Waste recovery using packaging waste recovery notes: a cost-effective way of meeting targets?

To comply with EU recycling targets for packaging waste, the UK relies on an industry run and market based eco-tax levied by reprocessors on obligated businesses. After examining the details of this approach, the use of Packaging Waste Recovery Notes is assessed in terms of its allocative impact and the contribution made to eco-efficiency. The evidence indicates the UK system has minimized the cost of delivering current EU targets, but has not been able to deliver allocative efficiency or to demonstrate dynamic improvements in resource use. Its effectiveness in meeting impending higher targets remains open to question.     

Greening the Fife Economy: Ecological Modernization as a Pathway for Local Economic Development

Progress in the greening of UK local government has been hampered by uncertainty about the relationship between resource use and environmental protection. Ecological modernizationmay offer the most appropriateparadigm to reconcile economic, social and environmentalinterpretationsof sustainability. The transition from corporate to strategic environmental management currently being attempted by some 'green' authorities can be construed as an attempt to promote ecological modernization in the form of institutional learning. Fife Council in Scotland provides an interesting case study. Progress with corporate environmental management has become bound up with a radical devolution of decision making. Efforts to link the authority's Sustainable Development Policy to a Local Agenda 21 programme have been initiated with the piloting of sustainability indicators.     

Effect of two major N-nitroso hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) metabolites on earthworm reproductive success

Soil and topical tests were employed to investigate the effect of two N-nitroso metabolites of RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine) on earthworm reproduction. The lowest observed effect concentration (LOEC) for cocoon production and hatching was 50mg/kg for both hexahydro-1-nitroso-3,5-dinitro-1,3,5-triazine (MNX) and hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitroso-1,3,5-triazine (TNX) in soil. MNX and TNX also significantly affected cocoon hatching in soil (p<0.001) and in topical tests (p=0.001). The LOECs for cocoon hatching were 1 and 10mg/kg for MNX and TNX in soil, respectively, and 10mg/L in the topical test. Greater than 100mg/kg MNX and TNX completely inhibited cocoon hatching. In soil, the EC20 values for MNX were 8.7 and 8.8mg/kg for cocoon and juvenile production, respectively, compared to 9.2 and 9.1mg/kg for TNX, respectively. The EC20 values for the total number of cocoon hatchlings were 3.1 and 4.7mg/kg for MNX and TNX, respectively, in soil and 4.5 and 3.1mg/L in the topical test. Both MNX and TNX inhibited cocoon production and hatching, suggesting that they may have a negative affect on soil ecosystems at contaminated sites.     

The role of digital data entry in participatory environmental monitoring

Many argue that monitoring conducted exclusively by scientists is insufficient to address ongoing environmental challenges. One solution entails the use of mobile digital devices in participatory monitoring (PM) programs. But how digital data entry affects programs with varying levels of stakeholder participation, from nonscientists collecting field data to nonscientists administering every step of a monitoring program, remains unclear. We reviewed the successes, in terms of management interventions and sustainability, of 107 monitoring programs described in the literature (hereafter programs) and compared these with case studies from our PM experiences in Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greenland, and Vietnam (hereafter cases). Our literature review showed that participatory programs were less likely to use digital devices, and 2 of our 3 more participatory cases were also slow to adopt digital data entry. Programs that were participatory and used digital devices were more likely to report management actions, which was consistent with cases in Ethiopia, Greenland, and Australia. Programs engaging volunteers were more frequently reported as ongoing, but those involving digital data entry were less often sustained when data collectors were volunteers. For the Vietnamese and Canadian cases, sustainability was undermined by a mismatch in stakeholder objectives. In the Ghanaian case, complex field protocols diminished monitoring sustainability. Innovative technologies attract interest, but the foundation of effective participatory adaptive monitoring depends more on collaboratively defined questions, objectives, conceptual models, and monitoring approaches. When this foundation is built through effective partnerships, digital data entry can enable the collection of more data of higher quality. Without this foundation, or when implemented ineffectively or unnecessarily, digital data entry can be an additional expense that distracts from core monitoring objectives and undermines project sustainability. The appropriate role of digital data entry in PM likely depends more on the context in which it is used and less on the technology itself.     

Removal of fluoride from water using aluminum-modified activated carbon prepared from khat (Catha edulis) stems

This study investigated the fluoride removal efficiency and adsorption of a low-cost adsorbent prepared using aluminum-modified activated carbon from khat (Catha edulis) in a batch-mode reactor. The operating factors, including pH, adsorbent dose, and fluoride initial concentration, were optimized using the Box Behnken design of response surface methodology. The correlation coefficient (R²) for the removal of fluoride was found to be 0.93, showing the validity of the developed quadratic model. The results showed that, under optimized conditions of an adsorbent dose of 2.47 g/L, an initial fluoride concentration of 2.1 mg/L, an initial pH 6.08, and 60 min, 90% fluoride reduction was achieved. Meanwhile, the adsorption isotherm and kinetics followed the Langmuir adsorption model and the Pseudo second model, respectively, with a monolayer adsorption capacity of 0.3065 mg/g. On the other hand, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy analyses revealed the formation of major peaks of components such as hydroxyl and carboxylic acids. The same optimum treatment conditions (adsorbent dose of 2.47 g/L, initial pH 6.08, and treatment time of 60 min) managed to remove low initial fluoride concentrations of 3.67 and 4.33 mg/L from real groundwater by 72.84% and 70.37%, respectively. The modified adsorbent prepared in this study successfully treat the low fluoride concentration to a level recommended by WHO for drinking water.     

Development and evaluation of a risk management methodology for pedestrian surfaces

This paper describes the development and evaluation of the Pedestrian Surface (PS) priority indicator (PS priority indicator). This tool was developed to comply with Australian Standard AS 4360: 2004 (Risk Management). Pedestrian surfaces should be evaluated to identify hazards and assess the level of risk calculated in order to ensure that the surfaces do not have a significant level of risk. If a significant level of risk is present, then control measures should be implemented. Pedestrian surfaces for the purposes of this research are classified as same level surfaces (excluding stairways) where pedestrians on foot (or by wheelchair) travel from one place to another.     

Performance assessment of NAPL remediation in heterogeneous alluvium

Over the last few years, more than 40 partitioning interwell tracer tests (PITTs) have been conducted at many different sites to measure nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) saturations in the subsurface. While the main goal of these PITTs was to estimate the NAPL volume in the subsurface, some were specifically conducted to assess the performance of remedial actions involving NAPL removal. In this paper, we present a quantitative approach to assess the performance of remedial actions to recover NAPL that can be used to assess any NAPL removal technology. It combines the use of PITTs (to estimate the NAPL volume in the swept pore volume between injection and extraction wells of a test area) with the use of several cores to determine the vertical NAPL distribution in the subsurface. We illustrate the effectiveness of such an approach by assessing the performance of a surfactant/foam flood conducted at Hill Air Force Base, UT, to remove a TCE-rich NAPL from alluvium with permeability contrasts as high as one order of magnitude. In addition, we compare the NAPL volumes determined by the PITTs with volumes estimated through geostatistical interpolation of aquifer sediment core data collected with a vertical frequency of 5-10 cm and a lateral borehole spacing of 0.15 m. We demonstrate the use of several innovations including the explicit estimation of not only the errors associated with NAPL volumes and saturations derived from PITTs but also the heterogeneity of the aquifer sediments based upon permeability estimates. Most importantly, we demonstrate the reliability of the     

An empirical examination of personal learning within the context of teams

Using a sample of 588 employees in 59 work teams, we tested a model that situates personal learning within the context of teams, viewing it as a joint function of teams' leadership climate (i.e., transformational leadership) and task characteristics (i.e., task routineness and task interdependence). Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that the positive relationships between transformational leadership climate and the two dimensions of personal learning (relational job learning and personal skill development) were moderated by the nature of the teams' tasks. Specifically, transformational leadership climate was more strongly associated with personal learning for members of teams working on tasks that were less routine, rather than more routine. However, no significant moderation was found for leadership climate and task interdependence. Our findings underscore the importance of taking into account the contextual conditions within which leadership influence occurs while also demonstrating the potential role that leaders can play in promoting employees' personal learning. Overall, our study bolsters theories that conceptualize adult learning as a transaction between people and their social environments and points to a practical need to match leadership styles with team task characteristics to unleash transformational leadership effects. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nutrient losses by surface run-off following the application of organic manures to arable land. 2. Phosphorus

Phosphorus (P) surface run-off losses were studied following organic manure applications to land, utilising a purpose-built facility on a sloping site in Herefordshire under arable tillage. Different rates and timing of cattle slurry, farm yard manure (FYM) and inorganic nitrogen (N) and P fertiliser were compared, over a 4-year period (1993-97). N losses from the same studies are reported in a separate paper. The application of cattle FYM and, especially slurry, to the silty clay loam soil increased both particulate and soluble P loss in surface water flow. Losses via subsurface flow (30 cm interflow) were consistently much lower than via surface water movement and were generally unaffected by treatment. Increased application of slurry solids increased all forms of P loss via surface run-off; the results suggested that a threshold for greatly increased risk of P losses via this route, as for N, occurred at ca. 2.5-3.0 t/ha solids loading. This approximates to the 50 m3/ha application rate limit suggested for slurry within UK 'good agricultural practice'. The studies also provided circumstantial evidence of the sealing of the soil surface by slurry solids as the major mechanism by which polluting surface run-off may occur following slurry application on susceptible soils. Losses of total and soluble P, recorded for each of the 4 years of experiments, reached a maximum of only up to 2 kg/ha total P (TP), even after slurry applications initiating run-off. Whilst these losses are insignificant in agronomic terms, peak concentrations of P (up to 30,000 micrograms/l TP) in surface water during a run-off event, could be of considerable concern in sensitive catchments. Losses of slurry P via surface run-off could make a significant contribution to accelerated eutrophication on entry to enclosed waters, particularly when combined with high concentrations of NO3(-)-N. Restricting slurry application rates to those consistent with good agronomic practice, and within the limits specified in existing guidelines on good agricultural practice, offers the simplest and most effective control measure against this potentially important source of diffuse pollution.     

Atmospheric lead deposition to Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia, USA

Contamination of the environment from atmospheric deposition during the twentieth century is pervasive even in areas ostensibly considered pristine or remote from point sources. In this study, Pb concentrations in a 210Pb-dated peat core collected from the Okefenokee Swamp, GA were used to assess historical contaminant input via atmospheric deposition. Lead isotope ratios were determined by dynamic reaction cell ICP-MS (DRC-ICP-MS). Increases in Pb concentration occurred in the late nineteenth century and a marked rise in Pb concentrations pre-dated the widespread use of leaded gasoline within the US. The 206Pb/207Pb ratios of 1.19 during this period were consistent with coal combustion emissions. A later increase in Pb concentration, concurrent with a trend toward more radiogenic 206Pb/207Pb ratios in gasoline is consistent with an increased input of Pb from leaded gasoline emissions. However, it appears that coal combustion emissions remain a major source of Pb to the Okefenokee.