Landfills in British Columbia are reaching capacity; this has sparked renewed efforts to curb the output of household waste. Extending previous quantitative studies, I use a qualitative grounded theory approach to explore what influences the perception of waste and activates the intention to recycle and compost. Participants from Ucluelet, British Columbia, accumulated their refuse, recyclables, and compost during a four week period; simultaneously, I interviewed them about the meanings and feelings they associated with the process. My results suggest that participants attitudes about waste are strongly influenced by what they see. Because garbage is regularly hauled away and dumped out of sight, participants were relatively unaware of how much they produce and its environmental impact. Increasing awareness appears to be a key factor in changing waste diversion intentions; incorporating small pro-environmental changes may lead to further changes. This reaffirms previous findings that adopting one environmental behaviour can empower further change.

Landfills in British Columbia are reaching capacity; this has sparked renewed efforts to curb the output of household waste. Extending previous quantitative studies, I use a qualitative grounded theory approach to explore what influences the perception of waste and activates the intention to recycle and compost. Participants from Ucluelet, British Columbia, accumulated their refuse, recyclables, and compost during a four week period; simultaneously, I interviewed them about the meanings and feelings they associated with the process. My results suggest that participants attitudes about waste are strongly influenced by what they see. Because garbage is regularly hauled away and dumped out of sight, participants were relatively unaware of how much they produce and its environmental impact. Increasing awareness appears to be a key factor in changing waste diversion intentions; incorporating small pro-environmental changes may lead to further changes. This reaffirms previous findings that adopting one environmental behaviour can empower further change.

The utilisation of a willow vegetation filter for the treatment of landfill leachate is an environmentally and economically appealing solution for landfill operators. Investigations into the design and efficacy of the system, the effects of landfill leachate irrigation on soil ecology, soil chemistry and willow growth were undertaken. Two low cost, high density polyethylene-lined experimental willow plots (25x50 m2) were installed at Cranford landfill, Northamptonshire, UK, and irrigated with landfill leachate between June 2001 and October 2005. During the growing season, leachate volume was often reduced to zero. On other occasions, maximum removal efficiencies of between 33 % and 75 % for total Kjeldahl nitrogen, chemical oxygen demand and sodium, potassium and chloride ions were determined in landfill leachate effluent samples. The addition of landfill leachate produced no negative effects on both soil and foliar macronutrients, which were found to be in the range for sufficient or optimum growth and where additional fertilisers would not bring about a further increase in yields. The effects of landfill leachate application on soil microbial communities were explored and were found to be significantly higher for dehydrogenase activity and ammonium oxidising bacteria in the plot receiving a higher rate of leachate application. An economic analysis was carried out to demonstrate the financial viability of a willow vegetation filter as a treatment for landfill leachate. Willow vegetation filters could provide a desirable alternative to conventional treatment systems, such as sequencing batch reactors, as they incur lower capital expenses and potentially similar operational costs. This study also identified additional revenue benefits in the region of £94 per hectare for wood chip heat/energy production. The results from the willow vegetation filter under investigation in this study demonstrated that this type of system can be effective, in terms of volume reduction and removal efficiency in landfill leachate, with no detrimental effect upon the trees or surrounding environment

The rapid growth of urban areas in Malaysia has led to an increase in the generation and complexity of its municipal solid waste. The amount of municipal solid waste generated is estimated to be 8 million tonnes per year by the end of 2000. Realising the problem, this research was conducted to analyse quantitatively experiences learned from the United Kingdom (UK) upon the success through their municipal solid waste management system set-up which includes enforcement, legislation, economic instruments, education, institutions involved and other related issues. In order to achieve that, comparative studies were conducted between United Kingdom and Malaysian practices which included selected local councils, namely Dundee City Council (DCC) in the UK and Majlis Perbandaran Petaling Jaya (MPPJ) and Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) both in Malaysia to identify and how to overcome the problems. Apart from the above objectives, this research suggests that: The most effective environmental solution is to reduce the generation of waste through reduction; Where further reduction is not practicable, products and materials can sometimes be used again, either for the same or a different purpose that is through re-use; Failing to do that, value should be recovered from waste, through recycling, composting or energy recovery from waste; Only if none of the above offer an appropriate solution should waste be disposed of This is the best hierarchy for Malaysia to adapt in its future municipal solid waste management strategy. In conclusion, this research showed that Malaysia's municipal solid waste management system and strategy have to be developed in term of its legislation and policy, the enforcement system, guidelines and target to be achieved and education as the key in developing awareness and knowledge.

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The maximum contaminant level (MCL) for arsenic in drinking water was reduced to 10 parts per billion in 2006 by the USEPA. As a result, approximately 10,000 tons of arsenic-bearing residuals (ABSRs) are estimated to be generated every year from water treatment processes. It has also been established that the standard Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), underestimates arsenic leaching from ABSRs, particularly under mature, mixed solid waste landfill conditions. This makes it critical to investigate stabilization technologies that would ensure long-term stability of arsenic residuals after disposal. Arsenic is ubiquitously associated with iron oxides in natural environments as well as water treatment residuals. Hence, knowledge of iron oxide transformations under landfill conditions is critical to understanding the fate and mobility of the associated arsenic. In this work, the effect of high local Fe(II) concentrations on ferrihydrite transformation pathways was studied. Magnetite was the sole transformation product in the presence of high local Fe(II) concentrations. In the absence of high Fe(II) concentrations, goethite was the major transformation product along with minor quantities of magnetite. These results have implications for arsenic mobility from ABSRs since goethite and magnetite have different arsenic sorption capacities and mechanisms. Two technologies were investigated for the stabilization of ABSRs - Arsenic Crystallization Technology (ACT) and Microencapsulation. The strategy for ACT was to convert ABSRs into minerals with a high arsenic capacity and long-term stability under landfill conditions. Scorodite, arsenate hydroxyapatites, ferrous arsenate, arsenated schwertmannite, tooeleite and silica-amended tooeleite, were synthesized and evaluated for their potential to serve as arsenic sinks using TCLP and a simulated landfill leachate test. Ferrous arsenate type solids and arsenated schwertmannite showed most promise in terms of low arsenic leachability and favorable synthesis conditions. Microencapsulation involved coating arsenic-loaded ferrihydrite with a mineral having high stability under landfill conditions. Based on results from a previous study, vivianite was investigated as a potential encapsulant for ABSRs. A modified version of the TCLP was used to evaluate the effectiveness of microencapsulation. Although vivianite did not prove to be a promising encapsulant, our efforts offer useful insights for the development of a successful microencapsulation technology for arsenic stabilization.

A numerical model (BioClog) is developed to examine changes in key municipal solid waste (MSW) leachate characteristics and the porosity of porous media (clogging) as the leachate passes through the drainage layer of a leachate collection system (LCS). The model considers multiple-species reactive leachate transport through porous media. It simulates biofilm growth and loss, deposition of suspended particles, and precipitation of minerals on the surface of porous media. It is used to examine the long-term performance of both the granular porous media and nonwoven geotextiles in LCSs. Modelling of laboratory mesocosm cells filled with gravel usually used in landfills and permeated by landfill leachate shows encouraging agreement between the observed and measured effluent chemical oxygen demand (COD) and calcium concentrations as well as the gravel porosity within the saturated drainage layers. Studies of early generation LCSs involving finger (French) drain systems show that the finger drains are not effective at controlling leachate mounding within the landfill and the calculated leachate mound thicknesses agree well with observed field data. A numerical examination of the recent generation of LCSs, comprised of the granular drainage blanket and perforated drainage pipes, shows that an increase in grain size increases the service life and that increasing the spacing between collection pipes (i.e., the drainage path) decreases the service life of LCSs. Filter-separator layers between the waste and granular drainage layers are shown to increase the service life of LCSs. The modelling results indicate that the calculated clog mass within the saturated drainage layer is dominated by the inorganic material and the calculated service life of LCSs is dependent on the leachate strength examined. Finally, a new practical model for estimating the service life of LCSs is developed and calibrated against the data from the BioClog model. The simplified model could be used by the practicing engineers for estimating the service life and optimizing the design of LCSs in MSW landfills. / Thesis (Ph.D, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-04-26 14:03:22.666

One of the main environmental problems associated with the disposal of waste on land is the release of liquid emissions from the site. This wastewater, known as leachate, is a product of the biodecomposition of the waste and filtrates from the landfill once the moisture saturation of the fill has been reached. The chemical composition of leachate is variable over time and between sites. Regardless of these variables, the main pollutants of concern in the leachate are ammonia and organics, both of which can cause environmental degradation in relatively low concentrations. Worldwide and in South Africa, leachate has either been directly released into the environment or into the local domestic sewage system. As more has been learned about the human and environmental health risks associated with these disposal methods, there has been a new focus in waste management toward treating the leachate at the source as part of the broader focus of sustainable landfilling. One of the treatment options being used is constructed wetlands (CW) due to the physical and chemical transformation mechanisms in these biological systems. This treatment process has been demonstrated to be effective as a final polishing treatment for leachate, and it is considered a technology appropriate in the South African context. Therefore the aim of dissertation is to ascertain the use of constructed wetlands as an appropriate treatment option for untreated methanogenic landfill leachate by determining the efficiency of ammonia and organic removal in a pilot-scale vegetated submerged bed (VSB) constructed wetland (CW) planted with Phragmites australis. During the 22-week treatability trial the VSB achieved an ammonia concentration removal efficiency of 91% and mass removal efficiency of 87%. Despite this substantial reduction of ammonia, the VSB was unable to achieve the required discharge standard. There were erratic fluctuations in both the treatment efficiencies for COD and BOO, and the results show no evidence of constant reduction of organics during the treatability trials. This is due to the refractory nature and the low biodegradability of the organics that remain in methanogenic leachate as suggested by the low BOO to COD ratio. Due to the low biodegradability of the organics, a biological treatment system, such as a VSB, will not be able to reliably meet the required discharge standards. Other passive treatment options or a combination of systems need to be explored in order to both satisfy legislative requirements and be appropriate in the South African context. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.