Recycling in Jerusalem: right or privilege?

This study analyses disparities in the provision of environmental services in Jerusalem, specifically through the distribution of recycling bins. The allocation of recycling bins in Jerusalem is uneven. Some neighbourhoods have more than their share of infrastructure, while others do not have any recycling bins at all. The spatial distribution of recycling bins throughout the city is analysed across the ethno-religious and socioeconomic divides, enabling us to determine whether the opportunity to recycle is a right or a privilege. The findings demonstrate that the Arab areas are literally not serviced. Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Jewish neighbourhoods are discriminated against unless socioeconomic levels and population size are controlled. Therefore, waste-management policies reproduce social inequalities resulting in environmental injustice. Due to the fact that recycling in Jerusalem is voluntary and not obligatory, and that in general the public wants to recycle, the opportunity to recycle is indeed a privilege.     

Energy and temperature performance analysis of geothermal (ground source) heat pumps integrated with permeable pavement systems for urban run-off reuse

Geothermal (ground source) heat pumps (GHP) and permeable pavement systems (PPS) have demonstrated their effectiveness in both industry and academic research during recent decades. To meet the rising demand for sustainable, recyclable and energy efficient techniques, research has focused on the combination of techniques to enhance existing or develop new applications.

This paper reports on an experimental programme that combined GHP with PPS for nutrient removal and system energy balancing. Experimental data collected over a 3-year period have provided evidence of highly efficient removal rates of up to 99% for ammonia–nitrate and biochemical oxygen demand; and 96% removal rates were obtained for orthophosphate–phosphorus. This paper also contains energy efficiency ratio (EER) and coefficient of performance (COP) calculations. Cyclic heat removal and heat rejection allowed for stable temperature and pump COP and EER sustainability. The results prove that PPS systems are appropriate for GHP installation, delivering high and stable pollutant removal with EER efficiencies between 1.5 and 5.5.

The combination of GHP with PPS has the potential to provide a new sustainable and eco-friendly practice.     

Ecological and economical assessment of end‐of‐life waste recycling in the electrical and electronic recovery sector

Technological innovation and shorter product life cycles of electrical and electronic equipment coupled with their rapidly growing applications have resulted in the generation of an enormous amount of waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). To address the potential environmental problems that could stem from improper end‐of‐life management of WEEE, many countries have drafted national legislation to improve the reuse, remanufacture and material recycling from WEEE, and to reduce the amount of such waste going to landfills. With the introduction of such legislation comes an increased need for the recovery operators to evaluate the recycling costs and environmental benefits of reclaimed products and materials in order to select the most appropriate end‐of‐life options for individual products in WEEE. This paper presents a systematic methodology for ecological and economical assessment to provide a holistic understanding of the impacts associated with different end‐of‐life options for such waste. This assessment, in addition to providing decision‐support for the selection of the best possible end‐of‐life option for a particular product in WEEE, could also generate vital information to support the design and material selection processes during the initial product development activities. The assertion made is that the detailed considerations of the ecological and economical impacts associated with different end‐of‐life options will significantly improve the recovery and recycling of WEEE.     

电子垃圾中塑料成分的回收利用研究现状

由于电子信息等高科技产业迅猛发展,电子垃圾成为增长速度最快的固体废物。塑料在电子垃圾中占有很大比例,由于塑料回收成本高而经济效益低,往往采取填埋和焚烧的处理方法,随着资源环境危机加剧和人们环境意识的提高,电子垃圾中塑料的回收利用引起了人们的重视。为了促进电子垃圾中塑料成分的回收利用,综述了电子垃圾中塑料的种类及其数量,介绍了国内外电子垃圾中塑料的回收处理研究现状。指出了电子垃圾中塑料的回收利用研究存在的问题,并提出了解决当前存在问题的建议。     

废旧轮胎回收利用技术及其应用前景

对废旧轮胎的各种回收利用技术进行了介绍,废旧轮胎的回收利用方法很多,其中有直接利用方法,包括翻新、用于建筑材料、原形改制等;还有间接利用方法,包括生产再生胶、胶粉、热利用、热裂解等。在此基础上,对我国废旧轮胎回收利用方面存在的问题进行了分析并提出了相应的发展建议。     

我国原镁工业发展循环经济的潜力与对策

在分析我国原镁工业整体形势的基础上,就我国皮江法炼镁的技术现状与国外先进硅热法炼镁技术进行了比较,指出我国原镁工业发展循环经济的潜力所在。根据我国主要镁产区资源及其相关产业特点,提出对皮江法炼镁工艺进行改造和革新,以原镁企业为核心,联合上下游企业,构筑生态工业园以及建立促进原镁工业循环经济发展的配套政策体系为对策,构建我国原镁工业发展循环经济的基本思路,以促进其节能减排,实现可持续发展。     

发展循环经济是建设生态文明的必然选择

论述了生态文明是发展循环经济的思想基础和现实要求,指出发展循环经济,建全社会的资源循环利用体系,以最少的能源资源消耗及最小的环境代价,实现经济的可持续发展,是建设生态文明的一条基本途径和必然选择。     

日中构建办公设备废塑料的跨境循环

介绍了日本理光公司生产的办公设备废塑料的原料再生利用,及其在中国跨境循环利用的背景程和流程,指出将国内处理完结型局部再生利用系统和国际循环完结型全面再生利用系统融合驱动是促进资源环境可持续性发展的有效途径。     

研究建立再生资源回收利用数据库

回顾近年来再生资源回收利用发布的数据,对国家和行业制定法律、法规、政策、规划和计划起了一定的参谋作用,但缺乏权威性、规范化和准确度,数据相互矛盾的现象时常发生。提供准确数据,既为制定法律、法规、规划和计划提供科学依据,又是相关行业为政府机关和企业服务的重要内容。建立再生资源回收利用数据库迫在眉睫。并提出研究和建立再生资源回收利用数据库的建议。     

O3氧化-活性炭吸附在洗衣污水回用中的应用

洗衣污水回用对于中国当前强调发展循环经济、节能降耗的国情来说具有重要现实意义。以广州某洗涤公司采用O3氧化-活性炭吸附工艺对洗涤污水进行回用为例,发现此工艺方案运行稳定,处理后的水质满足洗衣回用水要求,且操作控制简单,处理成本不高,对于中国发达地区城市如何将洗衣污水进行有效回用提供了借鉴参考。