published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

Electronic waste is the fastest growing waste stream worldwide. Illegal methods of transport, indifference in legislative response, and public ignorance of what to do in response, all influence e-waste proliferation. This dirty industry of e-waste is hazardous to human health and well-being as well as the environment. Since this dirty industry has ballooned over the last few decades, two major questions arise: What are the primary and secondary factors that influence the proliferation of e-waste dumping in developing countries; and what structures are emerging to combat the e-waste problem in developing countries in Africa? The following pages will investigate the e-waste problem in Africa; Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa. I will show the role that small and medium industries play in managing the e-waste problem. Through a mass media search of key SMEs and organizations, I find that local enterprises are taking on an extended responsibility to find economic incentives in the e-waste industry and transform it from a vastly hazardous waste stream to a cooperative trade and flourishing industry. The results of these case studies illuminate how lax government regulation and involvement forces smaller businesses and organizations to emerge as the leaders in e-waste management.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:34:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Andrea Benedetto Arantes.pdf: 1505293 bytes, checksum: 2fafc8faac2f19863a81496088e85d4c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-24 / This dissertation aims to present a proposal to minimize the problems caused by the solid wastegenerationin the construction industry, one of the most significant segments in the economic and social landscape, but also theenvironment degradation, based on the practice of industrial symbiosis. For this, environmental concerns and waste problemswere presented in order to know the current scenario. The analysis was preceded by a survey on solid waste and specifically the construction waste, the focus of this work, entering within the economic, social and environmental impacts of their generation, followingthe study of theeconomic lawand the solid waste legislation and the legislation applied to the construction industry waste to achieve an alternative to reduce environmental impacts, through the application of the institute of industrial ecology and industrial symbiosis process, using as foundation international and national experiences. Finally the conclusion isthe feasibility of industrial symbiosis as a tool for management to the constructionwaste and implementation of the economic law of waste, since practiced in a structured manner, with the involvement of all thestakeholders (government agencies, private institutions, universities and NGOs), optimizing the economic,social and environmental gains. / Esta dissertação objetiva apresentar uma proposta para minimizar os problemas causados pela geração de resíduos sólidos da indústria da construção civil, um dos segmentos mais significativos no cenário econômico e social, mas também na degradação do meio ambiente, baseada na prática de simbiose industrial. Para isso, foram apresentadas as preocupações ambientais e o problema do lixo, a fim de se conhecer o contexto atual. A análise foi precedida de uma pesquisa acerca dos resíduos sólidos e dos resíduos da construção civil, foco do presente trabalho, adentrando-se nos impactos econômicos, sociais e ambientais causados por sua geração, seguida do estudo da aplicação do direito econômico e da legislação dos resíduos sólidos em geral e dos resíduos da indústria da construção, para o alcance de uma alternativa de redução de impactos ambientais gerados, por meio da aplicação do instituto da ecologia industrial e do processo de simbiose industrial, utilizando-se como alicerce experiências de âmbito internacional e nacional. Finalmente concluiu-se pela viabilidade da simbiose industrial como instrumento de gerenciamento de resíduos da construção civil e de concretização do direito econômico dos resíduos, desde que praticada de forma estruturada, com o envolvimento das diversas partes interessadas (órgãos governamentais, instituições privadas, universidades e ONGs), otimizando os ganhos econômicos, sociais e ambientais.

Abstract in English / Incineration is still a widely utilised method for treating healthcare risk waste in the Republic of South Africa. As much as incinerators are needed, the fact that they are still a critical source of hazardous toxic air pollutants that are not easy to manage cannot be disregarded. The Ministry of Environmental Affairs has promulgated a new regulation for General and Hazardous Waste Thermal Treatment. This exceedingly stringent air pollution legislation requires that existing incinerators be modified or redesigned to meet the new air quality standards, or face closure in the event that they fail to comply. The regulation contains strict emission requirements for concentrations of stack gases such as CO2, NO2, NOx, HCl, HF, CO, SO2, as well as TOC and PM. To be certain that emissions are within the standard, incineration facilities are instructed to reduce the acid gas emissions and to have permanent on-line monitoring equipment for stack testing of regulated pollutants. Since the promulgation of the new legislation in April 2015, none of the incinerators in South Africa has been able to achieve the new requirements. This study, based on the quantitative approach, was conducted in search of a cost-effective method of controlling acid gas emissions from incinerators without major adjustments to the plants. During the study, 60 kg of sorbacal Ca(OH)2 was injected into a lime feeder every day. A variable speed drive was used to inject Ca(OH)2 into the furnace continuously at a rate of between 2.5 kg/h and 3.5 kg/h. The temperature was maintained between 850°C and 1200°C with the use of four gas burners. Two manual blowers were utilised to ensure a continuous flow of Ca(OH)2 into the reaction chamber and filtration system. Comparative analysis was done to compare gas emission levels before and after the use of hydrated lime. Descriptive statistics were used to compute the mean, frequency and percentages, while Wilcoxon sign rank test established whether hydrated lime was significant in reducing gaseous emissions or not. Wilcoxon sign rank test showed a statistically significant difference (P<0.05) in the reduction of all gaseous emissions using hydrated lime, except particulate matter where there was a significant increase in emissions. This technology was able to achieve high removal efficiency of 97% for HCl, 86% for HF, 83% for NOx, 87% for SO2 and 74% for NO2. The optimum temperature for SO2 and NOx was 1020°C. For HCl it was between 1190°C and 1200°C, and for NO2 it was between 1120°C and 1200°C. The amount of particulate matter increased along with the concentration of the Ca(OH)2 injections. Ca(OH)2 was found to be cost effective in the controlling and capturing of gaseous emissions. It is recommended that combustion requirements, such as heat, oxygen and turbulence, be considered to reduce the amount of gases generated during the incineration of healthcare risk waste. It is also recommended that electrostatic precipitators be used instead of fabric filters to improve the efficiency of capturing the particulate matter. / Environmental Sciences / M.Sc. (Environmental Science)