Recycling Facility Research Articles

Untargeted Screening of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) in Airborne Particulate of Three Italian E-Waste Recycling Facilities

Poly- and perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) are widely used in the electrical and electronic appliance industry to the point that waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), also known as e-waste, creates significant potential for PFAS exposure (by inhalation, ingestion, or dermal exposure) for people handling and recycling e-waste. The aim of this work was the development of an untargeted analytical approach in order to detect the presence of possible unknown PFASs in particulate matter collected in three Italian e-waste facilities through liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-HR-MS/MS) in negative ionization mode. By means of three acquisition experiments, nine compounds were detected as candidate PFASs, and three were definitively confirmed by comparison with their authentic standards. Among these, bistriflimide (bis (trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide), an ionic liquid with several promising technological applications, was the most abundant compound detected in all three recycling plants. This is the first study associating the presence of fluorinated ionic liquids with e-waste, and as these chemicals are not only toxic and persistent but also highly mobile, our results indicate the need to include them in future PFAS research. Only further data on their actual environmental diffusion will determine whether they are emerging pollutants or not.

Integrating Ship Recycling Facility into Existing Shipyard: A Study of Malaysian Shipyard

Ship recycling in Malaysia is an unknown business as no dedicated ship recycling yard is currently operated in this country. Most Malaysian shipowners send their end-of-life (EOL) ships to prominent ship recycling yards in Pakistan, India, and China, which are key players in the global ship recycling industry. Due to various factors, establishing a proper ship recycling facility for Malaysia is challenging. One issue that arises is the ability of Malaysian yards to offer competitive EOL ship prices, which can be achieved by increasing the revenue or lowering the ship recycling process costs. It will allow Malaysian recycling players to offer a high price to ship owners and attract them to recycle their ships locally. This paper studies the potential of an integrated ship recycling facility for a Malaysian shipyard. A medium size shipyard situated at Chukai, Terengganu, was selected as a case study. The facility analysis was performed to determine share resources, and a revised layout was proposed. The prospect of ship recycling facility integration in Malaysian shipyards was discussed and summarised. The result analysis signifies that the shipyard facility can be adequately shared for ship recycling activity, and no major change is required in the overall shipyard layout. Lastly, the findings suggest that an integrated ship recycling facility is feasible for a Malaysian shipyard.

Towards Sustainable City: A Covering Model for Recycling Facility Location-allocation in Nilai, Malaysia

Sustainable waste management is essential for any nation. To limit the amount of waste transported to landfills, it is critical to handle waste properly, notably by segregating recyclables from discarded waste. Waste separation at the source is critical to ensure that generated waste is not completely directed to landfill. The practice of waste separation would initiate the recycling process, which is able to reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfill. Recycling is critical to the achievement of two Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 11 and 12, for which Malaysian government has set the goal for recycling rates to reach 40% by 2025 in 2022, the rate has reached 33.17%. In Malaysia, recyclables are either collected on-site or sent to a designated facility. The separation at source activity is essential for developing recycling practices. Despite being the largest waste generator, public engagement, particularly at the household level, has remained low, most likely due to recycling facility availability and accessibility issues. Thus, improving public access to the facility would lead to increased recycling rates. In this study, a mixed integer linear programming model is proposed to locate recycling facilities in optimal locations that cover the most amount of waste generated by households. The capacity level is induced to ensure that the dropped-off recyclables are proportionate at the designated facility locations. Several experiments were conducted for validity purposes, and the proposed model was applied in a Malaysian urban area, namely Nilai. As a result, the proposed model was able to locate the optimal locations with the requisite capacity level while ensuring coverage for most Nilai households.

Analisis Kontribusi Pemanfaatan Limbah Kantong Semen (Reject) Berdasarkan Prespektif Life Cycle Assessment (Studi Kasus : PT. Solusi Bangun Indonesia Tbk.)

PT. Solusi Bangun Indonesia (SBI) Tbk Cilacap Factory is a cement company in Cilacap that has a high commitment and awareness of resource efficiency and the use of renewable energy. One of the important things that can support resource efficiency programs is the management of non-hazardous (non-B3) solid waste. If managed properly, non-B3 solid waste can produce a circular economy that is beneficial for the company and the community. PT SBI Cilacap Factory is making efforts to develop a Circular Economy with an LCA approach to cement bags produced both as reject products and circulating to end users through community empowerment activities. This study aims to evaluate the comprehensive environmental impact of the reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover cement bag program conducted by PT SBI Cilacap Factory together with the community. The system based on the purpose of this study cannot use a cradle-to-grave. Data processing in this study for environmental impact evaluation used the LCA SimaPro-9.4.0.2 software. The impact assessment method uses the ReCiPe 2016 midpoint method. Based on the contribution analysis, it was found that the cement paper collected for recycling in a centralized recycling facility will make a greater contribution to the environmental impacts of terrestrial ecotoxicity, land use, global warming, human non-carcinogenic toxicity, and human carcinogenic toxicity.

Literature review and hazard identification relating to fire safety in commercial plastic recycling facilities

The fire risks associated with the plastic recycling process has received limited focus to date. The purpose of this article is to investigate available literature on fire incidents, detail the plastic recycling process, identify fire hazards in the plastic recycling process and consider strategies found in literature that have been adopted from research on waste and general recycling facilities. Calculated fire loads may be as high as 20 GJ/m2. Codes and standards in the literature addressing some of these hazards are discussed along with the shortfalls of the guidelines and recommendations. The primary shortfall identified is the impracticality from both a business process and financial perspective. The article concludes by recommending further work in which the hazards identified can be studied and simulated to design against destructive fires in a way that is both practical and financially feasible.

Risk analysis of on-field and on-board activities and resilience investigation of Izmir Aliaga Ship Recycling Facilities

Ship recycling facilities play a pivotal role in the industry by dismantling old ships and reusing diverse parts, equipment, and steel in various applications. Turkey, particularly in Izmir Aliaga, hosts 22 facilities with a recycling capacity of approximately 1.5 million tons per year. Despite their positive economic impact, the Aliaga facilities present substantial health and safety risks. Therefore, conducting comprehensive and proactive risk analysis studies to ensure the safety of these facilities is imperative.This paper aims to present a novel framework for the risk analysis arising in both on-board and on-field operations at Aliağa Ship Recycling Facilities integrating FMEA, OWGA, FVIKOR, and Resilience Engineering RE principles. Traditional risk analysis methods such as FMEA, while effective in identifying failure modes and their consequences, may overlook the dynamic and interconnected nature of risks, especially in complex systems where human and organizational factors play a significant role. To develop a new proactive risk analysis, this article employs both the strengths of classical risk analysis methods and presents a comprehensive approach using RE principles. With its proactive and innovative aspects, this method promises significant improvements in safety and reliability standards in the ship recycling industry.

Hyperspectral imaging-based classification of post-consumer thermoplastics for plastics recycling using artificial neural network

The increasing global output of plastic waste has created a critical need for cost-effective and highly accurate methods of plastic recycling. One of the major challenges in recycling plastics is maintaining the purity of plastic streams, which is essential for secondary plastics to compete with virgin plastics in the market. In this context, this paper presents a novel approach for classifying different polymers in a complex plastic waste stream using a hyperspectral imaging system in the near-infrared (NIR) range (900–1700 nm). The study focuses on the applications of entropy and contrast stretching for image segmentation to identify distinct objects in a given hyperspectral image. The classification process is carried out using a two-layer feedforward network with sigmoid hidden neurons and SoftMax output neurons. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated using a dataset comprising hyperspectral images of unknown plastic waste stream samples, and it was able to achieve an accuracy of about 89.5%. The results of this study demonstrate the potential of using hyperspectral imaging in the NIR range as a cost-effective and highly accurate method for classifying different polymers in plastic waste streams. This approach can be further developed for use in real-world recycling facilities, contributing to the advancement of the plastic waste management field.

A Preliminary Study on the Use of Highly Aromatic Pyrolysis Oils Coming from Plastic Waste as Alternative Liquid Fuels.

In this work, the low-temperature pyrolysis of a real plastic mixture sample collected at a WEEE-authorised recycling facility has been investigated. The sample was pyrolysed in a batch reactor in different temperature and residence time conditions and auto-generated pressure by following a factorial design, with the objective of maximising the liquid (oil) fraction. Furthermore, the main polymers constituting the real sample were also pyrolysed in order to understand their role in the generation of oil. The pyrolysis oils were characterised and compared with commercial fuel oil number 6. The results showed that in comparison to commercial fuel oil, pyrolysis oils coming from WEEE plastic waste had similar heating values, were lighter and less viscous and presented similar toxicity profiles in fumes of combustion.

Eight novel brominated flame retardants in indoor and outdoor dust samples from the E-waste recycling industrial park: Implications for human exposure

As alternatives for legacy brominated flame retardants, novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) have a wide array of applications in the electronic and electrical fields. The shift of recycling modes of electronic and electrical waste (e-waste) from informal recycling family workshop to formal recycling facilities might come with the change the chemical landscape emitted including NBFRs, however, little information is known about this topic. This study investigated the occurrence characteristics, distribution, and exposure profiles of eight common NBFRs and their derivatives in an e-waste recycling industrial park in central China and illustrated the differences in various functional zones in the recycling park. The highest level of ΣNBFRs in dust samples was found in e-waste storage area at median concentration of 27,400 ng/g, followed by e-waste dismantling workshops (23,300 ng/g), workshop outdoor area (7770 ng/g), and residential area outdoor (536 ng/g). In the e-waste dismantling associated dust samples, tetrabromobisphenol A bis(2,3-dibromopropyl ether) (TBBPA-BDBPE), tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and 2,4,6-tris(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)-1,3,5-triazine (TTBP-TAZ) were the predominant components. This paper presented the first evidence regarding the occurrence characteristic and distribution of tetrabromobisphenol S (TBBPS), tetrabromobisphenol A bismethyl ether (TBBPA-BME) and tetrabromobisphenol S bis(2,3-dibromopropyl ether) (TBBPS-BDBPE) in the e-waste associated dust samples. By comparing with previous studies performed in China, this paper also noticed the significant decrease of TBBPA concentrations in the dust probably due to the shift of e-wastes sources and recycling modes. We further assessed the risk of occupational workers exposure to NBFRs. The median EDI (estimated daily intake) value of ΣNBFRs among e-waste dismantling workers was 9.71 ng/kg BW/d with the maximum EDI value being 19.6 ng/kg BW/d, hundreds of times higher than those exposed by general population. The study raises great concern for the health risk of occupational exposure to NBFRs in the e-waste recycling industrial park.

Using ICP-OES to Improve Lithium-Ion Battery Performance and Reduce Waste

As the demand grows for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, their performance requirements and environmental impact increase. Battery performance strongly depends on the composition of the cathode materials, requiring precise elemental ratios. Meanwhile, disposing spent batteries can have a negative environmental impact, which can be greatly reduced through recycling. Inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) provides solutions in both of these areas. By using high-precision ICP-OES, precise measurements can be made to accurately determine compositions of a variety of different cathode materials. In battery recycling, ICP-OES meets the requirements of being a multielement technique with a wide dynamic range and the ability to handle complex matrices. Therefore, it can measure both high-concentration and impurity elements resulting from the incineration of spent batteries, providing recycling facilities information about the elements present and their levels so that recoveries can be optimized.

Combating toxic emissions from thermal recycling of polymeric fractions laden with novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) in e-waste: an in-situ approach using Ca(OH)2.

Legacy brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in printed circuit boards are gradually being replaced by novel BFRs (NBFRs). Safe disposal and recycling of polymeric constituents in the polymeric fractions of e-waste necessitate the removal of their toxic and corrosive bromine content. This is currently acquired through thermal recycling operations involving the pyrolysis of BFRs-containing materials with metal oxides. Nonetheless, the debromination capacity toward NBFRs is yet to be established. Thus, this study aims to address these two crucial gaps in the current knowledge pertaining to the plausible formation of brominated toxicants from the thermal decomposition of NBFRs and their thermal recycling potential. Herein, we investigate the pyrolysis of a mixture of 2,4,6-tribromophenol (TBP), allyl 2,4,6-tribromophenyl ether (ATE) and Tetrabromobisphenol A-bis (2,3-dibromo propyl ether) (TBBPA-DBPE) in the presence of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymers at various loads. To demonstrate a viable debromination route, pyrolysis of NBFRs-ABS mixture with Ca(OH)2 was also investigated. The latter is a potent debromination agent for legacy BFRs. Upon pyrolysis with Ca(OH)2, the bromine content in the collected oil was reduced up to 80.49% between 25-500 °C. Products of the co-pyrolysis process generally feature non-brominated aromatic and aliphatic compounds; a finding that indicates an effective thermal recycling approach. As evident by IC measurements, no HBr emission could be detected when Ca(OH)2 is added to the mixture. As XRD patterns show, Ca(OH)2 is partially converted into CaBr2. DFT calculations provide pathways for the observed surface debromination characterized by surface-assisted fission of aromatic C-Br bonds and the formation of CaBr sites. Outcomes reported herein are instrumental to designing and operating a thermal recycling facility of polymeric materials contaminated with high loads of bromine, i.e., most notably during scenarios encountered in the thermal recycling of e-waste.

Accreditation system for construction and demolition waste recycling facilities in Egypt

ABSTRACT The Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) recycling industry is one of the important elements of sustainability as it reduces carbon emissions and energy consumption. One of the main actions in the action plan of the Construction and Demolition Waste Management National Strategy in Egypt is establishing quality management system for CDW recycling. Developing accreditation system for CDW facilities is one of the tasks of this action that has a high priority due to government recommendations. This research aims to promote standardization and quality through an accreditation system for CDW recycling facilities. The developed accreditation system is composed of six main elements and several criteria. The relative importance of each element and criteria in the developed system is determined using multiple criteria analysis. The study revealed that the most important elements are the equipment and the availability of documents while the least are health and safety. A Microsoft Excel checklist is developed and used for evaluating of C&D waste recycling facilities to be accredited so as to ensure the quality of C&D waste management process and recycled products. It is also used to classify the CDW recycling facilities.

Procuring an innovative recycling facility in pursuit of zero waste using NEC4

In 2018, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council initiated a project to find an innovative solution to segregate recyclable waste to meet the Welsh government’s zero-waste targets. The solution involved procurement of a state-of-the-art, highly automated recycling plant within an existing structure. Anticipating design and supply challenges, the collaborative NEC4 contract suite was adopted. This paper describes the benefits and flexibility of NEC4, especially when unanticipated challenges were encountered, as well as lessons learned.

Analysis of COVID-19 Pandemic Effect on Ship Dismantling and Recycling Industry: An Assessment on Türkiye

_ The average age of the global merchant fleet has been declining with the increasing number of new ship constructions and dismantled ships. Although a noteworthy part of ship dismantling and recycling (SDR) facilities have been performed in Asian countries, such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, SDR facilities have also been increasing in Türkiye. SDR facilities provide substantial economic income and employment opportunities. However, SDR facilities should have been performed in a certain systematic framework by taking necessary precautions since toxic substances from dismantled ships affect the environment and employees’ health. That’s why maritime authorities make an effort to sustain the SDR facilities in the best way in the sense of safety, health, and environment through the European Union (EU) Ship Recycling Regulation (SRR), Basel Convention, and Hong Kong Convention (HKC). In this paper, the global SDR facilities have been evaluated in terms of ship types and their gross tonnages (GTs) over the past 5 years among the leading countries. The number, type, economic life span, steel weight, and light displacement tonnage (LDT) of dismantled ships have been analyzed in Türkiye, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic process. To determine the most effective year in terms of SDR, the weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) method has been utilized based on scrap steel price, LDT, economic life span, number of dismantled ships, and steel structure weight coefficient of the ship by maritime experts. The year 2017 has been highlighted as the most effective year with a .909 rank value in the last 5 years. In addition to analysis results, the largest amount of scrap steel has been acquired from dry cargo ships, which is the most dismantled ship type under data getting from the SDR facilities in Türkiye. Temporary bans on cruises due to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused more than triple increments in the number of passenger ships (PS) dismantling. This paper will be a quite notable resource for experts, academics, and industry stakeholders in order to explore and compare the SDR process. Keywords ship dismantling; ship recycling; COVID-19; scrap steel; passenger ships

Evaluating the generation of microplastics from an unlikely source: The unintentional consequence of the current plastic recycling process

This study casts light on the potential of microplastic generation during plastic recycling – an unintended consequence of the process. To date, microplastics have been detected in the wastewater and sludge from plastic recycling facilities; however, generation pathways, factors and minimisation strategies are understudied. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting microplastic generation, namely, plastic type and weathering conditions. The size reduction phase, which involved the mechanical shredding of the plastic waste material, was identified to be the predominate source of microplastic generation. Material type was found to significantly affect microplastic generation rates. Focussing on the microplastic particles in the size range of 0.212–1.18 mm, polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) generated 28,600 ± 3961, 21,093 ± 2211, 18,987 ± 752 and 6807 ± 393 particles/kg of plastic material shredded, respectively. The significant variations between different plastic types were correlated (R2 = 0.88) to the hardness of the plastic. Environmental weathering was observed to significantly affect microplastic generation rates. Generation rates increased for PC, PET, PP, and HDPE by 185.05 %, 159.80 %, 123.70 % and 121.74 %, respectively, over a six-month environmental exposure period. The results in this study confirm production of large amounts of microplastics from the plastic recycling industry through its operational processes, which may be a significant source for microplastic pollution if measures to reduce their production and removal from wastewater and sludge are not considered.

Planning of three-level facilities network for collection and recycling of E-waste: A MILP-based modelling approach

The collection and recycling of E-waste are vital for the economy, the environment, and public health. From a financial perspective, planning the necessary E-waste facilities, including the collection centres and recycling centres, can be a challenging and laborious undertaking. The E-waste recycling facilities network planning problem involves three types of facilities related to different stages. Firstly, E-waste generated from households is collected at a location known as a collection point, from where it is transported to collection centres where it is sorted into several product groups, and lastly, it is sent to relevant recycling facilities. The recovered materials in recycling facilities are then forwarded to original manufacturers for reuse, while hazardous waste is dumped in landfills. The capacity and location decisions of recycling facilities are strategic and important as it involves huge capital investment, and they should be far from residential areas. Furthermore, to reduce transportation costs, these facilities should be located nearby collection centres and landfills. So, to reduce the overall E-waste recycling cost, the decision regarding the number and location of all three facilities plays an important role.In this study, the planning problem of determining the optimal number and location of collection points, collection centres, and recycling centres, as well as the flow of E-waste to these facilities, has been tackled by proposing a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) formulation. The objective is to minimise the overall cost associated with these operations. The costs include the transportation cost and the cost of establishing all types of E-waste facilities. The application of the model has been demonstrated using a numerical example. The numerical case has been solved using GUROBI 8.0.1 optimisation solver. This study provides a framework to plan an effective and efficient network of E-waste facilities at minimum cost and lesser environmental impact.

Geo-spatial mapping of plastic waste recycling plants in Kano Metropolis, Kano State, Nigeria

This study adopted a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) approach to map and assessed the geographic distribution of plastic waste recycling facilities in Kano Metropolis. Specifically, the study aimed at creating an inventory for the Kano Metropolis plastic waste recycling facilities and investigating its distribution pattern. Data collected on the plastic waste recycling centers were obtained from Kano State Ministry of Commerce and a field survey. Global Positioning System (GPS) was then utilized to record the coordinates (latitude and longitude) of each plastic recycling facility. The nearest neighbor analysis of the research area's plastic garbage was conducted using the data collected. Results obtained indicate that there were Seventy-eight (78) spatially dispersed plastic recycling plants throughout Kano Metropolis, and the observed mean distance between them was about 750 m, compared to an expected mean distance of about 3030 m. The distribution of recycled plastics showed a weakly clustered pattern with the nearest neighbor distance smaller than 1 (0.22). To illustrate the boundaries separating locations for future detailed spatial studies of the spatial pattern of recycling businesses, it is recommended that a thorough mapping of the plastic recycling plants be done. Since most recycling facilities in Kano Metropolis are not legally recognised, the government should identify and keep an eye on them to ensure that environmental laws and regulations are being followed.

Are UK E-waste recycling facilities a source of environmental contamination and occupational exposure to brominated flame retardants?

Investigations into the impacts of regulated electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) recycling activities on urban environments in Europe remain rather scarce. In this study, dust samples taken both inside and outside of five UK e-waste recycling facilities were analysed for concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs), and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD). Average concentrations of ∑BFRs in dust inside and outside UK e-waste recycling facilities were 12,000 ng/g and 180 ng/g, with median concentrations of 7500 ng/g and 85 ng/g, respectively. BDE-209 and decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) were the most abundant BFRs in both indoor and kerb dust, making a combined contribution to ∑BFRs of ~90 % on average. While four out of the five studied e-waste facilities showed a lack of significant impact on BFR contamination in surrounding environment, one of the studied e-waste recycling facilities was identified as a likely source of BFR contamination to UK urban environments, with industrial activities as another potential source of NBFRs. Occupational exposure of UK e-waste recycling workers to BFRs via dust ingestion was generally lower than that estimated for e-waste recyclers from other countries, but was comparable to BFR exposure via dust ingestion of UK office workers. Our estimates suggested that health burdens posed by dust ingestion of BFRs were minimal for UK e-waste recycling workers.

Cleaner production auditing for plastic recycling industry in Pakistan: A baseline study

Recycling plastics is a good alternative to manage the plastic waste generated in Pakistan. Unfortunately, the country lacks efficient system to manage or recycle the plastic waste it generates. Lack of government support, absence of standard operating procedures, negligence towards health and safety of workers, increasing costs of raw materials and poor quality of the recyclates are some of the issues currently faced by plastic recyclers in Pakistan. Considering the need of cleaner production audits in plastic recycling industries, this study was carried out to establish an initial reference benchmark. Production processes in 10 recycling industries were evaluated from cleaner production perspective. The study showed the average water consumption of a recycling industry as high as 3315 L/ton. All the consumed water is wasted in the nearby community sewer while, only 3 recyclers recycled between 70 and 75% of the treated wastewater. In addition, a recycling facility, on an average, consumed 172.5 kWh of power for processing 1 ton of plastic waste. The average temperature was observed to be 36.5 °C and noise levels exceeded the permissible limits. Moreover, the industry is male-dominated, workers are mostly underpaid and have no access to good healthcare facilities. Recyclers lack standardization and have no national guidelines to follow. Guidelines and standardization of recycling process, wastewater treatment, use of renewable energy, water reuse etc, are direly needed for uplifting this sector and reducing its impacts on the environment.

Ports in a Storm: Port-City Environmental Challenges and Solutions

The potential detrimental environmental impact of ports is vast, and port-cities bear the brunt of this. It is essential that future port-city development proceeds in such a way as to reduce the environmental impact that port activity creates for the city and local area. This global study of port authorities in 26 countries and city authorities in 13 countries investigated the current views on pollution, levels of adoption of mitigation measures, future plans, levels of interest in adoption and barriers to key measures for reducing a port’s environmental impact. This reveals consensus on key areas between port and city authorities for the first time. Water pollution was found to be the number one environmental concern of port authorities globally. Air, noise and waste were also found to be important forms of pollution in ports, both from the perspective of port and city authorities and in terms of complaints received. Ports largely have facilities for recycling, although the majority have no set recycling plans, with 62% of ports having none in place. Targets should be encouraged, as well as circular economy approaches, if this is to be addressed. Renewable energy, electric port equipment, building efficiency improvements, electric port and harbour vessels and shore-to-ship power all have high levels of support from port and city authorities, although costs provide the largest barriers to implementation. Greater cooperation between port-city stakeholders is necessary to overcome the large financial barriers that appear to be preventing ports from pursuing the environmental improvements they are interested in.