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[Display omitted] Waste-to-Energy (WtE) technology is the most effective solution for managing non-recyclable wastes through mass burning and energy recovery. Owing to the significant volumes of plastics in China's industrial solid wastes (ISW), a large amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) is generated during the incineration process. Therefore, monitoring GHG emissions from WtE facilities is essential. Owing to the lack of suitable accounting models and characterized fossil carbon fraction (FCF) data, current studies use default values provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC), which increases calculation inaccuracies. Therefore, this study established an improved method to accurately account for carbon emissions during solid waste incineration by firstly using radiocarbon dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) technique to determine the FCF of the solid waste components in China. Monte Carlo analysis was employed to perform the sensitivity analysis, and the results indicated that there was a significant deviation between the measured value and IPCC's default values of FCF, 3.2, 32.48, 93.39, 93.76, 90.49, and 93.8 % for paper, cotton, synthetic textiles, artificial rubber, artificial leather, and plastics, respectively. By replacing coal with ISW in a 2 × 110 t/h circulating fluidized bed boilers, 9.251 × 104 t CO 2 -eq emissions were reduced, and the carbon emission factor reached 0.56 t CO 2 -eq/t waste. This study complements the research gap fossil carbon data of wastes in the IPCC guidelines and provides a more accurate and effective way to calculate carbon emissions during ISW incineration treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warming-induced ecological degradation and the continuous shrinking of lakes have been observed in the Bashang Plateau, northern China, leading to the recent demise of cultivated forests. The objective of this paper is to investigate the long-term palaeoenvironmental context of these recent changes through a multi-proxy sediment core analysis at Moon Lake to better understand forest sustainability in the future. The core chronology was determined based on seven accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dates and covers the period from 14,000 yr BP to the present. The Moon Lake record reveals four climate stages: (1) a warm and humid period followed by a cold and arid phase corresponding to the Allerod warm period and the Younger Dryas stadial (14,000 to 11,700 yr BP), (2) a relatively warm and humid period (11,700 to 7400 yr BP), (3) a period of fluctuating dry-wet-dry changes (7400 to 4000 yr BP), and (4) a relatively arid period (4000 yr BP to present). Since 1800 yr BP, drought conditions have intensified, and significant warming and drying trends have been observed over the past 500 yr BP. This consistent warming and drying trend over the past few centuries indicate that large-scale afforestation is no longer sustainable in the Bashang region. Coupled with instrumental records of soil drying and water scarcity, our Holocene records of climate change are useful for ecological resource management and sustainable forestry planning in the region. • Study area has shown ecological degradation and continuous shrinking of lakes. • Seasonal soil drying and the death of certain artificial forests also observed. • Study investigates environmental changes since the last deglaciation. • Study explores if reforestation would be effective under future warming conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discriminating the provenance of fine-grained sediments is crucial for reconstructing paleogeography, sedimentary processes, and paleoclimate. In this paper, we investigate the South Bohai Coast to better understand source-to-sink systems in East Asia. This region is influenced by both distant sources such as the large-scale Yellow River and small local river sources flowing from the Luzhong Mountain area. Two Holocene sedimentary cores, dated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C chronology, were used to investigate the provenance of the fine-grained sediments over the last 7 kyrs. Clay mineralogy and relevant non-linear modeling were employed for provenance discrimination. The results show that the fine-grained sediments along the South Bohai Coast were mainly derived from the Yellow River during the periods of 7.0–5.4 ka and 4.5–2.6 ka, respectively, while the input from the Luzhong Mountain-derived rivers was greater during 5.4–4.5 ka and 2.6–0.2 ka, respectively. Fluvial activities and marine-terrestrial interaction driven by climate factors such as East Asian winter monsoon, temperature, and precipitation in river basins, dominantly influenced the provenance of fine-grained sediments from 7.0 to 2.6 ka. Anthropogenic impact on provenance increased after 2.6 ka. The chronology of the two cores showed extremely rapid sedimentation rate transitions at 5.2 ka and 1.5 ka, respectively, very likely attributed to anthropogenic-induced rapid progradation. Our study provides a model for better understanding the paleoenvironmental and paleogeographic evolution of a coastal area where multiple sources exist. • Anthropogenically high sedimentation rate in the South Bohai Coast in late Holocene. • Provenance discrimination of the fine-grained sediments in the South Bohai Coast since the mid-Holocene. • The major source of the fine-grained sediments in the South Bohai Coast changed episodically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]