Disposal Fees Research Articles

Is Leasing Greener than Selling?

Based on the proposition that leasing is environmentally superior to selling, some firms have adopted a leasing strategy and others promote their existing leasing programs as environmentally superior to green their image. The argument is that since a leasing firm retains ownership of the off-lease units, it has an incentive to remarket them or invest in designing a more durable product, resulting in a lower volume of new production and disposal. However, leasing might be environmentally inferior due to the direct control the firm has over the off-lease products, which may prompt the firm to remove them from the market to avoid cannibalizing the demand for new products. Motivated by these issues, we adopt a life-cycle environmental impact perspective and analytically investigate if leasing can be both more profitable and have a lower total environmental impact. We find that leasing can be environmentally worse despite remarketing all off-lease products, and greener than selling despite the mid-life removal of off-lease products. Our analysis also provides insights for environmental groups and entities that use different approaches to improve the environmental performance of business practices. We show that imposing disposal fees or encouraging remanufacturing, under some conditions, can actually lead to higher environmental impact. We also identify when educating consumers to be more environmentally conscious can improve the relative environmental performance of leasing.

Disposal of Arsenic-Laden Adsorptive Media: Economic Analysis for California

Due to California’s stringent hazardous waste (HW) classification regulations, high-capacity adsorptive media (AM) used for the removal of arsenic from potable water are likely to be classified as HW if operated to breakthrough. An alternative is to prematurely retire the AM, avoiding generation of HW. The impact of waste classification of spent AM on annual costs for arsenic systems was investigated. For a typical small water system (SWS), the media replacement cost alone was predicted to range from $0.80 to $2.00 per 1,000 L treated, in comparison to the average cost of tap water in the U.S. of $0.53 per 1,000 L treated, highlighting the financial burden for SWS. The costs of media replacement dominated over costs for transport and disposal regardless of whether spent media were designated as HW or non-HW. Media costs and influent arsenic concentration were more significant factors than transport distance or disposal fees. Under typical conditions for SWS, it was found to be cost effective to load the m...

Assessment of the state of food waste treatment in the United States and Canada

Currently in the US, over 97% of food waste is estimated to be buried in landfills. There is nonetheless interest in strategies to divert this waste from landfills as evidenced by a number of programs and policies at the local and state levels, including collection programs for source separated organic wastes (SSO). The objective of this study was to characterize the state-of-the-practice of food waste treatment alternatives in the US and Canada. Site visits were conducted to aerobic composting and two anaerobic digestion facilities, in addition to meetings with officials that are responsible for program implementation and financing. The technology to produce useful products from either aerobic or anaerobic treatment of SSO is in place. However, there are a number of implementation issues that must be addressed, principally project economics and feedstock purity. Project economics varied by region based on landfill disposal fees. Feedstock purity can be obtained by enforcement of contaminant standards and/or manual or mechanical sorting of the feedstock prior to and after treatment. Future SSO diversion will be governed by economics and policy incentives, including landfill organics bans and climate change mitigation policies.

Waste Management and Household Effort: Toward an Enhanced ADF Policy

Advanced Disposal Fees (ADF) are rather popular in waste management policies, but they cease any waste reduction effort at the household level. We propose a waved ADF policy which enhances this system by giving to the households the possibility to sign a waste reduction contract in counterpart of a lower fee. These contracts satisfy an incentive, a budget balancing and a participation constraints. For these feasible contracts, we show that this enriched ADF policy is welfare improving and always induces a waste reduction e¤ort.

Electrochemical removal of organics and oil from sawmill and ship effluentsA paper submitted to the Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science.

The present study investigates the electrocoagulation treatment of two different wastewaters, namely sawmill wastewater and ship waste effluent, charged with organic matter. Monopolar electrode configuration was studied for both types of effluents at current intensity of 2.0 A for a total treatment time of 90 min. Soluble chemical oxygen demand (CODs) removal was very low (12.5% to 13.6%) for sawmill effluent in comparison to 74.7% to 75.4% obtained for ship effluents. Thus, ship effluent was further examined in details for its treatment efficacy in terms of electrode configuration and type, current intensity, treatment time, and pH. It was observed that bipolar electrode configuration using the Al electrode at 0.3 A gave the highest CODsremoval of 77%. Effluent pH increased rapidly in the initial 20 min with a concomitant decrease in CODsconcentration. Electrocoagulated-flocculated ship effluent improved performance relative to simple flocculation with respective removals of 86% of turbidity, 56% of CODs; 69% of total COD (CODt), 90% of oil and grease, 94% of C10-C50hydrocarbons and 89% of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5). Residual Al3+concentration in the solution followed a linear trend with treatment time. Meanwhile, the sludge production increased progressively during 60 min of treatment time. Total cost for treatment of ship effluent, including energy, electrodes, and sludge disposal fee is estimated between CAN$1.34 and CAN$2.40m–3.

A bioeconomic model of afforestation in Southern Ontario: Integration of fiber, carbon and municipal biosolids values

This study explores the economic attractiveness of afforestation as a strategy for the joint production of fibre, carbon storage and biosolids (treated municipal sewage sludge) disposal for municipalities in Southern and Central Ontario, Canada. We use a spatial, stochastic model, the Canadian Forest Service Afforestation Feasibility Model (CFS-AFM), to simulate a range of spatial biosolids application scenarios in hybrid poplar afforestation projects. Results suggest that such joint afforestation strategies could be financially attractive. Significant cost savings can be expected through decreases in transportation distances and avoided waste disposal fees. Sensitivity analysis is used to examine the effects of variations in critical model parameters on net present values. Our findings indicate that waste disposal savings from application of biosolids on hybrid poplar plantations combined with incentives for landowners to sequester carbon can easily compete with agricultural land rental values in some regions of Ontario. Social acceptance of this kind of activity, however, may be an impediment to adoption.

INVESTIGATION OF ORGANIC, INORGANIC AND SYNTHETIC ADSORBENTS FOR THE PRETREATMENT OF LANDFILL LEACHATE

An investigation into the use of organic, inorganic and synthetic adsorbents for the pretreatment of landfill leachate, generated by the City of Ottawa Trail Road Landfill, was carried out. The purpose of this project was to reduce the concentration of contaminants in order to meet the local Sewer Use By‐Laws, prior to transporting the leachate from the generating site to the local municipal sewage treatment plant, and thereby reducing the disposal fees. Peat moss, compost, clinoptilolite, basalt and two types of activated carbon (DSR‐A and F400) were investigated to determine the adsorption capacity for contaminants from leachate. Kinetic studies were also performed. The results based on batch adsorption isotherms show that peat moss has the highest adsorption capacity for boron (B) and barium (Ba), compared with the other adsorbents. Also peat moss has good removals of Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), Total Organic Carbon (TOC), and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX), but these are lower than the removals obtained with activated carbon. Because of its relatively low cost and higher adsorption of B and Ba, peat moss was selected as the filter media for the column studies. The treated leachate was tested for B, Ba, TKN, carbonaceous biological oxygen demand (CBOD5) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S). The breakthrough curves for B and Ba showed the effectiveness of peat moss in removing these contaminants.

STUDY ON SWOT ANALYSIS FOR PROMOTING OF PPP IN URBAN ENVIRONMENT INFRASTRUCTURE IN CHINA

Recent years, with rapid economic development, Chinese government could not meet the continually growing demand for services alone. It is estimated that in the 11th five-years (2006-2010), total 660 billion RMB are necessary for urban environmental infrastructures. Under such circumstance, Chinese government began to promote Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model for allowing the private sector to participate in providing public services, which aims to attract private investment, improve efficiency of public services through market and competition mechanisms and create new jobs and new service industries, thereby promoting economic growth. SWOT analysis was implemented for countermeasures on promoting BOT model in UEI projects. A SWOT Matrix, in which the SO, ST, WO, WT strategic alternatives available indentified, was developed. The results shows, development of detailed and operational guidelines and a special law for promoting PPP, increase collection rate, rise of treatment and disposal fees and well planning for avoiding waste of investment and increase of utilizing rate of facilities etc. were considered as most important countermeasures for promoting BOT projects in China.

Food and processing residues in California: Resource assessment and potential for power generation

The California agricultural industry produces more than 350 commodities with a combined yearly value in excess of $28 billion. The processing of many of these crops results in the production of residue streams, and the food processing industry faces increasing regulatory pressure to reduce environmental impacts and provide for sustainable management and use. Surveys of food and other processing and waste management sectors combined with published state data yield a total resource in excess of 4 million metric tons of dry matter, with nearly half of this likely to be available for utilization. About two-thirds of the available resource is produced as high-moisture residues that could support 134 MW e of power generation by anaerobic digestion and other conversion techniques. The other third is generated as low-moisture materials, many of which are already employed as fuel in direct combustion biomass power plants. The cost of energy conversion remains high for biochemical systems, with tipping or disposal fees of the order of $30–50 Mg −1 required to align power costs with current market prices. Identifying ways to reduce capital and operating costs of energy conversion, extending operating seasons to increase capacity factors through centralizing facilities, combining resource streams, and monetizing environmental benefits remain important goals for restructuring food and processing waste management in the state.

Sulfur based hazardous waste solidification

Existing uses for sulfur are relatively advanced and offer limited opportunities to consume significant new supplies. Currently, sulfur is in net surplus on a global basis, and with environmental regulations, greater sulfur recovery from petroleum and gas processing is mandated. The outlook is clear: there will be substantial and growing surpluses in global sulfur supply in the foreseeable future. Sulfur prices are likely to be under pressure, and producers could face substantial and growing disposal fees. Therefore, new markets must be found for sulfur to avoid disposal crises. One potential new market is the production of sulfur-solidified concrete. This is a thermoplastic composite of mineral aggregates bound together with chemically modified sulfur. The product is more durable than Portland cement. There may be monetizeable benefits in reducing greenhouse gas emissions that would enhance the attraction of sulfur solidified cement applications. The main objective of this study is to evaluate experimentally the potential use of sulfur as a solidifying agent for hazardous waste. To achieve this objective, the study reviewed the sulfur concrete literature, analyzed locally produced sulfur, evaluated a number of sulfur polymer modifiers and physical stabilizing agents, designed a set of experiments and evaluated the produced product for its hydro-mechanical-chemical properties. The results indicated that the manufactured sulfur polymer cement is an excellent candidate for: waste management practices such as solidification/stabilization of hazardous waste; barrier systems for landfilling of hazardous waste; and waste water treatment plants.

Trends and problems of solid waste management in developing countries: A case study in seven Palestinian districts

There is a great interest in solving problems related to municipal solid waste (MSW) management in the Palestinian territory. However, few studies have been done to assess the extent of these problems and suggest the best alternative solutions. This study aims at assessing MSW conditions in the seven major districts in northern West Bank, Palestinian territory. The study focuses on comparing several MSW management elements (such as collection, budget, and disposal) in municipalities, village councils, and refugee camps in the studied districts and the problems faced by these institutions in handling the waste. It also provides information on MSW collection service availability and waste disposal practices in the districts studied. It was found that, although MSW collection service was available for 98% of the residents in the areas surveyed, no proper treatment or landfill procedure was followed for the collected waste in most of these areas. Instead, waste burning in open dumpsites was the most common practice. Moreover, due to inefficient collection of waste disposal fees from the residents, municipalities were forced to sometimes cut the collection service and reduce its labor force, especially in villages. The budget for MSW management was between 2% and 8% of the total budget of the municipalities studied, indicating a low priority for this issue.

Forcing Firms to Think About the Future: Economic Incentives and the Fate of Hazardous Waste

What is the cost of off-site hazardous waste disposal? In addition to paying for disposal fees and shipments costs, generators of hazardous waste can potentially be held liable for the cost of cleanup if the waste disposal site contaminates the environment after closure or abandonment and thus falls under the federal or state Superfund legislation. This paper empirically examines the sensitivity of individual hazardous waste generators to these categories of costs, exploiting the variation across states in factors influencing disposal costs, and in the structure of the liability imposed on waste generators under certain circumstances by state laws. We fit nested logit models to predict the waste management method (incineration or landfill disposal) and the state of destination for shipments of halogenated solvent waste used for metal cleaning in manufacturing and reported in the Toxic Release Inventory in 1988–1990. Waste generators respond to transportation costs and to proxies for current disposal costs. Generators also find the concurrent presence of strict and joint-and-several liability a deterrent, but this deterrent effect does not vary with the wealth of the firm or the volume of the waste shipped.

Reconsideration of an advance disposal fee policy for end-of-life durable goods

This paper analyzes the optimal waste disposal policy for durable goods. The existing literature does not differentiate between durable and non-durable goods and concludes that the social optimum can be attained by either a disposal fee (DF) policy or an advance disposal fee (ADF) policy in an economy without transaction costs. This study shows, however, that in such an economy the first-best policy is not an ADF policy but a DF policy. Adoption of an ADF policy results in excessive consumption and disposal compared to the social optimum. In addition, under an ADF policy the lifetime of durable goods is shorter than the social optimum. If we take transaction costs into account, we must consider the second-best policy. An ADF policy can be considered as second-best in some situations, since it has some transaction cost advantages over other policies. An ADF policy can be second-best either if net disposal cost is relatively low or if repair cost is relatively high.

Income effect or policy result: a test of the environmental Kuznets Curve

Taipei Municipal City (TMC) began implementing a policy of a plastic-bag-based disposal fee for household solid waste treatment in July 2000, while other counties kept their same charge of a disposal fee based on potable water consumption. Taiwan's EPA has highly valued the outcome of TMC's new policy and has thus required all counties to follow TMC in employing a policy of a plastic-bag-based disposal fee accompanied by a compulsory sorting system. We attempt to verify whether the new policy implemented by TMC is successful in the reduction of general waste collected and then we seek to identify what other factors contribute to such a successful result. This paper provides a general overview of household waste management practices employed in Taiwan and the changes of household waste collected over time through simple statistical analysis and management practices, including evaluating waste recovery and recycling initiatives. The authors employ statistical analysis to verify TMC's new policy and to examine the factors that affect its success in addition to the policy changes through a test on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). We separate the data into three groups: TMC, non-TMC regions, and the pooled data (combination of TMC and non-TMC). The results show that: (1) the policy of a plastic-bag-based disposal fee is significantly effective in the reduction of general waste collected; and (2) the per capita household solid waste collected in both regions (TMC and non-TMC) is significantly related with household incomes in an EKC relationship. However, the test of EKC relationships on the pooled data is not significant.

A Comparison of Household Recycling Behaviors in Norway and the United States

This paper investigates empirically the determinants of household recycling in Norway and compares the results with a similar, recently published, study of households in the United States. The comparison focuses on the relative importance of user fees on waste disposal, community recycling programs, and socioeconomic factors. Both data sources are nationwide, material-specific, and at the household level. One major finding is that a disposal fee provides a significant economic incentive to Norwegian households, whereas its effectiveness in the United States is still up for debate. Providing households with convenient recycling options, such as curbside and drop-off recycling, appears generally effective, but less so in Norway than in the United States. Socioeconomic characteristics are less important predictors of behavior in Norway than in the United States. Qualifications on the comparison are provided throughout and two extensions for future research are suggested at the end.

Solid waste management in Macao: Practices and challenges

The rapid economic development and population growth in Macao have resulted in a large increase in refuse generated over the past decade. In 2003, the quantity of solid waste generated reached 249,255 tons, corresponding to 1.52 kg/day per capita. This figure has been gradually increasing. Domestic solid waste is the primary source of solid waste generation. The data showed that a considerable amount of the solid waste generated can be recycled and reutilized. Due to Macao’s small geographic area and high cost of land, landfilling has the lowest priority for waste disposal. Solid waste incineration has been given a top priority over other waste disposal methods although it is much more expensive. In the last decade, more than 80% of the total waste in Macao was incinerated. However, the incineration capacity of the Macao Incineration Plant is going to reach its saturation earlier than expected. Waste minimization, the establishment of an effective waste collection and disposal fee system, and alternate ways dealing with the limited capacity of waste treatment facilities are regarded to be major challenges in the future.

Waste, recycling, and “Design for Environment”: Roles for markets and policy instruments

Households sometimes have two recycling options. Curbside recycling collections are convenient, but do not provide payment. Alternatively, payment might be available from ‘reverse vending machines’ or drop-off centers, but some transaction costs would be incurred. We examine policies to encourage efficient product design and recycling in a setting with these two recycling options plus the option of putting recyclables in the trash. We find value in having two parallel recycling options. Constrained optimal outcomes can be attained by combining a ‘deposit–refund’ with a modest disposal fee. Furthermore, producers should not be permitted to keep deposits, that are not claimed by consumers.

An Overview of Current Sludge Drying Practices

An Overview of Current Sludge Drying PracticesThe trend of drying dewatered sludge in sewage treatment plants is motivated by ascending disposal cost and more stringent regulations. The product of the drying process generally contains water content lower than 10% and with one-fourth of the original volume. This significantly reduces the transportation cost to distant landfill and disposal fee. Besides, the dried biosolids can be utilized as...Author(s)Viraj de SilvaKwan Kin ChanSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 10: Biosolids Management IDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Jan, 2005ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20050101)2005:5L.740;1-DOI10.2175/193864705783977790Volume / Issue2005 / 5Content sourceTechnology ConferenceFirst / last page(s)740 - 749Copyright2005Word count406

Cleaner Production for Sustainable Industrial Development: Concept and Applications

In the 21st century, no business can successfully operate in an economic and social vacuum. Enterprises can achieve enduring success only by meeting the needs and the expectations of all their key constituents: customers, investors, employees, and the greater society. Sustainable development (SD) demands attaining the three-dimensional balance between economic growth and social and environmental responsibility; therefore, sustainability entails the continuous fulfillment of the varying needs and sometimes-conflicting objectives of the multiple stakeholders. Cleaner production (CP) is a proactive environmental strategy, a step beyond waste handling or management (based on the “cradle-to-cradle” approach). It deals with the source of the problem (i.e., pollution prevention, P2), rather than the effects and consequences (i.e., end-of-pipe treatment and/or corrective remediation). CP is also a practical approach of moving towards SD by allowing industries and service providers to produce more with less: fewer raw materials, less energy, less waste and emissions, and normally, less environmental impact and greater sustainability. CP, by definition, promises greater profits to industries by reducing costs (i.e., reduced material requirements, reduced disposal fees, and reduced environmental liabilities and cleanup costs) and by raising revenues through perhaps greater sales, exports, and better public relations (PR). CP has been applied to develop more environmentally benign (or even friendly) processes, products, services, and impacts. The implementation of CP involves specific methodologies for integrating environmental issues and sustainable development in a particular industry, employs applications of relevant analyses and syntheses, and above all challenges the traditional procedures for design, manufacturing applications, and services. This paper provides an overall view of CP as a concept, its principles, methods, and tools; its wide applications; and indeed its impediments. Several industrial examples of CP applications for conserving resources, minimizing wastes and emissions, reducing risks, and curtailing costs and generating profits are presented. Case studies from the chemical, textile, and cement manufacturing industries are illustrated. Through these examples it can be demonstrated that industry and the environment are not mutually exclusive but rather complementary in achieving SD.

On the Second-best Policy of Household's Waste Recycling

This study analyzes the second-best household's waste recycling policy. If we assume the first-best economy with no illegal disposal or transaction costs, then unit pricing, an advance disposal fee and a recycling subsidy are required in order to achieve the social optimum such that both the sum of unit pricing and an advance disposal fee and the sum of unit pricing and a recycling subsidy are equal to the marginal disposal cost. Furthermore, the first-best outcome can also be obtained by a producer take-back requirement system. In the real economy, however, various factors prevent the first-best optimal outcome. In this study we consider two factors, one being the transaction cost associated with a recycling subsidy (or refund) and the other being illegal disposal by the consumer. If a recycling subsidy (or a deposit- refund system) is adopted, a transaction cost associated with it will be generated. Alternatively, if unit pricing is adopted, some of the consumed goods may be disposed of illegally. We show the complete trade-off between unit pricing and a recycling subsidy. In other words, we can not adopt unit pricing and a recycling subsidy simultaneously. As a result, there are three candidates for the second-best policy: unit pricing with an advance disposal fee, a deposit-refund system, and a producer take-back requirement system. Which of these three policies is the second-best policy will depend on the relative magnitude of the price of a recycled good and the marginal transaction cost associated with a recycling subsidy (or the refund in a deposit-refund system). Generally, if the price of a recycled good is positive and the marginal transaction cost is relatively high, unit pricing with an advance disposal fee is the second- best policy. However, where the price of a recycled good is negative and the marginal transaction cost is relatively high, a producer take-back requirement system is the second-best policy. Further, where the marginal transaction cost is relatively low, a deposit-refund system is the second-best policy, regardless of whether the price of a recycled good is positive or negative.