Thesis (M.S.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Aug. 3, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 141-146). Also issued in print.

Thesis (M. S.)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Bras, Bert; Committee Member: Paredis, Chris; Committee Member: Realff, Matthew.

Thesis (doctoral)--Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-288).

Orientador: Heraldo Luiz Giacheti / Coorientador: Jorge Hamada / Banca: Sandro Donnini Mancini / Banca: José Antônio Poletto Filho / Resumo: A Gestão de Resíduos Sólidos Urbanos compõe um dos principais itens para garantia de proteção ambiental. O objetivo principal da presente pesquisa é elaborar um estudo que analise a qualidade na gestão de resíduos sólidos em municípios de pequeno porte, abrangendo um estudo de caso para os municípios de Fernão e Gália, Estado de São Paulo. O presente trabalho foi baseado na pesquisa metodológica e empírica. Avaliando os dados obtidos, em relação ao diagnóstico socioeconômico e ao Programa Município Verde e Azul, conclui-se que os melhores resultados foram destacados pelo município de Fernão, considerando principalmente a disponibilidade de recursos e maior número de certificações. Quanto ao Índice de Qualidade de Gestão de Resíduos (IQR), ambos os municípios apresentaram valores compatíveis com a legislação vigente. Ressalta-se que o município de Fernão, na maioria do período analisado, esteve próximo do limite superior de qualidade. Considerando os Planos Municipais de Gestão Integrada de Resíduos Sólidos e os Planos Municipais de Saneamento Básico, verifica-se que em ambos os municípios há defasagem de conteúdo, não atendendo as exigências legais. Quanto à infraestrutura dos municípios, em ambos os casos as maiores dificuldades ou problemas estão relacionadas à participação da comunidade nas ações de gestão, a carência de recursos e a falta de aplicação da lei, por meio de fiscalizações. O IQG e IGR expõem que os municípios apresentaram um valor próximo do limite superior, ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The Management of Urban Solid Waste composes one of the main items to guarantee environmental protection. The main objective of the present research is to elaborate a study that analyzes the quality in solid waste management in small municipalities, covering a case study for the municipalities of Fernão and Gália, State of São Paulo. The present work was based on methodological and empirical research. Evaluating the data obtained, in relation to the socioeconomic diagnosis and the Green and Blue Municipality Program, it is concluded that the best results were highlighted by the municipality of Fernão, considering the availability of resources and a greater number of certifications. Regarding the Quality index of waste management (IQR), both municipalities presented values compatible with the current legislation. It should be noted that the municipality of Fernão, during the majority of the analyzed period, was close to the upper quality limit. Considering the Municipal Plans of Integrated Solid Waste Management and the Municipal Plans of Basic Sanitation, it is verified that in both municipalities there is content lag, not meeting the legal requirements. As for the infrastructure of municipalities, in both cases the greatest difficulties or problems are related to community participation in management actions, lack of resources and lack of law enforcement, through inspections. The IQG and IGR expose the municipalities presented a value near the upper limit, highlighting bette... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

This case study investigates domestic waste recycling schemes in the Cape Peninsula with special reference to educational aspects as a basis for developing educational resource materials. It explores the question: "In what way can projects for the recycling of domestic waste serve as a vehicle for environmental education?". The study employs the concept of education for the environment, following a socially critical approach with action-oriented and participatory dimensions. The research sample constituted interviewees and/or workshop participants from fourteen different municipalities, six recycling industries, one private waste contractor and the three most prominent voluntary organisations involved in recycling in the Cape Peninsula. A small-scale -interview survey was done to review existing recycling initiatives, combined with a case study of several small participatory initiatives towards educational resource development. The results were analysed qualitatively. The case study indicates that recycling initiatives have excellent potential for education for the environment. This potential was partially explored in this research by addressing key issues such as the role of local authorities in recycling of domestic waste, the short-term perspectives on the part of the local authorities, as well as the importance of and constraints on participation in recycling projects and in the research. Other issues discussed include the educational implications of personal (economic) benefits of recycling, the social development dimension of some recycling projects, the value of school children organising recycling projects, limited teacher participation in existing recycling projects, and the need for environmental education resource material. The major value of the project lies however in critical reflection on the research process. Recommendations regarding participatory resource development as an approach to socially critical environmental education are put forward to inform similar studies in the future and to elucidate the approach. Recommendations regarding the recycling of domestic waste in the Cape Peninsula are also made.

Food waste as a dominant fraction of municipal solid waste was in most of cases buried in landfills creating a burden on big cities with large populations such as Hong Kong. Composting provided an environmentally viable technology to divert food waste to resource utilization for the production of valuable organic fertilizer. The main problem associated with food waste composting was the intensive acidification prior the commencement of the composting process, which is commonly adjusted by the addition of alkaline materials such as lime. However, more than 50% of the initial nitrogen will be lost as ammonia, which not just reduces the nutrient value of the compost but also leads to serious odour generation. Therefore the objective of this study was to develop means to reduce the nitrogen loss through struvite formation. The first experiment of this research investigated the feasibility of controlling the nitrogen loss through struvite formation during food waste composting. Struvite forms when magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) salts exist in equimolar ratio at a slightly alkaline pH. Thus to fix the ammonia, MgO and K2HPO4 were added to food waste indifferent molar ratios (P1, 0.05M/kg MgO and 0.05M/kg K2HPO4; P2, 0.05M/kg MgO and 0.1M/kg K2HPO4) to induce struvite formation that can fix the compost-borne ammonia during composting. The pH of the composting mass of P1 was below 5 for more than one. However, the pH of P2 was controlled in a narrow range from 6.8 to 8.7. This slightly alkaline pH ensured a good microbial activity and improved the degradation rate as well as the precipitation of struvite. In treatment P2, the formation of struvite effectively reduced the nitrogen loss from 40.8% to 23.3% when compared to treatment with lime amendment. However, electrical conductivity (EC) of the compost increased to 6.4 mS/cm due to the addition of Mg and P salts. High salinity of the compost retarded seed germination which required further investigation to reduce the salinity while maintaining good nitrogen removal. To overcome this issue, lime as the more effective alkaline amendment, was supplemented in different concentrations along with struvite salts (to P1 treatment having less Mg salt that could reduce the salinity) to alleviate the low pH and struvite formation. The pH of the composting masses were effectively increased with increasing lime dosages and 2.25% lime was sufficient to maintain the pH in alkaline condition that significantly improved the degradation of active organic compounds resulting in increased dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and soluble organic nitrogen (SON) contents. With 2.25% lime and struvite salts, ammonia emission was significantly reduced from 44.3 to 27.4% through struvite formation compared with lime alone treatment. Furthermore, the EC were also decreased from 5.21to 3.40 mS/cm when lime amendment rate increased from 0.75% to 3%. However, the ammonia emission increased with an increase in lime dosage. Interfering ions such as calcium and potassium were reported to affect the struvite formation and pH control. Therefore, in the subsequent experiment, the influence of different types of P salts was investigated to reduce the salinity as well as N loss. When K2HPO4, Na2HPO4 and H3PO4 were used as the supplementary P salts, there were no significant differences on nitrogen conservation. In addition, the results indicated that K+ and Na+ were attached on the surface of struvite rather than constituted the crystal structure. Compared with other P salts, the presence of K+ in K2HPO4 also made a contribution to total nutrient content that benefited the final product. When CaO was gradually substituted with MgO as pH amendment, ammonia emission was significantly reduced implying that Ca2+ ions would influence the struvite formation, either by competing for phosphate ions or by interfering with the crystallization. However, this negative effect could be ignored when the Ca2+/Mg2+ ratio was below 1:2. Considering the cost of MgO, supplementation of Ca2+/Mg2+ ratio at 1:2 (0.15M CaO and 0.3M MgO) with 0.05M K2HPO4 was identified as the optimum conditions (Treatment M0.3) that effectively reduced the nitrogen loss to 28% in contrast to 46% with lime addition. The significant reduction of ammonia emission through struvite formation was observed with the optimum condition that the odour unit (OU) of ammonia emission was reduced to 1.8×104 when compared with lime treatment (3.0×104) indicating a significant reduction of OIMAX (maximum odour index). Meanwhile, the well-controlled pH of this technology ensured the effective decomposition of organic matter that significantly reduced the emission of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) also. The population of total bacteria was also improved due to the addition of phosphate salts. The total nutrient content of struvite composts of treatment with optimum condition (M0.3) was 4.14% (1.5% N, 0.44% P and 2.2% K) that was higher than normal lime treated compost 2.92% (1.3% N, 0.34% P and 1.28% K). In pot experiment, soil was amended with composts at 0, 2.5%, 5% or 10% (w/w dry wt. basis). At the same application rate, the biomass yields of Chinese cabbage and cherry tomato plants were improved by struvite compost when compared tonormal compost. Considering the increasing salinity of soil with high application rate, the optimum dosage of 5% struvite compost is recommended. To conclude, a food waste composting technology was developed to achieve good nitrogen conservation and decomposition that alleviated odour issue and produced compost with higher nutrient contents, which increased its application value

Made available in DSpace on 2015-09-17T15:25:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015-03-25. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-09-17T15:46:34Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000847636.pdf: 813030 bytes, checksum: 57e0f1dfcd9e06d0e4e7cecbaa0886bf (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O controle do saneamento de uma cidade não depende somente do pessoal ligado à limpeza pública, mas também da consciência da população em geral. Para o enfrentamento dessa problemática, os profissionais da saúde também devem preocupar-se com os resíduos gerados por suas atividades, exigindo dos mesmos um posicionamento consciente e disponibilidade para colaborar na busca de soluções. Desta forma, realizou-se um estudo em municípios do noroeste do estado de São Paulo, Brasil, com o objetivo de verificar o conhecimento dos profissionais da saúde atuantes nas Unidades Básicas de Saúde sobre política e práticas de gerenciamento dos Resíduos de Serviços de Saúde (RSS). Trata-se de um estudo descritivo, de caráter transversal, cujos desdobramentos foram divididos em dois capítulos. Para a coleta de dados utilizou-se um questionário que versava sobre o perfil dos profissionais participantes e questões relacionadas ao gerenciamento e manejo dos RSS. No primeiro capítulo, a amostra foi composta por 74 Cirurgiões-dentistas. Os testes Qui-quadrado e Exato de Fisher foram aplicados para verificar a associação entre o conhecimento do descarte de resíduos e a informação sobre o tema, ao nível de significância de 1%. Do total dos profissionais, 97,3% afirmam saber o que são RSS, porém 41,9% não responderam de forma correta como descartar os sugadores e luvas infectados e 20,3% os perfurocortantes. Em relação à informação sobre o tema, 40,5% não obtiveram. Além disso, houve diferença estatisticamente significante (p=0,0007) entre as variáveis informação sobre o tema e descarte de resíduos perfurocortantes. No segundo capítulo, compuseram a amostra 11 Cirurgiões-dentistas, 11 Auxiliares em Saúde Bucal, 25 Enfermeiros, 21 Técnicos em Enfermagem e 17 Auxiliares em Enfermagem. Para análise, aplicou-se o teste não paramétrico Kruskal-Wallis... / The control of sanitation of a city does not depend solely the staff of the public cleaning, but also the awareness of the general population. To face up this problem, health professionals should also be concerned with waste generated by their activities, requiring the same conscious positioning and willingness to collaborate in finding solutions. Thus, there was a study in municipalities in the northwest of São Paulo, Brazil, in order to verify the knowledge of the health professionals working in the Basic Health Units on policy and management practices of medical waste (MW). This is a descriptive study of transversal, whose developments were divided into two chapters. To collect data, we used one questionnaire that focused on the profile of professional participants and how to manage and management of RSS. In the first chapter, the sample consisted of 74 Dentists. Chi-square and Fisher exact tests were used to assess the association between waste disposal of knowledge and information on the subject, the level of significance of 1%. Of the total of professionals, 97.3% claim to know what RSS is, but 41.9% did not answer correctly disposing sucking and infected gloves and 20.3% needlestick. With regard to information on the subject, 40.5% did not obtain. In addition, a statistically significant difference (p = 0.0007) between the variables information on and disposal of sharps waste. In the second chapter, comprised the sample 11 dentists, 11 oral health assistants, 25 nurses, 21 nursing technicians and 17 nursing assistants. For analysis, we used the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis...

In South Africa most of the municipal solid waste is currently removed and taken to land fill sites for engraving. A very small percentage of this is recycled due to lack of exploration of alternative means of further processing. In 2011 approximately 108 million tonnes of waste, mostly being general waste was generated in South Africa. Ninety eight (98) million tonnes of this waste was disposed of at landfill sites (The Department of Environmental Affairs [DEA], 2012). Environmental engineers are finding municipal solid waste management to be a challenge, similarly do the city planners and local administration. The main reason being the difficulty brought about by the complexity in composition of the waste material, no availability of waste minimization technologies and the scarcity of land for landfill sites and their environmental impact (Lal & Singh, 2012). Anyaegbunam (2013) recommend that there is a disposal technique that can convert most of the landfill waste at reduced amount of money to what is being paid on other disposal techniques nowadays, regardless of its form or composition and produce an excess of clean energy, and that technique is called Plasma Gasification which carries a high capability of being economically efficient. According to Young (2010), plasma arc Gasification is a high-temperature pyrolysis process whereby the organics of waste solids (carbon-based materials) are converted into syngas. The syngas can also be sent to gas turbines or reciprocating engines to produce electricity. Few of these plants exist in the world, however there is none in South Africa due to municipal budgetary constraints and lack of evidence for return on investment. Gasification can be described as a thermo-chemical process wherein carbonaceous or carbon-rich feed stocks, for instance tree trimmings or biomass, coal, and petro-coke are transformed into a complex gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide (and smaller quantities of carbon dioxide and other trace gases) under high pressure, oxygen exhausted, strong heat and/or steam environments (SRS Energy Solutions, 2016) The problem of electricity shortages continues to increase and communities are unable to cope with the continuous rising electricity bills. It is forecast that electricity demand will grow by approximately 85% and thereby reaching 31 700TWH (terawatt hours) in the year 2035. This growth rate is anticipated at an annual rate of 2.4% of which the economic and population growth will be the driving force, while on the other hand the daily increase of waste at landfill sites poses many problems with regards to the lifespan of the landfill in case green technological disposal processes are not introduced.

Orientador: Rosane Aparecida Gomes Battistelle / Banca: Barbara Stolte Bezerra / Banca: Aloisio Costa Sampaio / Resumo: Este trabalho tem por objetivo avaliar a gestão de cooperativas de recicláveis no município de Bauru, utilizando como base os estudos já existentes e as problemáticas levantadas em visitas técnicas. Foram realizados o levantamento bibliográfico e documental, além de consultas às diversas entidades e organismos não governamentais, para, assim, realizar mapeamento comparativo das informações. A metodologia utilizada foi o estudo de caso com abordagens tanto quantitativas, quanto qualitativas, dependendo dos dados a serem tratados e apresentados. Este trabalho traça o perfil das cooperativas de reciclagem e dos catadores de material reciclável no município de Bauru. E, como proposição de melhorias nos processos das cooperativas, apontando as causas das problemáticas encontradas durante os estudos, foram listadas diversas ações ligadas à gestão pública e da própria cooperativa. / Abstract: This study has since objective values the management of cooperatives of recycling at the local authority of Bauru, using like base the already existent studies and the problems lifted in technical visits. They were carried out the bibliographical and documentary lifting, besides consultations to several entities and organisms not government, so, to carry out mapping comparatively of the informations. The used methodology was the case study with approaches so much quantitative, how much qualitative, depending on the data being treated and presented. This work draws the profile of the cooperatives of recycling and of the collectors of material recycling in the local authority of Bauru. And, like improvements proposition in the processes of the cooperatives, pointing to the causes of the problems found during the studies, there were listed several actions connected with the public management and of the cooperative itself. / Mestre

A geração de resíduos, em geral, pode trazer diversos problemas ao meio ambiente em decorrência de seu descarte inadequado, tornando necessária a busca por métodos alternativos para o manuseio, tratamento e disposição final dos mesmos. A Política Nacional Brasileira de Resíduos Sólidos de 2010 estabelece que os resíduos sólidos gerados em território brasileiro, de qualquer natureza, devem ser, nos processos geradores, reduzidos, tratados e reutilizados dentro do conceito de desenvolvimento sustentável. Estima-se que o Brasil produza, anualmente, 30.000 toneladas de isoladores elétricos de porcelana para abastecer sua rede elétrica, com uma geração de resíduos da ordem de 10% do total produzido. Diante deste cenário, a busca por alternativas para utilização de resíduos de isoladores elétricos de porcelana em novos produtos, tem despertado o interesse acadêmico e tecnológico. Neste estudo, resíduos de isoladores elétricos de porcelana (RIP) foram cominuídos em dimensões compatíveis para a aplicação em concretos permeáveis e foram caracterizados por análise física (granulométrica, índice de forma, absorção de água, massa específica). A partir da caracterização do RIP, foi proposta uma matriz experimental para a avaliação de concretos permeáveis, incorporando 50 e 100% em massa de RIP em substituição aos agregados graúdos. As propriedades de resistência mecânica sob compressão, sob tração na flexão, e o módulo de elasticidade das proporções com essas incorporações foram comparadas às de um concreto referência. Os resultados de resistência mecânica sob compressão para os concretos permeáveis propostos foram inferiores ao referência 21, e 24% respectivamente para 50 e 100% em massa de RIP, sob tração na flexão os resultados foram inferiores 38 e 46,5% respectivamente para 50 e 100% em massa de RIP, o módulo de elasticidade foi inferior ao referência 6,4% respectivamente para 50% em massa de RIP e superior 3,13% respectivamente para 100% em massa de RIP. Os resultados de resistência mecânica sob compressão, sob tração na flexão e o módulo de elasticidade para os concretos permeáveis 50 e 100% em massa de RIP encontram-se dentro dos valores relatados na literatura para concretos permeáveis. Os resultados de índice de vazios dos concretos permeáveis, referência, 50% em massa de RIP e 100% em massa de RIP ficaram numa faixa de 12,5 – 18,2% e os resultados do coeficiente de permeabilidade para os concretos permeáveis referência, 50% em massa de RIP e 100% em massa de RIP ficaram numa faixa de 0,05 a 0,2 cm∙s-1 na condição amostra seca e 0,14 a 0,15 cm∙s-1 na condição amostra saturada, contudo encontram-se dentro dos valores relatados na literatura para concretos permeáveis. Os resultados demonstram que é possível utilizar resíduos de isoladores elétricos de porcelana em substituição a agregados graúdos, permitindo incorporações de até 100% de RIP em concreto permeável. / Submitted by Ana Guimarães Pereira (agpereir@ucs.br) on 2015-02-23T18:35:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Aline Ribeiro.pdf: 164454 bytes, checksum: 33cde29e9f0898b83a87c5641d09b037 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-02-23T18:35:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Aline Ribeiro.pdf: 164454 bytes, checksum: 33cde29e9f0898b83a87c5641d09b037 (MD5) / Companhia Paulista de Força e Luz / The generation of waste, in general, can bring many environment issues due to their improper disposal, making necessary to search for alternative methods for handling, treatment and final disposal of them. The Brazilian National Solid Waste Policy of 2010 defines that the solid waste generated in Brazilian territory, of any kind, should be, in their generators processes, reduced, treated and reused within the concept of sustainable development. It is estimated that Brazil produces annually 30,000 tons of electrical porcelain insulators to supply its power grid with a waste generation around 10% of the total production. In this scenario, the search for alternatives to the use of waste electrical porcelain insulators on new products has attracted academic and technological interest. In this study, waste electrical porcelain insulators (RIP) were comminuted in sizes compatible for use in permeable concrete. They were characterized by physical analysis (particle size distribution, shape index, water absorption and specific mass). Based on the characterization of RIP, an experimental matrix was proposed, to evaluate permeable concrete by incorporating 50 to 100%wt of RIP instead of coarse aggregate. The mechanical strength properties under compression, tension in bending and the modulus of elasticity of aforementioned proportions were compared to a reference concrete. The results of mechanical strength under compression for the proposed permeable concrete showed lower values than for the reference (values of 21 and 24% for 50 and 100 %wt of RIP, respectively). In tension in bending, the results were 38 and 46.5 % lower for 50 and 100%wt of RIP, respectively. The modulus of elasticity of the proportion 50%wt of RIP was 6.4% lower than the reference, while for the proportion 100%wt of RIP was 3.13% higher than the reference. The results of mechanical strength under compressive tensile, bending and the modulus of elasticity for the specific permeable concrete are within the reported values in the literature for this kind of material. The void index results for the permeable concrete and the reference were in a range from 12.5 to 18.2% and the results of the permeability coefficient were in a range of 0.05 to 0.2 cm s-1 in the sample dry condition and of 0.14 to 0.15 cm s-1 in the sample saturated condition, however they lie within the literature reported values for permeable concrete. The results demonstrate that it is possible to use waste electrical porcelain insulators replacing coarse aggregate, enabling the incorporation of up to 100% of RIP in permeable concrete.