Simultaneous personnel and vehicle shift scheduling in the waste management sector

Urban waste management is becoming an increasingly complex task, absorbing a huge amount of resources, and having a major environmental impact. The design of a waste management system consists in various activities, and one of these is related to the definition of shift schedules for both personnel and vehicles. This activity has a great incidence on the tactical and operational cost for companies. In this paper, we propose an integer programming model to find an optimal solution to the integrated problem. The aim is to determine optimal schedules at minimum cost. Moreover, we design a fast and effective heuristic to face large-size problems. Both approaches are tested on data from a real-world case in Southern Italy and compared to the current practice utilized by the company managing the service, showing that simultaneously solving these problems can lead to significant monetary savings.     

Occurrence of PCBs and PAHs in an urban soil of Madrid (Spain)

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were analysed in surface soil samples collected in 2001–2002 at an open urban area of Madrid. In order to obtain representative samples, three collection points at the site were chosen. The most abundant PAHs and PCBs were phenanthrene, fluorene, pyrene, chrysene and benzo[a]pyrene and hexa- and heptachlorinated PCBs, respectively. The sum of selected PAHs (13 compounds) and PCBs (15 congeners) averaged 1 and 0.1?µg?g^?1, respectively. PCB levels in winter were 2–10 times higher than summer ones, while seasonal variation for most of PAHs were not observed. Good correlations among all PCBs were found. Five PAHs were also well correlated.     

垃圾站垃圾定量出料系统研究与设计

通过对垃圾站内垃圾出料现状的分析及不同出料方式的比较,确定了垃圾出料口出料系统的设计方案,提出了一种全新的出料方式,解决了垃圾站内垃圾定量出料问题.     

A review on political factors influencing public support for urban environmental policy

Environmental quality is important to urban residents’ physical, social and psychological well-being. Governments have been formulating and implementing policies to mitigate environmental deterioration in cities. To effectively implement policies and achieve policy goals, gaining sufficient public support is an essential prerequisite; the policies would be in ruins and the government may also suffer from setbacks in other policy areas in the absence of public support. Therefore, to understand what contributes to public support is a crucial task for policymakers. Though current literature on socio-demographic and attitudinal/psychological factors provides fruitful accounts for policy support, a comprehensive examination of political determinants has yet to be established. In response to this, this review paper explores political factors that influence level of policy support based on existing literature. An integrated framework is proposed to explain policy support for urban environmental policy. This paper also discusses the possible directions of future research.     

城市水环境治理运作机制构建与创新——基于对“武汉水专项”案例的分析

中国实行改革开放以来,工业化和城市化推动了城市经济的快速增长,但城市水环境破坏严重.政府部门曾采取一些措施来改善水环境,但并未有效解决污染问题.由于城市水环境治理问题的重要性和紧迫性,国家科技部在武汉市汉阳区启动"水专项"寻求有效的治理模式.由于采用新的制度安排,注重科学技术与管理制度的结合,明显改善了汉阳地区的水环境."武汉水专项"的试验显示出市场机制在城市水环境治理这类公益项目中同样是有效率的.构建更加有效的城市水环境治理运作机制既是必要的,也是可能的.构建城市水环境治理运作机制的核心是在确保水环境改善的公共目标的基础上,实现城市水环境治理投入的外部效应内部化,城市水环境治理可以成为具有广阔市场和丰厚盈利的现代服务业.     

The governance of private residential land in cities and spatial effects on tree cover

Trees in cities supply ecosystem services, including cooling, storm water quality management, habitat, visual screening and softening of built form. There is an expanding interdisciplinary field encompassing biodiversity, ecosystem services, and stewardship networks in cities. However most of this work focuses on public greenspace. While much work has been done to demonstrate that trees on private land are an important complement to the public urban forest, and to understand the social drivers of such, less is known about the governance of private greenspace in cities. Private land contributes to a significant component of a city’s tree cover, particularly in cities characterised by low-density residential suburbs. It is important to understand the mechanisms that govern private tree cover, given the pace and scale of urbanisation globally. We combined policy and spatial analysis to examine the influence of larger and denser forms of residential development on suburban tree cover and the scope of contemporary governance measures. We interrogated tree cover patterns in the rapidly densifying and consolidating city of Brisbane, Australia, to show that private residential tree cover is explained by dwelling density, housing age, terrain slope, high school education, and household income. Results show significantly (30%) less tree cover in low-density residential suburbs developed since the early 1990s. We develop five governance principles for reversing the decline of urban trees on private residential property that may be transferable to other rapidly developing cities in around the world.     

A framework for adapting urban forests to climate change

Planting urban trees and expanding urban forest canopy cover are often considered key strategies for reducing climate change impacts in urban areas. However, urban trees and forests can also be vulnerable to climate change through shifts in tree habitat suitability, changes in pests and diseases, and changes in extreme weather events. We developed a three-step framework for urban forest vulnerability assessment and adaptation that scales from regional assessment to local on-the-ground action. We piloted this framework in the Chicago region in 10 locations representing an urban-exurban gradient across a range of socioeconomic capacities. The majority of trees across a seven-county region had low to moderate vulnerability, but many of the least vulnerable species were nonnative invasive species. Urban forests in the 10 pilot locations ranged in vulnerability largely due to differences in economic and organizational adaptive capacity. Adaptation actions selected in these locations tended to focus on increased biodiversity and restoration of natural disturbance regimes. However, adaptation actions in more developed sites also included incorporating new species or cultivars. Lessons learned from the pilot area can be used to inform future efforts in other urban areas.     

关于美国城市环境管理的启示

城市环境管理是我国环保工作的重点之一,美国城市环境管理中的经验和教训,可以为我们提供一些借鉴。     

Re-thinking incentives and penalties: Economic aspects of waste management in Italy

This paper focuses on the dynamics the formation of operational costs of waste management in Italy and the effect of economic measures. Currently incentives and penalties have been internalized by the system no differently from other cost items and revenues. This has greatly influenced the system directing it towards solutions that are often distant from the real environmental objectives. Based on an analysis of disaggregated costs of collection treatment and recovery, we provide the basic elements to compose a picture of economic management in various technical–organizational scenarios.In the light of the considerations contained in the paper it is proposed, e.g. for controlled landfills, that the ecotax, currently based on weight, could be replaced by one based on the volume consumption. Likewise, for tax reduction on disposal system, instead a pre-treatment might ask an environmental balance of the overall system.The article presents a reflection on the last hidden costs associated with the consumption of goods and packaging, and how to reduce waste production is the necessary path to be followed in ecological and economic perspectives.     

浅议城市矿产示范基地建设的融资途径

针对发展循环经济的重点领域中的热点话题,在密切关注国家相关政策走向并结合本地区实际的基础上,通过开展＂城市矿产＂示范基地建设项目前期工作,探索性地提出了资源再生利用规模化发展的建设项目融资途径,并简述了政府推进循环经济发展的相关政策措施。