Current Waste Management Research Articles

Assessment of Services at Tertiary Care Hospital Located in Central India, using ‘Kayakalp Initiative Tool’

Background: Kayakalp is an innovative initiatory started by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry through Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign on 15th May 2015. These instructions concentrate on advancement of desirable schemes for housekeeping facilities, pest control procedure, water sanitation, appointment & tutoring of manpower, advancement and accomplishment of appropriate cleansing procedure in terms of protocols / Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), powerful management and inspection by the employees and inherent Machinery in the treaties linked with an organizational framework which places a bonus on excellent cleaning services and sanitary facilities. This study aims to describe the experiences and knowledge based on assessment of Acharya Vinoba Bhave Rural Hospital, Sawangi (Meghe), Wardha District using this tool.
 Objectives: To assess and document hospital upkeep, Sanitation, Hygiene Practices, Hygiene Promotion and to study Handling of Biomedical Waste, Infection Control and Hospital Support Services.
 Methodology: This cross sectional hospital based study that will be conducted at Acharya Vinoba Bhave Rural Hospital, Sawangi (Meghe), Wardha District.
 Apart from observation of various practices and Processes, the participants to be interviewed will be Nursing staff in-charge in different wards along with Biomedical engineers, Administrative officers and beneficiary patients. For Quantitative data collection, a kayakalp checklist will be used. Data will be collected through observation, staff interview, record keeping, and patient interview forms as per Kayakalp Initiative Tool.
 Results: This study would help to understand current hospital sanitation procedures, hospital hygiene, infection prevention, general maintenance, waste management, and support services, etc. and will help to improve services based on findings of the study so as to improve satisfaction of population catered by hospital and provide an ideal working environment for all stakeholders.
 Conclusion: This work will assist in improving hospital/facility management and will aid in improvement of sanitation and hygiene practices, it will also improve overall satisfaction of all stakeholders after due implementation of changes suggested at the end of study.

Mapping the Problems, Stakeholders, and Potential Solutions of Solid Waste Management in a New-Emergence Tourist Area: A Case Study in Nglanggeran, Gunungsewu UNESCO Global Geopark

After being selected as a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2015 and promoted as an ecotourism area, Nglanggeran Village in the Gunungsewu area can attract as many as 300,000 visitors/year. Although tourism activities on one side bring economic benefits, on the other side they raise environmental problems. One of the problems is the increase of solid waste volume generated by the visitors. This study aimed to map the problems and investigate the stakeholders in current solid waste management in Nglanggeran. An ethnographic approach was applied in this research. Primary data was collected during the field works through participant observation, interviews with key actors, and Focus Group Discussions with stakeholders. The result reveals that the relevant stakeholders in solid waste management in this area are: the community-based tourism organization, women in the households/homestays, informal waste collectors (scavengers), and informal waste traders. The absence of formal waste management in the area and the missing link to the existing solid waste infrastructure become the main problems in this area. Integrating informal stakeholders (waste collectors and traders) as well as educating the visitors to reduce their waste become survival strategies in the short-term.

Anti-Incineration Mobilization on WeChat: Evidence from 12 WeChat Subscription Accounts

ABSTRACT The role of social media as a mobilization tool has been widely discussed in the digital age, yet empirical evidence on the online consensus mobilization around environmental issues in a relatively restrictive political setting remains largely unexplored. In this study, my aim is to understand how activists strategically harness social media to take collective initiatives and to stimulate communal awareness against current waste disposal industry and waste management policies in China. Using a content analysis method, I examined 557 posts from 12 anti-incineration WeChat subscription accounts with the help of NVivo software. In reference to social constructionism and social movement theories, I argue that consensus mobilization includes three core undertakings: identification, demonstration, and resolution. Investigating the anti-incineration discourse production on WeChat contributes to a more nuanced comprehension of online mobilization in an authoritarian context. And the results have practical implications for environmental-related activism via social media.

Potential climate benefits of reusable packaging in food delivery services. A Chinese case study

In China, the food delivery packaging waste is increasing due to the rapid growth of the sector and the use of single-use packaging to transport the meals. In addition, the recycling rates of current municipal waste management are low. In this regard, this study aims at estimating the climate change impact of current food delivery packaging and its waste treatment, by performing a Life Cycle Assessment with a cradle-to-grave approach. In addition, this article explores the potential benefits of increasing the current recycling rates, the recycled content of the packaging as well as the use of reusable packaging. For this study, the food packaging of a typical dumpling-based meal of the popular Chinese restaurant Xijiade was selected. Based on this menu and the current Chinese consumption patterns, the food delivery packaging in China would have emitted about 13 million tons of CO2eq. Increasing current recycling rates to 35% would reduce 16% the emissions of single-use packaging, and further decrease (60%) could be found if half of the packaging was made of recycled material. In addition, if single-use packaging was replaced by reusable PP-based packaging (food container and carrier bag), the emissions would potentially be 63% lower than the current situation. In this case, doubling the recycling rates and the recycled content of the reusable food packaging would represent an extra 6 and 17% reduction of emissions, respectively.

Methods of biological waste management generated by patients

The development of radiation medicine in the Russian Federation has resulted in the improvement of the regulatory and methodological framework for radiation safety regulation. The main obstacle for the development of radionuclide therapy in the Russian Federation is the liquid radioactive waste management (mainly urine and faeces of patients) generated during radionuclide therapy on an ambulatory basis (day patient department). The paper presents a brief analysis of the current domestic and international regulatory liquid radionuclide waste management documents. It has been shown that there is no strategy for solving the problem of utilizing biological waste from patients during radionuclide therapy. Long-term task for ensuring the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population of the Russian Federation could be the solution for the problem.

Status, characterization, and quantification of municipal solid waste as a measure towards effective solid waste management: The case of Dilla Town, Southern Ethiopia

ABSTRACT This study aims to assess the status of solid waste management (SWM) practice and to characterize and quantify the municipal solid waste as a measure toward effective management in Dilla town Southern Ethiopia. Formal surveys of household residents and SWM operators using a structured questionnaire were conducted to gather data on the current waste management practices of the inhabitants. Repeated field investigations, on-site waste segregation, characterizations, and quantification were conducted. The average per-capita waste generation rate of residential households was found to be 0.475 kg/capita.day. The majority of the waste was organic (68.40% by weight). The recyclable waste accounts 1.90% plastics and 1.50% paper by weight. Whereas, other wastes account 0.30% metals, 0.30% glass, 0.50% leather and rubber, 19.60% inert, 0.96% textiles, and 6.90% miscellaneous by weight. The awareness of inhabitants on solid waste management, poor household waste segregation practice, and disposing of an unsanitary landfill are revealing the main solid waste management problems faced. Other SWM barriers include ineffective solid waste fee system, lack of trained manpower, inappropriate collection routes; unavailability of collection vehicles, illegal solid waste disposal, and inappropriate setting of community containers. From the results of this study, it can be concluded that organic waste constituted a lion share of the solid wastes generated in the town. Hence, the municipality can recover this waste by introducing integrated urban agriculture that might convert this waste to organic fertilizer through composting. To boost SWM, creating public awareness, providing equipment, provision of incentives and other financial policies, and other supplies currently lacking and inappropriate must be provided. The municipal authorities of the town may use this work as a benchmark and might push environmental protection authorities to reexamine the implementation of their policies and strategies with relation to the human and environmental health of the town. Implications: Nowadays, urban population is increasing in developing countries; led to generate an enormous amount of municipal waste in the areas which make more complicate its management pose environmental pollution and threat public health. Thus, to curve these problems this study finding will be important for various policymakers and town municipality. This study may also serve as a benchmark for the municipal authorities of Dilla town for whom the problem is still unseen and negligible, and can push environmental protection authorities to re-examine the implementation of their policies and strategies with regard to the wider issues of human and environmental health conditions of town inhabitants.

A Holistic Assessment of Construction and Demolition Waste Management in the Nigerian Construction Projects

This study provides a holistic assessment of the current waste management strategies implemented in Nigerian construction projects. The data used in this study were collected from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data were collected through survey questionnaires distributed via emails of the targeted respondents who are construction professionals in the study area of Lagos metropolis, while the secondary data were collected via the review of related literature. Out of the 200 questionnaires distributed, only 168 valid forms were retrieved. The collected data accounted for 84% of the entire survey and were suitable for the analysis. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted while the reliability of the research survey instrument was tested using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient reliability. The result indicated that the waste management strategies were clustered into three groups, comprising practical legal framework and modular construction, sustainable procurement and material optimisation, and proper construction detailing and design. In conclusion, the waste management strategies implemented in Nigeria were assessed as being “not sustainable enough”. However, it is recommended that there is an upgrading in either the approach or method of application of waste management strategies in order to ensure its sustainability.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices synthesis of waste management among horticultural processing MSMES in Kenya

Horticultural processing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya utilize raw agricultural produce and generate large quantities of solid and liquid wastes. However, there is limited information on knowledge, attitude, and current waste management practices among horticultural processing MSMEs in Kenya. This study sought to establish the current knowledge, attitude, and practices on waste management among horticultural processing MSMEs in Kenya. The survey adopted quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, thirty-one (31) Certified MSMEs from Nairobi, Central, and Western regions were surveyed. using a structured questionnaire. The MSMEs indicated that improper waste disposal has adverse effects on the environment, reuse/reduce/recycle were the core principles of waste management and wastes pollutes the environment. Segregation of wastes was considered good practice while improper waste disposal compromises the quality of the environment. Improper waste disposal is harmful to their environment, their workplace and neighborhoods ought to be clean (71%) each respectively while different waste management practices were used (6.8%). About 83.9% segregated their waste while 93.5% were not ISO 14001 compliant thereby indicating the need for the MSMEs to work towards certification for productivity and external competitiveness. The respondent-s knowledge on wastes reduction showed that majority of the MSMEs employ the principles of reuse and waste minimization to manage wastes at 52% and 45% respectively. This was followed by recycling at 19% and energy recovery at 16%. The standardized beta coefficient on knowledge, attitude and practice on waste management indicated; values of 0.097(t=0.526), 0.628 (t=4.349) and 0.739 (t=5.913) respectively. Thus, no significant (p=0.603) relationship of knowledge on waste management. There was a significant relationship (p=0.000) between attitude and practices on waste management among Horticultural processing MSMEs. There is a need to enhance knowledge through training towards sustainable consumption production and practices in MSMEs.

Research on Optimization of Healthcare Waste Management System Based on Green Governance Principle in the COVID-19 Pandemic.

At present, strategies for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic have made significant and strategic strides; however, and the large quantities of healthcare treatment waste have become another important “battlefield”. For example, in Wuhan, the production rate of healthcare waste in hospitals, communities, temporary storage, and other units was much faster than the disposal rate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Improving the efficiency of healthcare waste transfer and treatment has become an important task for government health and environmental protection departments at all levels. Based on the situation of healthcare waste disposal in Wuhan during the critical period of the pandemic, this paper analyzes and studies green governance principles and summarizes the problems that exist in the current healthcare waste management system. Through the establishment of temporary storage facilities along transit routes, digital simulation and bionic experiments were carried out in the Hongshan District of Wuhan to improve the efficiency of healthcare waste transfer. Furthermore, this study discusses the coordination and cooperation of government, hospitals, communities, and other departments in the healthcare waste disposal process and provides guiding suggestions for healthcare waste disposal nationwide in order to deal with potential risks and provide effective references in all regions.

Public satisfaction and willingness to pay (WTP) for better solid waste management services in rural area of Kelantan, Malaysia

In Malaysia rural area, the fixed-rate method is the waste charging approach adopted by the local authorities because of low administration cost, but it is ineffective and has caused many environmental issues. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the public willingness to pay on better solid waste management services at rural area of Kelantan. A total of 911 respondents from three (3) districts (Jeli, Kuala Krai, Gua Musang) participated in this study. The results showed that most respondents (±75%) expressed their satisfaction on current solid waste management services provided. This study indicated that nearly 62% of respondents were willing to pay more for better solid waste management services. This study revealed that the estimated mean willingness to pay (WTP) for better solid waste management service is RM12.05 per household. Logistic regression model suggested that satisfaction on solid waste management services affected the WTP amount, apart from socio-economic factors such as educational level, type of houses, occupation and household income. The results can be useful for understanding the rural resident’s attitudes and WTP for solid waste management services.

Let the citizens speak: An empirical economic analysis of domestic organic waste for community composting in Tuscany

Organic waste represents an opportunity and a challenge for policy decision makers and lately the attention has been focusing on community composting practices identifying the environmental and/or economic aspects. Evidence of citizens’ attitudes and preferences is scarce, and this paper aims to fill this gap. The results of a contingent valuation survey in three councils of the Province of Siena, Tuscany (Italy) are reported along with an extended cost-benefit analysis. Results echo previous findings that GHGs emissions and money-saving for all municipalities are positive and encouraging; moreover, our study proves that citizens are keen to switch to the community recycling composter system. Citizens present heterogeneous preferences and accordingly to the current waste management system they might need a small financial compensation to switch in favour of the local community system.

Towards a Framework for Sustainable Municipal Solid Waste Management: The Case of Swakopmund Municipality, Namibia

If municipal solid waste (MSW) is not properly managed, harmful environmental consequences are imminent. In many developed countries, MSW materials are hardly discarded but rather retained in the economic cycle through circular economy models. In many developing countries, MSW materials are discarded with little to no effort of repairing or recycling. Moving towards a circular economy substantially reduce waste volumes that are currently being disposed. The study provides an overview of how the current municipal solid waste management strategies being implemented by the Swakopmund Municipality could be shifted towards sustainability to derive environmental and socio-economic benefits from waste. Source reduction, separation at source and recycling, are some of the most effective strategies in the circular economy models that will help achieving the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Swakopmund Municipality should invest in infrastructure, techniques and programmes that are within circular economy model as an emerging system for sustainability.

Waste to energy in Kathmandu Nepal—A way toward achieving sustainable development goals

AbstractThe Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) explicitly focus on responsible use of resources, production, and consumption, which comprises sensible waste management includes SDG 3, 7, 11, and 12. Yet, gaps between policies and current waste management practices are prevailing globally as well as nationally. This article discusses waste management (WM) in Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) with a focus on cleaner technology. Waste management has always been an issue in KMC with almost all wastes being dumped directly to a landfill site. The article aims to points out challenge with current waste management based on literature‐ and document reviews. Further, it introduces and analyses technologies to convert waste into energy and evaluates the applicability of the Asian Develop Bank recommendations for waste management in KMC and suggests strategies toward aligning KMC waste management with Nepal's SDG agenda. Findings indicate that Kathmandu has huge potential for implementing waste to energy technologies, and anaerobic digestion seems one of the most promising technologies. Yet, the city lacks a proper waste treatment infrastructure and would benefit from a systematic alignment of technology, policy, and environmental possibilities and challenges in both analysis, planning, and design.

Impact Assessment of the Current Waste Management Practices in Nigeria

Waste management practices differ from nation to nation depending on the waste sources, types, and characteristics. It plays a vital role in nature’s ability to sustain life within its capability. In many developing nations of the world, it has become a recurrent challenge, especially in urban areas. Waste generation in Nigeria is on the increase due to the rise in population resulting from the techno-economic development in cities and the pattern of production and consumption of materials. The current waste management practices in the nation are fast becoming a national issue and unsustainable, leading to apparent environmental risk. This study presents a systematic review of existing literature, significant aspects of the existing novels was assessed: waste characterization, waste management practices, ecological impacts, public-private partnership, ethical issues, and legal framework and challenges militating against the current waste practices. This study shows that the existing waste management methods are ineffective and the demand for an all-inclusive waste management approach, proper execution, and enforcement of environmental regulations and laws.

BREAK FREE FROM PLASTICS: ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVES AND EVIDENCE FROM RWANDA

Plastics production (i.e 450 million tons per annum globally), use and disposal (i.e 300 million tons per annum globally) are one of the top environmental concerns and global waste management impediments. Nevertheless, nearly 90% of all plastics ever produced to present has never been recycled. Over the past decades, researchers’ voices have repeatedly been raised for acting and saving inland as well as aquatic ecosystems being harmed by the increasing plastic pollution. Microplastics have been reported by several studies to be in tap water, bottled drinks and in fish we eat. Consequently, conventions and agreements have been signed, laws and regulations enforced (banning, increased taxation, etc) in various regions and countries across the globe for lessening plastics harm on the environment. In this struggle, Rwanda looks to be in front line in beating plastic pollution crisis compared to other regional and continental countries; hence resulted in calling its capital Kigali by many, “the Africa’s cleanest city”. This success behind plastics break free could be attributed to Rwanda’s current strong institutional, political will (promotion of plastic recycling and reuse), legal frameworks (e.g non- biodegradable plastic bags ban, outlawing of single-use plastic items, penalties, severe fines, etc) and active citizens (e.g monthly community works also known as umuganda etc) in terms of eliminating plastic pollution, foster socio-economic development and environmental protection. These strategies do not only protect the environment but also save the money that the government would spend in cleaning the cities and facilitate the advertising of the country for its eco-friendliness; resulting in its tourism development. Recently, similar initiatives of reducing or banning plastics have been taken by several governments in African ,, lower-income countries and developed ones from other regions across the globe due to either limited recycling facilities, inadequate plastics trash disposal or as a solution to overcome the increase of plastic pollution which harm humans, farm animals, aquatic lives (fishes, sea turtles, etc), and the environment health. Thus, the present paper reviews the current knowledge of environmental impacts of plastics, approaches adopted for alleviating the harm from plastics in Rwanda and their implementation procedures which gave credits to the country on global environmental protection scene so that lessons from these practices can be implemented by other countries which aim at reducing plastics waste and associated pollution. The current solid waste management (i.e mainly plastics) and challenges are also discussed in order to be addressed by the authority in charge. Data and literature were retrieved from peer-reviewed journal articles, websites, books, reports, dissertations, local and international online newspapers. Despite significant efforts made towards a plastic free country, less has been written on plastic pollution in Rwanda; making it difficult to get reliable data and information for quantifying past impacts of plastic wastes. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge no scientific research or report has been so far conducted to prove how plastic wastes contributed over the past years to flooding, prevented crops from growing, to what extent plastic litters have restrained rainwater from penetrating various soil types and other forms of plastic pollution in the country. Such studies are paramount for scientifically justify the ban initiatives in the country. This review resulted into encyclopedia that other researchers can build on to better understand environmental impacts of plastics to learn best plastics management practices for a sustainable environment.

Break Free From Plastics: Environmental Perspectives and Lessons from Rwanda

Plastics production (i.e. 450 million tons per annum globally), use and disposal (i.e. 300 million tons per annum globally) are one of the top environmental concerns and global waste management impediments. Over the past decades, researchers’ voices have repeatedly been raised for acting and saving inland as well as aquatic ecosystems being harmed by the increasing plastic pollution. Micro plastics have also been reported to be in tap water, bottled drinks and in fish we eat. Consequently, conventions have been signed, laws and regulations enforced (banning, increased taxation, etc.) in various regions and countries across the globe for lessening plastics harm on the environment. In this struggle, Rwanda looks to be in front line compared to other regional and continental countries; hence resulted in calling its capital Kigali by many, “the African cleanest city”. In fact, more than a decade ago Rwanda has banned non- biodegradable plastic bags and this initiative was recently followed by the outlawing of single-use plastic items as one of long-term strategies of becoming a green and climateresilient nation. The ban aimed at minimizing dangers of plastic pollution to humans, farm animals, aquatic lives and the environment. Rwanda’s current strong institutional, political will, legal frameworks and active citizens in terms of eliminating plastic pollution foster socio-economic development and environmental protection; hence benefiting from ecosystem services. Active participation of citizens in community works (Umuganda in mother tongue; one of home-grown solutions of mutual collaboration to achieve specific goals), meticulous plastic related laws enforcement (strong political will) and public awareness campaigns (i.e. environmental clubs in schools, green education, etc.) are 3 pillars which are enabling Rwanda to the successful beating of plastic pollution. The national moto for sustainable environmental management is: “whatever cannot be recycled or reused must not be produced”. Thus, the present paper reviews the state of environmental impacts of plastics, approaches adopted for alleviating the harm from plastics in Rwanda and their implementation procedures which gave credits to the country on global environmental protection scene so that lessons from these practices can be benchmarked or become the starting point to other countries with similar ambitions and goals. The current solid waste management (i.e mainly plastics) and challenges are also discussed in order to be addressed by the authority in charge. Data and literature were retrieved from peer-reviewed journal articles, websites, books, reports, and dissertations, local and international online newspapers. Despite significant efforts made towards plastic pollution alleviation in Rwanda, to the best of our knowledge no scientific research has been so far conducted to prove how plastic wastes contributed over the past years to flooding, prevented crops from growing, to what extent plastic litters have restrained rainwater from penetrating various soil types and other forms of plastic pollution. Such studies are paramount for scientifically justify the ban initiatives in the country. This review resulted into encyclopedia that other researchers can build on, specifically to those wishing to learn from plastic banning procedures followed in Rwanda.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Waste Management

Waste management has been a great problem globally for at least five decades. Some of the developed countries could initiated certain processes to benefit from the waste. In this way, countries could both got rid of waste and they could exploit from it and used waste in different ways such as heating, recycling, etc. The situation became even worse during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has altered global waste generation dynamics and thus became one of the most important issue for all countries for now and for future. Actually, healthcare waste is all the waste generated by healthcare facilities, medical laboratories and biomedical research facilities, as well as waste from minor or scattered sources. However, during the pandemic, masks, increased amounts of contaminated waste including gloves, other protective equipment, and along with non-contaminated materials, many types of additional medical and hazardous waste are produced. These contaminated wastes not only dirts the environment, but also may cause the pandemic spread. The inadequacies and inefficiencies of current waste management system to deal with the increased dependence on plastic could aggravate its mismanagement and leakage into the environment, thus triggering a new environmental crisis. Therefore, this study will highlights the possible effects of COVID-19 on the waste management and environment.

Application of material flow analysis for the assessment of current municipal solid waste management in Karachi, Pakistan.

This article assesses the status of the solid waste management system (SWMS) in Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan, using the material flow analysis approach, a widely applied method in waste management (WM) studies. It involves a systematic assessment of the material flows of solid waste under the current WM system. A material flow diagram is developed to visualize the input and output waste flows. This study shows the quantification and identification of municipal solid waste (MSW) flow for the year 2019, from the point of generation to the end-use and disposal. Results show that the MSW generation increased from 10,435 to 15,600 metric tonnes per day (TPD) between 2017 to 2019. Approximately, 75% of the waste generated is collected: formally (50%); and informally (25%). The material recovery is low, accounting for only 26.28% of the total waste. There is no official material recovery and recycling facility. Therefore, material recovery solely depends on the informal sector. Results show that 70% of the daily waste ends up in landfills, which is 3120 TPD more than the formally collected waste. This estimated waste of 3120 TPD flows in either due to disposal activities of the backlogged waste or informally collected waste. Overall, Karachi's SWMS performs poorly with a significant need for improvement. This study recommends adopting integrated WM approaches and inclusion of the informal sector to ensure the affordability and sustainability of the WM system.

LoRaWAN and Urban Waste Management-A Trial.

The city of Lisbon, as any other capital of a European country, has a large number of issues regarding managing waste and recycling containers spread throughout the city. This document presents the results of a study promoted by the Lisbon City Council for trialing LPWAN (Low-Power Wide-Area Network) technology for the waste management vertical under the Lisbon Smart City initiative. Current waste management is done using GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) sensors, and the municipality aims to use LPWAN in order to improve range and reduce costs and provisioning times when changing the communications provider. After an initial study, LoRa (Long Range) and LoRAWAN (LoRa Wide Area Network) as its network counterpart, were selected as the LPWAN technology for trials considering several use cases, exploring multiple distances, types of recycling waste containers, placements (underground or surface) and kinds of commercially available waste level measurement LoRa sensors. The results showed that the underground waste containers proved to be, as expected, the most difficult to operate correctly, where the container itself imposed attenuation levels of 26 dB on the LoRa link budget. The successful results were used to promote the deployment of a city-wide LoRa network, available to all the departments inside the Lisbon City Council. Considering the network capacity, the municipality also decided to make the network freely available to citizens.

Uncatalyzed and acid-aided microwave hydrothermal carbonization of orange peel waste

Orange, one of the most important fruit categories to be consumed across the world, when processed produces 50% of its weight as waste. Current waste management options for orange peel waste are inadequate to use the waste in wholesome and its disposal might lead to other environmental concerns. Here, we present microwave hydrothermal carbonization as an alternative to utilize the orange peel waste. Further, using citric acid to catalyze the microwave hydrothermal carbonization resulted in 30% higher maximal yield of hydrochar, and the hydrochar produced had better elemental, proximate and energy properties than hydrochar made during uncatalyzed microwave hydrothermal carbonization. Further, structural analysis revealed that citric acid promoted the formation of nanospheres during microwave hydrothermal carbonization. Taken together, microwave hydrothermal carbonization of orange peel waste using citric acid as a catalyst might not only help address the waste management concerns for orange peel waste, but also can produce end products of potential commercial value.