Policy trends of e-waste management in Asia

This paper examines the policy trends of electronic waste (e-waste) management in Asia. E-waste is a rapidly growing waste stream in the world today and is estimated to be growing at 3–5 % per annum. Fast paced obsolescence in the electronic sector has resulted in the generation of e-waste. There are concerns that e-waste generated in developed countries is ending up in developing countries especially in Asia resulting in adverse environmental and health impacts. Consequently, a number of countries in Asia are developing policy instruments to ensure the proper management of e-waste. These include e-waste regulatory frameworks, data and inventories, and infrastructure and capacity building. These trends indicate a positive development path towards sustainable e-waste management in Asia. Nevertheless, potential limiting obstacles for e-waste management in Asia may also include an over-reliance on legislation to drive e-waste management or the simplistic adoption of policies from developed countries without taking into context the local political, cultural and socio-economic waste management issues. Consequently, this paper suggest that e-waste policy development may require a more customized approach where, instead of addressing e-waste in isolation, it should be addressed as part of the national development agenda that integrates green economy assessment and strategic environmental assessment as part of national policy planning. In conclusion, policy trends of e-waste management in Asia appear promising provided there is a paradigm shift from an e-waste perception of an environment problem to a e-waste perception of a potential opportunity as sustainable national green growth strategy in Asia.     

Long-Term Effects on Soil of the Disposal of Olive Mill Waste Waters (OMW)

Disposal of untreated olive mill waste waters (OMW) is a serious environmental problem in many Mediterranean countries. The aim of this work was to assess whether changes in soil properties have occurred due to direct disposal of raw OMW on soil and in evaporation ponds, and to investigate the potential fate and transport of pollutants after olive oil production had ceased. The results clearly showed that uncontrolled OMW disposal is a significant source of pollution to surface soil and waters. Disposal of OMW on soil greatly increased electrical conductivity (EC), available phosphorous (P), exchangeable potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg), organic matter, polyphenols, total and inorganic nitrogen (N), and available micronutrients mainly in surface soil layers. The presence of a high content of clay and carbonates in soil act as barriers and prevent downward transport of pollutants. Residual levels of total carbon (C), polyphenols, total and inorganic N, exchangeable K⁺, available P, iron (Fe), and copper (Cu) were also elevated even 8 years after mill closure. The long term disposal of OMW highlights the need to establish soil quality standards for soil parameters in order to identify soils affected by the disposal of OMW.     

Health concerns of consuming cockles (Cerastoderma edule L.) from a low contaminated coastal system

Commercial and recreational harvesting of shellfish within the coastal systems is usually very extensive. Since these ecosystems are frequently subjected to contamination, namely from agricultural, urban and industrial activities, and shellfish generally display a high capacity to bioaccumulate metals, populations may be at risk in terms of toxic metal exposure as a consequence of the harvesting and ingestion of near shore coastal marine organisms. Shellfish is regularly tested for concentrations of metals and other contaminants by legal authorities for commercial purposes, but although health officials use total metal as standards of food safety, only a part of the metal accumulated in shellfish is available to be assimilated and to cause toxic effect. In order to elucidate these issues an investigation on cockles inhabiting the Aveiro estuary was conducted. Element levels in sediments and wild Cerastoderma edule from sampling areas with different levels of contamination were measured; total element burden of cockles was related to accessible fraction for assimilation (TAM); element concentrations in wild C. edule were compared to EFSA (European Food Safe Authorities), USFDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) and FSANZ (Food Standards Australia and New Zealand) maximum levels (MLs); and the amount of cockle flesh needed to be consumed to exceed provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) was determined. The present work showed that although sediment metal and metalloid contamination in Aveiro estuary is low the concentration of elements in C. edule does not reflect the contamination of the sediment. Aluminium (Al) and mercury (Hg) were the less and nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd) were the most bioaccumulated metals by cockles. Comparison of MLs from international organisations with the concentration of elements in C. edule showed that arsenic (As) and Pb exceeded standard levels. The ingestion of less than 1 kg for As and 1.5 kg for Pb of cockles would result in exceeding the PTWI threshold (0.015 and 0.025 mg kg?1 week?1 respectively) in any of the areas considered in the study. Cd and Al also appear to be limiting elements for human consumption. Indeed, consumption of more than 3.1 kg and 2.1 kg of whole cockle soft part from one of the study areas during a single week would lead to exceedance of the recommended PTWI value for Cd (0.007 mg kg?1 week?1) and Al (7 mg kg?1 week?1) respectively. The health concerns to humans from cockle consumption from Aveiro estuary are discussed.     

Development of a field test method to evaluate gaseous air cleaner performance in a multizone building

The performance of gaseous air cleaners for commercial and residential buildings has typically been evaluated using test protocols developed for a controlled laboratory chamber or a test duct. It is currently unknown how laboratory measurements relate to the actual performance of an air cleaner installed in a real building. However, to date, there are no air cleaner field test protocols available, thereby limiting the existing field data. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has conducted a series of experiments to support test procedure development for evaluating the installed performance of gaseous air cleaning equipment, as well as metrics for characterizing field performance. To date, over 100 experiments have been completed, of which 23 portable air cleaner experiments and 6 in-duct air cleaner experiments are described in this paper. Tests were conducted in a finished three-bedroom/two-bathroom manufactured house equipped with several gas chromatographs to semi-continuously measure air change rates and volatile organic compound concentrations. Experimental variables included air cleaner location, isolation of zones by closing doors, and contaminant source location. For each experiment, air cleaner removal of decane was directly measured using the air cleaner inlet and outlet concentrations, as well as with mass balance analyses using measured room concentrations. With a verified mass balance model, a field performance metric was developed to compare installed whole-building performance to the performance predicted by a laboratory result. The results provide insight into the protocols and metrics that might prove useful for characterizing the field performance of air cleaners as well as the impact of air cleaner removal on zonal concentration levels in a variety of situations.     

Women farmers’ perceived indices of occurrence and severity of observed climate extremes in rural Savannah,Ghana

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Climate extremes over the years have been a major concern for the globalized world. The hardest hit from these climate extremes are women farmers with...     

Quantitative modelling of Ostracod bioassay: assigning toxicity index to potentially chemical contaminated swimming pools

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - One of the primary objectives of any public health programme is to design a protocol that will curtail a population from being predisposed to toxic...     

Antibiotic resistance in aquaculture and aquatic organisms: a review of current nanotechnology applications for sustainable management

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Aquaculture has emerged as one of the world’s fastest-growing food industries in recent years, helping food security and boosting global...     

On the nexus between globalization,tourism, economic growth,and biocapacity: evidence from top tourism destinations

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Several studies have investigated the relationship between tourism, consumption of energy, globalization, and ecological footprint. However, the role...