Take care how you place your moccasins upon the earth, step with care, for the faces of the future generations are looking upfrom the earth waitingfor their turnfor life - Lyoru, 1988 Increasing levels of pollution and the increase in demand for water and other resources by industry led to a number of policies and regulations being developed and revised in South Africa. According to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996), everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to health or wellbeing. In order to have the environment protected and sustained for future use, it became necessary to move away from the traditional fragmented approach to pollution and waste management and focus on an integrated strategy aimed at achieving a balance between ecological sustainability and socioeconomic development. In the Durban Metropolitan Area (DMA) , the Durban Metropolitan Council (Metro) incorporated pollution prevention in their bylaws, which contained stringent discharge limits for heavy metal concentrations. This posed a potential problem for metal fmishers who were concerned about complying with these discharge standards. In addition, the metal finishing industry was considered to be a significant contributor to the pollution load in the DMA, and therefore needed to find suitable solutions to dealing with environmental problems, especially waste management. Waste minimisation was believed to be a good tool for this industry to utilise in order to reduce its pollution load. It was seen from the literature and case studies from international initiatives that waste minimisation results in an improvement in process efficiency and reductions in production costs and environmental impacts, generally at minimal costs. A waste minimisation club was initiated for the metal finishing industry in the DMA in June 1998. The club consisted of twenty-nine members of which the majority were small and medium sized companies. The club was run over a period of thirty months. A core group of sixteen companies actively participated in the activities of the club. During the period of investigation, a total of 391 waste minimisation options were identified for club members and 147 of these options were implemented. This resulted in a total financial saving in excess of R 4 million for the duration of the club's existence. The saving represents combined savings in water, chemicals, metals, energy, effluent treatment, and waste disposal. Corresponding environmental benefits were achieved including a reduced demand for water, reduced toxicity of effluent from chemical and metal reduction, and a reduction in energy requirements. Four companies were investigated in detail and presented as case studies. These companies showed that the payback on implementing waste minimisation options was mostly immediate. The size of the companies was not critical in determining the level of success from running waste minimisation programmes. Success depended mainly on commitment from companies and motivation of project champions. It was found that the greatest barriers to implementing waste minimisation, as identified by companies, were a lack of time, resources, and commitment. Companies joined the club mainly for benefit of reducing costs and complying with legal standards. Aside from successfully raising awareness and promoting the concept of waste minimisation, the waste minimisation club also resulted in an improvement in the relationship between the metal finishing industry and the Metro, and among club members. Based on the results achieved by club members, and from managing the club, it was evident that the club was effective in promoting waste minimisation in industry. For the future running of clubs, it is recommended that waste minimisation assessment training be given to all employees of a company. It would also be more useful if companies reported savings on a more regular basis and more formally. In addition it is recommended that club membership should be limited to between ten and fifteen companies to facilitate improved management of the club. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of Natal,Durban, 2002.

Environmental sustainability, strict Municipal bylaws, ever-increasing waste disposal / Thesis (M.Sc.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

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This thesis examines the relationships people have with rubbish in everyday life. Focusing on domestic recycling policy and practice, environmental concern and action is explored as a sociological problem in a way that moves beyond the individualising paradigms that dominate environmental discourse for behavioural change. In its place, this thesis argues that better explanation may reside in the social context of embedded practices, and how they get enacted in daily life. Beginning with a historical overview and evaluation of current policy, this thesis re-imagines domestic recycling as a complex socio-technical system involving the engagement of different actors. Conducted at the boundaries of sociology, this thesis draws on empirical and theoretical ideas that extend across disciplines. Methodologically the research has been grounded on a principle of mixed methods pragmatism, exploiting the Sequential Explanatory mixed methods research design. Conducted across two phases, Phase One involved the secondary analysis of the Scottish Household Survey and Phase Two the collection and analysis of qualitative data using the Diary- Interview method. The first phase was a macro- analysis of recycling practices in Scotland. The main results of this analysis are presented in Chapter 4, which built a Binary Logistic Regression model, using the Scottish Household Survey, to predict the characteristics of Scottish households likely to engage in recycling behaviour. In addition to identifying the social and structural dimensions of recycling in Scotland, this analysis also enabled a research site to be selected for Phase Two of the study. Chapters 5 and 6 respond to the macro- analysis by accounting for the micro- aspects of recycling practices by looking at the problem inductively. Using qualitative data analysed in Phase Two, these two chapters are based on the idea that how people value the environment is relevant for understanding contemporary recycling practices. Chapter 5 considers the explanatory usefulness of environmental ethics, values and citizenship for explaining why some households engage in environmental behaviour, but others do not. In Chapter 6 these arguments are developed further with a more detailed discussion about how household recycling practices get enacted in everyday life. Using evidence from the data, this chapter considers why commitment to ‘doing’ recycling varies between people and examines recycling as formed, cultivated and maintained habitual behaviour. Taken together the three data chapters try to show that, rather than be an inconsequential feature of normal domestic life, recycling is a practice deeply-rooted in wider social patterns and structural forces. In the final chapter, all of the micro- and macro- findings are integrated together and concluded, along with some reflections on the multidimensionality of contemporary recycling practices in the home, and what this might mean for policy and future research.

M.Tech. / A study was undertaken to develop and test the process for the recovery of high purity chromium oxide green from chromium waste. The process developed has a combination of leaching, ion exchange, coagulation, chelation and calcination. Based on the research findings, strong acid cation resin (Purolite 106) and weak acid cation exchange (Lewatit NCP 80) resins were selected for extraction of aluminium Ill ions and chromium Ill ions respectively. The optimal conditions for extraction of chromium (Ill) with ion exchange resins from chromium leachate solution were established taking into account the composition and the parameters of the chromium solution, the resin manufacturer's defined operating conditions and the empirical dependencies established in previous studies on model solutions of chromium (Ill). The effects of pH, compositions and the temperature on the extraction of chromium (Ill) were also examined. The yield of chromium (Ill) from tannery chromium hydroxide solid was about 96-98% after 35 min of phase contact with the sulphuric acid solution. Chromium hydroxide with Cr20 3 content of 88% was achieved by extracting chromium (Ill) with weak acid cation resin. The ferric and calcium ions present in the treated chromium hydroxide product were then removed by soaking the hydroxide cake in 0.1 to 0.2M ethyldiaminetretraacetic (EDTA) acid solution. The final product, chromium oxide green, with a Cr20 3 content of at least 95.14% achieved with the described process.

Studying the effectiveness of environmental policies is of primary importance to address the unsustainable use of resources that threatens the entire society. Thus, the aim of this paper is to investigate on the effectiveness of environmental policy instruments to decouple waste generation and landfilling from economic growth. In order to do so, the paper analyzes the case study of the Slovakian municipality of Palarikovo, which has drastically improved its waste management system between 2000 and 2012, through the utilization of differentiated waste taxes and awareness-raising and education campaigns, as well as targeting increased recycling and municipal composting. We find evidence of absolute decoupling for landfilled waste and waste generation, the latter being more limited in time and magnitude. These policy instruments could therefore play an important role in municipalities that are still lagging behind in waste management. More specifically, this policy mix was effective in moving away from landfilling, initiating recycling systems, and to some extent decreasing waste generation. Yet, a more explicit focus on waste prevention will be needed to address the entirety of the problem effectively. (author's abstract)

The use and research of renewable fuels has become more important due to the connection between climate changes and the use of fossil fuels. With risks of decline in petroleum production derived from fossil fuels due to limitation of resources in the future, the renewable fuels are even more important in the transport sector. Research regarding gasification of biomass to create a syngas that can be upgraded to a biodiesel for cars is one of the approaches. By gasifying black liquor, it is possible to create a 100 % green fuel diesel. However, as this black liquor might be in limited quantities the idea to create a synthetic black liquor was sparked. The pulp industry where the black liquor originated from also has quantities of wastewater, containing a biomass sludge. Otherwise containing water in so large quantities that it is not possible to combust it without ending up with a negative energy output. One of the paths could be to recover the biomass from the sludge and convert it to a liquid similar to black liquor. Catalytic hydrothermal liquefaction has been recognized as a potential method. While biocrude is usually the target in hydrothermal liquefaction for direct upgrade to biofuel, the aqueous product could prove to be used for the gasification process. This would create a combined liquefaction-gasification process. Using model compounds possibly existing in the waste sludge, hydrothermal liquefaction was performed at different temperatures, together with varied alkali loads (K2CO3) and water the content to see how the different compounds reacted. Model compounds included cellulose and lignin as major compounds. Although the temperature was increased from 240 °C to 340 ° the lignin conversion was lower at 340 °C than at 240 °C. Re-polymerization took place and around 40 % of resulted in solid residue, while the remaining 60 % was partially converted to aqueous phase, oil phase or gas in the process. By not performing the hydrothermal liquefaction it is however possible to dissolve Kraft lignin directly in water and alkali. Cellulose showed an almost full conversion at 290 °C with similar results at 340 °C, with 4 – 5 % remaining as solid. At the higher temperature more gas was produced, which is not optimal for this process where liquid product is wanted. This suggest that 290 °C is enough for cellulose conversion in this process. Using an alkali load of 0.3 times the cellulose mass in the solution the final aqueous product contained about 26 % alkali, which is similar to black liquor. Increase the alkali to 0.9 times however increased the sought aqueous product, in both terms of energy and carbon content. Fiber sludge from a pulp mill, containing mainly cellulose, could therefore most likely be converted to a liquid product that is similar to black liquor for further upgrade

The struggle with garbage is not only a physical struggle to deal with the unwanted stuff people throw away. It is also a struggle over meanings. At the centre of that struggle in Cairo are the Zabbaleen: the city's 'informal sector' or 'traditional' waste collectors. Over the past 40 years the Zabbaleen have been the focus of a great deal of outside attention and intervention, especially by the Egyptian state and development organizations. Based on 1.5 years' fieldwork in Cairo, including interviewing, archival work, and analysis of artefacts of mass culture such as film and newspapers, this dissertation asks how different outsiders represented and construed the Zabbaleen, and what they wanted to change about them. Each chapter corresponds to a different outside viewpoint. Chapter 3 examines the beginning of the story of outside development intervention, with the French Mother Theresa figure Sr. Emmanuelle. Starting in 1971, she lived with the Zabbaleen and built schools, hospitals and clubs for them. Chap- ter 4 examines how a popular Egyptian film, which appeared in 1980, used the story of a garbage collector's success as a social metaphor for the country's dysfunction and the overthrow of its mod- ernist ideal. Chapter 5 examines a series of Zabbaleen development projects implemented by the World Bank (water, sewer and electricity) and its consultants (modifications to the Zabbaleen built environment and behaviour) between the late 1970s and the early 1990s. Chapter 6 discusses the Egyptian Government's decision to contract European waste management firms in the early 2000s. Chapter 7 examines why and how the Egyptian state decided to slaughter all pigs (raised by the Zab- baleen) during the 'swine flu' epidemic in 2009, and how this split Christians in the country. The ambition of the dissertation is to make a contribution to critical development studies. It plots the evolution of development thinking and practice over the forty-year period covered (including weigh- ing developmentalism relative to other paradigms of intervention), and demonstrates how interpreta- tions of waste have been central to shaping interventions and imaginaries of 'development' through- out that period.