Food waste management is currently attracting both regulatory and public attention due to new greenhouse gas emission targets, targets relating to waste reuse, recycling and the diversion of waste from landfill, as well as other policies related to sustainability. The research presented in this thesis addressed two of the management options currently available namely the use of food waste disposal units (FWDs) and the anaerobic co-digestion of food waste with sewage sludge, because of their relevance to the water industry. The use of FWDs was studied and results demonstrated that they can bring substantial benefits to local authorities through reductions in cost from waste collection, but can also present challenges to the water industry due to the need to treat additional wastewater. Policy implications were identified, and given the prospect of FWDs application, the incorporation of anaerobic treatment processes into municipal wastewater treatment operations was investigated as a viable technology which could be implemented to give environmental and economic benefits independent of the prevailing climatic conditions. The anaerobic co-digestion of food waste with sewage sludge, well-established in other European countries but still in its infancy in the UK, was investigated as an alternative food waste management option. With sustainability becoming a driver for change in waste management practices, this option was found to have considerable potential, but significant capital investment and operational expenditure could be required to create new assets or upgrade existing ones. A multi-criteria framework was developed to support decision-making aim to select the appropriate food waste management option based on sustainability. It was concluded that diverting food waste from landfill is not only a challenge, but an opportunity that can lead to more sustainable solutions. Balancing the relationship between water, food and energy is the real means to viable solutions and the ultimate approach to deliver overall benefits.

Household products may contain chemicals of emerging concern (CECs) and their use and disposal can contribute to CECs being released to the environment with the potential to cause concern. Cosmetic products were used to exemplify the source-pathway-effect relationship for CECs, by investigating the use of cosmetics as a prospective pollutant source, their disposal, as a pathway for environmental contamination and, the potential need for effective management of CECs in products. Emphasis was placed on the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) legislation as a framework to consider the use of regulation to facilitate the assessment and management of CECs in household products. The CECs present in cosmetic products were identified, validated and quantified and, their potential environmental risks were assessed using a methodology developed under the REACH legislation guidelines. Findings demonstrated that once released in the environment, nanomaterials and triclosan have the potential to affect both aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Multi-criteria analysis was used to assess alternative risk management options for the use and disposal of these CECs in cosmetic products. The analysis indicated the need to manage some CECs in cosmetics to minimize the potential for environmental contamination. REACH has the potential to facilitate the management of these chemicals by shifting the legislative focus from disposal to prevention and minimization. The guidelines under REACH could be amended to improve the risk assessment and management process for CECs. This research demonstrated the efficacy of modifying the guidelines to produce sound assessments, whilst emphasising the need for effective management of CECs in cosmetic products.

No description available.

This study expands the current knowledge base on the nature, causes and fate of unused medicines in primary care. Three methodologies were used and participants for each element were sampled from the population of Eastern Birmingham PCT. A detailed assessment was made of medicines returned to pharmacies and GP surgeries for destruction and a postal questionnaire covering medicines use and disposal was used to patients randomly selected from the electoral roll. The content of this questionnaire was informed by qualitative data from a group interview on the subject. By use of these three methods it was possible to triangulate the data, providing a comprehensive assessment of unused medicines. Unused medicines were found to be ubiquitous in primary care and cardiovascular, diabetic and respiratory medicines are unused in substantial quantities, accounting for a considerable proportion of the total financial value of all unused medicines. Additionally, analgesic and psychoactive medicines were highlighted as being unused in sufficient quantities for concern. Anti-infective medicines also appear to be present and unused in a substantial proportion of patients’ homes. Changes to prescribed therapy and non-compliance were identified as important factors leading to the generation of unused medicines. However, a wide array of other elements influence the quantities and types of medicines that are unused including the concordancy of GP consultations and medication reviews and patient factors such as age, sex or ethnicity. Medicines were appropriately discarded by 1 in 3 patients through return to a medical or pharmaceutical establishment. Inappropriate disposal was by placing in household refuse or through grey and black water with the possibility of hoarding or diversion also being identified.

The effects of adjusting the initial carbon to nitrogen (C:N) ration and pH of pig manure and straw mixes on ammonia emissions and pathogen marker inactivation during composting were investigated by experimentation and modelling. Three, 210-litre reactors were designed and built to control conditions, such as the maximum operating temperature, minimise temperature gradients and enable analysis of the off-gas for ammonia, water, oxygen and carbon dioxide. Respirometry showed that the optimal temperature for composting pig manure was about 60°C. A simulation model suggested that ammonia emissions could be reduced by lowering the initial pH and increasing the initial C:N ratio of the organic material. Experimentally, lowering the initial pH significantly reduced ammonia emissions. The effect of the initial C:N ratio on ammonia emissions was not significant because of variations in the pig manure. Pathogen markers were sometimes detected after composting from experiments with low ammonia emissions, so questioning the established criteria for pathogen inactivation. Experimental data validated the model, which simulated organic material decomposition using first order reaction rate kinetics and predicted the temperature and ammonia emissions profiles from initial conditions.

Green hospitals with improved hospital waste recycling practices can be a key solution to the potential problems associated with hospital waste disposal and management. Recycling of household hospital waste could significantly impact on the overall waste disposal management systems and how hospital waste is segregated and eventually disposed. The involvement of hospital staff is of key importance in improving recycling performance, however, the perceptions of hospital workers towards recycling of hospital waste is still not clear and there is a lack of research in this area. The factors that determine the recycling behaviour are not adequately described in the medical literature, and differences between hospital workers perceptions of recycling in developing versus developed countries have not previously been extensively studied. This thesis was designed to examine the factors influencing the knowledge and attitudes of hospital workers towards toward recycling of hospital waste, using a novel questionnaire. A pilot study was first performed to test the efficiency of the questionnaire, conducted via sending the self-administered questionnaires to 12 experts. Their views were considered in the development of the final version of the questionnaires. These were distributed randomly in 2 pre-selected hospitals in the UK and 3 similar hospitals in Libya. A total of 453 questionnaires were returned. The response rates were generally low in both counties (less than 20%). Females and nurses responded significantly more frequently than men and physicians. In general there were relatively low levels of knowledge about waste management and recycling practice. In this study, none of the Libyan hospitals practiced any recycling and the hospital workers in Libya were significantly less enthusiastic towards recycling than their UK counterparts. Training in hospital waste management and education were found to be weak predictors of positive attitudes. Results showed that it is difficult to predict the recycling behaviours among hospital workers, however, waste management staff were more positive towards recycling than those without training in waste management. The study has shown similar results to previous studies, in that hospitals in developed countries generated much less waste compared to hospitals in developed countries. Unexpectedly, knowledge was weakly linked to attitudes in both UK and Libyan hospitals. This may be due to the fact that the attitudes of clinicians and hospital workers are not necessarily related to their knowledge but rather affected mostly by the hard working hours and busy atmosphere which makes recycling more challenging. The study opens doors for further studies to investigate factors influencing recycling attitudes, and encouraging hospitals in developing countries to commence recycling practice and provide whatever infrastructure is needed to make this possible. More education and training on hospital waste management should be encouraged in developing countries. Introducing new technologies in hospital waste management, particularly recycling of hospital house hold waste may change the future prospective of hospital waste disposal in developed and developing countries. More studies intervening with educating the hospital workers in waste management, particularly in recycling of hospital waste and it's relatively safety should be encouraged. Key words: Healthcare waste, hospital household recycling, knowledge, attitudes, hospitals, healthcare workers, waste management.

E-waste is an emerging issue driven by the rapidly increasing quantities, the hazards involved and the valuable materials in it. Due to a lack of environmentally sound technologies or equipment and the imperfect e-waste management system, the poor quality e-waste recycling and disposal methods commonly practiced in developing countries now have serious and hazardous effects on the environment and the workers'/residents' health. Additionally, industrialized countries are exporting increasing quantities of e-waste to developing countries, complicating the situation finther. The environmental and health issues caused by e-waste in developing countries have resulted in the search for solutions to address this problem before it becomes worse. The main purpose of this research is to find how legislation and regulations be used to improve management of e-waste in developing countries especially studying a case in China on e-waste management, which is a very helpful example to other developing countries which are also facing the same e-waste'issue. A case study methodology was used in this research. To collect data, semi-structured interviews with officers or experts from key relevant government departments/institutions involved in e-waste management/regulation, from electronic appliance producers, from customers at different levels of the value chain, as well as direct and non-participant observations were carried out in six cities of China. For another perspective, the review of relevant departmental documents/publications was also carried out to multiply the source of data. In this case study the analysis relies largely on qualitative data and interpretive methods, applied to what was found in interviews/observations and what is written down in documents/ literatures. The research found that lack of systernatic and enforceable law and regulations has become the most serious obstacle in the e-waste management system and limited the effective control of e-waste in developing countries. Developing subsidiary regulations and standards could support the enforcement of the main national law and regulations on e-waste management and it could farther urge the development of local regulations to improve the enforceýbility of the national law and regulations. Identifying the principal administrative department and coordinating the cooperation of various departments could avoid the duplication of administrative functions among government departments. It is important to construct monitoring systems to supervise the enforcement of the regulations and construct the standards and registration system to qualify the e-waste recycling and disposal enterprises, the secondhand market of electronic products and the regenerative resources market of reusable materials in ewaste. The economic differences made it possible to formulate special regulations for economically backward areas compared to the, more advanced areas even within one country. Improving the existing e-waste recovery system and regulating the payment system according to the local economic conditions for e-waste recycling and disposal could improve the integrated management of e-waste. Producers as well as government and even consumers should be responsible for e-waste together. The government needs to continuously strengthen regulatory systems to ensure that the huge economic benefits from the e-waste recycling industry are not overshadowed by the negative impact on the workers'/residents' welfare and overall environmental sustainability,

A seven-step sequential extraction scheme was used to track changes in operationally defined copper speciation during the composting of a mixture of grass clippings and sawdust originating from tanalised timber. Starting materials were either unamended or treated with differing amounts of soluble copper, using a copper acetate solution, and then composted in the laboratory. Results showed that at the start of the experiment over 80% of the copper present in the unamended materials occurred in forms not immediately available for plant uptake. However, composting processes enabled the release of this copper which then, over time, became more bioavailable. Large amounts of copper in the copper amended materials were initially detectable in all fractions except the residual one, but over time it was seen to move from all fractions to the EDTA extractable fraction, thought to determine organically complexed / chelatable metals (Amir, 2005). This continued until an equilibrium was reached and then the water and calcium nitrate extractable forms appeared to hold the excess. Copper as determined by these extracts would be available for plant uptake. In the second experiment, three different organic wastes (grass/sawdust, pig slurry/sawdust and sewage sludge cake/sawdust) to which copper had been added as copper acetate, sulphate or EDTA, were composted in the laboratory. Samples were taken at 0, 105 and 318 days and subjected to a range of analyses: copper by sequential extraction using two different extraction schemes, a chelating resin membrane (CRM) procedure and by XRF spectrometry; FTIR analysis for functional groups; total carbon, nitrogen and sulphur; pH, EC, NH4+ and NO3- nitrogen, COD, germination indices and optical properties of water extracts. Sequential extractions demonstrated clear changes in copper distribution amongst various fractions within the materials, with copper originally present in the materials being transferred from the oxidisable fractions to easily extractable (and hence potentially phytoavailable) fractions. Transfer of copper from available to less available fractions in copper amended materials was also seen with movement of copper within copper EDTA treated materials being the slowest of all. Initial amounts of copper in fraction 1 extracted from all samples determined the rate at which copper was transformed. CRM determined copper correlated strongly with copper from fraction 1 of the Tessier scheme, although changes over time did not correspond well. Other parameters measured indicated that that the material was maturing (decreases in C/N and polysaccharide functional groups). However, other results demonstrated that the composts were still immature and unstable. Such slow decomposition was attributed to the high lignin content of the materials. Nevertheless, immobilisation of potentially phytotoxic level of copper was still demonstrated. The usefulness of chelating resin membrane as a predictor of phytoavailable copper is also discussed.