This paper is analysing the development of municipal waste amounts in theSwedish municipality of Växjö. The cause of the analysis were decliningwaste amounts in the second half of 2008, which was a rather atypical developmentsince in the years before, a steady growth could be observed.Therefore, the Waste management department in Växjö raised the questionif and in what way the economic downturn that Sweden is currently undergoingcould affect the waste amounts. This is the central question I try toanswer in this paper. To pursue a systematic analysis, I start with a theoreticalsection on how waste is generated in societies, how waste is managed inSweden and which factors influence the development of municipal waste.Aim of this section is to give a theoretical assessment on how the economicdownturn could affect the actual waste amounts. Then, an empirical analysisof Växjö’s municipal waste amounts is conducted. This is done by timeseries modelling of monthly amounts, by using the ARIMA methodology.The models then are tested on structural breaks that could be attributed to aneconomic downturn. Finally, the waste amounts for the next twelve monthsare forecasted.

With the rapid and large increase of waste quantities, China, surpassed the USA as the world’s largest municipal solid waste (MSW) generator since 2004. The phenomena and critical issues of MSWM in China inspired this paper to investigate and analyse the MSWM in an urban area of China. Comparing with the increasing rates of MSW generation, little has been done concerning the municipal solid waste management (MSWM). Not only the local government and authorities are responsible for the MSWM, but also the individuals are playing a significant role in MSWM. An integrated waste management system should be built in order to improve the holistic MSW system and reduce the waste production. The aim of the study is to investigate and analyse the current status and problems of MSWM in an urban area of China and to analyse to what extent a viable reduction of the MSW can be implemented and management systems to be improved in the near future. In this study, two case studies of Shanghai and Linköping are employed and compared to explore the challenges and potentials for improving the MSWM system in China. The result indicated that inadequate facilities and infrastructure, less advanced technology, insufficient public participation, low awareness of environmental protection, problems in policy and laws are the major barriers for the improvement of MSWM. Involving international environmental cooperation activities, planning a sustainable and comprehensive policy and framework for MSWM, introducing economic incentive approaches, promoting the capacities of waste management technologies, raising public environmental awareness are believed to be viable solutions to improve the MSWM system in China.

Economic aspects of household recycling behavior and attitudes in City of Bryan are examined to improve solid waste management policies in the city. Using survey data collected by mail and personal interviews, residents’ attitudes towards solid waste management are analyzed, in general, and specifically, the factors influencing recycling behavior examined using logistic regression. In addition, three alternative policies are presented to respondents. First, support for an additional drop-off recycling center (Policy I) is examined. Second, WTP for two different recycling programs, curbside recycling service (Policy II), and curbside recycling with a drop-off recycling center (Policy III), as a function of socio-economic factors thought to influence WTP are computed using contingent valuation method, an indirect valuation tool. Finally, preference for a particular policy among the three alternatives presented to the residents of Bryan is explored. Because of the different data collection modes and assumptions on the bid prices two logit models are estimated to examine recycling behavior, and Policy I and two multinomial logit models for the most preferred policy, whereas four logit models are estimated for Policy II and III. The estimated models are similar both within the Policies and between the Policies in terms of the affects of variables, significance of coefficients, and consistency with previous studies indicating a potential set of factors that can be used to explain WTP for recycling services. Bryan residents that are female, white, employed, have higher incomes, have children, own a house, and are self-perceived environmentalists tend to recycle more. Similarly, males, nonwhites, older respondents, students, non-environmentalists and non-recyclers are more likely to support an additional drop-off center. WTP for Policy II is positively influenced by males, whites, respondents who are employed, low-income respondents, environmentalists, non-recyclers, and those who support Policy I. In comparison, WTP for Policy III is positively influenced by females, whites, respondents who are employed, younger respondents, environmentalists, non-recyclers, and those who support Policy I. In the case of both Policies I and II, the bid price negatively influences WTP as expected. While the WTP for Policy II is slightly higher than the estimated cost of a curbside recycling service ($2.50), the WTP for Policy III is lower than the estimated cost. No consistent pattern emerges across most of the coefficients and the four possible alternatives, three proposed policies and the current situation. However, probabilities computed using the multinomial logit results is the highest for Policy II, followed by either Policy III or no change to the existing solid waste management policy.

<p>Waste management is something that affects most people. Thewaste amounts are still increasing, but the waste treatment ischanging towards recycling and integrated solutions. In Swedenproducers’responsibility for different products, a taxand bans on deposition of waste at landfills implicates areorganisation of the municipal solid waste management. Plansare made for new incineration plants, which leads to that wastecombustion comes to play a role in the reorganisation of theSwedish energy system as well. The energy system is supposed toadapt to governmental decisions on decommission of nuclearplants and decreased use of fossil fuels.</p><p>Waste from private households consists of hazardous waste,scrap waste, waste electronics and wastes that to a largeextent are generated in the kitchen. The latter type has beenstudied in this thesis, except for newsprint, glass- and metalpackages that by source separation haven’t ended up in thewaste bin. Besides the remaining amount of the above mentionedfractions, the waste consists of food waste, paper, cardboard-and plastic packages and inert material. About 80-90 % of thismixed household waste is combustible, and the major part ofthat is also possible to recycle.</p><p>Several systems analyses of municipalsolid waste managementhave been performed. Deposition at landfill has been comparedto energy recovery, recycling of material (plastic andcardboard) and recycling of nutrients (in food waste).Environmental impact, fuel consumption and costs are calculatedfor the entire lifecycle from the households, until the wasteis treated and the by-products have been taken care of.</p><p>To stop deposition at landfills is the most importantmeasure to take as to decrease the environmental impact fromlandfills, and instead use the waste as a resource, therebysubstituting production from virgin resources (avoidingresource extraction and emissions). The best alternative tolandfilling is incineration, but also material recycling andbiological treatment are possible.</p><p>Recycling of plastic has slightly less environmental impactand energy consumption than incineration. The difference issmall due to that plastic is such a small part of the totalwaste amount, and that just a small part of the collectedamount is recycled. Cardboard recycling is comparable toincineration; there are both advantages and disadvantages.Source separation of food waste may lead to higher transportemissions due to intensified collection, but severalenvironmental advantages are observed if the waste is digestedand the produced biogas substitutes diesel in busses.Composting has no environmental advantages compared toincineration, mainly due to lack of energy recovery. Therecycling options are more expensive than incineration. Theincreased cost must be seen in relation to the environmentalbenefits and decreased energy use. If the work with sourceseparation made by the households is included in the analysis,the welfare costs for source separation and recycling becomesnon-profitable. It is however doubted how much time is consumedand how it should be valuated in monetary terms.</p><p>In systems analyses, several impacts are not measured.Environmental impact has been studied, but not allenvironmental impact. As the parts of the system are underconstant change, the results are not true forever. Recyclingmay not be unambiguously advantageous today, but it can be inthe future.</p><p>Despite the fact that systems analysis has been developedduring 10 years in Sweden, there are still many decisions takenregarding waste management without support from systemsanalysis and use of computer models. The minority of users ispleased with the results achieved, but the systems analysis isfar from easy to use. The adaptation of tools and models to thedemands from the potential users should consider thatorganisations of different sizes have shifting demands andneeds.</p><p>The application areas for systems analysis and models arestrategic planning, decisions about larger investments andeducation in universities and within organisations. Systemsanalysis and models may be used in pre-planning procedures. Apotential is a more general application (Technology Assessment)in predominantly waste- and biofuel based energy processes, butalso for assessment of new technical components in a systemsperspective. The methodology and systems approach developedwithin the systems analysis has here been transformed to anassessment of environmental, economic and technical prestandaof technical systems in a broad sense.</p>

<p>This paper is analysing the development of municipal waste amounts in theSwedish municipality of Växjö. The cause of the analysis were decliningwaste amounts in the second half of 2008, which was a rather atypical developmentsince in the years before, a steady growth could be observed.Therefore, the Waste management department in Växjö raised the questionif and in what way the economic downturn that Sweden is currently undergoingcould affect the waste amounts. This is the central question I try toanswer in this paper. To pursue a systematic analysis, I start with a theoreticalsection on how waste is generated in societies, how waste is managed inSweden and which factors influence the development of municipal waste.Aim of this section is to give a theoretical assessment on how the economicdownturn could affect the actual waste amounts. Then, an empirical analysisof Växjö’s municipal waste amounts is conducted. This is done by timeseries modelling of monthly amounts, by using the ARIMA methodology.The models then are tested on structural breaks that could be attributed to aneconomic downturn. Finally, the waste amounts for the next twelve monthsare forecasted.</p>

Titel: Waste Management – Förbättringsförslag av återvinningsprocessen inom hemelektronikbranschen. Bakgrund: I en bransch som kännetecknas av snabb teknologisk utveckling är det viktigt att se till att de produkter som kommer ut på marknaden också tas om hand på ett bra sätt i slutet av sitt funktionella liv. Hur ser återvinningsprocessen hos företagen ut idag och vad kan göras för att minska de växande problem som framkommer i samband med den ökade konsumtionen? Genom att granska fenomenet Waste Management avser uppsatsen angripa slöseri i logistikflödet och finna förbättringar av dagens återvinningsprocess av uttjänta hemelektronikprodukter. Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att kartlägga återvinningsprocessen inom branschen för hemelektronik i syfte att identifiera potentiella förbättringsåtgärder med det samhällsekonomiska målet att uppnå ett större returflöde i logistiksystemet ur ett företagsperspektiv. Metod: Studien utgår från en kvalitativ forskningsmetod som gjorts baserat på en flerfallsstudie. Primärdata har samlats in genom semi-strukturerade besöksintervjuer och asynkrona individuella intervjuer online utifrån ett bekvämlighetsurval. Studien intar ett positivistiskt synsätt och det vetenskapliga angreppssättet är abduktivt. Analysen utgörs enligt en mönsterjämförelse med avseende på produkttyper, kompensation och information till kund. Slutsats: Författarna kommer efter analys av funktionsflödesschema och mönsterjämförelse fram till ett antal punkter för förbättring vilka kan leda till ökad andel återvunna EOL-produkter. Dessa är; införande av ett fast returcenter, omhändertagande av ett större produktsortiment, föra statistik över returer, tydligare information till kund och kompensation för inlämnade produkter. Författarna kommer även fram till att det råder stora skillnader i hur man i dagsläget arbetar med Waste Management inom de olika företagen, där vissa företag är mer ambitiösa än andra. Företagen har mycket att lära av varandra och inom samtliga studerade företag finns något att förbättra.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate a waste management project and its public awareness components, in the Korca region, Albania. We wanted to learn if the communication towards the population about the project had created an effect or not. We conducted interviews in the capital Tirana and in the Korca region situated south east in Albania. The focus on the study was on the population in the Korca region, and on the persons from the project who worked with the information towards the population. The research was a qualitative study consisting of a total of 22 standardized face-to-face interviews and 3 semi-structured interviews. A difference in the environment is now visible according to the inhabitants. We came to the conclusion that the messages conveyed to the target groups have reached an effect, but that an even bigger effect could be reached if the target groups had been more specified and the messages had been more specific.

Magistro darbe atlikta Europos Sąjungos ir Lietuvos juridinių aktų, reglamentuojančių atliekų tvarkymą, analizė. Išanalizuoti regioninių atliekų tvarkymo sistemų įgyvendinimo privalumai ir trūkumai, identifikuotos problemos. Ištirta Šiaulių miesto gyventojų nuomonė apie veikiančią sistemą, apibendrinti gauti rezultatai. Iš dalies pasitvirtino suformuluota mokslinio tyrimo hipotezė. Šiaulių regioninė atliekų tvarkymo sistema nėra rezultatyvi finansiniu požiūriu, nors jos įgyvendinimas vykdomas sklandžiai. Gyventojai teigiamai vertina jiems teikiamas paslaugas, tačiau neturi motyvacijos rūšiuoti ir yra nepatenkinti principo „teršėjas moka“ įgyvendinimu. / This master‘s work is the analysis of European Union and Lithuanian legal acts on waste management reglamentation. Advantages and disadvantages of regional waste management system implementation have been analysed and problems have been identified. The opinion of Siauliai population about existing system has been analysed and the results have been summarised. The scientific research hypothesis was partially correct. Siauliai regional waste management system is not financially efficient despite it is running smoothly. Residents are positive about services provided; however they have no motivation to sort the waste and are unhappy about the principle ‘whoever is polluting is paying’.

Economy and environment has for a long time been studied separately and seen as incompatible. With a growing society and increasing pressure on environmental issues the need of a new economy with the environment included is necessary. This study examine if European Union´s picture of the waste hierarchy match the reality. Since the purpose with the waste hierarchy is to benefit environmental and economy. A survey was made over Käppalaförbundets waste from 2013, to see where the waste falls in the waste hierarchy. The results shows that the waste falls on those steps that are favorable to the environment and the economy, but the environment aspect can be improved if some of the waste switch to a different step in the waste hierarchy. Better statistics on some waste areas is also necessary to get a result that is more certain. The conclusion in this study is that European Union´s picture of the waste hierarchy match the reality to a certain extent but in order to achieve sustainable development in the long run, several measures need to be taken.

Waste-to-Energy concept becomes increasingly popular from the perspectives of the waste management and alternative energy. South Africa, which is a country heavily dependent on the fossil fuel, can explore the opportunities of Waste-to-Energy in order to deal with increasing amount of waste generated while reducing what is deposited at non-engineered landfills, thereby increase the renewable energy share. This prefeasibility study attempts to identify Waste-to-Energy potentials in Gauteng provinceso as to develop a Waste-to-Energy facility under the new renewable Independent Power Producer procurement programme of South Africa. The analysis identifies abundant Wasteto-Energy incineration and landfill gas opportunities linked with municipal solid waste in twomunicipalities. The prefeasibility study further evaluates environmental, socio-economic aspects of Waste-to-Energy initiative. The financial viability of a Waste-to-Energy incineration facility with the Feed-in-Tariff proposed by the government of South Africa isalso detailed analysed.