the course of water engineering studies. The improved perception of watercourses containing wood was most pronounced for the advanced geography students from a university in which some tutors conducted research on in-channel wood and could have transferred knowledge about and positive attitudes toward wood to their students. A comparison of the riverscape evaluation by biology students and national park managers indicates that education in the discipline facilitates understanding of the environmental significance of in-channel wood although its effects are highly insufficient to form the positive attitude toward wood-containing watercourses typical of the managers. In turn, the education of water engineering students about in-channel wood apparently dominantly emphasizes threats caused by its presence in watercourses, so that the students' highly negative attitude toward wood needs to be significantly moderated when the graduates begin working as water authority managers.     

Medical waste management in Turkey: A case study of Istanbul

The objective of this study was to analyze the present status of medical waste management in the light of the Medical Waste Control Regulation (MWCR) in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey. About 17% of the hospitals, 20% of bed capacity, and 54% of private hospitals in Turkey are located in Istanbul. The first regulation about medical waste management in Turkey was published in 1993, and as a candidate state, it was changed in 2005 in accordance with EU Environmental Directives. In this work, a survey of 14 questions about the amount, collection, and temporary storage of medical wastes was applied to 192 hospitals in Istanbul through face-to-face interviews. It was found that the estimated quantity of medical waste from the hospitals is about 22tons/day and the average generation rate is 0.63kg/bed-day. Recyclable materials are collected separately at a rate of 83%. Separate collection of different types of wastes is consistently practiced, but 25% of the hospitals still use inappropriate containers for medical waste collection. Almost 77% of the hospitals use appropriate equipment for the medical waste collection personnel. The percentage of the hospitals that have temporary storage depots is 63%. Medical waste management in Istanbul is carried out by applying the MWCR.     

Method to assess and optimise dependability of complex macro-systems: Application to a railway signalling system

Achieving a high degree of dependability in complex macro-systems is challenging. Because of the large number of components and numerous independent teams involved, an overview of the global system performance is usually lacking to support both design and operation adequately.A functional failure mode, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA) approach is proposed to address the dependability optimisation of large and complex systems. The basic inductive model FMECA has been enriched to include considerations such as operational procedures, alarm systems, environmental and human factors, as well as operation in degraded mode. Its implementation on a commercial software tool allows an active linking between the functional layers of the system and facilitates data processing and retrieval, which enables to contribute actively to the system optimisation.The proposed methodology has been applied to optimise dependability in a railway signalling system. Signalling systems are typical example of large complex systems made of multiple hierarchical layers. The proposed approach appears appropriate to assess the global risk- and availability-level of the system as well as to identify its vulnerabilities. This enriched-FMECA approach enables to overcome some of the limitations and pitfalls previously reported with classical FMECA approaches.     

Alkali-silica reactions of mortars produced by using waste glass as fine aggregate and admixtures such as fly ash and Li2CO3

Use of waste glass or glass cullet (GC) as concrete aggregate is becoming more widespread each day because of the increase in resource efficiency. Recycling of wastes is very important for sustainable development. When glass is used as aggregate in concrete or mortar, expansions and internal stresses occur due to an alkali-silica reaction (ASR). Furthermore, rapid loss in durability is generally observed due to extreme crack formation and an increase in permeability. It is necessary to use some kind of chemical or mineral admixture to reduce crack formation. In this study, mortar bars are produced by using three different colors of glass in four different quantities as fine aggregate by weight, and the effects of these glass aggregates on ASR are investigated, corresponding to ASTM C 1260. Additionally, in order to reduce the expansions of mortars, 10% and 20% fly ash (FA) as mineral admixture and 1% and 2% Li(2)CO(3) as chemical admixture are incorporated by weight in the cement and their effects on expansion are examined. It is observed that among white (WG), green (GG) and brown glass (BG) aggregates, WG aggregate causes the greatest expansion. In addition, expansion increases with an increase in amount of glass. According to the test results, it is seen that over 20% FA and 2% Li(2)CO(3) replacements are required to produce mortars which have expansion values below the 0.2% critical value when exposed to ASR. However, usages of these admixtures reduce expansions occurring because of ASR.     

Mercury in salt marshes ecosystems: Halimione portulacoides as biomonitor

Mercury concentrations were quantified in Halimione portulacoides (roots, stems and leaves) as well as in sediments from eight Portuguese estuarine systems, covering seventeen salt marshes with distinct degrees of mercury contamination. The concentration of mercury in the sediments ranged from 0.03 to 17.0 microg g(-1). The results show that the accumulation of mercury differed according to the organ of the plant examined and the concentration of mercury in the sediments. Higher mercury concentrations were found in the roots (up to 12.9 microg g(-1)) followed by the leaves (up to 0.12 microg g(-1)), while the stems had the lowest concentrations (up to 0.056 microg g(-1)). A linear model explained the relation between the concentrations of mercury in the different plant organs: roots and stems (R(adj)(2)=0.75), stems and leaves (R(adj)(2)=0.85) and roots and leaves (R(adj)(2)=0.78). However, the results show that the variation of mercury concentration in the roots versus mercury concentration in the sediments was best fitted by a sigmoidal model (R(adj)(2)=0.89). Mercury accumulation in the roots can be described in three steps: at a low range of mercury concentrations in the sediments (from 0.03 up to 2 microg g(-1)), the accumulation of mercury in roots is also low reaching a maximum concentration of 1.3 microg g(-1); the highest rates of mercury accumulation in the roots occur in a second step, until the concentrations of mercury in the sediments reach approximately 4.5 microg g(-1); after reaching this maximum value, the rate of mercury accumulation in the roots slows down leading to a plateau in the concentration of mercury in the roots of about 9.4 microg g(-1), which corresponds to a mercury concentration in the sediments of about 11 microg g(-1). A linear model explained also the accumulation of mercury in leaves versus the mercury concentration in the sediments (R(adj)(2)=0.88). Differences in responses of roots and leaves are explained by the dynamics of the plant organs: old roots are mineralised in situ close to new roots, while leaves are renewed. Previous studies have already shown that H. portulacoides is a bioindicator for mercury and the results from this work sustain that H. portulacoides may also be used as a biomonitor for mercury contamination in salt marshes. Nevertheless, caution should be taken in the application of the models, concerning the life cycle of the species and the spatial variability of the systems.     

Determination of Hg and diet identification in otter (Lontra longicaudis) feces

An analytical procedure for the determination of Hg in otter (Lontra longicaudis) feces was developed, to separate fish scales for the identification of the animal diet. Samples were washed with ultra-pure water and the suspension was sampled and transferred for digestion. The solubilization was performed with nitric-perchloric acid mixture, and detection carried out by the atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS). The quality of the analytical procedure was assessed by analyzing in-house standard solutions and certified reference materials. Total Hg concentrations were in the range of 7.6-156 ng g(-1) (July 2004), 25.6-277 ng g(-1) (January 2005) and 14.6-744 ng g(-1) (May 2005) that is approximately the same order of magnitude for all samples collected in two reservoirs at the Tiete River, Brazil. Although Hg concentrations varied with sampling periods and diet, high levels were correlated to the percentage of carnivorous fish scales present in the otter feces.     

Assessment of the PCDD/F fate from MSWI residue used in road construction in France

MSWI fly ash is susceptible to contain high amount of polychlorinated dibenzo-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzo-furans. However, the use of MSWI residue for road construction started in France at a period when MSWI Bottom Ash and MSWI fly ash were not separated. From four old road sites, MSWI residue, road soils, reference soils and geo-textiles were sampled and their PCDD/F contents were analyzed. MSWI residue show a great heterogeneity but also high amounts of PCDD/F (14-2960 ng I-TEQ kg(-1)dm). Soils underlying the road show less heterogeneity and PCDD/F contents between 0.57 and 7.23 ng I-TEQ kg(-1)dm, lower than ordinary soils. Moreover, the specific analysis of the 17 toxic PCDD/F congeners (notably the 2,3,7,8-TetraCDD) indicates the very low harmfulness of road soils. The study also allows to assert the relation between the MSWI residue particle size and the PCDD/F content.     

Exposure assessment of French women and their newborn to brominated flame retardants: determination of tri- to deca- polybromodiphenylethers (PBDE) in maternal adipose tissue, serum, breast milk and cord serum

In the frame of a French monitoring program, tri- to deca- polybromodiphenylethers (PBDE) have been measured in maternal and cord serum, adipose tissue, and breast milk samples, collected from 93 volunteer women during caesarean deliveries. The seven major tri- to heptaBDE (BDE-28, 47, 99, 100, 153, 154, and 183) were detected in adipose tissue and breast milk with cumulated median values of 2.59 and 2.51 ng g⁻¹ l w. Nine highly brominated octa- to decaBDE (BDE-196, 197, 201, 202, 203, 206, 207, 208 and 209) was performed in the same samples, with cumulated median values of 2.73 and 3.39 ng g⁻¹ l w in adipose tissue and breast milk, respectively. At this opposite, median levels of octa- to decaBDE in maternal and cord serum appeared significantly higher than the levels of tri- to heptaBDE in the same matrices, i.e. 8.85 and 12.34 versus 0.98 and 0.69 ng g⁻¹ l w, respectively.