Landfilling waste material is still one of the most common methods to take care of waste in a big part of the world. Gaborone, the capital of Botswana located in the southern part of Africa is no different in this way. The major part of all waste is landfilled in Gaborone and there is only a minor part of all collected material that is recycled. One solution that earlier studies suggest is to build a transfer and recycling station in the city of Gaborone that can contribute to a more sustainable waste management. This study aims to identify the major waste streams of recyclable waste and also the major stakeholders that are active in this area through an exploratory study involving interviews, a workshop and a survey. The result of this thesis can hopefully assist in the preparations for such a transfer station. The conclusions of this study are many and contains of both hard facts and also loose ends that can contribute to pursue further studies. The first important result is that all the waste collection companies transports everything they collects to a landfill and it is only recycling organizations that are working with collection and recycling in Gaborone. These recycling organizations are a few but smaller compared to the waste collection companies in collected amounts of material. Besides these collection organizations, Gaborone City Council, the local municipality works with collection of household waste and the collaboration between these three groups that operates in the same environment is very poor. All the interviewed stakeholders showed a positive interest in the transfer and recycling station but there is only a small part of the commercial business in Gaborone that believes in a more serious waste management than landfilling. Despite that one major shopping mall actually sort out recyclables and saves 30% in waste management costs thanks to that. Another issue is the prevailing cultural contradictions that is obvious among the organizations in Gaborone. The last two bigger issues is the tremendously dull political bureaucracy that is appearing in Botswana and also that voices are raised that corruption is great beneath the surface.

Waste reprocessing is a growing trend in different communities around South Africa which has become influential to the socio-economic liberalism of the people that are recycling at source in their respective areas. The focus of the research study is on the contributions of community-based organisations involved in recycling towards the social and environmental sustainability. The study explores (i) work done by community-based organisations in recycling, (ii) how the organisations turn unwanted products in to something usable and manage to sustain themselves and provide for their families, and (iii) how unpleasant municipality policies on the management of waste are to the organisations involved in recycling. As a result a comprehensive and consistent information set comprising significant contributions from the responsible stakeholders that contribute to the national waste stream will be expressed; regarding the development of relevant statutory frameworks to address and clarify issues facing reprocessing at large. South Africa is signatory to a number of international accords, hence a comprehensive international perspective on waste re-utilisation is incorporated. The notion of partnership is emphasized as it ought to be accompanied by other measures that can unleash a practical validity and influence; hence the public-private partnership strategy towards recycling is recommended as a requisite to try and tackle the challenges facing community-based organisations and the system of managing waste especially in the Emfuleni Local Municipality. The partnerships should be determined as the principle framework between the people, the private sector and the entire administration. The more serious the community-based organisations towards the system of managing waste around an area, the better it will turn out to be for the communities concerned. Unemployment is also the biggest issue thus far and strategies have long been implemented to tackle the crisis, and yet the public is still faced and halted by means that are expensive in nature. Advanced educational facilities for instance, which are still major challenges to the people around Emfuleni. The logic of responsibility now is therefore to develop, implement and enforce recently formulated legislation to encourage the masses to be involved in the process of recycling. Indeed, the lack of co-ordination by private sector, the people and local authorities has resulted in the involvement of community-based organisations being regarded as non-existing and not being intensified in South Africa. The contributions made by waste pickers in making sure that the green environment concept is maintained in societies they live in, is in fact the actual concern in undertaking these research study. The negative stigma associated with the communities involved in recycling is endured as individuals are able to support their families and themselves through recycling ingenuities. The Emfuleni Local Municipality has some of the best strategies and plans to address the involvement of community-based organisations in their disposal, and the full implementation of this category has to prioritised in order to achieve a hospitable and sustainable environment for the area. / M Development and Management (Public Management and Governance), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

In many developing countries, a significant proportion of the population relies on work in the informal sector as a source of income. Some scholars have posed the possibility of integrating the informal sector into the formal sector, in an effort to improve the lives and livelihoods of workers and the productivity of a country’s economy. This paper examines potential steps that could allow for such integration by focusing on a sub-sector of the informal sector that has already begun the process of integration: the informal waste management sector. This paper compares the cities of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Pune, India in an attempt to explore their processes of integrating the informal waste sector into the formal waste management process. By examining both scholarly works and primary government documents, this study demonstrates that both Buenos Aires and Pune have implemented a number of initiatives to develop laws and programs in order to integrate their informal waste management systems. Consequently, the municipal governments of these cities have been able to provide a more substantial livelihood for previously informal workers and have improved the sanitation of their cities. These findings imply that the governments of other cities with large informal waste sectors could utilize a similar framework to benefit both vulnerable populations and environmental practices.

This research explores how Participatory Video (PV) can facilitate empowerment and strengthen dialogue and engagement for public policy with members of recycling cooperatives and government in the greater metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil. The research project provided opportunities for catadores/as (‘recyclers’) to explore PV as a way to shed light on their livelihood challenges, but also as an approach to celebrate, demonstrate and legitimize the value and significance of their work to local government and community. Working through a participatory approach, twenty-two leaders from eleven cooperatives were involved in all aspects of the video-making process, from script writing to filming, group editing and knowledge mobilization. The research took place during nine months of fieldwork located in four municipalities in the greater metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil using multiple ethnographic and participatory methods. The methodology for this research is action-oriented, and applies a participatory community-based multi-methods approach. The purpose of the videos was to relay the message that catadores/as perform a valuable service to society, and through the organization of cooperatives have the capacity to be further supported and integrated into waste management programs. The videos were used as a tool for communication with government and for community outreach. This research is supported through the Participatory Sustainable Waste Management (PSWM) project, a six-year Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded University Partnership project (2005-2011). The overall purpose of the participatory-based PSWM project was to increase the effectiveness, safety, and income generation of organized waste recycling in originally four and later six Brazilian municipalities in the metropolitan region of São Paulo: Santo André, Diadema, Ribeirão Pires, São Bernardo do Campo, Mauá and some parts of the municipality of São Paulo. The capacity building activities and actions of the PSWM project have contributed to structure, organize and strengthen cooperative recycling enterprises and their members, for example, by setting up a pilot project on micro-credit and advancing the practice of solidarity economy through collective commercialization and networking of the recyclers in the region. In addition, the project has helped create a more inclusive culture amongst the local governments in this region, where many recyclers are now present in political meetings and decision making related to waste management. Unfortunately, this is not the case in all the municipalities and there are still barriers to participatory models in decision-making and a lack of political support. Findings support the conclusion that PV can be a powerful methodological tool contributing to the process of individual, community and organizational empowerment and is significant for democratic governance and the increasingly popular notion of the knowledge democracy. This research also has policy relevance and practical application. The findings have the capacity to inform models of participatory governance, and improved democratic processes in addressing complex urban development challenges, in addition to advancing practices in government accountability and transparency. / Graduate / 0344 / 0700 / 0999 / crystaltre@gmail.com

The four papers of this dissertation explore themes related to waste prevention, the system boundaries, functional units and scale of life cycle assessments (LCAs) of municipal solid waste (MSW) management, as well as the transparency and consistency of the application of LCA methods. The first paper is a comparative analysis of the methodological choices and transparency of 20 LCAs of MSW that were recently published in peer-reviewed journals, and includes a comparison of their midpoint level impact values using statistical indicators. The second paper proposes a conceptual model, designated WasteMAP (Waste Management And Prevention), for evaluating LCAs of MSW which incorporate waste prevention. In WasteMAP, waste prevention through dematerialization is viewed as analogous to waste treatments so long as it does not affect the functional output (product services) of MSW-generating product systems. Papers 3 and 4 comprise the WasteMAP LCA case study. Paper 3 depicts product LCAs of wine and spirit packaging (conventional, lightweight and refillable, each type generating different quantities of waste) at the scale of the individual package and the municipality. At the municipal scale, the LCAs address impacts from the wine and spirit packaging supplied in the City of Toronto, Canada in 2008, and a waste prevention scenario which substitutes lighter weight and reusable containers. The lowest endpoint level impacts out of the five container types studied were associated with refillable containers and aseptic cartons. Paper 4 addresses the Toronto MSW management system and applies the WasteMAP model to allow for the comparison, on a functionally equivalent basis, of the LCA results of a reference scenario, based on 2008 data, with a scenario incorporating six types of waste prevention activities (prevention of unaddressed advertising mail, disposable plastic bags, newspapers, lightweight and refillable wine and spirit packaging, and yard waste). The findings highlight the benefits of waste prevention, and the relative significance of the decision to account for recycled content when modelling waste prevention. The endpoint level impact assessment results using the ReCiPe and Impact 2002+ evaluation methods are in keeping with the assumption in the waste hierarchy that waste prevention has a superior environmental performance.

The four papers of this dissertation explore themes related to waste prevention, the system boundaries, functional units and scale of life cycle assessments (LCAs) of municipal solid waste (MSW) management, as well as the transparency and consistency of the application of LCA methods. The first paper is a comparative analysis of the methodological choices and transparency of 20 LCAs of MSW that were recently published in peer-reviewed journals, and includes a comparison of their midpoint level impact values using statistical indicators. The second paper proposes a conceptual model, designated WasteMAP (Waste Management And Prevention), for evaluating LCAs of MSW which incorporate waste prevention. In WasteMAP, waste prevention through dematerialization is viewed as analogous to waste treatments so long as it does not affect the functional output (product services) of MSW-generating product systems. Papers 3 and 4 comprise the WasteMAP LCA case study. Paper 3 depicts product LCAs of wine and spirit packaging (conventional, lightweight and refillable, each type generating different quantities of waste) at the scale of the individual package and the municipality. At the municipal scale, the LCAs address impacts from the wine and spirit packaging supplied in the City of Toronto, Canada in 2008, and a waste prevention scenario which substitutes lighter weight and reusable containers. The lowest endpoint level impacts out of the five container types studied were associated with refillable containers and aseptic cartons. Paper 4 addresses the Toronto MSW management system and applies the WasteMAP model to allow for the comparison, on a functionally equivalent basis, of the LCA results of a reference scenario, based on 2008 data, with a scenario incorporating six types of waste prevention activities (prevention of unaddressed advertising mail, disposable plastic bags, newspapers, lightweight and refillable wine and spirit packaging, and yard waste). The findings highlight the benefits of waste prevention, and the relative significance of the decision to account for recycled content when modelling waste prevention. The endpoint level impact assessment results using the ReCiPe and Impact 2002+ evaluation methods are in keeping with the assumption in the waste hierarchy that waste prevention has a superior environmental performance.

The bioreactor landfill is an emerging concept for solid waste management that has gained significant attention in the last decade. This technology employs specific operational practices to enhance the microbial decomposition processes in landfills. However, the unsupervised management and lack of operational guidelines for the bioreactor landfill, specifically leachate manipulation and recirculation processes, usually results in less than optimal system performance. Therefore, these limitations have led to the development of SMART (Sensor-based Monitoring and Remote-control Technology), an expert control system that utilizes real-time monitoring of key system parameters in the management of bioreactor landfills. SMART replaces conventional open-loop control with a feedback control system that aids the human operator in making decisions and managing complex control issues. The target from this control system is to provide optimum conditions for the biodegradation of the refuse, and also, to enhance the performance of the bioreactor in terms of biogas generation. SMART includes multiple cascading logic controllers and mathematical calculations through which the quantity and quality of the recirculated solution are determined. The expert system computes the required quantities of leachate, buffer, supplemental water, and nutritional amendments in order to provide the bioreactor landfill microbial consortia with their optimum growth requirements. Soft computational methods, particularly fuzzy logic, were incorporated in the logic controllers of SMART so as to accommodate the uncertainty, complexity, and nonlinearity of the bioreactor landfill processes. Fuzzy logic was used to solve complex operational issues in the control program of SMART including: (1) identify the current operational phase of the bioreactor landfill based on quantifiable parameters of the leachate generated and biogas produced, (2) evaluate the toxicological status of the leachate based on certain parameters that directly contribute to or indirectly indicates bacterial inhibition, and (3) predict biogas generation rates based on the operational phase, leachate recirculation, and sludge addition. The later fuzzy logic model was upgraded to a hybrid model that employed the learning algorithm of artificial neural networks to optimize the model parameters. SMART was applied to a pilot-scale bioreactor landfill prototype that incorporated the hardware components (sensors, communication devices, and control elements) and the software components (user interface and control program) of the system. During a one-year monitoring period, the feasibility and effectiveness of the SMART system were evaluated in terms of multiple leachate, biogas, and waste parameters. In addition, leachate heating was evaluated as a potential temperature control tool in bioreactor landfills. The pilot-scale implementation of SMART demonstrated the applicability of the system. SMART led to a significant improvement in the overall performance of the BL in terms of methane production and leachate stabilization. Temperature control via recirculation of heated leachate achieved high degradation rates of organic matter and improved the methanogenic activity.

In this study, hazardous waste inventory for Turkey is developed based on wastes identified as hazardous in European Waste Catalogue and Regulation on Control of Hazardous Wastes, Annex 7 Necessity of such inventory arises from importance of acquiring information on the amount of hazardous wastes generated and on their countrywide distribution for a sound hazardous waste management system for Turkey. Hazardous waste inventory is constructed by using waste generation factors obtained from literature which are coefficients that relate production with environmental emissions. Whenever possible, direct information obtained from generators was utilized. Both absolute and minor entries are covered. It is estimated that 4,940,000 &ndash / 5,110,000 t/yr of hazardous wastes are being generated in Turkey. 1,790,000 &ndash / 2,252,000 t/yr of these are classified as absolute entries and 3,146,000 &ndash / 3,160,000 t/yr of hazardous wastes are minor entries. It is observed that highest generation occurs from mining and thermal processes which involve high amounts of minor entries. Beside these industries highest generation occurs from wood preservation. Per capita hazardous waste generation is estimated as 30 &ndash / 77 kg/capita/yr which is in accordance with per capita generation range of EU. Highest hazardous waste generation occurs from Marmara Region with 527,730 t/yr followed by Aegean (524,580 t/yr), Central Anatolia (481,820 t/yr), Black Sea Region (277,850 t/yr), Mediterranean (211,580 t/yr), Southeast Anatolia (58,290 t/yr) and Eastern Anatolia (36,520 t/yr) excluding minor entries from mining industry and thermal processes. The trends in hazardous waste generation and GDP from manufacturing industry show the same trend. Contribution of regions are in the same order both in hazardous waste generation and GDP.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2003. / Also available online.

Mémoire (M.E.S.R.)-- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1994. / Résumé disponible sur Internet. CaQCU Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU