60 research outputs found
Optimizing Solid Waste Management in Semi-Public Spaces: A Case Study of the Efteling Theme Park
No full textThis research focuses on identifying and evaluating ways to improve the sustainability of solid waste management (SWM) in semi-public spaces using the Efteling theme park as a case study. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to apply an integrated waste management approach to optimize SWM in this context. The approach consists of assessing the integrated environmental and economic burdens of the collection, transportation, sorting and treatment processes of a SWMstrategy. Approximately 10 alternative high potential SWM strategies were composed and selected out of a very large pool of possible SWM strategies. The environmental and economic impact of these high potential SWM strategies for the Efteling case was subsequently assessed using the WARM LCA model and a custom economic assessment model. The results reveal that emission reductions of up to 190 ton CO2 equivalents (TCO2E’s) per year, relative to the current strategy, can already be achieved by separating and recycling more fractions from behind-the-scenes (BTS) waste. This corresponds to an increase in yearly avoided SWM system emissions of about 25% for the Efteling case (from a life-cycle perspective). When public/semi-public (PSP) waste is also included, emission reductions of up to 800 TCO2E’s per year can be achieved for single-fraction separation (e.g. PMD or PET) and up to 960 TCO2E’s per year for two-fraction separation (e.g. PMD + paper or PMD + cups). This corresponds to major increases in avoided SWM system emissions of 110% and 131% respectively. It was also found that small interventions in the transport and/or treatment waste management components can make a big difference in the environmental and/or economic impact of a SWM strategy. A majority of the alternative SWM strategies has an eco-efficiency (emission reduction cost-effectiveness) ranging from €39 to about €140 per TCO2E saving. This eco-efficiency is (much) higher than that of a range of benchmarks such as the eco-efficiency of solar-pv panels at a non-industrial scale, wind turbines at sea and the eco-efficiency of office building insulation. This indicates that optimizing waste management should be given more priority in (scientific) research as well as in practice.Transport, Infrastructure and Logistic
Solid Waste Management (SWM) at a University Campus (Part 1/10): Comprehensive-Review on Legal Framework and Background to Waste Management, at a Global Context
No full textThis-work, being the-first, in-a-series of 10, was intended to-provide a-sufficient-introductory to SWM; yet, it can also-be-treated-as an-independent and a-complete-piece. This-article starts-with a-concentrated-digest (synthesized from over 400 published-reference-documents), providing a-starting point, for readers, interested in-advanced-investigation on the-topic. As-such, the-following-issues were presented and analyzed: SWM history; Global and regional-generation-rates; WM-‘value-chain’; SWM-technologies; Impacts of uncontrolled-SW; International-Conventions, Protocols, Agreements, and commitments, addressing SWM, and their-analysis; as-well-as Global-SWM-practices (including municipal-waste management) and current-challenges, incorporating POPs. It was concluded, that waste is completely-unavoidable in-any, and every-human-activity; however, the-way the-waste is handled, stored, collected, and disposed-off, will-determine the-quality of our-surrounding-environment, to-be-either; clean, pleasant, healthy, and sustainable, or filthy, disgusting, harmful, and wasteful. The-way each-individual, company/organization, government, and society, at-large, deal with their-waste, will-eventually-determine our-own-future, as-humans. The-study also justified, that the-waste should-be-treated as a-resource, as it still-contains many-valuable-materials. The-study also-offered a-new-analogy; the-sustainable SWM-system should-be analogous to-a-digestive-system, extracting all-the-recyclables from the-waste, and only then discarding, the-small-remainder/waste. The-author, also-believes that Recycling (with a-capital R) is the-future of human-civilization; however, it must be done in the-environmentally sound-sustainable-manner, to-protect health of workers, and also to-extract the-optimum-amount of valuable-materials, from the-waste. This-study also-exposed, that despite the-existence of International, regional, and multilateral-agreements, illegal-trafficking of hazardous, toxic, radioactive, and e-waste, is still widely-practiced. Such-practices can-be regarded-as Environmental-racism, conducted by, or with the-help of, an-international-‘eco-mafia’. Environmental-racism was analyzed against human-rights; in-the-context of both; the-Universal-Declaration of Human-Rights and the-generation-approach. The-author also-justified, that Environmental-racism is real, alive, and widespread-global-trend, affecting many, if not all-countries. Environmental-racism is a-sin, against humanity; logically, as any-sin, it should-be exposed, condemned, and fought against, with every-fibre, of impartiality, left in-us. The-study also-exposed an-increasing-interest of majority of African-countries in inherently-dangerous nuclear-energy (with its-by-product--radioactive-waste); the-recommendation was offered, to-shift their-interest to clean/green/renewable-energy-sector, particularly solar-energy. There is also a-common-prejudiced stereotyped-misconception, that, in-the-developed-countries almost-everything (including WM) is: superior, brainy, flawless, highly-organized, and tidy; in-contrast, in-developing countries, and particularly in-the-‘dark’-continent of Africa, almost-everything (including WM) is substandard, mediocre, unsound, ad-hoc, and filthy. The-selected-examples, provided in-this-paper, will, possibly, demonstrate, that the-current-situation, at-least, with-regard-to WM, is not so ‘black and white’. This-paper has also-offered several-recommendations for further-research. Lastly, this-article does not claim to-be fully comprehensive, as it-is physically-impossible ‘to-fill an-ocean into a-small-cup’, and even the-most-comprehensive-review, have to-stop, at a-certain-point. Nevertheless, the-cohesive-theoretical-background, alongside-with author’s analytical-scholarly-input, hopefully provides a-credible-contribution to-the-body of knowledge, on-the-subject-matter, as-well-as a ‘food-for-thought’. With anticipation, this-work will not only attract, but also hold, considerable-attention, from SWM stakeholders, and other-interested-parties, both; locally and internationally. Keywords: Environmental racism, Convention, human rights, ‘eco’ mafia, POPs, e-waste, toxic, hazardous, radioactive, nuclear plants, solar energy, Africa.
Resident's concerns and attitudes towards Solid Waste Management facilities
No full textBecause of limited space, the siting and construction of a new SWM facility is a big challenge in Japan. An SWM facility should be socially accepted as well as environmentally and economically sound. This study aimed to investigate people’s concerns about SWM facilities and their attitudes towards such facilities. A questionnaire was designed based on literature reviews and was sent to residents in three municipalities with different backgrounds. The questions covered concerns on the impact of an SWM facility, management aspects, unfairness of facility siting, and attitudes to facility construction. Of the many concerns, “pollution and health effect” had the highest rating, followed by “reliability”, “damage to nature” and “cost”. The rating was different between municipalities, reflecting their geographic and social backgrounds. Using factor analysis, correlations among concerns were analyzed, and five principal components were extracted, namely “pollution”, “nuisance”, “facility management”, “planning of facility”, and “merit/demerit”. Although obvious correlations were not found between individual items of concern and attitudes to construction of a facility, the discriminant analysis indicated dominant concerns of attitudes, but the disagreement between actual impact and citizens were found. As for attributes, the “opposed” attitude decreased for residents who had visited an SWM facility, even if they had only seen it from outside
Solid Waste Management Awareness and Practices of DLSU SHS Manila Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textCOVID-19 prompted social distancing and increased solid waste from personal protective equipment and single-use products. Starting S.Y. 2022 - 2023, DLSU Manila Senior High School (DLSU-M SHS) offered Blended Flexible Learning (BFL) for partial face-to-face learning. Correspondingly, this study aimed to provide data for university stakeholders regarding Solid Waste Management (SWM) policies. This research identified DLSU-M SHS students\u27 influences of awareness regarding SWM, their awareness levels, and the extent of SWM practices. The researchers pilot-tested and modified the Solid Waste Management Awareness and Practices Questionnaire from Molina and Catan (2021) to address the objectives and fit University policies with the pandemic. Questions were structured using Likert scales and analyzed quantitatively. From 114 responses categorized using SHS strands, the overall results revealed that social media affected SWM awareness the most, while newspapers/magazines had the least impact, possibly due to the rise of convenient technologies for information. All strands scored very high for the effects of improper disposal, prohibited activities, SWM importance, and students\u27 roles and responsibilities. However, only ADT scored very high for school intervention for solid waste, while ABM, HUMSS, and STEM scored high. Comparatively, all strands scored high for defining solid waste and relevant laws. Regarding all strands\u27 SWM practices, segregation and reusing were always done, reduction and disposal were often done, while recycling was often done for ADT but only seldom for the rest. Significantly, ADT students\u27 art-crafting subjects may have contributed to their outstanding SWM awareness and practices, while the remaining strands may need further SWM education
Conditioning of aggressive water in Suriname
No full textIn Suriname groundwater is mostly used for drinking water production. Depending on the ground layers from which groundwater is extracted, groundwater is characterized as aggressive water. The disadvantage of aggressive water is its ability to cause corrosion of metal pipelines and cement bound materials. In drinking water practice this water type is conditioned by means of air stripping, dosing of hydroxides or filtration through carbonate rich media. Currently the drinking water company SWM in Suriname suffers from water quality problems regarding low pH and occasionally low hardness and low alkalinity. These water quality problems are observed at pumping stations with aggressive raw water. Despite the conditioning of the aggressive groundwater by means of shell filtration, the drinking water quality does not satisfy the National Drinking Water Standards and VEWIN recommendations. It is noticed that in Suriname there are no strict guidelines for the water quality of drinking water and for the treatment of aggressive groundwater. Due to the fact that shells are also used for many other purposes such as the improvement and neutralization of acidic agricultural grounds, the shell provision is threatened to run out in the long term. Therefore it is important that alternative materials are found for shells. The objective of this research is to determine: Operational guidelines for several SWM pumping stations regarding necessary filter bed height, and refilling frequency of shell filters, Necessary treatment processes for several SWM pumping stations with water quality problems, based on water quality data of the raw water of the pumping stations.Sanitary EngineeringWatermanagementCivil Engineering and Geoscience
Mapping the future: Unveiling global trends in smart waste management research
No full textThis study aims to investigate the current landscape and collaborative dynamics of research integrating Big Data with smart waste management (SWM) through a comprehensive bibliometric analysis. We examined 2,808 scientific articles published from 2007 to 2024 using advanced bibliometric tools, VOSviewer and R-Studio (Bibliometrix R Package), to understand trends, influential contributions, and research gaps. Our findings reveal key collaboration networks, author dynamics, and international cooperation patterns, highlighting productive countries, regions, and organizations in this emerging field. The analysis of publication and citation trends shows a significant growth in research output over the studied period, indicating increased interest and investment in SWM research. Additionally, we identified the top 10 journals, authors, countries, and organizations leading in productivity. By constructing author co-citation cluster networks from Web of Science data, we mapped prominent research clusters and organizational collaborations that drive advancements in SWM, particularly within smart cities. While the findings underscore notable progress, they also reveal that many organizations remain in the early stages of SWM exploration. These insights can help researchers and policymakers strengthen collaborative networks, accelerate research development, and support practical applications of SWM solutions. We also discuss limitations in bibliometric classification methods and propose future research directions, including more in-depth content analyses of SWM and related technologies
Microbial demethylation of dimethylsulfoniopropionate and methylthiopropionate
No full textAs discussed in chapter 1 , there is an increased interest in the production of certain natural sulfur-containing flavor compounds or flavor precursors. Production of natural flavors is becoming increasingly important, because consumerts end to prefer natural compounds for health reasons. With the aid of extraction techniques it is possible to obtain flavors directly from plant material, but these methods are time consuming and expensive, because the most interesting flavors are present in only very low concentrations. A more recent method to produce flavors is based on a biotechnological approach where natural precursors, isolated mainly from plant material, can be convertedt o the desired flavor in a bioreactor with the aid of enzymes and/or microorganisms.
Optimal design of spacers in reverse osmosis
No full textSpiral-wound membrane (SWM) modules are the most common membrane configuration utilized in reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration. The enhancement of SWM module design, particularly in the geometric design of the feed spacer, can play a crucial role in the cost and the potential for wider application of these modules. The feed spacer influences the flux, pressure losses and fouling in the membrane process and consequently the product water unit cost. Despite the shift in the application of SWM modules of RO toward low salinity sources and the resulting higher sensitivity performance using these waters, the configuration and orientation of feed spacers have not significantly changed since the original design. A wider use of SWM modules, therefore, requires the adaptation of geometric parameters of the feed spacer to the water source. Improving the feed spacer's design according to the feed water type requires the knowledge of previous studies conducted in spacer-filled channels as well as further needed investigations in future. This paper reviews the role of the feed spacer in SWM modules and provides an overview of studies conducted in narrow spacer-filled channels to determine the effect of different geometric characteristics of the feed spacer on hydraulic conditions.Sanitary Engineerin
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