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Syftet med den här studien är att utvärdera det befintliga avfallssystemet på de kärnöar som benämns i den Regionala Utvecklingsplanen för Stockholmsregion (RUFS 2050) tillhörande Värmdö kommun, en skärgårdskommun öster om Stockholm. Ett hållbarhetsperspektiv ligger till grund för kartläggningen av området och innefattar aspekter som social, ekonomisk och ekologisk hållbarhet vilket genomsyrar hela rapporten. Avfallstyperna som har studerats är rest-, och matavfall samt förpackningar och returpapper som behandlas genom materialåtervinning. Rapporten är baserad på en litteraturstudie kompletterad med intervjuer för att skapa en mer nyanserad bild av systemet. Även om det idag finns etablerade system för hantering av restavfall saknas ett system för matavfall och materialåtervinning som täcker hela Värmdö kommun. Detta resulterar i en ökad mängd restavfall vilket leder till bristfälliga arbetsförhållanden. Andra svårigheter med avfallshanteringen i skärgården är de långa transportsträckorna över havet som är tidskrävande, kostsamma och har en negativ miljöpåverkan. På grund av de olika förutsättningar bland skärgårdsöarna krävs det ett flexibelt och välanpassat system vilket leder till en hög servicenivå. Trots att många av de boende i skärgården upplever systemet som välfungerande tydliggör denna studie att det krävs åtgärder som förbättrar arbetsmiljön och minskar systemets miljöpåverkan. Utöver att etablera nya system för insamling av matavfall, förpackningar och returpapper krävs åtgärder som gynnar återanvändning samt minimerar mängden producerat avfall för att i linje med EU- direktiv skapa ett hållbart avfallssystem i Värmdö kommuns skärgård. / The purpose of this study is to evaluate the existing waste management system on the main islands of Värmdö municipality, which is a part of the Stockholm archipelago, as described in the regional development plan for the greater region of Stockholm (RUFS 2050). Throughout the report, this evaluation will be made from a sustainability perspective including social, economic and ecological aspects. The types of waste that are subject to review are general waste, food waste and recyclables such as products made from plastic, paper, glass and metal as well as newspapers and magazines. The report is based on a literature review that is complemented by interviews, providing a nuanced image of the complete system. Currently established systems for managing general waste in the archipelago exists but as the system for food waste and recycling does not include this region, they require future development in order to extend to the entire municipality. As a result, much of the food and recyclable waste ends up in the general waste, leading to inadequate working conditions within that system. Moreover, transportation between the islands and the mainland is costly, time consuming and has a negative environmental impact. As such, the waste management system must be flexible and adaptable to the varying conditions of the islands in order to deliver a high level of service. This study shows that there is a need to improve working conditions and reduce the negative environmental impact of the municipality’s waste management system. Besides implementing new systems for managing food and recyclable waste, action must be taken to promote reuse and minimize the amount of waste produced. This would ensure alignment with EU directives as well as make the whole system more sustainable.

Orientador: Marcus Cesar Avezum Alves de Castro / Resumo: Soluções relacionadas a melhores práticas de manejo de resíduos são procuradas por gestores de cidades em todo o mundo. O presente estudo propôs cenários de ação para a gestão dos resíduos sólidos urbanos dos seis municípios com sede na bacia do rio Corumbataí. O estudo foi realizado em duas etapas, a primeira consistiu na elaboração do diagnóstico dos mecanismos praticados atualmente, realizado a partir da análise de um conjunto de indicadores. A segunda etapa foi a composição de cenários para destinação para o tratamento de resíduos orgânicos e disposição final em aterro sanitário dos resíduos sólidos urbanos dos municípios investigados. Foram estudados seis municípios, os quais cinco possuem menos de 30.000 habitantes (Analândia, Charqueada, Corumbataí, Ipeúna e Santa Gertrudes) e Rio Claro possui 199.000 habitantes. Durante a primeira etapa, foram levantados dados e elaboradas matrizes SWOT para cada um dos municípios, com isso, buscou-se apontar fatores positivos e negativos das práticas atuais de gestão. Esses resultados sinalizaram que (i) os municípios ainda não participam de gestão compartilhada para manejo de resíduos; (ii) existe pouco ou nenhum tratamento para os resíduos orgânicos e de poda e capina; (iii) existe coleta seletiva em toda a zona urbana de todos os municípios investigados (iv) existe participação organizada do setor informal na coleta de recicláveis (v) existe possibilidade de gestão compartilhada dos resíduos; (vi) os municípios não possuem sustent... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Solutions related to waste management practices are sought by city managers around the world. This study proposed action scenarios for the urban solid waste management of six municipalities located in the Corumbataí River basin. The study was conducted in two stages, the first consisted in the diagnosis of the mechanisms currently practiced, through the analysis of a set of performance indicators. The second stage comprised the composition of operating scenarios for the shared urban solid waste management of the investigated municipalities. Six municipalities were studied, five of which have less than 30,000 inhabitants (Analândia, Charqueada, Corumbataí, Ipeúna and Santa Gertrudes) and Rio Claro has 199,000 inhabitants. During the first part, data were collected and SWOT matrices were elaborated for each of the municipalities studied. Thus, it was sought to point out positive and negative factors of current management practices. These results signaled that (i) municipalities do not yet participate in any consortium for shared waste management; (ii) there is little or no treatment for organic residues; (iii) there is selective collection throughout the urban area of all municipalities (iv) there is organized participation of the informal sector in the collection of recyclables (v) there is the possibility of cities consortium for shared waste management; (vi) municipalities do not have financial sustainability for the waste management system. During the second phase, transpor... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

The construction industry is considered the world over as a major contributor to the high rates of waste generation in developed countries. The negative influence of waste generation on the environment, natural resources, and the profitability of firms puts increasing pressure on the industry to reduce the waste it generates. The pressures to reduce waste are heightened by current trends demanding sustainable management of waste for the purposes of economic, social, and environmental gains. Literature on factors influencing waste management (WM) suggests government legislation is the most critical success factor for ensuring waste is sustainably managed. A review of the literature however indicated that researches holistically investigating the practices of construction firms and the extent to which these practices meet the intended outcomes of government legislation on waste are not present. Thus this research was undertaken to holistically investigate WM practices in the UK construction industry, to identify best practices and the extent to which they meet the intended outcomes of government WM legislation ad policy. The study adopted a multiple case study design to examine WM approaches, strategies and practices at both the corporate and project level within construction companies. Four construction companies who had won awards for their sustainability and environmental performance were purposefully selected to investigate best practice WM. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, passive observations, and documentary analysis. Analysis of the data revealed that the drivers for WM in the construction industry are: economic considerations; company sustainability agenda; company image; client requirements; environmental concerns; government legislation; moral and social demands; industrial benchmarking; environmental concerns; and the requirements of standards. Regarding the influence of legislation, the results revealed that government legislation plays a secondary role in influencing WM as clients are interested in using only compliant firms. Best practices targeting design to reduce waste through standardisation and prefabrication; on-site segregation through multi-skip provision; supply take back schemes; intensified site education; and the use of incentives were identified to lead to improved WM. The results also indicated that company sustainability agenda is the most influential driver for achieving sustainable construction, demolition and excavation (CD&E) WM. The findings highlighted the importance of having a clear vision and structure for WM at the corporate level alongside strategies to be implemented on projects to ensure sustainable WM is achieved. To help construction firms in achieving sustainable WM, which is the ultimate goal of government legislation, a best practice framework has been developed based on the findings from the study and evaluated using semi-structured interviews with selected target participants. The framework presents a coherent and systematic approach for achieving sustainable WM in construction companies by providing a roadmap for instituting measures at both corporate and project levels, taking into account factors that are likely to promote or inhibit the achievement of sustainable WM.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Sheri Smith / America’s landfill space is quickly depleting as the population continues to experience rapid growth; as the population grows the amount of daily waste generated increases at an alarming as well. In fact, by the year 2024, America would have exhausted all land areas dedicated to landfills. Currently, nationwide mandated regulations or standards to decrease the amount generated solid waste, construction waste, composting waste, or reducing waste at the source; do not exists. The following report researches effective practices that would make a waste management system sustainable. In order to rate the sustainability of the management system, a score sheet was created drawing from literature written. By creating a score sheet, individual waste management systems are able to determine if they are indeed sustainable and/or in need of improvement. The City of Chicago, Illinois, was chosen as the city to be measured and has proven to have a promising future as a prototype in effective sustainable waste management practices.

Master of Science / Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics / Elizabeth B. Barrett / Along with increasing environmental challenges and large quantities of energy demand, many have become concerned about the environment and have implemented “Going Green” strategies. As a result, plans for sustainable development are being adopted by governments, institutions, operations, and individual households. Many National Association of College & University Food Service (NACUFS) members may have heard about sustainability, but they may not apply their knowledge to developing practical outcomes and solutions. Very little research has been published that measures how NACUFS members are responding to Sustainable Waste Management (SWM) and to the new Sustainability Guide published by the NACUFS organization in September 2009. The primary purposes of this study were to ascertain what SWM programs have been implemented in college and university foodservices operations and determine how NACUFS members’ attitudes, subjective norms, and barriers affect the implementation of additional SWM programs based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). A secondary purpose was to identify the differences in intention to implement sustainable waste management programs based on characteristics of the respondents’ age, size of facility, region of the country and if the facility had a sustainable waste management committee. In this study, 2,184 NACUFS members whose e-mail addresses were listed in the NACUFS membership directory were selected as subjects. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 17.0. Multiple linear regression analysis, T-tests, and ANOVA were used to test the hypotheses and research questions. Statistical significance was set at p≤0.05. The total number of responses was 212 resulting in a 13.5% response rate. The majority of respondents had implemented SWM programs that don’t require major resources. NACUFS members had positive attitudes about implementing a SWM program and their superiors, university administrators, and students’ opinions were important others to consider when implementing a SWM program. Whether a college and university foodservice has a sustainability committee was the only demographic that significantly influenced NACUFS members’ intentions to implement a SWM program. Overall, attitude and subjective norms were the only significant predictors of intention to implement a SWM program (p≤.05). Therefore, if NACFUS members have a positive attitude about sustainability, important others around them who agree and there is a sustainability committee within the operation, they are more likely to implement a SWM program. Keywords: Sustainable waste management, TPB, college and university foodservice

As municipalities in the developing world are struggling to deal with the ever-increasing rate of residential trash generation, many have embraced the practice of diverting organic waste to composting plants. However, because most models for implanting new Solid Waste Management (SWM) programs have emerged from the experiences of municipalities in the industrialized world, they often gloss over the particular social, cultural and economic contexts that make SWM programming particularly challenging in the developing world. In Mexico City, the absence of curbside collection, and a trash workforce comprised of both formal and informal trash collectors, have created unique challenges for the municipality’s composting program that was initiated in 2004. This report attempts to highlight that the limited success of the program thus far might be rooted in the program’s design, which has largely ignored the needs of the trash workers who are largely held responsible for its implementation. / text

The purpose of this thesis will be to explore conceptions of waste in Nepal’s rural village of Simigaau to understand what constitutes waste and in what ways it is critical to the community’s physical and cultural survival. Due to the contribution of many aspects of daily life in the creation of “waste” in Simigaau –what it is and what it means – I hope to use a whole systems approach to understand the multitude of factors that affect how villagers view waste and whether its value can provide insight into a local way of life. Moreover, I aim to explore whether a community’s waste – seen and unseen – provide insight into a local way of life and if so, how this insight may be applied to both Nepal at large and connotations of “waste” in the West.

This work focuses on diffusion and advection through cementitious media, the work arises from two research contracts undertaken at Loughborough University: Experiments to Demonstrate Chemical Containment funded by UK NDA and the SKIN project, funded by the European Atomic Energy Community's Seventh Framework Programme. Diffusion will be one of the most significant mechanisms controlling any radionuclide migration from a nuclear waste, deep geological disposal facility. Advection may also occur, particularly as the immediate post closure groundwater rebound and equilibration proceeds but is expected to be limited by effective siting and management during the operational phase of the facility. In this work advection is investigated at laboratory scale as a possible shorter timescale technique for providing insight into the much slower process of diffusion. Radial techniques for diffusion and advection have been developed and the developmental process is presented in some detail. Both techniques use a cylindrical sample geometry that allows the radionuclide of interest to be introduced into a core drilled through the centre of the test material. For diffusion the core is sealed and submerged in a container of receiving solution which is sampled and analysed as the radionuclide diffuses into it. For advection, a cell has been designed that allows inflow via the central core to pass through the sample in a radial manner and be collected as it exits from the outer surface. The radionuclide of interest can be injected directly into the central core without significant disturbance to the advective flow. Minor improvements continue to be made but both techniques have provided good quality, reproducible results. The majority of the work is concentrated on a potential cemetitious backfill known as NRVB (Nirex Reference Vault Backfill) this is a high porosity, high calcium carbonate content cementitious material. The radioisotopes used in this work are 3H (in tritiated water), 137Cs, 125I, 90Sr, 45Ca, 63Ni, 152Eu, 241Am along with U and Th salts. In addition the effect of cellulose degradation products (CDP) on radioisotope mobility was investigated by manufacturing solutions where paper tissues were degraded in water, at 80°C, in the absence of air and at high pH due to the presence of the components of NRVB. All diffusion experiments were carried out under a nitrogen atmosphere. All advection experiments were undertaken using an eluent reservoir pressurised with nitrogen where the system remained closed up to the point of final sample collection. Results for tritiated water and the monovalent ions of Cs and I were produced on a timescale of weeks to months for both diffusion and advection. The divalent ions of Sr, Ca and Ni produced results on a timescale of months to years. Variations of the experiments were undertaken using the CDP solutions. The effects of CDP were much more apparent at radiotracer concentration than the much higher radiotracer with non-active carrier, concentration. In the presence of CDP Cs, I and Ni were found to migrate more quickly; Sr and Ca were found to migrate more slowly. Additional Sr experiments were undertaken at elevated ionic strength to evaluate the effect of the higher dissolved solids content of the CDP solutions. Some of the results for HTO, Cs, I and Sr have been modelled using a simple numerical representation of the system in GoldSim to estimate effective diffusivity and partition coefficient. The diffusion model successfully produced outputs that were comparable to literature values. The advection model is not yet producing good matches with the observed data but it continues to be developed and more processes will be added as new results become available. Autoradiography has been used to visualise the radionuclide migration and several images are reproduced that show the fate of the radiotracers retained on the NRVB at the end of the experiments. As the experimental programme progressed it was clear that results could not be produced in a suitable timescale for Eu, Am U and Th. These experiments have been retained and will be monitored every six months until either diffusion is detected or the volume of receiving liquid is inadequate to ensure the NRVB is saturated.

This project was a case study with a Local Authority (Charnwood Borough Council, Leicestershire) to research the options in response to the challenges of managing household waste. This research focused on establishing and analysing methods of improving the sustainability of household waste management operation within a Waste Collection Authority, where the interaction with a variety of external and internal stakeholders meant a holistic approach was needed. Waste management practices and performances in Charnwood were evaluated and benchmarked against national standards and the demography of a semi-rural Borough. Waste management practices nationally were also reviewed. The performance of the LA was quantitatively compared with other UK LAs where higher recycling performances are achieved. Differences were separate food waste collection and treatment; a larger proportion of urban housing and the university with a transient population. Other differences included strategy and operational practices for garden waste, the storage, collection, transportation and treatment of waste. A time series statistical model was modified and applied to investigate long term waste generation trends from the Boroughs official waste data returns to Defra. These were used to assess the success of interventions undertaken. This statistical model was able to differentiate interventions that were able to achieve lasting improvements in either waste minimisation or recycling. The declaration of a Zero Waste Strategy was to capture the public imagination. A series of focus groups and public consultations were held to judge public reaction and develop and refine the strategy. These were used to adapt the Zero Waste idea to suit the local conditions. A major conclusion was that householder involvement would be crucial for successful implementation of the further separation of waste that would be required.