To see the other types of publications on this topic, follow the link: Economic aspects of Refuse and refuse disposal.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Economic aspects of Refuse and refuse disposal'
Create a spot-on reference in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and other styles
Consult the top 50 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Economic aspects of Refuse and refuse disposal.'
Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.
You can also download the full text of the academic publication as pdf and read online its abstract whenever available in the metadata.
Browse dissertations / theses on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.
1
Adefeso, Ismail Babatunde. "Techno-economic analysis of a gasification system using refuse-derived fuel from municipal solid waste." Thesis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/2753.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Doctor of Engineering in Chemical Engineering)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017.<br>The search for alternatives to fossil fuel is necessary with a view to reducing the negative environmental impact of fossil fuel and most importantly, to exploit an affordable and secured fuel source. This study investigated the viability of municipal solid waste gasification for a fuel cell system. Potential solid fuels obtained from the study in the form of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) had high heating value (HHV) between 18.17 MJ/Kg - 28.91 MJ/Kg with energy density increased from 4142.07 MJ/m3 to 10735.80 MJ/m3. The molecular formulas of RDF derived from Ladies Smith drop-off site, Woodstock drop-off site and an average molecular formula of all thirteen municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal facilities were CH1.43O1.02, CH1.49O1.19, and CH1.50O0.86 respectively. The comparative ratios of C/H were in the range of 7.11 to 8.90. The Thermo Gravimetric Analysis showed that the dehydration, thermal decompositions, char combustions were involved in the production of gaseous products but flaming pyrolysis stage was when most tar was converted to syngas mixture. The simulation of RDF gasification allowed a prediction of the RDF gasification behaviour under various operating parameters in an air-blown downdraft gasifier. Optimum SFR (steam flowrate) values for RDF1, RDF2 and RDF3 were determined to be within these values 2.80, 2.50 and 3.50 and Optimum ER values for RDF1, RDF2 and RDF3 were also determined to be within these values 0.15, 0.04 and 0.08. These conditions produced the desired high molar ratio of H2/CO yield in the syngas mixture in the product stream. The molar ratios of H2/CO yield in the syngas mixture in the product stream for all the RDFs were between 18.81 and 20.16. The values of H2/CO satisfy the requirement for fuel cell application. The highest concentration of heavy metal was observed for Al, Fe, Zn and Cr, namely 16627.77 mg/Kg at Coastal Park (CP), 17232.37 mg/Kg at Killarney (KL), 235.01 mg/Kg at Tygerdal (TG), and 564.87 mg/Kg at Kraaifontein (KF) respectively. The results of quantitative economic evaluation measurements were a net return (NR) of $0.20 million, a rate of return on investment (ROI) of 27.88 %, payback time (PBP) of 2.30 years, a net present value (NPV) of $1.11 million and a discounted cash flow rate of return (DCFROR) of 24.80 % and 28.20 % respectively. The results of the economic evaluations revealed that some findings of the economic benefits of this system would be viable if costs of handling MSW were further quantified into the costs analysis. The viability of the costs could depend on government responsibility to accept costs of handling MSW.
2
Lottering, Tony. "An economic evaluation of waste telecommunication cable disposal in South Africa : a case study." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/808.
Full textAbstract:
South African manufacturers, including those who produce electrical and telecommunication cables, are required by the National Waste Management Strategy (NWMS) (drawn up by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT)), to carry out waste management in a coordinated and controlled manner. It is also becoming more difficult for South African companies, who produce for export markets, to conduct business internationally if they do not have some form of environmental management system in place. While there will always be scrap generated in any manufacturing environment, the aim is, first and foremost, to reduce this to acceptable levels and, secondly, to dispose of all scrap produced in a socially responsible manner. This study focuses attention on waste management, in the form of recycling, in the cable manufacturing industry. The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to examine the economic case, by means of a cost-benefit analysis, for the establishment and operation of a telecommunication cable waste recycling plant for the purpose of recycling copper conductor; second, to examine the economic feasibility, by means of a cost-benefit analysis, of extending the existing facility in order to accommodate the recycling of the plastic fraction contained in the cable waste. A specific cost-benefit stream was generated over a project period of 20 years for both CBAs. In both CBAs costs and benefits were categorised as being either primary or secondary. The primary costs and benefits for both CBAs were all financial in nature and were valued using market prices. The secondary costs of establishing and operating a cable waste recycling plant for recycling the copper conductor included effluent costs and noise pollution costs. The secondary benefits, on the other hand, included the creation of downstream industries. The secondary costs of extending an existing cable waste recycling plant, so as to accommodate the recycling of the plastic component of cable waste, included costs related to the generation of greenhouse gases and asthma. The secondary benefits, conversely, included the increase in house prices due to the reduction of landfilling of the plastic component of cable waste. The determination of increased house prices due to landfill avoidance was carried out using the hedonic pricing method (HPM). The hypothesis was that house values would increase the further removed they were from the landfill site. Applying regression analysis to the derived hedonic pricing (HP) function showed that there is a definite correlation between the two. Properties positioned two kilometres from a landfill site in New Brighton Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, were found to have higher values than those positioned adjacent to the site. From the cost-benefit streams, net benefits were calculated for each CBA and discounted to present values in order to provide a standard of comparison. The social discount rate used in this study to calculate the present values reflected a combination of the social opportunity costs of capital and the social time preference rate. The rate used was calculated as the average annual rate between 2000 and 2005 and amounted to 6.72 percent. It was derived from a combination of the opportunity costs of government borrowings, household consumption borrowings and return on savings.
3
Wilson, Douglas Calvin. "THE IMPLICATIONS OF BEHAVIORAL ASPECTS ON THE PRODUCTION AND DISCARD OF HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTES." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/275435.
Full text
4
Lee, Huk-bun, and 李學斌. "Environmental economics: a framework for assessing the economic impacts of adopting biotechnologies in HongKong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2006. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B45013500.
Full text
5
Maninga, Mainess Kapaipi. "Waste services provided by community-based enterprises in the Ngombe Peri-Urban settlement area, Lusaka, Zambia." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1011560.
Full textAbstract:
This qualitative study investigates Waste services provided by community-based enterprises in the Ngombe peri-urban settlement area - Lusaka, Zambia. The aim of the study was to identify and analyze the factors that contribute to illegal dumping of solid waste in the said peri-urban settlement area. The research objectives were as follows: To explore the capability of the community-based enterprises to effectively manage their enterprises in relation to the provision of solid waste services to the residents of the said settlement, To identify and evaluate the solid waste services provided by the community-based enterprises, and To make recommendations for the improvement of solid waste service provision and utilisation based on the findings of the study. The method of data collection for the above listed objectives was a literature study and focus group interviews. In order to achieve the said objectives of the study, the researcher opted for a qualitative research design – utilizing the contextual, descriptive, inductive and deductive approaches. The research population comprised the community-based enterprises involved in the provision of solid waste services in the Ngombe settlement area namely Kutwano and Tiyende Pamodzi Waste Enterprises. The purposive sample method was used for the selection of the focus group. The focus group discussions were captured by means of an audiotape and note-taking. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, within 24 hours of data capturing. Data analysis followed the five steps of Powell and Renner (2003, pp,1-6), namely: familiarization, identifying a thematic framework, categorization (coding or indexing) of data, identifying patterns and connections within and between categories (relationships), and interpretation (bringing it all together). The researcher adhered to the relevant ethical considerations and the principles of trustworthiness, namely: credibility, transferability, dependability and conformability throughout the study. In exploring the capability of the two community-based enterprises to effectively manage their enterprises in relation to the provision of solid waste services to the residents of the said settlement it was found that community-based enterprises do not have the capability to provide adequate solid waste services. This is due to inadequate leadership and entrepreneurship skills of the community-based enterprises management committee members, non-payment of solid waste collection fees by the majority of households and inadequate legal enforcement by the Lusaka City Council’s Waste Management Unit. In identifying and evaluating the solid waste services provided by the community-based enterprises it was found that solid waste services provided by community-based enterprises were inadequate. This is due to the type of equipment (push carts) used for primary solid waste collection that does not carter for other forms of solid waste like construction waste; inappropriate solid waste storage containers (25kg maize meal bags) which do not allow storage of solid waste in a sanitary manner (non-leak proof, accessible to rats, flies and cockroaches and rodents); restriction on the type of solid waste that community-based enterprises should collect (in relation to the specified solid waste storage container, 25kg maize meal bags) and the delay of secondary solid waste collection by Lusaka City Council’s Waste Management Unit. On the basis of the findings of the study, a number of recommendations are being made, which, if implemented effectively, should improve the provision and utilisation of solid waste services within the study area. Such an improvement should lead to a higher level of environmental cleanliness, and ultimately to better health standards of the people living within the area.
6
von, der Heyde Vanessa. "Towards a sustainable incremental waste management system in Enkanini: a transdisciplinary case study." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/86274.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: As the global population grows and more countries industrialise, waste streams will grow
proportionately. Current waste management practices and product manufacturing processes
dictate that a large proportion of waste ends up in a landfill or incinerator. The predominant
manufacturing design is a linear, one-way model that extracts resources for manufacture,
which eventually end up in a landfill or incinerator, rendered useless. This is an unsustainable
use of resources, not only of the ones that were extracted to manufacture the product, but also
of the land used to dump waste.
Along with this goes the increasingly significant issue of food waste and the issues of global
hunger and food insecurity. It is estimated that globally one third of all food that is produced
is wasted, equalling a total of 1.3 billion tonnes of food waste a year. Wastage of food causes
a loss of potentially valuable food sources, or a potential resource for other processes, such as
composting or energy generation.
The poor are normally the first affected by limited or dwindling resources, and as yet, there
are no significant signs of poverty alleviation. Worldwide, there is a proliferation of informal
settlements, or slums, and how to deal with these settlements has formed part of international
political and societal discourse for a long time. In South Africa, policies dictate that informal
settlements should undergo an incremental, in situ upgrading process, where possible.
Although this marks a positive development from the previous housing policy, substantial
uptake on the ground has as yet not occurred.
Consequently, this study attempted to combine the issues of waste management, in particular
of food waste, and incremental upgrading of informal settlements through a transdisciplinary
case study that focuses on upgrading the food waste management system in Enkanini, an
informal settlement in Stellenbosch, South Africa. A waste characterisation study undertaken
by Stellenbosch Municipality showed that food waste makes up a substantial part of the
waste stream generated in Enkanini. As informal settlements often lack adequate waste
collection services, the food waste poses a health risk by breeding pathogens and attracting
pests.
Through a transdisciplinary approach, an alternative food waste treatment method was
piloted in Enkanini in partnership with Stellenbosch Municipality and Probiokashi (Pty) Ltd.
The method used bokashi substrate to treat food waste with microorganisms. This was then
processed further into compost through the sheet mulching method and by black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae. The outcomes were assessed according to the environmental,
social and economic sustainability of this method of waste processing and indicated a
positive impact in all three of these categories.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Soos die globale samelewing groei en al hoe meer lande industrialiseer, sal afvalproduksie
ook proporsioneel toeneem. Moderne afvalbestuurpraktyke en vervaardigingsprosesse behels
dat groot volumes afval in vullingsterreine of verbrandingsoonde beland. Vervaardiging
behels hoofsaaklik ’n lineêre proses, waarin grondstowwe vir vervaardiging onttrek word en
uiteindelik in sodanige vullingsterreine of verbrandingsoonde beland. Hierdie produkte is dan
onbruikbaar. Hierdie praktyk is ’n onvolhoubare manier om hulpbronne te gebruik, nie net
wat die grondstowwe vir vervaardiging betref nie, maar ook die grond wat gebruik word om
die afval op te stort.
Verwant aan hierdie probleem, is die kwessie van toenemende voedselvermorsing en die
probleme rondom wêreldwye hongersnood en voedselonsekerheid. Daar word benader dat
een derde van alle voedsel wat ter wêreld vervaardig word, vermors word. Dit kom neer op
1.3 miljard ton voedsel per jaar. Voedselvermorsing veroorsaak ’n verlies aan waardevolle,
potensiële voedselbronne of potensiële hulpbronne vir ander prosesse, soos bemesting en
energievervaardiging.
Die armes is gewoonlik diegene wat die gouste deur beperkte of afnemende hulpbronne
geraak word en, tot nog toe, is daar geen beduidende vordering in armoedeverligting nie.
Wêreldwyd is daar ’n toename in informele nedersettings, of agterbuurte, en maniere om
hierdie probleem aan te spreek, vorm lankal deel van die internasionale politiese en
maatskaplike diskoers. In Suid-Afrika dui beleide daarop dat informele nedersettings, waar
moontlik, ’n inkrementele, in situ opgraderingsproses moet ondergaan. Alhoewel hierdie
plan ’n verbetering is op die vorige behuisingsbeleid, het wesenlike vordering nog nie
plaasgevind nie.
Gevolglik het hierdie studie gepoog om die kwessies rakende afvalbestuur, spesifiek van
voedselafval, en inkrementele opgradering van informele nedersettings in ’n transdissiplinêre
gevallestudie te kombineer deur te fokus op die voedselafvalbestuurstelsel in Enkanini, ’n
informele nedersetting in Stellenbosch, Suid-Afrika. ’n Studie, uitgevoer deur Stellenbosch
Munisipaliteit, wat die inhoud van vullis ontleed het, het bevind dat voedselafval ’n
beduidende deel vorm van die vullis wat in Enkanini geproduseer word. Aangesien informele
nedersettings dikwels tekortskiet aan voldoende vullisverwyderingsdienste, hou
voedselafval ’n bedreiging in omdat patogene daarin broei en dit peste lok.
Deur middel van ’n transdissiplinêre benadering is ’n proefprojek aangepak waartydens ’n
alternatiewe metode om voedselafval te behandel, getoets is. Hierdie projek is in
samewerking met Stellenbosch Munisipaliteit en Probiokashi (Pty) Ltd (Edms.) Bpk. in
Enkanini uitgevoer. Hierdie metode het van bokashi-substraat gebruik gemaak om deur
middel van mikroörganismes die voedselafval te behandel. Dit is daarna verder deur
swartsoldaatvlieglarwes (Hermetia illucens) tot kompos verwerk. Die uitkomste van die
studie is geassesseer ten opsigte van die sosiale, ekonomiese en omgewingsvolhoubaarheid
van dié afvalverwerkingsmetode. ’n Positiewe impak is in al drie hierdie kategorieë
opgemerk.
7
Mgwebi, Alicia Zoliswa. "Effects of poor solid waste management on sustainable development in informal settlement." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1021135.
Full textAbstract:
The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of poor solid waste disposal on a sustainable environment/development in the Mzamomhle urban informal settlement. According to Coffey & Coad, (2010) informal or squatter urban communities pay no municipal taxes, because of their informal status, and this fact has often been used as the principal argument against providing these communities with municipal services.
8
Zeiss, Christopher Andrew. "Siting waste disposal facilities in host communities : impacts and acceptance." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/29223.
Full textAbstract:
The siting of municipal solid waste disposal facilities is often unsuccessful or delayed because of host community opposition. Physical, economic, social and political impacts of landfill and an incinerator site are identified, assessed and combined in a rational model to explain the cause of opposition.
Residents' beliefs about facility impacts correspond well with the assessed physical impacts at the landfill in identifying odor, birds, traffic, water emissions and explosion risks as negative impacts and convenient disposal as a benefit. At the incinerator, common resident beliefs comprise odors, noise, traffic and air emissions as negative impacts and energy recovery as a benefit. Underlying these obvious physical impacts, however is a group of non-physical beliefs about the harm to community image, loss of control, unfairness, and property value losses in the host community. These non-physical impacts influence the attitude about the facility as strongly as the physical impacts.
Finally, exposure to obvious physical impacts is shown to negatively influence the beliefs about physical and non-physical (economic, social and political) impacts. Thus, by screening the host community from obvious physical impacts (nuisances), the beliefs about community image, control, fairness and property values can be enhanced.
Since negative attitude and opposition action are strongest prior to facility construction, the siting efforts need to be focused on this period. After construction, the host community adapts to the new situation.
The facility impacts are combined into a model to define a criterion for acceptance. The net value of facility impacts and benefits must reach or exceed in value the narrow tolerance range at the original host community reference point to avoid significant host community opposition. Impact reduction rather than compensation is theoretically shown to be the more effective approach to fulfilling the acceptance criterion. This approach is empirically tested at typical waste facility sites.
Despite higher costs for prevention and emission control methods to reduce physical and non-physical impacts, these methods are shown to be superior to mitigation and compensation in gaining community acceptance.
Based on the conclusions, the policy statement on waste facility sitings recommends first, defining entitlements and rules for the siting process, establishing increasing waste reduction and separation in a waste management plan, and using participative community planning as long-term, preventive facility siting measures. Short term siting measures comprise, the negotiation of siting agreements, the use of best available technical emission controls and continued monitoring by an overview committee. The focused use of prevention and control measures to address host community concerns can substantially enhance community acceptance of municipal solid waste facilities.<br>Applied Science, Faculty of<br>Civil Engineering, Department of<br>Graduate
9
Flanagan, Mark Steven. "Environmental and agronomic aspects of municipal solid waste heavy fraction used for turfgrass production." Diss., This resource online, 1991. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-07282008-134805/.
Full text
10
Albuquerque, Allwyn J. "Geoenvironmental aspects of coal refuse-fly ash blends." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/46095.
Full textAbstract:
<p>The separate land disposal of coal refuse and fly ash presents difficulties throughout
the Appalachian region, both in terms of disposal costs per acre and in terms of its potential
environmental impacts on soil, ground water, revegetation, and slope stability. The purpose
of this study was to determine how fly ash addition to coal refuse would impact on certain
geotechnical properties of the refuse disposal piles, and whether the refuse-fly ash blends
would be suitable as co-disposed materials. Accordingly, the compaction, permeability and
shear strength characteristics of the refuse-fly ash blends were experimentally determined for
varying fly ash percentages. The compaction test results indicated that, with increasing fly
ash, the maximum dry density of these blends marginally decreased. The permeability test
results showed that the permeability of the test specimens progressively decreased with the
increase in fly ash. The shear strength results demonstrated that the addition of fly ash did
not significantly influence the shear strength of the refuse. The critical factor of safety
determined during slope stability analysis revealed that the tested slope geometries were
stable for long term, drained conditions (using the STABGM computer program). The volume change analysis determined that there was a minimal expansion in the volume of
refuse when it was blended with fly ash. However, it may be noted that all the stated results
depend on a number offactors, including the nature of the refuse and fly ash used. Therefore,
these findings would be specific to bulk blends of coal refuse and fly ash only. In general,
this study indicates that fly ash can be beneficially reused with respect to the geotechnical
properties evaluated. Co-disposal of fly ash and coal refuse may be a reasonable alternative
to present disposal methods.<br>Master of Science
11
Massmann, Joel Warren. "Groundwater contamination from waste-management sites : the interaction between risk-based engineering design and regulatory policy." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/27451.
Full textAbstract:
This dissertation puts in place a risk-cost-benefit analysis for waste management facilities that explicitly recognizes the adversarial relationship that exists in a regulated market economy between the owner-operator of the facility and the government regulatory agency under whose terms the facility must be licensed. The risk-cost-benefit analysis is set up from the perspective of the owner-operator. It can be used directly by the owner-operator to assess alternative design strategies. It can also be used by the regulatory agency to assess alternative regulatory policies, but only in an indirect manner, by examining the response of an owner-operator to the stimuli of various policies. The objective function is written in terms of a discounted stream of benefits, costs, and risks over an engineering time horizon. Benefits are in terms of revenues for services provided; costs are those of construction and operation of the facility. Risk is defined as the expected cost associated with failure, with failure defined as a groundwater contamination event that violates the licensing requirements set forth by the regulatory agency. Failure requires a breach of the containment structure and contaminant migration through the hydrogeological environment to a compliance surface. Reliability theory is used to estimate the probability of breaching and Monte Carlo finite-element simulations are used to simulate advective contaminant transport. The hydraulic conductivity values in the hydrogeological environment are defined stochastically. The probability of failure is reduced by the presence of a monitoring network established by the owner-operator. The level of reduction in the probability of failure can be calculated from the stochastic contaminant transport simulations. While the framework is quite general, the development in this dissertation is specifically suited for a landfill in which the primary design feature is one or more synthetic liners and in which contamination is brought about by the release of a single, nonreactive species in an advective, steady-state, horizontal flow field. The risk cost benefit analysis is applied to 1) an assessment of the relative worth of alternative containment-construction activities, site-investigation activities, and monitoring activities available to the owner-operator, 2) an assessment of alternative policy options available to the regulatory agency, and 3) two case histories. Sensitivity analyses designed to address the first issue show that the allocation of resources by the owner-operator is sensitive to the stochastic parameters that describe the hydraulic conductivity field at a site. For the cases analyzed, the installation of a dense monitoring network is of less value to the owner-operator than a more conservative containment design. Sensitivity analyses designed to address the second issue suggest that from a regulatory perspective, design standards should be more effective than performance standards in reducing risk, and design specifications on the containment structure should be more effective than those on the monitoring network. Performance bonds posted before construction have a greater potential to influence design than prospective penalties to be imposed at the time of failure. Sitting on low-conductivity deposits is a more effective method of risk reduction than any form of regulatory influence. Results of the case histories indicate that the methodology can be successfully applied at field sites, and that the risks associated with groundwater contamination may be small when compared to the owner-operators' benefits and costs.<br>Science, Faculty of<br>Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of<br>Graduate
12
Albuquerque, Allwyn J. J. "Geoenvironmental aspects of coal refuse-fly ash blends /." This resource online, 1994. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-12042009-020142/.
Full text
13
Lee, Huk-bun. "Environmental economics : a framework for assessing the economic impacts of adopting biotechnologies in Hong Kong /." View the Table of Contents & Abstract, 2006. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B37120530.
Full text
14
Carolus, Vernon. "Waste and waste management in Breede Valley district." Thesis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/784.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (MTech (Environmental Health))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2007<br>The waste management that is taking place in the Breede Valley district focus mainly on
disposal and end-of-pipe solutions. This approach resulted in serious negative impacts on
the environment and human health. Improper waste management practices have become a
major source of concern due to the risk associated with poor waste management in the
area. Indiscriminate dumping of waste at street corners is very common. The basic waste
management processes of collection, transport, segregation and [mal disposal appear to
be very inefficient and inadequate.
The objective of this study was to determine the composition of the waste stream as well
as public awareness, attitudes and behaviours towards current and alternative waste
management practices. A waste assessment study was conducted to determine the amount
of waste generated by the different communities, as well as how much and what of the
recyclables can be taken out of the waste stream by recycling. For this study data was
obtained by formulation of questionnaires for businesses, communities and medical
practitioners, as well as an interview with the Engineering Department of the Breede
Valley Municipality about the current waste management situation in the area. From the
data obtain from businesses, communities and medical facilities, it is clear that public
participation, partnership, education and awareness is essential for effective integrated
waste management.
This study revealed that waste management practices are inefficient, uncontrolled and
fragmented. This investigation shows that there is a huge difference between the different
communities in terms of the volume of waste generation. The study also shows that waste
related legislation is outdated and fragmented and there is no enforcement by municipal
officials.
The major Issues and challenges that affect the management of waste. include its
organisational structure and lack of waste minimisation plans.
15
King, Giorgina F. J. ""Skarrelling" : a socio-environmental history of household waste in South Africa." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/86689.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis(MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study excavates a century’s worth of the history of household waste in South
Africa, from 1890-1996. It shows that waste history is entangled with histories of
disease and poor sanitation, advances in technology, the impact of war, environmental
concerns and – perhaps above all – shifting socio-economic circumstances. Using a
socio-environmental analytical framework, this analysis of waste history unearths
empirical archival data and oral testimony, to contextualise themes of gender, race,
class and nationalism in order to place rubbish within the wider historical debates in
South Africa. This study uses Rubbish Theory and Broken Windows Theory as well
as concepts of “Othering” and the “Sanitation Syndrome” to explore the role of waste
in the construction of racial identities and perceptions. This thesis shows that
Apartheid should not be seen as a watershed within this waste history, but rather as a
continuation of colonial ideas of cleanliness that helped to perpetuate racist
stereotypes. This study argues that the lack of waste services in “locations” during
this time helped to contribute to the perception of the urban African as the unsanitary
Other. The state and civic societies fostered gender roles, which (coupled with wartime
nationalist propaganda) helped in shaping waste behaviour promoted by the
National Anti-Waste Organisation (NAWO) during the Second World War (WWII).
In the years after WWII, the threats of wartime shortages and enthusiastic solutions
suggested to municipalities to “end the waste problem” were thwarted by the spread
of the landfill as an even more convenient disposal method. The implementation of
Apartheid, especially the Group Areas Act (No 41 of 1950) and the rise of consumer
society, led to increasingly divergent experiences of waste for urban Africans and
whites. The thesis uses a case study of the Devon Valley Landfill community outside
of Stellenbosch. This ethnographic history explores notions of the “Subaltern” in
order to give this history a human face. The diachronic analysis of this community
offers a lens into ideas of “ordentlikheid” (decency), “weggooi mense” (throwaway
people) and how these waste-pickers experience the environment in which they live.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie grawe ’n eeu se geskiedenis van huishoudelike afval in Suid-Afrika op,
van 1890-1996. Dit toon dat die geskiedenis van afval verweef is met geskiedenisse
van siekte en swak sanitasie, tegnologiese vooruitgang, die impak van oorlog,
omgewingskwessies en – dalk bowenal – veranderende sosio-ekonomiese
omstandighede. Deur middel van ’n sosio-omgewings-analitiese raamwerk ontgin
hierdie analise empiriese argiefdata en mondelingse getuienis om temas van geslag,
ras, klas en nasionalisme te kontekstualiseer ten einde afval binne die breër historiese
debatte in Suid-Afrika te plaas. Die studie gebruik Afval-teorie en Gebreekte
Vensters-teorie sowel as begrippe van “Othering” en die “Sanitasie-sindroom” om die
rol van afval in die totstandkoming van rasse-identiteite en -persepsies te ondersoek.
Die tesis toon dat Apartheid nie as ’n waterskeiding in hierdie afval-geskiedenis
gesien moet word nie, maar eerder as ’n voortsetting van koloniale idees oor higiëne
wat gehelp het om rasse-stereotipes te perpetueer. Die studie argumenteer dat die
gebrek aan afvalverwyderingsdienste in “lokasies” in die tyd bygedra het tot die
persepsie van die stedelike Afrikaan as die onhigiëniese Ander. Die staat en
burgerlike samelewings het geslagsrolle gekweek, wat (tesame met oorlogtydse
nasionalistiese propaganda) gehelp het met die vestiging van afval-gedrag wat
bevorder is deur die National Anti-Waste Organisation (NAWO) gedurende die
Tweede Wêreldoorlog. In die jare na dié oorlog is die bedreigings van oorlogtydse
tekorte en die entoesiastiese oplossings wat vir munisipaliteite aanbeveel is om die
“afvalprobleem te beëindig”, gefnuik deur die toenemende gebruik van
stortingsterreine as ’n selfs geriefliker afvalverwyderingsmetode. Die implementering
van Apartheid, veral die Groepsgebiedewet (No. 41 van 1950) en die opkoms van die
verbruikersamelewing, het gelei tot toenemend uiteenlopende ervarings van afval
onder stedelike Afrikane en wit mense. Die tesis maak gebruik van ’n gevallestudie
van die gemeenskap van die Devonvallei-stortingsterrein buite Stellenbosch. Hierdie
etnografiese geskiedenis verken denkbeelde van die “Ondergeskikte” om ’n menslike
gesig aan die geskiedenis te gee. Die diakroniese analise van die gemeenskap is ’n
venster op idees van “ordentlikheid”, “weggooimense” en hoe hierdie afvalontginners
die omgewing waarin hulle woon, beleef.
16
Nshimirimana, Jules. "Attitudes and behaviour of low-income households towards the management of domestic solid waste in Tafelsig, Mitchell's Plain." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2004. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&.
Full textAbstract:
Solid waste management in South Africa has been focussing on the technical issues of waste disposal with little attention paid to the social and economic aspects of households. It is important to find out the impact of the attitude and perception of households on solid waste management, especially in low-income areas to be able to deal with the deplorabe domestic solid waste management in such areas. The quantity of solid waste generated in low-income areas is often assumed to be less than the solid waste generated in high-income neighbourhoods. In most of the townships of low-income households in Cape Town, the residents live next to mountains of solid waste which is not the case in middle and high income areas. This clearly has a negative effect on the environment and human health. Tafelsig is one of the low-income Cape Flats townships where the open spaces and green areas are dumping areas. The small yard that people own is often unclean. The aim of the study was to examine how households residing in the low-income neighbourhood (Tafelsig, Mitchell's Plain) view domestic solid waste and its management. The study explored the perceptions, attitudes and behaviour of these households towards the production and management of sold waste. Issues relating to the degradation of their environment and to solid waste mismanagement were also examined.
17
Jaza, Folefack Achille Jean. "The use of compost from household waste in agriculture : economic and environmental analysis in Cameroon /." Weikersheim Margraf, 2005. http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?id=2717444&prov=M&dok_var=1&dok_ext=htm.
Full text
18
Ho, Yuet-wah, and 何月華. "A critical analysis of management and disposal options of plastic waste in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2000. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31254561.
Full text
19
Barry, Tami. "Evaluation of the Economic, Social, and Biological Feasibility of Bioconverting Food Wastes with the Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens)." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2004. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4639/.
Full textAbstract:
Food waste in the waste stream is becoming an important aspect of integrated waste management systems. Current efforts are composting and animal feeding. However, these food waste disposal practices rely on slow thermodynamic processes of composting or finding farmers with domestic animals capable of consuming the food wastes. Bioconversion, a potential alternative, is a waste management practice that converts food waste to insect larval biomass and organic residue. This project uses a native and common non-pest insect in Texas, the black soldier fly, which processes large quantities of food wastes, as well as animal wastes and sewage in its larval stage. The goal of this research is to facilitate the identification and development of the practical parameters of bioconversion methods at a large cafeteria. Three major factors were selected to evaluate the practicality of a bioconversion system: (1) the biological constraints on the species; (2) the economic costs and benefits for the local community; (3) the perception of and interaction between the public and management agencies with respect to the bioconversion process. Results indicate that bioconversion is feasible on all levels. Larvae tolerate and consume food waste as well as used cooking grease, reducing the overall waste volume by 30-70% in a series of experiments, with an average reduction of 50%. The economical benefits are reduced collection costs and profit from the sale of pupae as a feedstuff, which could amount to as much as $1,200 per month under optimal conditions. Social acceptance is possible, but requires education of the public, specifically targeting school children. Potential impediments to social acceptance include historical attitudes and ignorance, which could be overcome through effective educational efforts.
20
Kim, Hyuncheol. "Economic perspectives on the siting of a municipal solid waste facility." Thesis, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2003. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=765031531&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=2&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1233361937&clientId=23440.
Full text
21
Barnett, Turman Zachary. "A study of selected Indiana solid waste management districts." Virtual Press, 1999. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1137651.
Full text
22
Maharajh, Rajinder Jain. "Values and concerns in decision-making about a waste-reduction incinerator at Stormsriver, Tsitsikamma : a case study in applied ethics." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/49805.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2003.<br>Full text to be digitised and attached to bibliographic record.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Tsitsikamma Forest, in the most southern part of the Eastern Cape, is
part of the Cape Floral Kingdom, one of six such Kingdoms in the world.
It has the richest area of plant bio-diversity and fauna in the world
which are rare and endemic to the area. The deep gorges, temperate
forests, un spoilt oceans and various other features such as the famous
Bloukrantz River Bridge, where the world's highest bungi jumps take
place are factors that have become the main source of job-creation and
income for tourism and its inter-related activities.
However, this ecosystem is also home to about 480 families who live in
low-income housing at Stormsriver. This settlement which was relocated
from the shack area of Coesa, nearby, has an unemployment index of
67% and a similar poverty index. In addition, the Stormsriver Village
nearby has a population of about 300 families, mainly older retired
white folks. The area is administered by the Koukamma Municipality
which is an amalgam of several smaller municipalities viz., Clarkeson,
Kareedouw, Stormsriver, Woodlands, Eerste River, ]oubertina and
Bloukrantz.
Waste reduction and the disposal thereof has always been a major
concern to local authorities and the Koukamma Municipality is obviously
faced with the same challenge. The authorities have resorted to the
concept of landfill sites, which has proven to be the cheapest solution to
date. But, with this option comes the problems of health risks to the
poorer people who converge on the dump sites in search of food, the
harm to children searching through rubbish heaps and the various legal
repercussions emanating out of this practice.
The option of open-burning and its related effects on human life and
forest fires rules it out as an option. Transporting waste out of the area is
also very costly.
It was then resolved by the Koukamma Municipalities that the possibility
of installing an incinerator at Stormsriver would be an option to be
investigated. The reasoning behind the selection of this site was the
concern of high unemployment in the Stormsriver area and extreme
poverty and this venture would in some small measure create jobs, put
food on the table and break the poverty cycle.
The process of incineration gives rise to emissions such as dioxins and
furans which is known to cause cancer, asthma and tuberculosis, if
subjected in high doses over a long period of time. It is also regulated by
the Atmospheric Pollution Act 45 of 1965.
The important moral debate at the core of this problem is the whole
question of humans rights and should these be violated solely because
the subjects do not belong to an affluent class and should be shown less
respect and have their health jeopardised by the toxic air from
incineration. Or, should the people's poverty index rise further due to
lack of employment.
The question that also begs here is whether the well-being of the entire
ecosystem, especially the rare and endangered plants and animals take
preference over the well-being of the people of Stormsriver, given that
the emissions from the incinerator will impact on the animal, bird and
plant life, including that of water, soil and air.
This would also put into jeopardy the income generated by Tourism and
the jobs inherent in it for the locals and would threaten the area's
sustainability.
The various moral views of philosophers have been canvassed in order to
come to a holistic understanding. I have in this vein looked at the views
of ethicists such as Tibor Machan, who believes that animals and other
organisms do not have any rights and are there purely for human
consumption. Then the views of Peter Singer and Tom Regan have also
been included, in which consideration is shown to animals. Others such
as AIda Leopold, J. Baird Callicott and Paul Taylor whose thinking
extends to that of not just showing respect for a single entity but allows
for equal respect for all members of the biotic community, have also been.
considered.
Various solutions have thereafter been considered and amongst those are
the relocation of the incinerator out of the Stormsriver, moving the plant
to the industrial zone at Kareedouw, transporting the waste out to Port
Elizabeth, dumping and finally the 'Do Nothing' option.
Using Paul Taylor's "respect for nature" ethics as a guide, I have come to
the conclusion that the installation of a waste-reduction incinerator at
Stormsriver, Tsitsikamma, may be supported subject to a set of serious
riders and conditions in that firstly, the health of the immediate and
surrounding inhabitants should not be affected in any way whatsoever.
Secondly, the well-being of the non-human environment which must
include air, soil, water and plant life, including the animal and bird life
must not be harmed in any way. In this way all members of the biotic
community will be shown equal respect, thus creating a viable and
sustainable community<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Tsitsikamma Woude, in die mees suidelike deel van the Oos-Kaap, is
deel van die "Cape Floral Kingdom", een van ses sulke woudgebiede in
die wêreld. Dit beskerm die rykste area van plant bio-verskeidenheid
asook fauna wat skaars is in die wêreld en slegs daar gevind word. Die
diep bergpasse. gemagtigde woude en ongerepte oseaan, tesame met die
beroemde Bloukransrivier brug waar die wêreld se hoogste bungi
spronge plaasvind is faktore wat bygedra het dat werkskepping en
inkomste hoofsaaklik uit toerisme en verwante bedrywe afkomstig is.
Hierdie eko-sisteem is ook die tuiste vir ongeveer 480 gesinne wat in
sub-ekonomiese huise in Stormsrivier woon. Hierdie gemeenskappie wat
vanaf die naby geleë Coesa hervesig is, het 'n werkloosheid sowel as
armoede syfer van 67%. Bykomend is daar die Stormsriver nedersetting
daar naby met 'n bevolking van 300 families, hoofsaaklik ouer, afgetrede
blankes. Die gebied word bestuur deur die Koukamma Munisipaliteit
wat in 'n samesmelting van 'n hele paar kleiner munisipaliteite is o.a
Clarkson, Kareedouw, Stormsrivier, Woodlands, Eerste Rivier, ]oubertina
en Bloukrans.
Die vermindering van afvalstowwe asook die verwydering daarvan was
maar altyd 'n groet kopseer vir die plaaslike owerhede en dit geld nou
ook vir die Koukamma Munisipaliteit. Die owerhede het besluit op die
konsep van afvalstortings areas omdat dit die goedkoopste oplossing tot
nou toe is. Met hierdie opsie kom egter die probleem van gesondheids
risiko's vir die armer gemeenskappe (mense) wat op hierdie stortings
terreine toesak op soek na kos, die beserings wat kinders opdoen wat die
gemors deursoek asook die wettige terugslag wat hierdie praktyk totgevolg het. Die gevaar van oop vure en die effek wat dit sou hê op mense
en die woud self maak dat hierdie opsie nie oorweeg word nie. Ook is dit
te duur om afvalstowwe uit die gebied uit te vervoer.
Die Koukamma Munisipaliteit het toe besluit om die instállering van 'n
verbrandingsoond by Stormsrivier te ondersoek. Die rede om hierdie
gebied te kies was die hoë werkloosheid syfer en armoede in
Stormsrivier. Hierdie besluit sou werkskepping, kos op die tafel en die
verbreking van die armoede-siklus tot gevolg hê.
Die proses van verbranding het aanleiding gegee tot die nuwe gevare
van skadelike afval produkte van dioksiede en furane wat kanker, asma
en tuberkulose tot gevolg het as mense vir lang periodes aan hoë dosisse
blootgestel word. Hierdie uitstraling word ook deur die "Atmosferiese
Besoedelingswet 45 van 1965" gereguleer.
Die belangrike morele debat wat die kern van hierdie probleem vorm is
die vraag na menseregte en of die menseregte geskend kan word bloot
omdat die mense in die gebied nie aan 'n gegoede klas behoort nie moet
daar minder respek aan hulle getoon word en moet hul gesondheid in
die weeg skaal geplaas word deur die giftige lug as gevolg van die
verbrandering van afvalstowwe, of moet werkloosheid verder styg as
gevolg van die gebrek aan werk?
Die ander vraag wat gevra moet word is of die welvaart van die hele ekosisteem,
veral die van skaars en bedreigde plante en diere voorkeur moet
geniet bo die welvaart van die mense van Stormsrivier gegee die feit dat
die uitstraling van die verbrandingsoond ook 'n inpak gaan hê op die
diere, voëls en plant lewe inkluisend op water, grond en lug. Dit sal
ook die inkomste wat uit Toerisme voort gebring word, en die werksgeleenthede
vir die plaaslike mense wat daarmee gepaard gaan, in die
weegskaal plaas asook die gebied se standhoudendheid bedreig.
Die verskeie standpunte van filosowe is na gekyk ten einde tot 'n
holistiese verstaan van die situasie te kom. Langs hierdie weg het ek dan
na die etiese standpunt van Tibor Machan gekyk. Tibor Machan glo dat
diere en ander organismes geen regte het nie en dat hulle daar is vir die
uitsluitlike gebruik deur mense. Die standpunte van Peter Singer en Tom
Regan, wat 'n mate van sorgsaamheid teenoor diere toon, is ook in ag
geneem. Andere wie se standpunte in ag geneem is, is Aldo Leipold,J.
Baird Callicot and Paul Taylor. Hulle denkrigting maak voorsiening
daarvoor dat respek nie net aan 'n enkele entiteit getoon moet word nie,
maar aan almal wat in 'n biotiese gemeenskap saamwoon.
Verskeie oplossings is hierna oorweeg onder andere die verskuiwing van
die verbrandingsoond buite Stormsrivier na die industriële gebied in
Kareedouw, die vervoer van die afval na Port Elizabeth, storting asook die
"Doen Niks" opsie.
Ek het as etiese riglyn Paul Tayor se "respekteer vir natuur" gebruik en
het tot die slotsoom gekom dat die iristallering van 'n afval
verminderings verbrandingsoond te Stormsrivier ondersteun kan word
met ernstige voorbehoude en voorwaardes deurdat, eerstens, die
gesondheid van die onmiddelike en omliggende inwoners op geen
manier hoegenaamd aangetas moet word nie. Tweedens, die welvaart
van die nie-lewende omgewing met inagneming van lug, grond, water
en plantlewe, insluitende die diere en voëls moet op geen manier
geskaad word nie. Op hieride maruer sal almal wat deel uitmaak van die biotiese
gemeenskap gelyke respek betoon word wat die daarstelling van 'n
lewensvatbare en standhoudende gemeenskap tot gevolg sal hê.
23
Ng, U.-hong Angela, and 吳如虹. "Paper balance for Hong Kong: consumption, waste generation, recovery and disposal." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1997. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31253842.
Full text
24
Lo, Chor-lun, and 盧楚麟. "Waste management in major shopping malls in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2005. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B45013123.
Full text
25
Ng, Ting-leung Gordon, and 吳庭亮. "An assessment of strategies for the management of plastic bag wastes in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1994. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31234392.
Full text
26
Chan, Yip-wai Edward, and 陳業偉. "A preliminary study on cooking oil waste management in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1998. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31253969.
Full text
27
Lin, Wing-hong, and 連永康. "Solid waste transfer stations in Hong Kong: acritical review." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2000. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31254664.
Full text
28
Chan, Yiu-chung Joseph, and 陳耀宗. "The role of environmental regulations and policies in managing plasticbottle waste in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2011. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B46784317.
Full text
29
Huen, Clay. "Would adopting the ISO 14000 make Hong Kong's solid waste management system more sustainable?" Thesis, Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1998. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B19945528.
Full text
30
Ai, Ning. "Challenges of sustainable urban planning: the case of municipal solid waste management." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/44926.
Full textAbstract:
This study aims to demonstrate the critical role of waste management in urban sustainability, promote planners' contribution to proactive and efficient waste management, and facilitate the integration of waste management into mainstream sustainability planning.
With anticipated increases in population and associated waste generation, timely and effective waste management highlights one of the most critical challenges of sustainable development, which calls for meeting "the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (WCED, 1987). Waste management in urban areas plays a particularly important role, given that waste generated from urban areas are often exported out of the region for processing and treatment, and the impacts of waste disposal activities may pass on to the other jurisdictions, and even to the next generations. An urban system cannot be sustainable if it requires more resources than it can produce on its own and generates more wastes than the environment can assimilate.
The current waste management practice, which focuses on short-term impacts and end-of-pipe solutions, is reactive in nature and inadequate to promote sustainability within urban systems, across jurisdictions, and across generations. Through material flows in and out of urban systems, many potential opportunities exist to reduce waste generation and to minimize the negative impacts on the environment, the economy, and the society. City planners' involvement in waste management, however, has been largely limited to siting waste management facilities.
Linking waste management with three important lenses in planning-land use, economic development, and environmental planning, this study investigates the impacts of urban growth on waste management activities, the need of transforming the reactive nature of current waste management, and the challenges and opportunities that planners should address to promote urban systems' self-reliance of material and waste management needs.
This study includes three empirical analyses to complement theoretical discussions. First, it connects waste statistics with demographic data, geographic characteristics, and policy instruments at the county level to examine whether waste volume can be decoupled from urban population growth. Second, it examines the life cycle costs of different waste management options and develops a simulation study to seek cost-effective strategies for long-term waste management. Third, it compiles evidence of geographic-specific characteristics related to waste management and demonstrates why waste management policies cannot be one-size-fit-all.
This study finds that, with successful implementation of strategic policy design, waste generation and its associated impacts can be decoupled from population and urban growth. Good lessons about waste reduction programs can be learned from different communities. Meanwhile, this study also reveals various challenges facing communities with heterogeneous characteristics, such as housing density, building age, and income. Accordingly, this study discusses the potential opportunities for planners to contribute to community-specific waste management programs, the prospect of transforming waste management practice from a cost burden to a long-term economic development strategy, and the need to incorporate waste management into the sustainable urban planning agenda.
31
Li, Yuen-chi, and 李宛芝. "Sustainable waste treatment in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2006. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B45013512.
Full text
32
Costa, Luanda Francine Garcia da. "Restos sob(re) restos: perspectivas psicanalíticas acerca da poluição e degradação de ambientes no capitalismo de consumo." Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, 2018. https://tede2.pucsp.br/handle/handle/21467.
Full textAbstract:
Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-09-28T12:26:12Z
No. of bitstreams: 1
Luanda Francine Garcia Da Costa.pdf: 1803240 bytes, checksum: 16e83d1434313cbd9f12b25f939af988 (MD5)<br>Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-28T12:26:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1
Luanda Francine Garcia Da Costa.pdf: 1803240 bytes, checksum: 16e83d1434313cbd9f12b25f939af988 (MD5)
Previous issue date: 2017-08-03<br>Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq<br>Through the perturbing phenomenon of the extension of garbage, which in the contemporaneity reaches planetary proportions, the present research proposes to bring up some discussions from the perspective of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis, concerning the implication of the subject of the unconscious in the act of polluting the natural environments in society of consumer capitalism. Basing us on the psychoanalytic theory research in articulation with other knowledge areas, especially with philosophy and sociology, we intend to establish conjectures between the transitional context of the psychic structure of the neurotic subject – in what concerns their entry into language and the production of the rest Real – and in the actual historical context, researching the theme of the degradation of the environments through pollution in the horizon of the political and economical system of consumer capitalism in their specificity of rest production and the rejection of the rest Real. In the course of the research connective openings and possibilities were presented between the scopes which treat the rest as pollution, the rest as operation of constitutive loss of the subject and of the rest as indescribable opacity related to the body, as well their management through capitalist discourse in order to think the place of rest production in the contemporaneity, where we conclude that there is, beyond the phenomenon, the place of a symptom<br>Mediante o perturbador fenômeno de extensão do lixo que atinge proporções planetárias na contemporaneidade, a presente pesquisa se propõe a levantar algumas discussões sob a perspectiva da psicanálise freudiana e lacaniana acerca da implicação do sujeito do inconsciente no ato de poluir os ambientes naturais na sociedade capitalista de consumo. Pautando-nos na pesquisa teórica psicanalítica em articulação com outras áreas do conhecimento, em especial, a filosofia e a sociologia, tencionamos estabelecer conjecturas entre o contexto transhistórico da estrutura psíquica do sujeito neurótico – no que concerne à sua entrada na linguagem e à produção do resto Real – e o contexto histórico atual, investigando o tema da degradação dos ambientes pela poluição, no horizonte do sistema político-econômico capitalista de consumo, em sua especificidade de produção de restos e recusa do resto Real. Ao longo da pesquisa, foram apresentadas aberturas e possibilidades conectivas entre os âmbitos que tratam do resto como poluição, do resto como operação de perda constitutiva do sujeito e do resto como opacidade indescritível remetida ao corpo, bem como o gerenciamento desses pelo discurso capitalista, a fim de pensarmos o lugar da produção dos restos na contemporaneidade – o que concluímos ser, para além de um fenômeno, o lugar de um sintoma
33
Gong, Jie Lu. "Environmental management of Macau construction and demolition (C&D) waste." Thesis, University of Macau, 2010. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2182945.
Full text
34
Cooke, Christina Elizabeth. "The Second-Hand Society." PDXScholar, 2011. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/1133.
Full textAbstract:
The Second-Hand Society tells the stories of people in Portland, Oregon who redefine waste by making use of objects others discard. The author spends time in repair shops watching craftsmen hammer and polish broken typewriters, vacuum cleaners and shoes back to life. She follows book scouts, clothes pickers and liquidators as they gather merchandise to resell and spends hours at nonprofits that collect and redistribute unwanted electronics and building supplies. She watches junk artists and fashion designers assemble found objects into display pieces, accompanies Dumpster divers and "freegans" along their regular collection routes and visits the homeless encampment by the airport to see how an entire community of people survives on nothing but reclaimed materials. The members of the second-hand society challenge the traditional conception of things as "broken" or "unwanted" and assert that forward movement and new-new-new is not always optimal. By examining the motivations and practices of the people who make use of our discards and looking at the contradictions they run up against, this thesis develops a more complete understanding of the reality that's possible if we think differently about our waste.
35
Sattar, Mohamed Shaheen. "An environmental impact perspective of the management, treatment, and disposal of hazardous pharmaceutical compounds generated as medical waste at selected hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa." Thesis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/2012.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (MTech (Environmental Health))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011.<br>Pharmaceuticals have been formulated to influence physiological systems in humans, animals, and
microbes but have never been considered as potential environmental pollutants by healthcare
professionals. The human body is not a barrier to chemicals, but is permeable to it. Thus after
performing their in-vivo functions, pharmaceutical compound introduced into the body, exit
mainly via urine and faeces. Sewage therefore contains highly complex mixtures of chemicals in
various degrees of biological potency. Sewage treatment works including those in South Africa,
on the other hand, are known to be inefficient in removing drugs from sewage and consequently
either the unmetabolised pharmaceutical compounds or their metabolites emerge in the
environment as pollutants via several trajectories. In the environment, the excreted metabolites
may even undergo regeneration to the original parent molecule under bacterial influence, resulting
in "trans-vivo-pharmaceutical-pollution-cycles".
Although all incinerators are known to generate toxins such dioxins and furans from the drugs
they incinerate, all the medicines disposed by the hospitals under research, were incinerated, as
the preferred option of disposal. The incineration process employed was found to be
environmentally unsafe.
Expired and unused medicines which the general public discard as municipal solid waste become
landfilled. Because many landfill sites are not appropriately engineered, the unwanted drugs
landfilled therein, leach into the surrounding ground water, which is the influent source of water
treatment plants. Water treatment plants, including those in South Africa, are also inefficient in
eliminating pharmaceutical compounds, releasing them in sub-therapeutic concentrations into
potable tap water as pollutants, the full effects of which are yet to be determined.
36
Sattar, Shaheen. "An environmental impact perspective of the management, treatment, and disposal of hazardous compounds generated as medical waste at selected hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa." Thesis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/802.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (MTech(Environmental Health))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011.<br>Pharmaceuticals have been formulated to influence physiological systems in humans, animals, and microbes but have never been considered as potential environmental pollutants by healthcare professionals. The human body is not a barrier to chemicals, but is permeable to it. Thus after performing their in-vivo functions, pharmaceutical compound introduced into the body, exit mainly via urine and faeces. Sewage therefore contains highly complex mixtures of chemicals in various degrees of biological potency. Sewage treatment works including those in South Africa, on the other hand, are known to be inefficient in removing drugs from sewage and consequently either the unmetabolised pharmaceutical compounds or their metabolites emerge in the environment as pollutants via several trajectories. In the environment, the excreted metabolites may even undergo regeneration to the original parent molecule under bacterial influence, resulting in “trans-vivo-pharmaceutical-pol ution-cycles”. Although all incinerators are known to generate toxins such dioxins and furans from the drugs they incinerate, all the medicines disposed by the hospitals under research, were incinerated, as the preferred option of disposal. The incineration process employed was found to be environmentally unsafe. Expired and unused medicines which the general public discard as municipal solid waste become landfilled. Because many landfill sites are not appropriately engineered, the unwanted drugs landfilled therein, leach into the surrounding ground water, which is the influent source of water treatment plants. Water treatment plants, including those in South Africa, are also inefficient in eliminating pharmaceutical compounds, releasing them in sub-therapeutic concentrations into potable tap water as pollutants, the full effects of which are yet to be determined.
37
Sharma, Manu. "Reverse Logistics and Environmental Considerations in Equipment Leasing and Asset Management." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/4869.
Full textAbstract:
Reverse Logistics and Environmental Considerations in Equipment Leasing and Asset Management
Manu Sharma
151 Pages
Directed by Dr. Jane C. Ammons
Today many business enterprises employ capital assets in the form of electronic equipment (e.g., personal computers, workstations and peripherals) in large quantities. As a result of rapid technological progress, these products have a very short life cycle, typically not much more than three or four years. Unfortunately, the disposal of electronic equipment (which contains hazardous materials) presents an environmental problem. In the face of rapid equipment changes, current tax laws and disposal challenges, leasing or procurement contracts with take-back considerations are attractive. For a large electronic equipment leasing company, optimal management of assets supported by good logistics decisions is crucial and may provide a significant competitive advantage. The leasing company tries to maximize operating profits through key decisions associated with the length of leases, efficient utilization of logistics facilities for material flow to and from customer sites, and equipment reuse, refurbishment and disposal actions.
In this research, a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model is developed to facilitate better decisions from the perspective of an electronic equipment leasing company. The model reduces to a linear program (LP) under certain cost assumptions. All computational results are based on the LP version of the model. A case study with representative industry data validates the approach and demonstrates the utility of the model in answering key research questions. Next, important problem uncertainties are identified and prioritized. The effects of these key uncertainties on optimal lease length and product flow decisions are examined in detail via an extended case study. It is also shown how the leasing company can make near-robust leasing decisions in the face of these uncertainties.
The computational research results also have implications for policy formulation on electronic waste. The important insights include an understanding of the potential impacts and expected effectiveness of alternative environmental legislation in different geographic areas, and the imposition of negative externalities on other policy realms as a result of this non-uniform approach. Therefore, this research contributes new models and understanding to the intersection of the fields of reverse logistics and equipment replacement, and provides valuable insights to both business asset managers and environmental policy makers.
38
Barbosa, Ricardo. "Avaliação da geração de resíduos em disciplinas de química orgânica e inorgânica e propostas de redução." Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, 2015. http://repositorio.utfpr.edu.br/jspui/handle/1/1162.
Full textAbstract:
O Departamento Acadêmico de Química e Biologia da UTFPR- Câmpus Curitiba conta hoje com 30 laboratórios dedicados a atividades de ensino e pesquisa. Atualmente, os resíduos gerados por esses laboratórios são recolhidos e seguem para disposição final. Neste trabalho, foi realizado um levantamento da atual situação da geração de resíduos químicos de laboratório no Departamento. Inicialmente os laboratórios de ensino foram selecionados para execução do trabalho por atenderem maior número de alunos e por suas atividades frequentes, sendo identificados os que atendiam maior número de alunos e onde eram executadas mais aulas práticas. Estudou-se as características dos resíduos gerados nestas aulas, com base nos planos de ensino, acompanhamento de algumas disciplinas durante a execução dos experimentos e registros do almoxarifado. Verificou-se as possibilidades de modificações experimentais, visando a prevenção da geração de resíduos, conforme enunciam os princípios da Química Verde. Desta forma, as disciplinas de Química Inorgânica e Orgânica foram consideradas com boas oportunidades de intervenção. Os roteiros experimentais dessas disciplinas foram estudados, e o inventário dos resíduos gerados por elas apontaram a geração de resíduos perigosos, segundo a NBR 10.004 da ABNT. Elaborou-se cinco novos roteiros de aulas práticas e as modificações metodológicas propostas envolveram a substituição de reagentes que pudessem originar resíduos perigosos contendo bário, chumbo, acetato de etila e clorofórmio. Realizou-se estudo na literatura, de modo a embasar teoricamente as propostas, as quais foram testadas em laboratório. Os testes realizados atingiram os objetivos propostos, comprovando a possibilidade de aplicação das modificações sugeridas. Um dos roteiros modificados foi aplicado em aula prática com o objetivo de verificar sua aplicabilidade e como os alunos receberiam as mudanças. Os alunos executaram e verificaram os fenômenos conforme os objetivos do roteiro, comprovando que o aprendizado não foi prejudicado e que o caráter didático da aula foi mantido. Concluiu-se que é possível executar as aulas práticas das disciplinas citadas prevenindo a geração de resíduos perigosos por meio de técnicas simples e aplicáveis, mantendo-se os objetivos iniciais das aulas práticas e incorporando-se princípios da Química Verde.<br>The Academic Department of Chemistry and Biology of UTFPR- Campus Curitiba today has 30 laboratories dedicated to teaching and research activities. Currently, waste generated by these laboratories are collected and proceed to final disposal. In this study, we conducted a survey of the current situation of the generation of laboratory chemical waste in the Department. Initially teaching laboratories were selected for execution of work for meeting more students and their frequent activity, were identified that met more students and where they were executed more practical classes. Studied the characteristics of the waste generated in these classes, based on the teaching plans, monitoring of some subjects during the execution of experiments and records the warehouse. There was the possibility of experimental changes, preventing the generation of waste, as set out the principles of green chemistry. Thus, the disciplines of Inorganic and Organic Chemistry were considered with good opportunities for intervention. The experimental manuals of these subjects were studied, and the inventory of the waste generated by them showed the generation of hazardous waste according to NBR 10004 of ABNT. We developed five new routes of practical classes and methodological changes proposed involved the replacement of reagents that could give rise to hazardous waste containing barium, lead, ethyl acetate and chloroform. It was proposed in the literature to explain theoretically proposed, which were tested in the laboratory. The tests met the proposed objectives, proving the applicability of the suggested changes. One of the modified scripts was applied in practical class in order to verify its applicability and how students receive the changes. Students performed and observed phenomena according to the objectives of the roadmap, proving that learning was not harmed and that the didactic nature of the class was held. In conclusion, you can perform the practical lessons of the disciplines mentioned preventing the generation of hazardous waste through simple and applicable techniques, maintaining the initial objectives of the practical classes and incorporating up principles of Green Chemistry.
39
Maddin, Hayley Patrice Florence. "Regulating for environmental protection : a case study of the CJC inquiry into the improper disposal of liquid waste in South-East Queensland." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1996.
Find full textAbstract:
Queensland's political history has been built upon a culture of developmentalism, particularly at the cost of environmental protection. This has been a prominent feature in the policies of past Queensland Premiers such as T.J. Ryan, Ted Theodore, William McCormack, Forgan Smith, Frank Nicklin, Johannes Bjelke-Petersen and Wayne Goss. The policies pursued by many of these Premiers often resulted in the destruction of many sensitive environmental areas, of which the effects are still evident today. This study examines how anti-environmentalism has been a recurrent
theme in state politics, as well as examining the extent to which industry has influenced governmental policies toward developmentalism. In particular, this research explores in depth the theory of 'regulatory capture' and
examines the extent to which this is applicable to the Queensland context. A secondary issue which is explored is that of the development of a culture of nonenforcement
within government departments. The testing of these theories is conducted through an analysis of the Queensland Criminal Justice Commission Inquiry into the Improper Disposal of Liquid Waste in South-East Queensland.
The outcome of this thesis certainly demonstrates that state government departments responsible for environmental protection were negligent in fulfilling their roles. This
thesis will highlight how such departments were 'captured' by the interests of industry to the extent that they failed to administer and enforce effective environmental legislation. It also raises the possibility that, as a result, administrators were guilty of official misconduct.
Finally this thesis argues that while departmental culture is so strongly embedded in pro-development policies, responsibility for the environment should be centralised in
an agency whose sole responsibility would be environmental protection. Such an agency could be an Environmental Protection Authority.
40
Silo, Nthalivi. "Exploring opportunities for action competence development through learners' participation in waste management activities in selected primary schools in Botswana." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003423.
Full textAbstract:
The broader aim of this study is to probe participation of learners in waste management activities in selected primary schools in Botswana and through these activities, explore opportunities for action competence development. The study starts by tracing and outlining the socio-ecological challenges that confront children and the historical background of learner-centred education which gave rise to an emphasis on learner participation in Botswana education policy. It then maps out the development of children's participation in the global, regional and Botswana contexts by tracing the development of environmental education from early ecological and issue resolution goals of environmental education to sustainable development discourses. The focus is on policy issues and how learner participation has been represented and implemented in environmental education. The study then probes the rhetorical and normalised emphases on participation, and seeks further insight into how learners can be engaged in participatory learning processes that are meaningful, purposeful and that broaden their action competence and civic agency. The study uses the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) methodology to build a picture of waste management activity systems in primary schools and to bring to the surface contradictions and tensions in learner participation in these activity systems. These contradictions are used to open up expansive learning participatory processes with learners using the Danish action competence framework. The expansive learning process uses action competence models that provide potential for transformative participation with learners, and new and different opportunities for learner participation. Case study research was used and conducted in the south eastern region of Botswana in three primary schools in three contexts, namely urban, peri-urban and rural. The data was largely generated through focus group interviews during workshops with children and observations of waste management activities. These two methods formed the main data generation methods. They were complemented by semi-structured interviews with teachers, and other actors in the waste management activities, learners' activities and work, learners' notes, photographs and children's drawings as well as show-and-tell explanations by learners. Content analysis and the abductive mode of inference were used to analyse data in all three case studies. Findings from the first phase of the study reveal that participation of learners in waste management activities was largely teacher-directed. This resulted in a mis-match between teachers views of what practices are necessary and important, and children's views of what practices are necessary and important in and for environmental education. Due to culturally and historically formed views of environmental education, the study reveals that teachers wanted children to pick up litter, and this was their primary environmental education concern. Learners on the other hand, identified sanitation management in the school toilets as their primary waste management concern. Teachers had not considered this an environmental education concern. Using the action competence expansive learning approach, the second phase of the study addressed this tension by opening up dialogue between teachers and learners and amongst the learners themselves through an expansive learning process supporting children's participation and action competence development. Through this teacher-learner dialogical engagement, a broader range of possibilities became available and ideas around participation were radically changed. The study further reveals that the achievement of this open dialogue provided for a better relationship within the school community. And with improved communication came better ideas to solve waste management issues that the community still face on a daily basis, such as too much litter. Newly devised solutions were practical and had a broader impact than the initial ones that teachers had always focussed on. They included mobilising the maintenance of toilets, landscaping the school premises and even re-contextualising the litter management that had always caused tensions between learners and teachers. Children seemed to be developing not only a better understanding of the environment, but also developing the ability to resolve conflict amongst themselves and with their elders. By engaging in dialogue with children, they became co-catalysts for change in the school community. This study shows that if children's participation is taken seriously, and if opportunities for dialogue exist between teachers and children, positive changes for a healthier environment can be created in schools. It reveals that children also appeared to be feeling more confident and more equipped to consider changes in their environment outside of the school community. The study further shows that participation in environmental education involves more than cognitive changes as proposed in earlier constructivist literature; it includes in-depth engagement with socio-cultural dynamics and histories in the school context, such as the cultural histories of teachers, schooling and authority structures in the cultural community of the school. The study recommends that there is need to strengthen Teacher Education programmes to develop teaching practices and support for teachers to identify ways of engaging learners' views on issues in the school in open, dialogical ways. Such Teacher Education programmes should deepen teachers' understandings of learners' zone of proximal development (ZPD), demonstrating how dialogue and scaffolding are part of a teacher's role in supporting learning. This is shown in the three case studies that form part of this study. Finally, the study also deepens insights of using the Cultural Historical Activity theory (CHAT) to shed light on issues surrounding learner participation within the socio-cultural and historical environmental education contexts of the schools. The action competence models used in the study provide a tool for revealing forms of learner participation. This tool can be used for critical reflections and monitoring of teaching practices in schools.
41
Chiphwanya, Nellie Chimwemwe. "Action competence and waste management: a case study of learner agency in two Grahamstown eco-schools." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008308.
Full textAbstract:
There has been a growing need in environmental education to develop students' ability and will to take part in democratic processes that enable them take environmental action in their local environment. This study examined learner action competence in waste management practices in two primary school contexts in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. An interpretive case study design is used to probe how learner participation in Eco-School waste management practices enabled the acquisition of knowledge in purposeful learning and action experiences that developed the vision and agency of informed action. The research was centred on two guiding questions: 1. How informed, purposeful and action-orientated is learner participation in Eco-School waste management activities? 2. What Eco-School waste management activities are fostering active participation towards a learner-led agency? Educators in the two schools were interviewed and Eco-School portfolios were examined for evidence of the learning activities and learner achievement. This provided the contextual data for reviewing focus group interviews to probe what was significant to learners, what they came to know and how they had contributed to the process of developing better waste management in the Eco-School context. The evidence generated in the study was used to identify the roles of the various players, the significant activities and processes that enabled and constrained the emergence of learner-led agency. The main findings in the study were that teacher intentionality and school management ethos were significant in engaging learners in meaningful waste management activities in both cases. The study also revealed that although most of the waste management activities in both cases were teacher-initiated, there were spaces open for learner initiatives. However, it appeared that the activity based waste management practices mostly allowed learners to learn how to do waste management more than allowing them to find out more about the scope and nature of ii the problem of waste. This then resulted in learners talking more about what they were doing with waste than talking about what they knew about waste. There were differences in the way in which learners approached waste in the two cases. In the one case, Kingswood Junior School learners used waste artistically and carried out activities that allowed for better use of waste resources like paper while in the other School, Grahamstown SDA School, learners approached waste as a resource for making money. However, in both cases, learners appeared to enjoy the positive experiences of doing things that contributed to a cleaner environment and were of benefit to others and this gave them a sense of pride to share their experiences with others. This study was significant as it allowed me to probe learner participation and examine the development of their action competence through listening to the voices of the learners themselves and understanding what was important to them about the knowledge they gained and their vision of better waste management.
42
Stotko, Oliver. "An economic comparison of the waste management schemes employed in Cape Town and Johannesburg." Thesis, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/1578.
Full textAbstract:
The disposal of waste into landfill sites is currently the most commonly employed method of dealing with waste in South Africa as well as internationally. However the global trend towards operating waste management systems in a more sustainable way has lead to the need to reverse this situation towards a waste management system that predominantly makes use of waste minimization schemes to deal with waste and relies minimally on waste disposal. The focus of this research was to determine which waste minimization schemes would be most effective in the Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems (MSWMS) of Cape Town and Johannesburg with regard to achieving this reversal in an economically sustainable manner. The method used to achieve this objective was threefold, firstly requiring the development of a waste flow diagram for each respective city, followed by the development of a waste stream model based on the specific flow diagram and finally the extension of this material model into an economic model. The models were developed in Microsoft Excel and work on the premise that each particular stream (separate collected waste, transfer station waste, etc) of the MSWMS concerned has a particular associated cost (defined as cost per ton of waste processed). The model operates on the principle that under several pre-determined constraints the Excel Solver function calculates the optimal flow rates of the various waste streams which give the minimum overall MSWMS cost for future years. The developed model has shown that the recovery of waste reduces the overall MSWMS costs until a threshold value (at which point under the proposed system all economically recoverable waste has been exhausted). Different waste minimization schemes were found to be appropriate for each respective city. However, the use of Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) to recover recyclables has been shown to be a viable waste recovery scheme for both Cape Town and Johannesburg. Cape Town is in the process of implementing the development of MRFs in conjunction with existing transfer stations, while it is envisaged that MRFs will be developed on all of Johannesburg's Municipal landfill sites in the future. Significant changes to the MSWMS of both cities are required for their respective landfilling waste streams to be substantially reduced in accordance with the Polokwane Declaration. Decreasing the landfilled waste stream is not only required by legislation, but the developed model has shown that the recovery of waste also reduces the overall MSWMS costs.<br>Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.
43
Gauley, Steven W. "Urban waste picking in low-income countries: knowledge and action." Thesis, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/10258.
Full textAbstract:
A significant segment of the urban population in many low-income countries
derives their living from the harvest of marketable materials from urban waste streams.
The activities of so-called "scavengers" or waste pickers in many African, Asian, and
Latin American cities have also come to be understood to have environmental benefits:
the diversion of materials from the urban waste stream decreases the volume of wastes
that need to be collected, transported and disposed of. However, due to their daily
contact with garbage, these men, women, and children are usually associated with dirt,
disease, and squalor. The work of the scavenger is often conceptualized as being poverty
driven and undertaken as a survival strategy or coping mechanism in a harsh urban
environment.
In recent years, various programs and projects have been developed by nongovernmental
organizations, religious institutions, community-based organizations, and
local governments to address the needs of scavengers. Such intervention schemes are
designed in one way or another to alter the scavengers' existing situations.
This study looks at the possible linkages between the evolving understanding of
scavenging and the various approaches to intervention that it engenders. This study first
examines how scholars and researchers analyze waste picking issues and their
suggestions for potential interventions and then relates this understanding to how
institutions, citizens, non-governmental organizations, and aid agencies are addressing
these issues in practice.
It is found that different conceptualizations of waste picking issues have led to
different intervention prescriptions, and that the prescribed interventions are motivated by
environmental, economic, or humanitarian concerns. This study contends that the
recommended and implemented intervention prescriptions are simply promoting market
means in an attempt to achieve humanitarian ends, and, therefore, are only short-term
measures that will not solve the identified waste picking issues.
Data sources used in this effort include academic journals, conference papers,
case studies of development programs, newspaper articles, Web sites, and field reports.
Data were also obtained by contacting researchers and organizations that have studied or
are currently working with waste pickers in a variety of geographical settings.
44
"Economic and social aspects of street waste pickers in South Africa." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10210/12273.
Full textAbstract:
Ph.D. (Economics)<br>Street waste pickers are a visible group of people trying to survive under poor socio-economic conditions. They participate in the informal economy as self-employed entrepreneurs. Despite the income-earning opportunity generated by the waste that is freely available, their social and economic conditions remain poor. This study is the first national study to investigate the social and economic conditions of the street waste pickers in South Africa. The national study covers thirteen major cities in South Africa and uses a mixed method research design. A literature review on informal waste picking activities and the participation of the poor in these activities provide a basis from which the socio-economic conditions of the street waste pickers could be analysed. A theoretical overview of poverty theories, the unemployment problem, and the characteristics of the informal economy and informal recycling activities help to contextualise the street waste pickers in terms of the link that exists between poverty, unemployment, and street waste picking activities as a marginal form of informal self-employment. With this as background, qualitative and quantitative data on the socio-economic conditions of the street waste pickers was collected from the street waste pickers themselves and from the buy-back centres with whom they interact on an almost daily basis.
45
Nguyen-Vu, Huy. "The economics of household solid waste management in developing countries : case study of Ho-Chi-Minh City, Vietnam." Phd thesis, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/150277.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis aims to address several key policy issues relating to the common solid waste management problems in developing countries, using Ho-Chi-Minh City in as Vietnam as a case study. Specifically, this thesis has four objectives: (1) to estimate the households willingness to pay for changes in the salient attributes of solid waste services and investigate the location/distance effects on their preferences; (2) to estimate the household demand function for solid waste services and investigate the reliability of the household contingent behaviour data; (3) to examine the welfare impact of the pay-by-bag scheme, the most practicable form of unit pricing in the city{u2019}s current context; and (4) to investigate how to finance the city's current solid waste management system in a cost-effective manner, and determine the optimal direct waste fee if the fee-based financing scheme is shown to be economically preferable.
A choice experiment focused on the households' preferences for solid waste services was conducted separately across four groups of households of interest, based upon house locations so that the location/distance effects on their preferences could be tested. For the second purpose, due to the dominant practice of flat rate pricing in the past, a contingent behaviour survey was administered to overcome the inadequate variations in the household's actual waste disposal rates in response to changes in the service price. Three split samples were generated based upon the presentation of two different levels of the fixed waste fee to the survey households so that the reliability of their contingent waste disposal rates could be examined. The empirical results of the choice experiment and the contingent behaviour survey were then combined with other related secondary data to handle the third and fourth objectives of this thesis. In particular, an analytical model was developed to assist in judging the relative economic merit between the tax-based and fee-based financing schemes and determining the optimal waste fee.
The choice experiment results indicate that the waste services of concern, such as the construction and operation of the transfer stations and the cleanliness of public places in the city, should be improved as long as the associated incremental costs are economically justified by the corresponding estimates of the households' preferences. In addition, the test for location/distance effects shows that the households' preferences are only significantly different across the urban and suburban locations but are mostly similar between the main street and alleyways locations. This result implies that if differential pricing is to be applied, then the associated original policy should be changed so that only the urban and suburban households would be charged with different levels of waste fee.
Based upon the estimates of household demand for solid waste services, the price elasticity of demand is computed at about -0.1. The household contingent behaviour data are shown to be internally consistent. In a more general sense, this result indicates that the contingent behaviour method can provide reliable data regarding household demand for solid waste services as long as the contingent behaviour question is simplified appropriately. The possible use of contingent behaviour data implies significant advantages in terms of overcoming the common problem of limited variations in the actual unit service price and saving data collection costs for future waste management policy analyses in developing countries.
Implementing the pay-by-bag program is found to cause a loss to the city's social welfare of about VND -1.6 billion per month (USD -93 thousand) in the 2009 value term. The unit pricing approach is therefore not as promising as expected in terms of providing a positive net social welfare gain. Given that the empirical estimates of the price elasticity of demand for solid waste services are significantly low worldwide including in developing countries, while the associated additional costs might be substantially large, the unit pricing approach might well bring about a social welfare loss. Cautious evaluation of the economic worthiness of unit pricing is essential before implementing it in any specific context.
Financing the city's current waste management system appears to be more economically efficient using the fee-based revenue. Since the waste fee elasticity of illegal dumping is inelastic, the optimal waste fee is determined to be at the full-cost recovery level: 52,000 VND/household/month (USD 3.2) whereby the city's economy could save about VND 9.2 billion per month (USD 568,000) relative to using the tax-based revenue. This economically optimal solution is shown to be robust to variations in all key variables included in the analytical model. A preliminary analysis on the households' ability to pay showed that about 20 per cent of the city households could not afford the proposed waste fee and so they should be exempted from paying for solid waste services.
If differential pricing is to be applied and supplying solid waste services is to be cross-subsidised from the higher to the lowest income group of households, then the optimal amounts of waste fee set for the urban and suburban households are determined to be 46,000 and 67,000 VND/household/month (USD 2.9 and 4.1), respectively. These waste fees are shown to be still affordable by the remaining income groups of households.
46
Chisango, Eliot Tichaona. "Potential to grow informal waste recycling in semi-urban areas: case of the P.E.A.C.E. recycling buyback centre in Senwabarwana, Limpopo." Diss., 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/23722.
Full textAbstract:
This research aimed to investigate an area of research that has largely been overlooked in the past, that is, the efficiency, profitability and sustainability of informal waste recycling in semi-urban areas. In exploring the research topic, a recycling buyback centre was used as a case study. The centre facilitates collection, sorting and selling of waste and is located in Senwabarwana, Northern Limpopo Province. Here the P.E.A.C.E (Planning, Education, Agriculture, Cooperatives and Environment) Foundation, an organisation looking at rural poverty alleviation in South Africa, initiated a flagship recycling buyback centre as a community project. This research picks up on prior research that was conducted on a similar project initiated by the same organisation in Ndumo, KwaZulu Natal. Even though the location is different from KwaZulu Natal, both Senwabarwana and Ndumo are faced with similar challenges affecting social, economic and environmental circumstances. Five objectives were identified to provide structure to this research.
Through action research, the study assessed the sustainability of this recycling buyback centre with regard to the impact on social, economic and environmental factors within Senwabarwana. It also covered problems experienced in rolling out waste management initiatives within the semi-urban study location and assessed the municipal framework with regard to waste and how waste is managed and recycled. Furthermore, analyses of the waste data generated at the recycling centre was examined that culminated in offering solutions to the identified problems. Recommendations for acceptable practices in semi-urban waste management are made to enable further research and potentially up-scaling the project for application in other geographic areas.
The study reports both qualitative and quantitative data collected through the investigation of the case study in the start-up phase. The data gathering was done through administering questionnaires to waste pickers associated with the case study centre. Telephonic and face-to-face interviews and secondary data were interchangeably used to address each of the five objectives. The results from the data gathered show that, if properly coordinated and structured, informal waste recycling in semi-urban communities is possible and can contribute positively to the socio-economic and environmental development of these areas. It is envisaged that this study would contribute to the body of knowledge already in existence, whilst also creating an opportunity for further academic research and input within this field to enable the scaling-up of such initiatives.<br>Environmental Sciences<br>M. Sc. (Environmental Science)
47
Domingos, Leonor Joaquim. "Informal recycling and resource recovery at a municipal open dumpsite : a case study of Hulene dumpsite." Thesis, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/9279.
Full textAbstract:
Poverty in its many guises - poor housing, no employment, indifferent health and
hunger is a driving force for scavenging. In most developing countries, the
informal recovery of material from waste is a common survival strategy for the
poor. In fact, up to 2% of populations in developing countries depend on
recovering, re-using and selling waste materials from streets, dumpsite or
landfills for their livelihood.
The aim of this study was to develop an understanding of the socio-economic
conditions affecting the scavengers and scavenging activities at the Hulene
dumpsite in Maputo. This study set out to develop a conceptual framework
depicting scavenging, its problems and opportunities. This was used to structure
the research. The main issues addressed were:
• The driving forces of scavenging where poverty is the major factor.
• The organization of scavengers and scavenging activities showing that there
is no formal organization of scavengers, which leads to exploitation of vulnerable groups.
• The reaction from the national and local authorities, with the prevalence of a repressive policy and absence of support.
• The gender dimension on scavenging activities; and
• The perception of health risks.
The findings are that scavenging constitutes a means of livelihood for poor
people. These activities respond to the market demand and not to environmental
considerations. However, in performing scavenging activities which results in
informal recycling and resources recovery, people generate environmental benefits, economic benefits and social benefits. Other findings are that the informal organization of scavengers increases the
exploitation and the health risk of scavengers. Thus, organization is a key to the
success of scavengers and indirectly to the municipal economy.
It is concluded that the framework set out in this thesis is useful in the sense that
it illustrates the factors which influence scavenging activities. This framework can
be used for further research in similar situations. It is also concluded that
prohibition of scavenging activities would have undesirable consequences for the
economy of Maputo in particular and of Mozambique in general. Thus, since this
activity brings benefits to scavengers and to society, the government should
support and stimulate this activity and not persecute those who provide this
service. Consequently, as a recommendation, government, local communities
and NGOs are called upon to support scavengers. The formation of scavenger
co-operatives can promote sustainable grassroots development in this sector of
the population.<br>Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-Unversity of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.
48
Poswa, Tobius Thobile. "A comparison of attitudes towards and practices of waste management in three different socio-economic residential areas of Umtata." Thesis, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10321/1846.
Full textAbstract:
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Health, in fulfilment of the requirements for a Master's Degree in Technology: Environmental Health, Technikon Natal, 2001.<br>The purpose of this study was twofold. Firstly, the effect of the social dimensions of households on solid waste practice was investigated in order to examine relationships between socio-economic status and current solid waste practices. Current perceptions and solid. waste practices of households with different socio-economic backgrounds were assessed and compared to explain the influence of socio-economic factors in the planning and operation of a solid waste management system in developing urban areas. Secondly, a waste stream assessment was carried out to examine waste generation and composition trends among different social status residential urban areas. The generally poor state of solid waste services in most developing urban areas in South Africa and the chronic absence of data on domestic solid waste practice in the study area prompted this research initiative. A case study in Umtata involving three residential areas with different socio-economic status was used to assess and explain trends in solid waste practice and contributory factors to variations between different households amongst developing communities from a socio-economic perspective. Data were collected by a waste stream assessment survey involving measuring waste generated from the selected households and analysis of its composition. The waste stream assessment was complemented by a descriptive survey questionnaire, administered by means of personal interviews to each householder or resident in randomly selected households situated in the study area. The survey provided baseline information on solid waste practices and showed that local conditions were unique and thus require a local solution to the solid waste problems. The study showed that the understanding of the relations within households is vital for planning appropriate, effective and sustainable solid waste service programmes /systems. Gender relations, age, educational status and income are significant factors to be considered in planning and effectively operating solid waste management plans.<br>M
49
Habib, Abdul Alim. "Solid waste management in an era of structural adjustment : Accra's experience /." 2007. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR29282.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2007. Graduate Programme in Geography.<br>Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-142). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR29282
50
Sewpershad, Anusha. "The effective implementation of the minimum requirements at a waste disposal facility in the KwaZulu-Natal province." Thesis, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/4039.
Full textAbstract:
The Minimum Requirements for Waste Disposal by Landfill forms part of the
Department of Water Affairs and Forestry's Waste Management Series that establishes a
reference framework of standards for waste management in South Africa. It also
facilitates the enforcement of the landfill permitting system provided for in terms of
Section 20 of the Environment Conservation Act, 1989 (Act 73 of 1989). The minimum
requirements (MR) are standards by which environmentally acceptable waste disposal
practices can be differentiated from unacceptable practices. The need for environmentally
acceptable yet cost-effective waste disposal has become a priority in South Africa. This is
because increasing population and urbanisation have resulted in growing waste
generation, placing pressure on the environment. There is also an increasing awareness of
environmental issues and a desire for a clean environment on the part of the public. To
ensure a cleaner environment, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, with whom
responsibility for waste disposal is currently vested, has been tasked to meet both current
and future waste disposal needs. The aim of the Department is to protect the environment
and the public from the impacts of bad waste disposal practices. It has been found that
whilst there is sound legislation in place, many local authorities do not comply for
various reasons. The Minimum Requirements will be evaluated and a case study
approach and a local authority in the KwaZulu-Natal province will be selected. The
research is envisaged to highlight areas of capacity/incapacity and to identify a set of
resource requirements that may be required to ensure compliance at local authority level
and ultimately to the legislation that promulgates it.<br>Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.