This study had two purposes: to determine solid waste management needs of residents and organizations of the San Xavier District Indian reservation near Tucson, Arizona; and to develop a solid waste management plan to be recommended to the San Xavier District Tribal Council. A solid waste generation study compared the daily per capita solid waste generated over one week by 25 Indian households, 15 Adult non-Indian households and 15 Family- Adult non-Indian households on the district. An analysis of variance showed that the differences in daily per capita solid waste generation among the three groups were not statistically significant at the .05 level, and a t-test showed that differences between the Indian residents and the non-Indian residents considered as one group were not statistically significant at the .05 level. The overall daily per capita solid waste generated by all groups, 1.71 lbs/day, was less than half of the national average of 3.5 lbs/day. The Adult non-Indian households had the highest daily per capita solid waste generation (1.96 lbs), while the Indian and the Family-Adult non-Indian households generated a similar amount of solid waste daily per person (1.67 and 1.64 lbs respectively). Four alternative solid waste management proposals were developed: (1) a tribal-operated solid waste management and disposal service serving all residents and most organizations on the San Xavier district and trucking solid wastes off the reservation; (2) the same as Alternative One except that disposal would be in an 8.24 acre landfill to be constructed by the tribe on the district; (3) contracting waste pickup and disposal to an outside waste management company; and (4) the same as Alternative One except that commercial organizations on the district would not be served. Evaluation of the four proposals showed that Alternative One best fulfilled the objectives of the san Xavier District Tribal Council, and that alternative was chosen for recommendation to the San Xavier District Tribal Council. It was also recommended that a recycling proposal by U.S. Recycling Industries be accepted. / Graduation date: 1991

Thesis (MPA.) --University of Limpopo, 2006 / Refer to the document

No description available.

The environmental impact of consumer goods is becoming a growing concern in the modern world. With the increasing awareness of our daily impact and our effects on such crises as global warming, there has been a recent push to develop better environmental strategies and new industries focused on sustainability and the recycling of a variety of post-consumer goods. In other words, there is a shift towards turning waste into money in the name of the environment. Urban regions provide the perfect setting for such development. The concentration of post-consumer waste makes the mining of recyclable materials economical and the availability of labor needed to support the emerging sustainable industries sets the stage for social, economic and environmental benefits. There are currently several end-of-life (EOL) options for post-consumer products. EOL scenarios include secondary material reclamation, material reclamation, repurpose material reclamation, and waste disposal. Within each of these EOL scenarios exists a myriad of process permutations ranging from various collection schemes and modes of transportation to material processing standards and new recycled product industries. Due to the variety of EOL options for post-consumer products, there is no straight-forward answer to the question Which EOL option is preferred? Thus, under the guidelines of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as standardized by the International Standards Organization (ISO) in ISO14040, with the inclusion of social and economic requirements as well, the various EOL scenarios are compared in several impact categories including energy use, greenhouse emissions, waste generation, social implications and economic viability. The results of this comparative analysis provide insight into the potential of a more sustainable urban environment, which is part of a much larger goal of reducing our daily impact on the world around us. One industry sector that contributes to a rather large amount of post-consumer trash each year, nearly 4.7 billion tons, is the carpet industry. Carpet thus occupies a great percentage of overall dedicated waste space according to product density. Within an urban environment, the burden of such a bulky waste product is more evident; thus carpet is used here as a case study for the social, economic and environmental impacts of material mining in urban regions for the improvement of overall industrial sustainability. A comparative EOL study is conducted comparing the social, economic and environmental effects of secondary material reclamation, material reclamation, repurpose material reclamation, and waste disposal of post-consumer carpet (PCC) within the thirteen county urban region of Atlanta, GA.

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

This research aimed to investigate an area of research that has largely been overlooked in the past, that is, the efficiency, profitability and sustainability of informal waste recycling in semi-urban areas. In exploring the research topic, a recycling buyback centre was used as a case study. The centre facilitates collection, sorting and selling of waste and is located in Senwabarwana, Northern Limpopo Province. Here the P.E.A.C.E (Planning, Education, Agriculture, Cooperatives and Environment) Foundation, an organisation looking at rural poverty alleviation in South Africa, initiated a flagship recycling buyback centre as a community project. This research picks up on prior research that was conducted on a similar project initiated by the same organisation in Ndumo, KwaZulu Natal. Even though the location is different from KwaZulu Natal, both Senwabarwana and Ndumo are faced with similar challenges affecting social, economic and environmental circumstances. Five objectives were identified to provide structure to this research. Through action research, the study assessed the sustainability of this recycling buyback centre with regard to the impact on social, economic and environmental factors within Senwabarwana. It also covered problems experienced in rolling out waste management initiatives within the semi-urban study location and assessed the municipal framework with regard to waste and how waste is managed and recycled. Furthermore, analyses of the waste data generated at the recycling centre was examined that culminated in offering solutions to the identified problems. Recommendations for acceptable practices in semi-urban waste management are made to enable further research and potentially up-scaling the project for application in other geographic areas. The study reports both qualitative and quantitative data collected through the investigation of the case study in the start-up phase. The data gathering was done through administering questionnaires to waste pickers associated with the case study centre. Telephonic and face-to-face interviews and secondary data were interchangeably used to address each of the five objectives. The results from the data gathered show that, if properly coordinated and structured, informal waste recycling in semi-urban communities is possible and can contribute positively to the socio-economic and environmental development of these areas. It is envisaged that this study would contribute to the body of knowledge already in existence, whilst also creating an opportunity for further academic research and input within this field to enable the scaling-up of such initiatives. / Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental Science)

Integrated management of municipal and hazardous waste is one of the challenges facing the new municipalities in South Africa, especially those located in previously disadvantaged rural areas. However, much of the research on solid and hazardous waste management in South Africa has examined waste management problematics in urban areas, the majority of which are located within the jurisdiction of local governments which are comparatively effective in terms of providing adequate disposal services. By contrast, this study has examined the environmental risk assessment associated with unregulated landfill sites in the Albert Luthuli municipality, in the Mpumalanga province. The determination of the environmental risk was achieved by the use of questionnaire surveys and landfill analysis forms in selected study areas. The findings have highlighted a very high environmental risk, nearly four times and above, the threshold limits set by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT, 2005:15) for all of the landfill sites examined. Several exposure pathways stemming from associated environmental impacts have also been identified for the study. The higher environmental risk determined for the problem sites is ascribed to numerous factors, including their ill-planned location, the sensitivity and vulnerability of the natural environment and adjacent rural settlements, the lack of appropriate waste pre-treatment processes prior to disposal, and most significantly, the lack of regulatory and control measures to contain the myriad of environmental problems generated. In conclusion, it is recommended that several measures (including closure) should be taken in order to reduce and contain the magnitude of environmental risks involved. / Environmental Sciences / M.Sc.(Environmental Sciences)

Integrated management of municipal and hazardous waste is one of the challenges facing the new municipalities in South Africa, especially those located in previously disadvantaged rural areas. However, much of the research on solid and hazardous waste management in South Africa has examined waste management problematics in urban areas, the majority of which are located within the jurisdiction of local governments which are comparatively effective in terms of providing adequate disposal services. By contrast, this study has examined the environmental risk assessment associated with unregulated landfill sites in the Albert Luthuli municipality, in the Mpumalanga province. The determination of the environmental risk was achieved by the use of questionnaire surveys and landfill analysis forms in selected study areas. The findings have highlighted a very high environmental risk, nearly four times and above, the threshold limits set by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT, 2005:15) for all of the landfill sites examined. Several exposure pathways stemming from associated environmental impacts have also been identified for the study. The higher environmental risk determined for the problem sites is ascribed to numerous factors, including their ill-planned location, the sensitivity and vulnerability of the natural environment and adjacent rural settlements, the lack of appropriate waste pre-treatment processes prior to disposal, and most significantly, the lack of regulatory and control measures to contain the myriad of environmental problems generated. In conclusion, it is recommended that several measures (including closure) should be taken in order to reduce and contain the magnitude of environmental risks involved. / Environmental Sciences / M.Sc.(Environmental Sciences)