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Legislation and fiscal policies have remained the key drivers of construction waste minimization. It has often been suggested that reducing waste to the landfill does not only require improvement on existing waste management policies and fiscal framework; there is a need for adequate inputs from the construction professionals. As a means of engendering effective waste management policies, this study explores industry practitioners’ viewpoints on effective policies for minimising waste landfilled by the UK construction industry. Using exploratory sequential mixed method approach, qualitative and quantitative methods were used. In the first phase of the study, data was collected through focus group discussions with 24 experts from the UK construction industry. Findings from the qualitative study served as an input into a questionnaire, which was used to elicit a wider opinion from 63 experts at the quantitative stage of the study. The study suggests that for waste management legislation and policies to effectively drive construction waste minimization, six key measures are important. These include (i) provision of tax breaks and incentives to good waste performers and waste management businesses; (ii) increased targeting of design stages in policies; (iii) Extension of sustainable design appraisal systems by allocating more points to proven waste performance measures; (iv) increased stringency of legislative measures by requiring use of proven waste efficient design, procurement and construction methods; (v) increased stringency of fiscal policies by increasing penalties for poor waste performance; and (vi) corroboration of policy requirements with enablers and facilitators. The strategies through which each of the legislative and fiscal measures could be tailored and enhanced are discussed in the paper. By embracing both stringent and palliative policy measures suggested in the study, substantial construction waste could be diverted from landfill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this research was to evaluate the emission and distribution of methane and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from solid waste disposal site in Thailand. Gaseous emissions from solid waste piles with and without soil cover were determined. Highest average methane emission rate was found to be 53.51 g/m2.d from solid waste pile with cover soil during rainy season. This rate was significant higher than 20.87 g/m2.d under dry season and 5.23 g/m2.d and 3.99 g/m2.d from open waste pile under rainy and dry conditions respectively. The emission of BTE× compounds was found highest from the waste pile with cover soil under dry condition at 7.11×10-2, 9.76×10-2, 4.8×10-2 and 7.62×10-2 g/m2.d. The source of VOCs was identified in fresh waste samples. The dispersion of methane and BTEX compounds in ambient air was modeled. The to×icity of BTEX compounds to workers and nearby communities was at low level as determined by hazard inde×. However, the carcinogenicity risk from benzene to those people were found to be 2.45×10-5 and 2.85×10-5, respectively. Geno-to×icity study using plant comet assay (Pothos) suggested that there was a relationship between DNA damage after 96 hours e×posure and VOC emission rate from solid waste disposal area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary goal of waste regulations is to protect human health and the environment. This requires the removal from the material cycle of those materials that cannot be processed without harm. Policies to promote recycling hold a risk that pollutants are dispersed. Materials have an environmental impact during their entire life cycle from extraction through production, consumption and recycling to disposal. Essentially there are only two routes for pollutants that cannot be rendered harmless: storage in sinks or dispersion into the environment. Many sinks do not contain substances absolutely, but result in slow dispersion. Dispersion leads to exposure and impact to human health and the environment. It is therefore important to assess the impact of the release to the environment. Based on various sources this paper discusses important material flows and their potential impact. This is compared with the intentions and achievements of European environmental and resource policy. The polluter pays principle is being implemented in Europe, but lags behind implementation of waste management regulations. As long as producers are allowed to add hazardous substances to their products and don’t take their products back, it is in society’s best interest to carefully consider whether recycling or storage in a sink is the better solution. This requires further development of life-cycle assessment tools and harmonization of regulations. In many cases the sink is unavoidable. Landfills as sinks will be needed in the future. Fail-safe design and construction as well as sustainable management of landfills must be further developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental policy in waste management leads to increasing interest in developing methods for waste disposal with minimum emissions of greenhouse gases and minimum environmental impacts.Open dumping, landfilling and modern waste combustors (MWCs) are the prevalent solid waste disposal practices in many countries. Surveys on the disposal sites revealed the presence of numerous landfills ,open dumps and waste combustors. Greenhouse gas emission potential at these sites can be estimated by different methods. The purpose of this paper is to establish a more robust technique for determining the potential of gas emissions from municipal solid waste and to use those results in a life cycle assessments that determines the GHG impacts of modern MWCs and landfills. Methane emission potential at these sites was estimated by three methods. Results of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) method, Landfill Gas Emission model (LandGEM), and closed flux chamber technique were compared. For the facilities analyzed , the methane emission potential of 18.94 Gg/yr using the IPCC method was higher than the estimations of the LandGEM and closed flux chamber method of 5.95 Gg/yr and 5.33 Gg/yr, respectively. From the point of view of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, waste incineration and waste co-combustion are acceptable methods of waste disposal. Two factors are important for attaining low NOx emissions from waste combustion , particularly for waste with higher nitrogen content (e.g. sewage sludge, leather, etc.): temperature of incineration over 9000C and using of modern incinerators with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) or selective noncatalytic reduction (SNCR) deNOx facilities. The catalysts used in SCR based facilities are among others Fe-zeolite and V2O2. This catalysts have high N2O decomposition (and SCR) activity with good hydrothermal stability. This data are essential to assess the potential need of abatement measures to limit N2O emissions in future operation of waste incineration plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency posted a new test method on its website called Other Test Method 10 (OTM 10) which describes direct measurement of pollutant mass emission flux from area sources using ground-based optical remote sensing. The method has validated application to relatively small bounded area sources but additional guidance is needed for large area sources, such as landfills, where the emission zone can exceed the size of optical configuration leading to difficulties in relating measured fluxes to emissions per unit area. This paper presents the findings of a series of tracer-release experiments designed to improve the understanding of OTM 10 in landfill applications. OTM 10 plume capture efficiency data acquired at a variety of landfill sites under a range of meteorological conditions and measurement configurations are presented. Experiments indicate an overall capture efficiency factor of 0.81 with a standard deviation of 0.33. Lower capture efficiencies from side slope releases are noted (0.69). The combined data set is analyzed for factors influencing capture efficiency. A multiple linear regression is used to model the capture efficiency as a function of primary parameters including distance of the tracer release from the observing plane and wind speed. A simplified model based on the regression analysis is described and its use for approximating the area contributing to flux is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Despite the use of host community compensation to solve NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) siting difficulties in many industrialised countries, the effectiveness of this policy is still being debated in academic and policy-making arenas. In this paper, we examine attitudes held regarding compensation in communities directly impacted upon by final waste disposal infrastructure projects (landfill and incineration) in Ireland using survey responses to two contingent valuation (CV) scenarios and a question relating to preferences for compensation delivery. We find that communities in the pre-construction planning phase for locally undesirable development are less accepting of compensation offers to host the facility than are communities who have lived with such developments to host an extension to the existing facility in their localities. However, many of our respondents who initially reject compensation offers in the CV question go on to accept at least one compensation package in the later compensation preference question. Using this information allows us to draw a distinction between ‘Hardcore’ and ‘Switcher’ protesters to illustrate a more subtle picture of rejection of locally undesirable facilities and compensation packages than has previously been articulated. Using probit regression analysis, we find that property rights or NIMBY concerns – specifically, the treatment of non-local waste at the facility is a concern for many residents – drive this rejection of compensation. Finally, contrary to previous studies concerning preferences for host compensation, community compensation is not always preferred to individual compensation payments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Waste legislation in the United Kingdom (UK) implements European Union (EU) Directives and Regulations. However, the term used to refer to hazardous waste generated in household or municipal situations, household hazardous waste (HHW), does not occur in UK, or EU, legislation. The EU''s Hazardous Waste Directive and European Waste Catalogue are the principal legislation influencing HHW, although the waste categories described are difficult to interpret. Other legislation also have impacts on HHW definition and disposal, some of which will alter current HHW disposal practices, leading to a variety of potential consequences. This paper discusses the issues affecting the management of HHW in the UK, including the apparent absence of a HHW-specific regulatory structure. Policy and regulatory measures that influence HHW management before disposal and after disposal are considered, with particular emphasis placed on disposal to landfill. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We combined life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) with economic analysis of social life cycle costs (SLCC) to investigate five alternatives for newspaper waste management. The alternatives consisted of various recovery and treatment methods applicable to newspaper in a separately collected paper fraction and to newspaper in mixed waste. We linked LCIA and SLCC to each other at three different stages. First, we used LCIA to rank our alternatives and asked how this ranking relates to the SLCC associated with each alternative. Second, we solved the cost minimizing problem and asked how this purely economic ranking relates to our LCIA ranking. Third, we solved the cost minimizing problem when external costs from the use of fossil fuels were included and then compared the solution to the LCIA results. Many useful features emerged. Tying economic analysis firmly to the steps of LCA helps to produce consistent SLCCs. Economic analysis can also be helpful in defining the boundaries of the product system and to facilitate decisions on avoided impacts. Finally, given that environmental policies usually involve trade-offs between environmental and economic factors, economic analysis conducted consistently with LCA complements LCA in a way that can be expected to make the results of the analysis more useful for policy making. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents abstracts of several studies on environmental geochemistry. Some of the abstracts presented include "Biogeochemical Cycling of Nutrients in Karstic Catchments, Southwestern China: Linkages to Changes of Eco-Environments," by Congqiang Liu and "Emerging Organic Contamination in China," by Guibin Jiang and colleagues.

Abstract: Human exposures to air pollution control (APC) residues released from 6 landfills were modeled and assessed. Following a qualitative risk characterisation, direct and indirect exposures were quantified. Site-specific air dispersion modeling was conducted for PM10, PCDDs/PCDFs, Pb, Cd, As and CrVI concentrations at the closest residential points of exposure for 4 landfill sites accepting, in total, 75% w/w of the APC residues disposed of in 2000–2001 (UK). Inhalation risks, assessed by reference to air quality standards at residential exposure points, were assessed as insignificant. Preliminary modeling suggested that indirect exposures from PCDDs/PCDFs at the 95th percentile level for the site where APC deposition rates were highest could potentially exceed the tolerable daily soil intake (TDSI) but this warrants further study given the model limitations. These results offer an initial screen of the significance of potential risks from APC disposal, which is of value in addressing concerns about the uncertainty of potential risks to human health from bulk APC disposal at strategic locations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Phytoremediation (phyto) strategies employ trees, shrubs, and/or grasses for treating contaminated air, soil, or water. These strategies include buffers, vegetation filters, in situ phytoremediation plantings, and percolation controlling vegetative caps. The design parameter that separates phytoremediation from landscaping is purposefully placing and growing a root-zone reactor volume with predictable pollutant removal performance. This phyto reactor integrates with other engineered systems to cover landfills, treat petrochemical spills in soils, intercept a soluble subsurface plume, and capture non-point surface sediment entrained in urban or field runoff. There are many potential economic opportunities for biomass associated with phytoremediation, including bioenergy and traditional industrial products such as solid wood products and reconstituted products (i.e., paper, chip board, laminated beams, extruded trim). More intangibly, phyto creates environmental benefits such as soil erosion control, carbon sequestration, and wildlife habitat. Phyto also creates socio-economic benefits by diversify regional manufacturing into new products that employs local labor, thus building value-added industry. Alternative crops develop a greater diversity of products from the farmland, making the regional economy less exposed to global commodity crop price fluctuations. Thus, a strategic phyto treatment of non-point agricultural runoff would help diversify land use from annually tilled crops (corn, soybeans, wheat) into perennial, untilled tree crops. A landscape rebuilt using phyto would create diversity represented in business potential, healthier air and water, wildlife habitat, and aesthetics. Moreover, phyto provides local and current pollutant treatment. Such timely treatment of pollutants that would otherwise move to our downstream or downwind neighbors is key to the environmental justice concept. We present four case study summaries to illustrate installed commercial applications of phytoremediation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Problems associated with the disposal of municipal solid waste have become a source of public concern worldwide as awareness of potential adverse environmental impacts and health threats from solid waste has increased. Communities are concerned about the generation and management of solid waste to the extent of refusing to allow new disposal facilities near their homes, often after witnessing the legacy of existing facilities. Under these conditions, the development of national policies for the management of solid waste becomes highly political, all while requiring appropriate technical solutions that ensure environmental protection and proper management plans that support an acceptable solution for the disposal of municipal solid waste. In some locations, the conversion of old quarries into well-engineered and controlled landfills appears as a promising solution to a continuously increasing problem, at least for many decades to come. This paper describes the environmental impacts associated with solid waste disposal in a converted quarry site and the mitigation measures that can be adopted to alleviate potential adverse impacts. Environmental management and monitoring plans are also discussed in the context of ensuring adequate environmental protection during and after the conversion process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK Landfill Tax and the related Landfill Tax Credit Scheme have now been in operation since October 1996. There have been a number ofreviews to assess its operation and effectiveness that have led to some minor amendments. However, there continue to be concerns about operational weaknesses of the tax and the credit scheme. In particular,there is the risk that the tax may be evaded and there are fears that a lack of transparency and independence may undermine the fundamental principles of the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme. Following a recent report, the Secretary of State for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions has set up an inquiry. This paper looks at some of the specific concerns that have been raised and the implications for waste management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]