Doctor Scientiae / The management of the large volumes of solid wastes produced as coal combustion residue is of particular concern due to the presence of leachable metals and salts which may constitute a long term environmental risk and potential contamination of both surface and groundwater systems of the surrounding environment. In order to implement an efficient monitoring scheme and to assess the impact of the ash dump on the hydrologic system, a thorough knowledge on the migration of solutes fluxes in dry ash dumps as well as the controls on the transport of these solutes to the underlying groundwater system is required. The conventional methods which have been widely used for such applications are centred on extracting and analysing several samples from observation wells are drilled on the dump. This has however created a potentially hazardous situation as the installation of monitoring wells may result in the creation of new fluid pathways and results in further migration of leachates. Nevertheless, non–invasive characterization has often been useful in the determination of subsurface hydraulic properties and is a key step towards the solution of real-life problems in hydrology, hydrogeology and soil science. In contaminant transport non-invasive methods have often proved to be an efficient tool as compared to traditional drilling and sampling techniques which in most cases results in the creation of preferential flow paths and do not allow for the space and time resolution needed for the monitoring of hydrological and environmental processes. In this context, this study seeks to develop a generic conceptual model for the ash dump through the use of non-invasive geophysical techniques and numerical modelling techniques at the Tutuka Ash dump, Mpumalanga South Africa. Changes in electrical resistivity were used correlate changes in moisture contents during moisture and salt leachate ingression in ash dumps with a sufficient accuracy. A determination of the suitability of Archie‘s law to describe the relationship between electrical resistivity and solute transport ash medium was achieved through empirical laboratory experiments. Electrical resistivity tomography was then used as an appropriate tool for the elucidation of potential flow paths and brine dispersion in the ash dump. The flow rates through the ash dump were estimated by considering the rate of brine injection and the distance travelled by the brine plume over the time spanned in time lapse infiltration experiments. Additional geophysical profiles managed to show the lithostratigraphy of underlying hydro-geology, thereby ensuring that the knowledge of the geology can be established without the application of any intrusive methods. To ensure that development of the conceptual model of the unsaturated zone transport of the ash dump was developed with sufficient accuracy, numerical models were also used to describe solute transport in the vadose zone. The HYDRUS2D numerical package was used simulate the flux dynamics within the unsaturated zone of the coal ash medium, so as to develop a conceptual understanding of water flow and salt transport through the unsaturated zone of the coal ash medium. The results from the study suggested a conceptual solute transport model that consists of a two layers. The upper layer represented the unsaturated zone of the ash dump which was the source of any potential contaminant transport that could be of concern. The lower layer describe the underlying the subsurface environment to the ash dump which include the soil zone, the shallow aquifer and the deep fractured rock aquifer. To enable this conceptualisation, results from the numerical simulations and geophysical interpretations of the electrical resistivity profiles were the critical components for optimising the site-specific subsurface water flow and solute transport processes, as well as producing the most acceptable conceptualisation of the ash dump system that could be used in hazard assessment and mitigation against potential groundwater pollution. The conceptual models developed in this study proposed an explanation on impact of the ash dump to the hydro-geologic and the eco-hydrologic environment by proposing a scenario of contamination of the underling ash dump and the existing. In this regard, the study managed to provide important scenarios that may be necessary during mitigation procedures for both the ash dump and the wetland. Key words: non-invasive, coal ash, time lapse, electrical resistivity tomography, numerical models, HYDRUS2D, conceptual model.

Governments and municipalities in the developing world face the challenge of rapid environmental deterioration in the growing informal settlements along the urban fringes. Waste management, its efficiency, or lack thereof, is becoming an increasingly urgent issue. In this thesis, Winterveld, located approx. 50 km north of Pretoria, is studied as a typical example of the problems and bottlenecks related to solid domestic waste management in a mixed urban fringe settlement. While the formal parts of Winterveld receive waste removal services, the – much larger - informal parts are not being provided with such services. A wide range of methodologies was employed to assess the current status of waste management and related environmental problems. Policies and actual service delivery by the City of Tshwane, responsible for providing waste removal service to the area, were investigated; surveys were conducted among waste removal contractors in and around Winterveld, and the residents from both formal and informal settlements. Field surveys were conducted to identify environmental problems on site, dumping sites and their change over time were mapped and digitized on orthophotos. Vegetation surveys complemented the fieldwork, as illegal dumping sites often are masked by vegetation. The following aspects were investigated: 1) the efficiency of governmental and municipal efforts regarding waste removal in informal Winterveld; 2) environmental and health problems caused by improper handling of waste; 3) the residents' attitudes towards waste management; 4) possible solutions to the problems. The findings revealed that Winterveld is not an exception from other informal settlements with regards to waste management. People are of the opinion that waste management is the sole responsibility of the government thus the residents are doing little to improve their own area. Government initiatives which include provision of facilities for waste management are misused and vandalised by the residents. Dumping along the roads, according to some residents is used as a call to the government to attract attention that the residents need removal services. The initiatives by the municipality should ensure that solid waste management facilities are socially acceptable and environmentally and economically sound. It is therefore very important to involve the community when investigate technologies that will benefit the economy and the environment maximally. Informing people may encourage them to change their negative attitudes by making them feel as an important part of waste management, this will eventually compel them to cooperate and play a positive role in waste management. Until such time that they change their attitudes, there is little hope that they will appreciate and protect the facilities provided. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / MSc / Unrestricted

Increasing urbanisation has increased waste generation. This has led to an increase in waste being left uncollected in certain areas of low-income countries. With the inability of municipal authorities to provide the required collection services, there has been the emergence of private sector initiatives in waste management. Nonetheless, this does not offer a complete solution as waste still adorns many of these streets. This however, provides sources of livelihood for the urban poor, both men and women. They can be found in virtually all cities in low-income countries occupied in collecting, recovering, sorting, and recycling waste materials. Their activity not only creates a means of livelihood for them but also ensures sustainability in solid waste management. In most low-income countries, women still enjoy fewer rights and access to assets and resources than men. Accordingly in Nigeria, women are highly represented in low paid employment. The emphasis in development on issues of equity and inclusion, and women s autonomy and empowerment shows that women still count among the most vulnerable and excluded social groups. This doctoral study examines the issue of women in solid waste livelihoods in Lagos, Nigeria. The focus of the study is to identify gender and other socially-related constraints to participation by men and women in solid waste livelihoods in five Lagos dumpsites. It also analyses how these constraints affect their income levels. The research draws on a feminist approach using mixed methods of participant observation, questionnaire survey and interviews. The fieldwork commenced with identification of waste workers activities on the five dumpsites through participant observation. This was followed by the questionnaire survey which was piloted, refined and administered face to face to 305 dumpsite workers. Findings from the questionnaire survey revealed gender differences amongst waste scavengers, waste buyers and waste merchants according to the following criteria: age, marital status, other income-earning household members, hours worked daily, years spent working, education level, and number of dependent children. These factors also further reinforce gender differences in income generation. Further enquiry through qualitative interviews highlighted gender differences in tool usage and the types of waste resources handled. Inequality was also evident in terms of social equality, political power and decision making. The results also highlight childcare as one of the most important challenges that women alone face. Other findings include the impact of current modernisation policies on women s financial security, autonomy, and well-being. The waste livelihood activities observed offer positive economic benefits, and incomes higher than the minimum wage. However, it is important for those engaged in modernisation policy to understand the potential impact of these measures on the livelihood of waste workers, and to ensure their commitment to change will not reinforce inequality.

The WM sector in Nairobi is a failure. Collection rates are deplorable, regulations go unenforced and the municipal landfill is desecrating the environment and killing neighbouring slum dwellers. This paper focuses on the exclusion and marginalization of the slums adjacent to Nairobi’s landfill, Korogocho and Dandora, and uses a post-structuralist theoretical framework to conceptualize a just response to these exclusions and theorize an inclusive approach to waste policy in Nairobi. Building on the work of Jacques Derrida, I present a ‘deconstructive ethic’ for development that is dedicated to mitigating and overcoming the production of alterity, and reintegrating excluded communities and knowledges into the sites of knowledge and policy creation. This ethic is used to formulate a five-part response to the conditions of exclusion experienced in Korogocho and Dandora, and to engage these populations in finding participatory solutions to the city’s waste problem.

This diploma thesis concentrates on the waste disposal in Třinec. The first chapter of the thesis is focused on the theoretical mooring of the waste disposal issue, both on the basis of the valid legal legislation, and the basis of the literature. The second chapter already concentrates on the area of the Třinec waste management itself. It describes the functioning of the waste management system, informs about the aims of the Waste Management Plan and evaluates their continuous fulfilment. Then it acquaints with the waste disposal of both the corporations and the individuals, and it also names the establishments competent to dispose with the waste, situated in the area of theTřinec town. Further, the thesis analyzes the waste evidence system of the corporations and the individuals authorized to the business, describes the weak points of this evidence and proposes to the necessary solutions. Hereinafter, the thesis focuses on the weak points of the waste management system funding, and also suggests the possible solutions on the basis of the valid legislation.

Cette thèse aborde la question de l’implication des ménages dans un service public local d’environnement. Elle propose une analyse économique des mécanismes par lesquels les collectivités territoriales impliquent les usagers du service dans la réduction des déchets et le recyclage, compte tenu de la diversité des situations locales.La thèse est construite en deux parties. La première partie présente les leviers d’action dont disposent les collectivités territoriales pour encourager les usagers du service à des pratiques de gestion des déchets plus respectueuses de l’environnement. La thèse mobilise principalement ici les approches de l’économie de l’environnement pour proposer une grille d’analyse de la politique des déchets à l’échelle des collectivités territoriales. Cette grille d’analyse permet de construire une typologie des mesures mises en place par les collectivités territoriales françaises pour impliquer les usagers du service dans la réduction de la production de déchets et le recyclage. Quatre stratégies d’implication ont été identifiées empiriquement, résumant des combinaisons particulières de mesures développées par les collectivités territoriales.La deuxième partie porte sur les déterminants des choix des collectivités territoriales et sur la capacité des stratégies d’implication à encourager l’effort de recyclage des ménages.Elle propose un modèle microéconomique pour analyser simultanément les décisions des collectivités territoriales et des ménages face au problème de la gestion des déchets ménagers. La thèse s’appuie principalement sur les modèles développés dans le champ de l’économie publique et de l’économie des déchets. Les propositions théoriques formulées dans ce modèle sont ensuite testées empiriquement. La thèse met en évidence l’importance dans les choix publics de la prise en compte des caractéristiques des usagers du service,une politique étant d’autant plus efficace que les usagers sont prêts à la mettre en oeuvre.Elle souligne également que l’effort de recyclage des usagers du service est plus important si les collectivités territoriales ont une volonté affichée de responsabiliser l’ensemble des usagers par des mesures qui contraignent directement la production de déchets. / This thesis deals with the issue of households’ participation to a local public service provision, offering an economic analysis of the strategies developed by local governments in France to involve households in waste reduction practices and recycling.In a first part, we present the policy instruments available to local governments in the French context to foster the adoption by households of waste management practices more respectful of the environment. Environmental economics are used here to build aconceptual framework to understand local governments’ waste management policy. On this basis, a typology of the measures undertaken by local governments to involve households in waste reduction practices and recycling is developed. We identify four distinct strategies,as specific combinations of the measures implemented by local governments.In the second part, we assess the determinants of local governments’ choices with regard to their waste management strategy and the ability of each strategy to promote recycling effort by households. Drawing on insights from public economics and economicsof household waste management, a microeconomic model is developed to simultaneously analyze local governments and households waste management decisions. Theoretical propositions derived from the model are then empirically tested. The results highlight their mportance for local governments of taking into account households’ characteristics in the definition of their waste management strategy. We also show that households’ recycling effort rises when local governments implement measures directly constraining household waste production.

Leachate clogging in the Leachate Collection System (LCS) due to chemical precipitations and biofilms produced by microbial activities is a common phenomenon in any Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfill. This study focuses on quantifying the factors that impact the micro-environment of leachate; and microbial activities that help the precipitates to form and attach to the LCS. It also evaluates the performance of operational changes that have been implemented or the potential alternatives and recommends the possible measures to reduce the severity of clogging. A field scale side-by-side pipe network, and several laboratory setups were used in this study. Calcite is identified to be the predominant phase present in the precipitates using XRD/XRF analysis which, concur with the previous studies. Microbial growth and activities enhance the precipitation of CaCO3 in LCS. Clogging in LCS pipes can be controlled if not eliminated by continuous monitoring along with frequent cleaning with physiochemical processes. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

After the environmental requirements were strengthened during the 1980s, the producers' costs of handling waste increased. With that change, a lucrative market opened up. Organized crime in the environmental industry has become very noticeable in recent years. Following the drug and arms trade, environmental crimes are approaching to be one of the largest. Illegal handling of waste can be seen as littering, dumping illegal waste in forests, ditches or dumping sites, landfills that do not meet environmental requirements, or illegal exports and imports. In the long and short-run illegal waste management can lead to negative consequences for the environment and human health. This study consists of interviews with relevant authorities and the purpose is to map how the authorities view illegal waste management. The purpose also includes mapping out what can be causing the problem and what is being done to reduce it. The choice of the qualitative method with interviews was made with the idea of giving space for individual experiences. The study shows that authorities find cooperation between them as very low, that knowledge and statistics are lacking. With this combination, the management of illegal waste is seen as complex according to the interviews. The authorities have been aware of the problem, but nothing seems to change. Increased cooperation, knowledge, and supervision may work to some extent, but it presumedly takes more than that. The society we live in today must develop to be more sustainable with less consumption.

The diploma thesis focuses on the ways of waste management in an industrial enterprise and the possibilities for its improvement in terms of the waste management hierarchy. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with the sustainable development of the company, environmental management systems, as well as state environmental policy. The thesis also describes the legislative framework relating to waste management and defines the rights and obligations relating to the generation, management, manipulation and treatment, and disposal of waste. The own part of the thesis discusses the current situation in the field of waste management, which has been analysed for the purposes of work. Based on this information, a method of waste management is proposed in the last part.

Memoria para optar al título de Geógrafa / El incremento y concentración de la población en determinados espacios, las actividades humanas y el consumismo inserto en la cultura de las personas han acrecentado en grandes cifras la cantidad de residuos que se generan día a día. Lo anterior, junto con un ineficiente manejo de estos, constituye una preocupación prioritaria tanto en ámbito social como político del país. Es por esto, que los residuos que son considerados propiamente tal como “basura” o desechos no aprovechables, constituyen un problema creciente para la salud y la calidad de vida de la población, además la contaminación provocada a los ecosistemas. El propósito de esta investigación es realizar un estudio sobre una de las consecuencias principales de la gestión de los residuos deficiente, en este sentido se hace referencia a los microbasurales, los cuales son considerados como una forma de disposición ilegal de residuos. El área de estudio corresponde a la extensión urbana de la comuna de Colina, ya que en las últimas décadas ha manifestado diversas transformaciones demográficas, económicas y espaciales; debido a que es un área de estudio acotada y sin información previa en esta temática, es que se utilizaron como mecanismos de estudio visitas a terreno, encuestas a la población y revisión bibliográfica pertinente. Entre los principales resultados se identificó los microbasurales presentes en el área de estudio, se caracterizaron y se llevó a cabo la elaboración de tipologías de estos. Adicionalmente se evidenció la presencia de impactos socioambientales y los mecanismos de gestión municipal que buscan evitar la permanencia y formación de microbasurales. Asimismo, se destaca la importancia de contar con una institucionalidad a nivel local capaz de coordinar procesos de aprendizaje, vinculando a los múltiples actores involucrados en la temática de los microbasurales, con el objetivo de fortalecer la construcción de comunidades más sustentables con el medio ambiente. / The increase and concentration of the population in certain spaces, human activities and consumerism embedded in the culture of people have increased in large numbers the amount of waste that is generated every day. The foregoing, together with an inefficient management of these, is a priority concern in both the social and political spheres of the country. For this reason the waste considered as "garbage" or unusable waste, is a growing problem for the health and quality of life of the population, in addition to the pollution caused to the ecosystems. The purpose of this research is to conduct a study on one of the main consequences of poor waste management, in this sense reference is made to microbasural, which are considered as a form of illegal disposal of waste. The study area corresponds to the urban extension of the Colina commune, since in the last decades it has manifested diverse demographic, economic and spatial transformations. Because it is a limited area of study and without prior information on this subject, it is that field visits, surveys of the population and pertinent bibliographic review were used as study mechanisms. Among the main results, the microbasurales present in the study area were identified, the typologies of these were characterized and carried out. Additionally, the presence of socio-environmental impacts and the municipal management mechanisms that seek to avoid the permanence and formation of microbasurales were evidenced. Likewise, the importance of having a local-level institutionality capable of coordinating learning processes is highlighted, linking the multiple actors involved in the theme of microbasurales, with the aim of strengthening the construction of more sustainable communities with the environment.