Disposal Choices Research Articles

Sustaining environment and organisation through e-waste management: a study of post consumption behaviour for mobile industry in India

Increasing population, affluence and urbanisation are precursors to e-waste generation. It is therefore, imperative that progress be made towards a better understanding of the relationships between society, economy and the environment for a sustained environment. Sustained environment can be achieved only if the industries as well as consumers tend to be cautious in their approach. Reverse logistics implemented by the organisations for end-of-life product returns would create a formal pathway for electronic disposals and waste management thus preventing environmental pollution, cutting costs, increasing efficiency, productivity and performance of the company. To develop effective reverse logistics, it is important to identify the antecedents of consumer behaviour that would check their intention towards return end-of-life e-waste for proper disposal. The objective of the paper is to assess the impact of demographic variables namely age, gender, income and place of residence on post consumption disposal choices of urban Indian consumers for their mobile wastes.

Investigation of farmers' perspectives on the disposal of fallen livestock and animal by-products in Great Britain

Two questionnaires were completed by a selection of farms in Great Britain during 2008 and 2009 to ascertain the role of the National Fallen Stock Company (NFSCo) in fallen livestock...

Death and disposal: The universal, environmental dilemma

Individuals around the world engage in one common yet fundamental activity that is of personal, emotional, social, and environmental significance –disposal of the dead. As the global landscape becomes increasingly populated, so disposal choice becomes a critical environmental issue. Disposal of the dead is an essential aspect of our existence; it is an inevitable activity, which cannot be avoided. This paper contributes to an emerging body of work written from a consumer culture theory and marketing perspective on disposal of the dead. The paper examines the convergence of the consumer decision with environmental factors from a multicultural viewpoint. We add to existing literature in this area through a perspective that highlights key environmental issues that cross cultural and spatial boundaries, namely land use, land space, and pollution implications. These in turn are seen within the context of cultural norms, individual memorialisation practice, and specific regulations pertaining to body disposal.

Developing a Tentative Model of Disposal Decisions

Concern over problems of resource depletion, environmental damage, and the ever­ increasing costs of disposing of solid wastes has led to a search for new approaches to managing these wastes. One way of reducing the rate at which the wastes are first generated might be to extend the lifetimes of durable products. To assist policy­ makers in understanding how the lifetimes are determined, an exploratory study has examined factors influencing consumers' decisions to dispose of certain small electrical appliances. Selected findings of a household survey are presented here, focusing on 1) the frequency distribution of disposal choices and the reasons given for disposal, and 2) variables associated with particular disposal options. A tentative model of the process leading from consumer purchase to consumer disposal is proposed.

Household waste disposal in Mekelle city, Northern Ethiopia

In many cities of developing countries, such as Mekelle (Ethiopia), waste management is poor and solid wastes are dumped along roadsides and into open areas, endangering health and attracting vermin. The effects of demographic factors, economic and social status, waste and environmental attributes on household solid waste disposal are investigated using data from household survey. Household level data are then analyzed using multinomial logit estimation to determine the factors that affect household waste disposal decision making. Results show that demographic features such as age, education and household size have an insignificant impact over the choice of alternative waste disposal means, whereas the supply of waste facilities significantly affects waste disposal choice. Inadequate supply of waste containers and longer distance to these containers increase the probability of waste dumping in open areas and roadsides relative to the use of communal containers. Higher household income decreases the probability of using open areas and roadsides as waste destinations relative to communal containers. Measures to make the process of waste disposal less costly and ensuring well functioning institutional waste management would improve proper waste disposal.

Factors associated with disposition of cryopreserved reproductive tissue

Objective To study patient characteristics associated with the preferences for the disposition of cryopreserved semen and embryos in the event of death or divorce. Design Retrospective exploratory study. Setting Tertiary care academic medical center. Patient(s) One hundred twelve men banking sperm, 54 female patients (partners of men banking sperm) undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF), and 112 women undergoing IVF who were not partners of men banking sperm. Intervention(s) Male patients banking sperm and couples undergoing IVF completed a standard consent form detailing their desired dispositions (disposal or release to a surviving party) of cryopreserved sperm and embryos in the event of death or divorce. Main outcome measure(s) Effect of marital status, age, reason for sperm banking, infertility diagnosis, partner status (single or significant-other partner) on sperm, and embryo disposition choice. Result(s) In the event of death, married men were 5.5 times more likely to release banked sperm to a surviving party than were single men. The estimated odds of giving sperm to a survivor were 1.07 times greater with every 1-year increase in age. The choice of sperm disposal was significantly related to the banking reason for the case of banking prior to chemotherapy and/or radiation for malignancy. In the case of male death, the decisions of couples undergoing IVF for embryo disposition agreed with choices of male patients for sperm disposition approximately 33% of the time more often than by chance alone. Conclusion(s) Decisions surrounding disposition of cryopreserved sperm are significantly associated with marital status, age, and reason for banking sperm. Respective choices of sperm and embryo disposition in couples undergoing IVF were similar in the situation of male death.

Practical experiences from membrane filtration plants for humic substance removal

Humic substances are high molecular weight, organic molecules that give the water a yellow/brownish colour. They are normally removed from water by coagulation. During the last 10 years around 70 membrane filtration plants for drinking water supply have been built in Norway. The paper outlines the basic design of these plants and gives information on choice of membrane, treatment efficiency, membrane flux, membrane fouling, membrane cleaning and disposal of wastes as well as general operating experiences. It is concluded that the owners of the membrane filtration plants are quite satisfied and that the method will be used in increasingly larger plants.

Considerations Before Deaccessioning or Disposing of Paleontological Specimens

MUSEUMS HAVE always disposed of unneeded material, and the practice is an important means to keep collections functional and organized. However, it also is a potentially dangerous activity that should be undertaken only as a last resort and not used as a simple way to make collections management more convenient. This is especially true for catalogued or well-labeled specimens, but even “poorly-documented” specimens may have considerable importance. There are numerous examples of collections that have been damaged and irreplaceable material that has been lost to science through poor disposal choices, regardless of the deaccessioning methods used.Methodology and guidelines for deaccessioning fossil materials are presented in DeMouthe et al. (this volume). However, they provide limited information about the preliminary work and policies required to properly identify material that can be disposed of safely. The following is a brief summary of some of the important considerations required to reliably determine the soundness and suitability of specimen disposal plans.

An analysis of college students' attitudes and beliefs concerning body disposal

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the body disposal preferences of college students at The Pennsylvania State University, and to identify factors related to their choice in order to draw implications to strengthen death education programming. In this study, 184 undergraduate students were asked to complete a short questionnaire regarding body disposal preferences and related concerns. A variety of independent variables were identified. Significant interrelationships were found between the independent variables; primary reason for choice of body disposal, religious affiliations, perceived reasonable costs, desire to utilize the services of a funeral director, and the dependent variable, choice of body disposal. These data also indicate that college age students prefer non-traditional burial modalities. The educational implication of these findings are discussed.

The Safe Disposal of Polychlorinated Biphenyls

The degradation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) is reviewed in terms of the methods available and the reaction products generated. The origin of the PCB "problem" is discussed with reference to the toxic components of askarels. This paper is organized into two sections: 1) the disposal of askarel liquids and 2) the disposal of PCB contaminated liquid. The disposal of askarel liquids and the disposal of PCB contaminated liquid are discussed. 1) PCB's require a very large ener-gy input to cause decomposition and, therefore, the methods in use are typically large energy sources. The most widely used method of disposing of pure PCB's, and that preferred by the EPA, is high-temperature incineration. However, other methods discussed here include chemical methods and the use of a microwave plasma. 2) In the case of liquids which are contaminated by PCB's, the first two disposal choices involve either destruction by a combustion method or disposal in an chemical waste landfill. However, it is sometimes possible to reclaim the liquid for reuse. This paper discusses the numerous alternative chemical methods of PCB destruction as well as the physical separation of PCB's to yield uncontaminated liquids.

Effluent disposal: Treatment works or sea outfall?

This paper examines the economic issues covering a decision on whether or not to treat effluent on land or to pump it out to sea from a European city. The analysis briefly covers the traditional estimates of costs in present value terms and then goes on to examine these costs for the risks of variance which they involve. Risk of variance around most likely costs is greater on the sea outfall scheme than it is on the treatment works, but at no point do the two risk distributions overlap. Clearly, the sea-outfall is less expensive than treatment on land over the whole range of estimated risk and this may often be the case where such a disposal choice exists in coastal cities. A novel pricing formula for effluent disposal charges is also included in the paper.

Ocean Sludge Disposal by Barges

A simple model is constructed to examine the dispersion and settling of wastes such as sewage sludge or dredge spoils discharged from barges into the ocean. Several example cases are analyzed using the model; it is found that the proper choice of disposal depends strongly on the local environmental conditions and the characteristics of the waste.