Financial sustainability in municipal solid waste management – Costs and revenues in Bahir Dar,Ethiopia

Providing good solid waste management (SWM) services while also ensuring financial sustainability of the system continues to be a major challenge in cities of developing countries. Bahir Dar in northwestern Ethiopia outsourced municipal waste services to a private waste company in 2008. While this institutional change has led to substantial improvement in the cleanliness of the city, its financial sustainability remains unclear. Is the private company able to generate sufficient revenues from their activities to offset the costs and generate some profit?This paper presents a cost-revenue analysis, based on data from July 2009 to June 2011. The analysis reveals that overall costs in Bahir Dar’s SWM system increased significantly during this period, mainly due to rising costs related to waste transportation. On the other hand, there is only one major revenue stream in place: the waste collection fee from households, commercial enterprises and institutions. As the efficiency of fee collection from households is only around 50%, the total amount of revenues are not sufficient to cover the running costs. This results in a substantial yearly deficit. The results of the research therefore show that a more detailed cost structure and cost-revenue analysis of this waste management service is important with appropriate measures, either by the privates sector itself or with the support of the local authorities, in order to enhance cost efficiency and balance the cost-revenues towards cost recovery. Delays in mitigating the evident financial deficit could else endanger the public-private partnership (PPP) and lead to failure of this setup in the medium to long term, thus also endangering the now existing improved and currently reliable service.We present four options on how financial sustainability of the SWM system in Bahir Dar might be enhanced: (i) improved fee collection efficiency by linking the fees of solid waste collection to water supply; (ii) increasing the value chain by sales of organic waste recycling products; (iii) diversifying revenue streams and financing mechanisms (polluter-pays-, cross-subsidy- and business-principles); and (iv) cost reduction and improved cost-effectiveness.We argue that in a PPP setup such as in Bahir Dar, a strong alliance between the municipality and private enterprise is important so that appropriate solutions for improved financial sustainability of a SWM system can be sought and implemented.     

The relationship among biodiversity,governance, wealth,and scientific capacity at a country level: Disaggregation and prioritization

At a global level, the relationship between biodiversity importance and capacity to manage it is often assumed to be negative, without much differentiation among the more than 200 countries and territories of the world. We examine this relationship using a database including terrestrial biodiversity, wealth and governance indicators for most countries. From these, principal components analysis was used to construct aggregated indicators at global and regional scales. Wealth, governance, and scientific capacity represent different skills and abilities in relation to biodiversity importance. Our results show that the relationship between biodiversity and the different factors is not simple: in most regions wealth and capacity varies positively with biodiversity, while governance vary negatively with biodiversity. However, these trends, to a certain extent, are concentrated in certain groups of nations and outlier countries. We discuss our results in the context of collaboration and joint efforts among biodiversity-rich countries and foreign agencies.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-014-0581-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Effects of growth substrate on triclosan biodegradation potential of oxygenase-expressing bacteria

Triclosan is an antimicrobial agent, an endocrine disrupting compound, and an emerging contaminant in the environment. This is the first study investigating triclosan biodegradation potential of four oxygenase-expressing bacteria: Rhodococcus jostii RHA1, Mycobacterium vaccae JOB5, Rhodococcus ruber ENV425, and Burkholderia xenovorans LB400. B. xenovorans LB400 and R. ruber ENV425 were unable to degrade triclosan. Propane-grown M. vaccae JOB5 can completely degrade triclosan (5 mg L⁻¹). R. jostii RHA1 grown on biphenyl, propane, and LB medium with dicyclopropylketone (DCPK), an alkane monooxygenase inducer, was able to degrade the added triclosan (5 mg L⁻¹) to different extents. Incomplete degradation of triclosan by RHA1 is probably due to triclosan product toxicity. The highest triclosan transformation capacity (T_c, defined as the amount of triclosan degraded/the number of cells inactivated; 5.63 × 10⁻³ ng triclosan/16S rRNA gene copies) was observed for biphenyl-grown RHA1 and the lowest T_c (0.20 × 10⁻³ ng-triclosan/16S rRNA gene copies) was observed for propane-grown RHA1. No triclosan degradation metabolites were detected during triclosan degradation by propane- and LB + DCPK-grown RHA1. When using biphenyl-grown RHA1 for degradation, four chlorinated metabolites (2,4-dichlorophenol, monohydroxy-triclosan, dihydroxy-triclosan, and 2-chlorohydroquinone (a new triclosan metabolite)) were detected. Based on the detected metabolites, a meta-cleavage pathway was proposed for triclosan degradation.     

“十二五”我国绿色贸易转型方案研究

改革开放以来,出口导向型的增长模式在拉动我国经济快速发展的同时,对资源环境造成了巨大压力,转变外贸发展模式、实现绿色贸易转型已经成为十二五贸易发展的重要方向。本文设计了绿色贸易转型的快速转型、中速转型与慢速转型三种具体方案,并运用中国能源-经济-环境CGE模型,在对2010-2020年期间中国对外贸易引致的进出口虚拟碳排放量、进出口虚拟SO2排放量、进出口虚拟COD排放量模拟计算的基础上,考察了不同转型方案对经济产生的影响及其减排效果。研究结果表明,快速、中速和慢速转轨方案对宏观经济指标的影响均较小,但快速和中速转轨方案对少数几个部门出口影响较大,三种转轨方案均能在方案既定的时间内实现贸易的环境平衡。     

A LOW COST DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM FOR SMALL FARMERS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES1

ABSTRACT: In areas where water is scarce, drip irrigation provides the most efficient way to conserve irrigation water, but its cost of £1000 an acre is prohibitive for most small farmers in developing countries. The cost was reduced by 90 percent by (1) making dripper lines moveable, so that each line reaches ten rows instead of one; (2) replacing 25-cent emitters with simple 0.70 mm holes punched by a heated needle; and (3) using £3.00 off-the-shelf 20 liter containers with cloth filters in place of expensive filter systems. This reduced the cost of a half-acre system to £50. The low cost system was field tested in the hill areas of Nepal, and in mulberry cultivation in Andhra Pradesh, India. Uniformity of flow from emitters was 73–84 percent. Small farmers reported that the low cost trickle irrigation system cut labor requirements in half, and doubled the area irrigated by the same amount of water. The low cost drip system is likely to be widely adopted by small farmers in semi-arid and hilly regions.     

一株处理含对苯二甲酸废水的工程菌的构建

采用染色体ＤＮＡ转化原生质球的方法，构建一株处理含ＰＴＡ废水的工程菌ＬＥＹ３。ＬＥＹ３能同时降解６种化合物：ＰＴＡ，萘，苯甲酸，十六烷，乙二醇，甲醇。用ＬＥＹ３对含ＰＴＡ生产废水作降解试验，ＣＯＤ的去除率在６６％￣９１％之间。     

Transformation of phosphorus during drying and roasting of sewage sludge

Sewage sludge (SS), a by-product of wastewater treatment, consists of highly concentrated organic and inorganic pollutants, including phosphorus (P). In this study, P with different chemical fractions in SS under different drying and roasting temperatures was investigated with the use of appropriate standards, measurements, and testing protocol. The drying and roasting treatment of SS was conducted in a laboratory-scale furnace. Two types of SS samples under different treatment temperatures were analyzed by ³¹P NMR spectroscopy. These samples were dried by a vacuum freeze dryer at ?50 °C and a thermoelectric thermostat drying box at 105 °C. Results show that the inorganic P (IP) content increased as the organic P content decreased, and the bio-availability of P increased because IP is a form of phosphorous that can be directly absorbed by plants. ³¹P NMR analysis results indicate the change in P fractions at different temperatures. Non-apatite P was the dominant form of P under low-temperature drying and roasting, whereas apatite P was the major one under high-temperature drying and roasting. Results indicate that temperature affects the transformation of P.     

Environmental leapfrogging in developing countries: A critical assessment and reconstruction

It has been suggested in recent years that developing countries need not pass through the dirty stages of industrial growth that marred the past of today's developed countries. Instead, they may be able to bypass these by leapfrogging straight to modern, clean technologies as an integral part of capacity addition. This article critically reviews existing approaches to leapfrogging. It argues that they are not only characterized by considerable ambiguity, but also based on an incomplete understanding of the technological and policy requirements of cleaner industrialization. Consequently, the article goes on to offer a number of suggestions as to how current approaches might be advanced so as to better meet the challenge of leapfrogging. Amongst these suggestions is greater clarification of the specific targets for leapfrogging and policy intervention to accelerate the development of technological capabilities needed to select, absorb and innovate leapfrog technologies.     

解决我国钾矿资源对策的新思路

目前我国钾矿资源紧缺，生产的钾肥不足，因而农业严重缺钾。为了改变这种局面，本文从战略的高度提出了对策：理顺和拓宽我国找钾新思路，扩大找钾领域，充分发挥和利用国内外两种资源、两个市场的互为补充举措，投资开发周边邻国钾矿资源和开辟国内液态钾矿-富钾卤水的勘查开发，是解决我国钾矿资源短缺的两个重要的有效途径。     

Deep Geological CO2 Storage: Principles Reviewed, and Prospecting for Bio-energy Disposal Sites

The principles of hydrocarbon exploration and production provide well-established and tested principles and technologies to investigate storage of fluids in the subsurface. CO₂ can be stored in the subsurface using settings of: (A) thick permeable coal seams; (B) depleted oil and gas fields; (C) saline aquifers of regional extent, with an overlying seal. The North Sea Sleipner project shows that CO₂ can be injected into the pore space of deep geological aquifers deeper than 800 m at 1 Mt/yr, using established technology. Suitable sediment sequences of saline aquifers exist in all hydrocarbon-producing areas, are volumetrically much larger than exploited oil and gas fields, and hold the potential to easily store all worldwide CO₂ emissions until 2050. Geological principles are established to assess entire continents for candidate sites of CO₂ storage. This shows that opportunity may be widespread, but needs more specific local investigations. Onshore sub-Saharan Africa is considered the most problematic region – but even here there are potentially viable sediment sequences. No demonstration projects currently exist for CO₂ capture and storage using small-scale onshore facilities. A simple estimate, assuming CO₂ value of $20 per ton, suggests that single boreholes onshore may be viable over 20 years with supply rates of 100,000 ton CO₂ per year. In principle, atmospheric CO₂ could be captured by cultivated biomass, and co-fired in existing power stations. Or energy crops could be grown, CO₂ to be used, and stored deep below ground, in a country distant from an original fossil-fuel CO₂ emission site.