Illegal Waste Disposal Research Articles

Simulation on Multiple Supervision Strategy of Construction Waste in China

Along with the rapid urbanization of China, the construction waste disposal becomes an urgent problem than ever before. Through evolutionary game simulation, we studied the evolution law of government - enterprise - social governance system by using simulation and analyzed the case of “12 20” special heavy landslide accident in Shenzhen construction waste dumping site. Results indicate that the economic efficiency of the risk strategies, the strength of social supervision, the punishment intensity of government and the cost coefficient of illegal waste disposal all have a significantly influence on the multi-parties evolutionary game model. It is concluded that, for the effective supervision of construction waste disposal, government should built social supervision mechanism, promote the strength of social supervision, enhance the punishment intensity of government, and reduce the risk income of waste disposal enterprises.

Taxing household waste: Intended and unintended consequences

Biodegradable waste constitutes the largest single fraction of municipal solid waste and is subject to specific targets in European Union member states. The present study examines the potential of waste taxes to reduce household disposal of biodegradable waste and encourage substitution into composting. With a view to examining the wider potential effects of the tax, the study also tests labelling effects and possible unintended consequences, namely the potential to stimulate illegal waste disposal. Data is drawn from a nationally representative whole country survey (n = 1037), in which respondents were randomly assigned to different tax treatments. The study finds that in the absence of a tax, composting uptake is mainly predicted by access to a garden or rural land and perceptions of nuisance. The introduction of a nominal fee for waste disposal significantly reduces waste disposal intent and encourages substitution into home-composting. Substitution responds to both higher fees as well as to a “Pay as You Throw Tax” tax label, particularly among garden owners. However, the introduction of a waste disposal fee also induces illegal waste disposal intent, particularly among households that hold government in low trust. These findings, which are robust to several model specifications, are relevant both to science and to policy makers.

Investigating municipal solid waste generation and management in Ilorin for possible integrated waste-management system

The municipal solid waste generated in Ilorin is so enormous that the management method available cannot sufficiently cater for it. This is evident by the uncollected piles of MSW on the streets and the illegal disposal of wastes into water ways and undesignated sites. This study establishes the aggregate MSW produced in Ilorin and classifies it into categories, for an integrated management system. The aggregate MSW was established, using facts and figures obtained from collection processes without weighbridges. Sixty (60) samples of 240 L bin volume of MSW each, were sorted and characterized for the investigation. About 477,954 tons/year of MSW was estimated at the rate of 1.3 kg/capita/day. The population accountable for the waste generation, was estimated to be 1,154,883 people. About 3280 kg of MSW was characterized to give 50% recyclable, 39% compostable and 11% combustible categories correspondingly, without any component occurring twice. This implies, if recycling, composting, and incineration are integrated into waste-management system in Ilorin, the environmental pollution and land degradation consequences of inefficient and unscientific waste disposal would be ameliorated; thereby making the wastes to contribute to economic valuables than being a nuisance.

Handling and Illegal Disposal of Excess Household Solid Wastes in Katutura Township of Namibia

This study examined the modes of handling of generated excess household solid wastes and attitude towards illegal disposal in Katutura township in Windhoek, Namibia. This was particu- larly significant because the capital city, Windhoek was once the cleanest city in Africa. Hence, the study aimed at generating data that would be of benefit to the local municipality towards review of waste management operational strategies and applicable local byelaw especially in this densely populated low-income township. A mixed method of qualitative (observational) and quantitative survey through the use of questionnaire was adopted. Presented data was based on a total of two hundred and thirty-four (234) respondents. Results showed that 46.6% of respondents were between the ages of 21-30 (43.7%) and employed with a 92.3% literacy level. About 66.7% were well aware of the concept of waste management and possessed the knowledge (94%) of its implementation. Majority of respondents (70.9%) generate wastes with- in the 240L waste bin volume per week while those that generate excess handle the wastes in several ways. About 44.3% place excess wastes beside the bin before municipal collection while a combination of 46.4% engage in different forms of illegal disposal. Ironically, about 77.8% of respondents were aware of what constitutes illegal waste disposal. A good number of respondents (62.1%) were satisfied with the municipal waste management. Suggestions on further improvements were however provided. Of great concern in this study was the apathetic attitude (50.4%) of respondents towards the illegal waste disposal practices. This might be contributing factor towards the loss of cleanliness ranking by the city.

The Illegal Disposal of Municipal Solid Waste by Co-Combustion with Coal in Domestic Boilers - How this Can Be Detected to Prevent Low Emissions in Urban and Suburban Areas?

The Illegal Disposal of Municipal Solid Waste by Co-Combustion with Coal in Domestic Boilers - How this Can Be Detected to Prevent Low Emissions in Urban and Suburban Areas?

Treat, Dump, or Export? How Domestic and International Waste Management Policies Shape Waste Chain Outcomes

Illegal or unwanted waste disposal methods such as dumping and export are prevalent in practice. To minimize the negative impact of these methods, policymakers have implemented laws and regulations designed to combat them. Even so, violations are rampant as a high degree of heterogeneity between firms and proprietary information render monitoring imperfect. Decentralized waste disposal chains, a common form of inter-business organization in this sector, compound this problem as firms also have limited information available on the other waste chain partner, which creates complex interactions between firm behavior and policy interventions. Against this background, we analyze the effects of domestic and international waste regulations targeting dumping and export, respectively, on firm incentives and compliance. We develop a two-tier waste chain with a manufacturer that generates waste and an operator that treats it. The manufacturer's waste quality and the treatment operator's efficiency are private information. Both can avoid compliance cost by violating regulations where the manufacturer can arrange for the export of the waste and the operator can dump it. We characterize equilibrium waste outcomes and examine the impact of the regulatory climate. Our analysis reveals that primarily focusing on penalizing dumping by treatment operators can worsen waste chain outcomes. Solely focusing on penalizing low-quality waste exports, a common intervention in practice, can also backfire. Instead, penalizing manufacturers for downstream dumping should be given consideration. In addition, the asymmetry in export burden between waste quality levels should be reduced, which improves both waste outcomes and treatment operator profits.

The Impact of Illegal Waste Sites on the Transmission of Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Central Tunisia

Illegal waste disposal represents a risk health factor for vector-borne diseases by providing shelter for rodents and their ectoparasites. The presence of the Phlebotomus papatasi vector of Leishmania major, an etiologic agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL), was assessed at illegal waste sites located at the vicinity of villages in endemic areas of Central Tunisia. The study was performed over a two-year period over three nights from July to September 2017, and over three nights in September 2018. Household waste is deposited illegally forming dumpsites at the vicinity of each village and contains several rodent burrows of Psammomys obesus, the main reservoir host of L. major. Sandflies were collected from rodent burrows in the natural environment and in dumpsites using sticky traps and were identified at species level. Female sandflies were tested for the presence of L. major by PCR. Our entomological survey showed that Phlebotomus papatasi is the most abundant sandfly species associated with rodent burrows in these waste sites. The densities of P. papatasi in dumpsites are significantly higher compared to the natural environment. The minimum infection rate of P. papatasi with L. major in these illegal waste sites is not significantly different compared to the natural environment. Considering the short flight range of P. papatasi, increases in its densities, associated with burrows of P. obesus in illegal waste sites located at the edge of villages, expands the overlap of infected ZCL vectors with communities. Thus, illegal waste sites pose a high risk of spreading ZCL to neighboring home ranges. Waste management is an environmentally friendly method of controlling sandfly populations and should be included in an integrated management program for controlling ZCL in endemic countries.

Environmental status of an Italian site highly polluted by illegal dumping of industrial wastes: The situation 15 years after the judicial intervention

In 2008 the Italian government classified the Bussi sul Tirino area (Central Italy) as Site of National Interest destined to remediation which, unfortunately, has not yet begun. The decision followed >20 years of illegal dumping of industrial wastes, lasting from 1984 to 2005, that generated the biggest illegal toxic waste disposal site in Europe. The contamination profile of the site was mainly characterized by PCDD/Fs, PCBs, PAHs, chlorinated solvents, Hg, and Pb. Due to the health concern of the population and local authorities, an extensive monitoring and biomonitoring campaign was carried out in 2017–2018, checking the site-specific pollutants in local food (free-range hens' eggs, milk from grazing sheep and goats, wild edible mushrooms, and drinking water), environmental (air and freshwaters) and biological (human urine) matrices. A total of 314 samples were processed, obtaining 3217 analytical data that were compared with regulatory limits, when available, and values reported by international literature.The sum PCDD/Fs and DL-PCBs ranged from 0.24 to 3.6 pg TEQ g−1 fat, and from 0.46 to 8.3 pg TEQ g−1 fat, respectively in milk in eggs, in line with the maximum levels established by CE Regulations except for an egg sample. As regards PAHs, all our results were lower than the literature data, as well as for Hg and Pb. Outdoor air showed levels of chlorinated solvents ranging from <LOD to 36 μg m−3, and freshwaters from 0.21 to 2.8 μg L−1. All drinking water samples resulted compliant with the maximum levels established by the current EU directive.Despite the severe pollution of the illegal dumping site and the remediation not yet carried out, the local environment and the population living in Bussi and surroundings seem not to be affected by significant exposure to the toxics characterizing the landfill.

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles transformed synthetic textile dye into less toxic intermediate molecules through LC-MS analysis and treated the actual wastewater

The illegal disposal of waste from textile industries having recalcitrant pollutants is a worldwide problem with more severity in developing nations. We used an ecofriendly method to synthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) from a locally-isolated bacterial strain Bacillus marisflavi TEZ7 and employed them as photocatalysts to degrade not only synthetic azo dyes but also actual textile effluents followed by phytotoxicity evaluation and identification of degradation molecules. The strain TEZ7 was taxonomically identified through the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Biogenic AgNPs were characterized for stabilizing molecules, crystal structure, size, shape and elemental composition by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), respectively. The photocatalytic degradation efficiency of biogenic AgNPs for three azo dyes such as Direct Blue-1, Methyl Red, and Reactive Black-5 ranged between 54.14 and 96.92% after 5 h of sunlight exposure at a concentration of 100 mg/L. Moreover, the actual wastewater treatment analysis revealed that the 100 mg/L dose of AgNPs significantly decreased the concentration of various physico-chemical parameters of textile effluents such as pH, EC, chlorides, sulphates, hardness, BOD, COD, TSS and TDS. Furthermore, six intermediate molecules of methyl red degradation were identified by LC-MS and it was established by a pot study that these degradation molecules have no phytotoxic effects on rice plants. It was concluded that the AgNPs can be used as an efficient and low-cost strategy for the degradation of azo dyes containing textile wastewaters.

Reasoning Criminal – Implikasi Limbah Hasil Operasional Kapal Terhadap Ekosistem Laut di Selat Malaka

The Malacca Strait, which has always been the most strategic world trade route. The majority of foreign vessels crossing the Malacca Strait transit at the Port of Singapore. The potential of environmental pollution in the Malacca Strait area is also very large, especially the pollution from vessel waste resulting from the operational activities of vessels in the form of liquid waste and garbage dumped in vain and the washing of vessels illegally. The operational activities of foreign ships in violation of international treaties and Indonesian law often occur in Indonesian coastal areas. Indonesian waters were victims of foreign vessels who carried out illegal activities in order to reduce operational costs and avoid sanctions from the port authorities and the Singapore's sincerity which required that every vessel to be anchored in Singapore's port was clean from waste. Regulations made by the Singapore Government encourage illegal ship laundering and waste disposal in the Straits of Malacca. The supervision of severe penalties against each vessel that crosses and violates the rules, and the establishment of a special zone of vessel cleaning in the Straits of Malacca can reduce environmental damage. This research uses qualitative methods using rational choice and institutional approach in environmental view to see how environmental problems caused by vessel waste occurred and cause cross border problems threatening ecosystem in the Straits of Malacca, especially the Indonesian water area. Data used in the form of qualitative data are collected through document studies, interviews, document analysis, focused discussions, and observations made.&#x0D;

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN WASTE MANAGEMENT IN CHANGWON CITY, SOUTH KOREA

Changwon City, located in the southern central region of Gyeongsangnam-do in South Korea, has become a major center of industrial economy in the central region of Gyeongnam. To achieve good waste management can be done by handling: institutional aspects, financial aspects, regulatory aspects (legal), aspects of community participation, and operational technical aspects. The purposes of this research are to find out the participation of the community in Changwon City, South Korea and to investigate the type of management carried out in Changwon City, South Korea. The literature study method uses secondary data from Changwon City, South Korea and several studies on waste management to support and supplement information from the interviews. Government of South Korea adopted the concept of a volume-based waste fee system and collecting the recyclable waste, which is a volume-based waste disposal system, where each citizen has to pay for every plastic waste that will be used. The greater the waste production will need the greater the costs. Communities are required to sort out their waste before putting it in a plastic bag according to the type of waste, especially waste that can still be recycled. Korea has also established an expanded producer responsibility system and recycles its construction waste. Korea's waste information system has resulted in cost savings, promoted transparency, and eliminated illegal waste disposal. The effects of this policy include reducing the production of solid household waste, contributing to the completion of separate disposal, collecting waste and recyclable goods securing the cost of waste treatment from the benefits of the VBWF system and economic utilization.

Predicting recycling in Southern Italy: An exploratory study

The waste disposal crisis in Southern Italy has led to a phenomenon dubbed ‘the Land of Fires,’ where illegal waste disposal and toxic fires of waste are currently contaminating the land, the ground and surface water, and the air quality. The general aim of this study was to investigate the psychosocial factors involved in the prediction of municipal solid waste separation, in a convenient sample of the inhabitants of three areas of Southern Italy, that is specifically the Land of Fires territory (Campania region), Abruzzo and Puglia. We put forward a model involving both pro-environmental concerns and cognitive evaluations. A written questionnaire was administered to a sample of 313 inhabitants from the three areas. Structural equation modelling was performed on the data. The findings confirmed the hypothesized relationships between study variables. The results showed that internal attribution and social norms were the strongest predictors of attitude, followed by the level of knowledge. Biospheric and altruistic values weakly predicted attitudes. Attitude strongly predicted the behavioural intention, which in turn predicted pro-environmental behaviour (i.e. recycling). Trust in institutions was unrelated to the recycling attitude. Attitudes partially mediated the relationship between internal attribution and behavioural intention, and between social norms and behavioural intention. Based on those results, some suggestions are put forward to improve recycling behaviour in the relevant territories.

Local Mass Media’s Attitudes towards Environmental Situations in the East

The research on “The Local Mass Media’s Attitudes towards the Environmental Situations in the East” aimed to learn the local mass media’s attitudes toward environment situation in the East of Thailand. This research is a qualitative study. In-depth interviews with key informants who are mass media in the eastern part of Thailand were applied. The informants were asked about their attitudes towards environmental problems in the East. Four issues mentioned during the interviews included Illegal waste disposal in other people’s properties, coastal erosion in Laem Chabang area, people’s opposition of the town plan amendment, and the fresh water conflict.

Blood screening for heavy metals and organic pollutants in cancer patients exposed to toxic waste in southern Italy: A pilot study.

In Italy, in the eastern area of the Campania region, the illegal dumping and burning of waste have been documented, which could potentially affect the local population's health. In particular, toxic waste exposure has been suggested to associate with increased cancer development/mortality in these areas, although a causal link has not yet been established. In this pilot study, we evaluated blood levels of toxic heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in 95 patients with different cancer types residing in this area and in 27 healthy individuals. While we did not find any significant correlation between the blood levels of POPs and the provenance of the patients, we did observe high blood concentrations of heavy metals in some municipalities, including Giugliano, where many illegal waste disposal sites have previously been documented. Our results showed that patients with different cancer types from Giugliano had higher blood levels of heavy metals than healthy controls. Despite the obvious limitations of this exploratory study, our preliminary observations encourage further research assessing the possible association between exposure to hazardous waste, increased blood metals, and increased risk of cancer.

Soil tillage and compost amendment promote bioremediation and biofertility of polluted area

Abstract The risk for human health and environment due to the presence in agricultural soils of organic and inorganic contaminants derived from illegal waste disposal, posed the need to develop a sustainable strategy for the restoration of soils with high agricultural potential. In this study an eco-compatible method as soil tillage and compost amendment was applied in two sites of a National Interest Priority Site of Campania Region (Italy) known as “Terra dei Fuochi”. After one year, the concentration of heavy hydrocarbons (C > 12) significantly reduced in a range from 84 to 95%, probably due to the aeration causing photo-oxidation processes and an improvement of microbial activity able to degrade organic pollutants. Although a reduction trend was observed, the potentially toxic elements (PTEs) concentration in soils was unmodified indicating a potential risk of plant uptake. The high-throughput sequencing approach used to explore the response of native microbial populations following in situ treatments showed that microbiota dynamic was differently affected in the two sites. Therefore, the characteristics of the sites could differently interact with compost determining a different microbial response. Alphaproteobacteria (incidence range of 14–18%), Actinobacteria (incidence range of 10–22%) and Sordariomycetes (incidence range of 23–57%) were the dominant autochthonous populations in all soils indicating their high adaptability to different environments and high resistance to environmental stress as well as their high potential in degradation of organic xenobiotic compounds. The remediation practices based on soil tillage and compost amendment promoted the restoration of the microbial biofertility of soils affected by spotted multi-contamination, to bring them back to agricultural use.

An assessment of construction waste management in India: A statistical approach.

Construction waste needs to be managed in order to minimize environmental burden in India and conserve existing natural resources. Despite numerous policies and guidelines there is improper construction waste management. Towards addressing this issue, a novel approach is presented to unraval and investigate waste management in India using four methods: quantification of waste by wastivity; grouping of influence factors (IFs) by factor analysis; ranking of IFs by analogous importance index; and determination of attitude by concordance among construction crew. The outcomes forecast wastivity of concrete (4.14%) and steel (1.62%), respectively. Exploratory factor analysis groups factors into five categories. The top influence factor (CMT6, 0.901) according to contractors and academicians is: workers should be given training in identifying recyclable material. Engineers favor enforcement of strict punishment for illegal disposal of wastes in violation of Environmental Protection Agency regulations (CMT7, 0.895). Computed concordance indicates: moderate agreement (0.68) among variables under the construction method; strong agreement among variables in documentation (0.76) and construction equipment (0.81); and very strong agreement among variables in worker intention (1.00) and materials (1.00). The variation in attitude of the workforce towards waste management and the proclivity of policy developers towards protocols which include training of workers in efficient waste management are quantified.

Drivers of legal and illegal solid waste disposal in the Global South - The case of households in Yaoundé (Cameroon)

Managing municipal solid waste is a challenge for many policy makers, but even more so in the Global South. Regulatory instruments are often limited, available resources are scarce and illegal waste disposal is an easy opt-out. We analyze a unique dataset regarding waste disposal choices by households in Yaoundé, Cameroon, including information on illegal waste dumping. Overall, households in Yaoundé seem to act predominantly as rational, cost-minimizing agents. While social criteria also play a role, waste disposal choices are mainly determined by the accessibility of the different alternatives. In particular the output of a multinomial logit model shows that households with (easy) access to legal alternatives such as centralized drop-off containers or curbside waste collection are less likely to dispose of their waste in an illegal manner. In addition, illegal disposal becomes more attractive when the illegal waste dumpsite is closer to the family home and transportation costs are lower. Although these results might seem unspectacular, in the context of the Global South, these findings also reveal that investing in waste collection infrastructure offers great potential in improving waste disposal, particularly in combination with other measures such as removing illegal dumpsites, incorporating pre-collection and composting into institutional programs, raising awareness and increasing the level of compliance.

Asking Sensitive Questions Using the Randomized Response Approach in Public Health Research: An Empirical Study on the Factors of Illegal Waste Disposal.

A survey study is a research method commonly used to quantify population characteristics in biostatistics and public health research, two fields that often involve sensitive questions. However, if answering sensitive questions could cause social undesirability, respondents may not provide honest responses to questions that are asked directly. To mitigate the response distortion arising from dishonest answers to sensitive questions, the randomized response technique (RRT) is a useful and effective statistical method. However, research has seldom addressed how to apply the RRT in public health research using an online survey with multiple sensitive questions. Thus, we help fill this research gap by employing an innovative unrelated question design method. To illustrate how the RRT can be implemented in a multivariate analysis setting, we conducted a survey study to examine the factors affecting the intention of illegal waste disposal. This study demonstrates an application of the RRT to investigate the factors affecting people’s intention of illegal waste disposal. The potential factors of the intention were adopted from the theory of planned behavior and the general deterrence theory, and a self-administered online questionnaire was employed to collect data. Using the RRT, a covariance matrix was extracted for examining the hypothesized model via structural equation modeling. The survey results show that people’s attitude toward the behavior and their perceived behavioral control significantly positively affect their intention. This paper is useful for showing researchers and policymakers how to conduct surveys in environmental or public health related research that involves multiple sensitive questions.

Source patterns and contamination level of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urban and rural areas of Southern Italian soils

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of persistent organic pollutants. They have been identified as a type of carcinogenic substance and are relatively widespread in environment media such as air, water and soils, constituting a significant hazard for human health. In many parts of the world, PAHs are still found in high concentrations despite improved legislation and monitoring, and it is therefore vital defining their profiles, and assessing their potential sources. This study focused on a large region of the south of Italy, where concentration levels, profiles, possible sources and toxicity equivalent quantity (TEQ) level of sixteen PAHs were investigated. The survey included soils from five large regions of the south of Italy: 80 soil samples (0-20cm top layer) from urban and rural locations were collected and analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Total PAHs and individual molecular compounds from the US Environmental Protection Agency priority pollutants list were identified and measured. Results showed that 16 PAHs varied significantly in urban and rural areas, and different regions presented discordant characteristics. Urban areas presented concentrations ranging from 7.62 to 755ngg-1 (mean = 84.85ngg-1), whilst rural areas presented ranges from 1.87 to 11,353ngg-1 (mean = 333ngg-1). Large urban areas, such as Rome, Naples and Palermo, exhibited high PAHs total concentration, but high values were also found in rural areas of Campania region. Different PAHs molecular ratios were used as diagnostic fingerprinting for source identification: LWMPAHs/HWMPAHs, Fluo/(Fluo + Pyr), BaA/(BaA + Chr), Ant/(Ant + Phe) and IcdP/(IcdP + BghiP). These ratios indicated that PAHs sources in the study area were mainly of pyrogenic origin, i.e. mostly related to biomass combustion and vehicular emission. On the other hand, values in Sicilian soils seemed to indicate a petrogenic origin, possibly linked to emissions from crude oil combustion and refineries present in the region. Finally, results allowed to calculate the toxicity equivalent quantity (TEQBAP) levels for the various locations sampled, highlighting that the highest values were found in the Campania region, with 661 and 54.20ngg-1, in rural and urban areas, respectively. These findings, which could be linked to the presence of a large solid waste incinerator plant, but also to well-documented illegal waste disposal and burning, suggest that exposure to PAH may be posing an increased risk to human health in some of the studied areas.

Policy or income to affect the generation of medical wastes: An application of environmental Kuznets curve by using Taiwan as an example

Abstract Prior studies primarily suggest that the generation of medical wastes maintains a positive relationship with national incomes. In contrast, higher incomes may lead to improved health status, consequently resulting in lower generation of medical wastes. Under this circumstance, an inverted U-shaped curve may be used to describe the generation of medical wastes along with economic growth. Additionally, illegal disposal is believed to have a high impact on human health. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the presence of the environmental Kuznets curve for both the generation and illegal disposal of medical wastes by using a model of the environmental Kuznets curve. The results find the generation of medical wastes is positively affected by incomes, but this paper identifies the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve phenomenon for illegal disposal. Both the generation and illegal disposal of medical wastes are positively affected by medical capacity but negatively affected by medical policy. The primary contributions of this paper are three-fold. First, this paper is the first to focus on the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve phenomenon for both the generation and the illegal disposal of medical wastes. Second, this paper confirms the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve for the illegal disposal of medical wastes. Illegal disposal may be blocked when national incomes reach a specific level, and thus, the government may focus on the formulation of medical policy to encourage reduced demand for medical care. Third, this paper finds that the implementation of medical policy may have an important effect on inhibiting the generation and illegal disposal of medical wastes.