Consumption patterns and household hazardous solid waste generation in an urban settlement in México

Mexico is currently facing a crisis in the waste management field. Some efforts have just commenced in urban and in rural settlements, e.g., conversion of open dumps into landfills, a relatively small composting culture, and implementation of source separation and plastic recycling strategies. Nonetheless, the high heterogeneity of components in the waste, many of these with hazardous properties, present the municipal collection services with serious problems, due to the risks to the health of the workers and to the impacts to the environment as a result of the inadequate disposition of these wastes. A generation study in the domestic sector was undertaken with the aim of finding out the composition and the generation rate of household hazardous waste (HHW) produced at residences. Simultaneously to the generation study, a socioeconomic survey was applied to determine the influence of income level on the production of HHW. Results from the solid waste generation analysis indicated that approximately 1.6% of the waste stream consists of HHW. Correspondingly, it was estimated that in Morelia, a total amount of 442ton/day of domestic waste are produced, including 7.1ton of HHW per day. Furthermore, the overall amount of HHW is not directly related to income level, although particular byproducts do correlate. However, an important difference was observed, as the brands and the presentation sizes of goods and products used in each socioeconomic stratum varied.     

Socioeconomic indicators and the survival of the tropical rainforest of cross river state of Nigeria

An internal household survey of socioeconomic indicators in the Cross River State forest communities showed that basic infrastructural facilities such as clean water supply, adequate waste disposal system, good roads and electricity are grossly inadequate. There is a total absence of modern family planning practices in the communities, and population is projected to increase by 44.8% between 2000 and 2015 and 85.4% between 2000 and 2025. The study revealed that about 65% of the population of the rainforest communities consists of subsistence farmers and power chain operators, and besides the 19% of the Cross River State Tropical High Forestry (THF) already reported to have been lost to agriculture and plantation between 1972 and 1991, about 9% was lost between 1991 and 2000. An additional 25% of the THF will be lost by 2025, leaving only 470600 hectares (4706 km²). With 84.1% of community members having an annual income less than $300, the survival potential of the Cross River State rainforest in the next fifty years is very low, unless an effective forest management programme is encouraged by government in partnership with all stakeholders.