Tons Of Material Research Articles

Energy, Greenhouse Gas, and Cost Reductions for Municipal Recycling Systems

Curbside recycling programs can be more cost-effective than landfilling and lead to environmental benefits from the recovery of materials. Significant reductions in energy and emissions are derived from the decrease of energy-intensive production with virgin materials. In many cities, competing priorities can lead to limited consideration given to system optimal collection and processing strategies that can drive down costs and increase revenue while simultaneously reducing system energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We evaluate three alterations to a hypothetical California city's recycling network to discern the conditions under which the changes.constitute system improvements to cost, energy, and emissions. The system initially operates with a collection zoning scheme that does not mitigate the impact of seasonal variations in consumer tonnage. In addition, two collection organizations operate redundantly, collecting recyclables from different customer types on the same street network. Finally, the system is dual stream, meaning recyclables are separated at the curbside. In some scenarios, this practice can limit the consumer participation rate leading to lower collection quantities. First, we evaluate a "business as usual" (BAU) scenario and find that the system operates at a $1.7 M/yr loss but still avoids a net 18.7 GJ and 1700 kg of greenhouse gas equivalent (GGE) per ton of material recycled. Second, we apply an alternative zoning scheme for collection that creates a uniform daily pickup demand throughout the year reducing costs by $0.2 M/yr, energy by 30 MJ/ton, and GHG emissions by 2 kg GGE/ton. Next, the two collection organizations are consolidated into a single entity further reducing vehicle fleet size and weekly vehicle miles traveled resulting in savings from BAU of $0.3 M/yr, 100 MJ/ton, and 8 kg GGE/ton. Lastly, we evaluate a switch to a single-stream system (where recyclables are commingled). We showthat single-stream recycling can increase the total amount of material collected to a degree that lowers overall net cost ($0.2 M/yr) and leads to further reductions in energy use (210 MJ/ton) and emissions(16 kg GGEton). However,there can be circumstances in which maintaining a consolidated dual stream system is preferred over single stream. A sensitivity analysis is also performed and a discussion is presented addressing the applicability of this city network to others.

Field and service applications - Dragline automation- A dedade of development - Shared Autonomy for Improving Mining Equipment Productivity

Draglines are massive machines commonly used in surface mining to strip overburden, revealing the targeted minerals for extraction. Automating some or all of the phases of operation of these machines offers the potential for significant productivity and maintenance benefits. The mining industry has a history of slow uptake of automation systems due to the challenges contained in the harsh, complex, three-dimensional (3D), dynamically changing mine operating environment. Robotics as a discipline is finally starting to gain acceptance as a technology with the potential to assist mining operations. This article examines the evolution of robotic technologies applied to draglines in the form of machine embedded intelligent systems. Results from this work include a production trial in which 250,000 tons of material was moved autonomously, experiments demonstrating steps towards full autonomy, and teleexcavation experiments in which a dragline in Australia was tasked by an operator in the United States.

Development of Solar Tunnel Dryer For Industrial Use

This paper deals with a technology for drying of Di-basic calcium phosphate (DCP) through solar energy. For drying this material a solar tunnel dryer was designed and commissioned at MIS Phosphate India Limited, Udaipur. It is semi-cylindrical shaped tunnel dryer having a loading capacity of 1.5 tonne per batch. Two such tunnels were installed in series to accommodate 3.0 tonne of material. It is observed that maximum temperature inside the solar tunnel dryer was 62°C and 50°C on a summer and winter day respectively, which is about 15°C higher than ambient temperature. Total 16 h were needed for drying DCP up to the safe moisture content during winter seasons while total 12 h were needed during summer seasons for reducing moisture content from 37.3% to 9.4%. The solar tunnel drying reduces moisture content to around 10%. Thereafter, the moisture content is reduced to around 5% in a spin-flash dryer for final delivery to market.

Dewatering of mine tailings using electrokinetic geosynthetics

Many mining operations produce tailings that dewater very slowly under self-weight consolidation. One way of reducing the water content of such tailings is by electroosmotic dewatering. Although the technique has been used with some success in civil engineering applications, it is still largely seen as a solution of last resort. This is probably due to the high energy costs reported in the literature, as well as problems of very rapid corrosion of metal electrodes. This paper describes a study using newly developed electrokinetic geosynthetics (EKGs) as electrodes for the in situ dewatering of mine tailings. Laboratory tests were undertaken on mineral sands tailings in both a purpose-built testing cell and a laboratory testing tank using EKGs, followed by an outdoor experiment in a tank containing approximately 9 m3of the tailings. This test was run for over 2 months. Energy consumption in the outdoor test was less than 1 kWh per dry tonne of material dewatered and there was no sign of electrode deterioration even after 2 months of usage. The results point to a potentially powerful technique for reducing the water content of tailings ponds in situ, thus increasing storage space, improving stability, and facilitating closure of these facilities.Key words: tailings, dewatering, electroosmosis, electrokinetic geotextiles, consolidation.

Chemical Development of ZD9331: Synthesis of a Bromomethylquinazolinone Avoiding a Nonselective Radical Bromination

An efficient regiospecific synthesis of ZD9331 Pivaloyloxymethyl (POM) Bromide (4) has been accomplished via ZD9331 Quinacetate HCl (15) avoiding a nonselective bromination. The original route used a radical bromination on a substrate with three methyl groups, which generated a range of bromomethyl derived compounds that carried through to the final active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). A strategy, based on the Zinin reaction, was developed to synthesize the required bromomethyl compound in a regioselective manner. This approach was successfully scaled to manufacture a tonne of material.

Émission de dioxines et sarcomes des tissus mous : étude cas-témoins en population: Dioxin emissions and soft-tissue sarcoma : results of a population-based case-control study

In 1998, the French Ministry of Environment revealed that of 71 French municipal solid waste incinerators processing more than 6 metric tons of material per hour, dioxin emission from 15 of them was above the 10 ng international toxic equivalency factor/m3 (including Besançon, emitting 16.3 ng international toxic equivalency factor/m3) which is substantially higher than the 0.1 international toxic equivalency factor/m3 prescribed by a European directive of 1994. In 2000, a macrospatial epidemiological study undertaken in the administrative district of Doubs, identified two significant clusters of soft-tissue sarcoma and non Hodgkin lymphoma in the vicinity of the municipal solid waste incinerator of Besançon. This microspatial study (at the Besançon city scale), was designed to test the association between the exposure to dioxins emitted by the municipal solid waste incinerator of Besançon and the risk of soft-tissue sarcoma. Ground-level concentrations of dioxin were modeled with a dispersion model (Air Pollution Control 3 software). Four increasing zones of exposure were defined. For each case of soft tissue sarcoma, ten controls were randomly selected from the 1990 census database and matched for gender and age. A geographic information system allowed the attribution of a dioxin concentration category to cases and controls, according to their place of residence. Thirty-seven cases of soft tissue sarcoma were identified by the Doubs cancer registry between 1980 and 1995, corresponding to a standardized incidence (French population) of 2.44 per 100,000 inhabitants. Compared with the least exposed zone, the risk of developing a soft tissue sarcoma was not significantly increased for people living in the more exposed zones. Before definitely concluding that there is no relationship between the exposure to dioxin released by a solid waste incinerator and soft tissue sarcoma, a nationwide investigation based on other registries should be conducted.

Characterizing and monitoring rockslides from SAR techniques

Worldwide, thousands of landslides occur annually moving millions of tons of material. Based on estimates from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies there are on average 1550 landslide-related deaths per year. Developing new remote sensing techniques to identify, characterise and monitor motion of landslides will assist in the current national landslide inventory and hazard mapping in mountainous areas. Recent research has shown that interferometric SAR techniques can be used to monitor landslide motion under limited conditions. In this study we used interferometrically derived images, to monitor post-slide motion and a RADARSAT fine mode image to characterise the debris size and distribution of a 30 × 10 6 m 3 rock avalanche, in the Canadian Rockies. These techniques will assist in the understanding of landslide processes, post-failure mechanism and mobility.

Static tests of neutralization potentials of silicate and aluminosilicate minerals

The acid-generating potential of rocks depends on their sulfur content and neutralization potential (NP). Fifty-five "monomineralic" samples have been assessed for their NP contributions and for the effect of compositional variations in mineral series. For a threshold value of 20 kg CaCO3 equivalent per tonne of material, most rock-forming minerals, including pyroxenes, amphiboles, feldspars, micas, chlorites, and clays, will contribute insufficient NP to attain or surpass the threshold value. Although sample-to-sample variations in NP seem to be as significant as compositional variations within most series, the highly calcic members of the plagioclase feldspars yield more NP than the sodic members. The few high-NP results obtained from silicates–aluminosilicates were in most cases traceable to contamination by carbonates. Olivine and wollastonite were exceptions, and the latter gave NP values approaching those of some carbonates. The NP increases as the particle size becomes finer, but normalization of the NP values to m2/g may yield misleading results; for example, a fivefold increase in surface area will likely increase the NP by only 5±3 units of CaCO3 equivalent.

Energy content and indirect greenhouse gas emissions embedded in ‘emission-free’ power plants: results for the Low Countries

In the absence of direct sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (i.e. combustion), other sources of emission become dominant in so-called ‘emission-free' power plants. In this study the indirect GHG emissions, related to construction of nuclear plants, windfarms and photovoltaic plants, are estimated with two different types of life-cycle assessment. The process-chain analysis divides an investment good into its material components (tons of material) and then unravels the entire production process of each material product. The energy required in, and the GHG emissions related to, the construction of the power plant are obtained by integration over all process steps and summation over all material products. The input/output analysis looks at the different economic sectors called on in the construction of the power plant. The sectors that represent a part of the total cost of the power plant are responsible for the amount of energy used (and the corresponding GHG emissions) to deliver their final product. A result is provided by detailed analysis of all relevant sectors and fitting them into the construction phase. Using similar techniques, energy use and GHG emissions related to maintenance and demolition, including storage of nuclear equipment, can be quantified. For construction, maintenance and demolition of these power plants, following orders of magnitude are obtained: nuclear: 40kJ prim/kWh el, 3g CO2/kWh el; wind(coast): 120kJ prim/kWh el, 9g CO2/kWh el; wind(inland): 350kJ prim/kWh el, 25g CO2/kWh el; PV(1998): 3000kJ prim/kWh el, 130g CO2/kWh el; PV(near future): 1500kJ prim/kWh el and 60g CO2/kWh el.

A Comparison of Static Pile and Turned Windrow Methods for Poultry Litter Compost Production

Alternate technologies of compost manufactured from poultry litter (manure) were studied as a means of producing a value-added product for the landscape and nursery industry. Static pile and turned windrow technologies were investigated on a commercial scale with the composting of nearly 300 tons of material. The major difference between the technologies is the amount of energy and labor required. Static pile systems require less energy but more time than windrow turned systems. There was no process advantage found for passively aerated static piles over static piles but costs of passive aeration for pipes and labor were higher than for static piles. Machine turned windrows completed active temperature production within 100 days while portions of both the static and passively aerated piles continued to actively compost past 300 days. Process operational costs and compost quality were similar among the compost methods studied. Production operational cost is driven by the cost of compost ingredients and accounted for 60 to 70% of the cost in the pilot study. Ingredients were poultry litter, wood chips and sawdust. Screened compost was produced at an operational cost of $30 while unscreened compost could be produced for $20 per ton of compost. A production scheme where poultry litter is static pile composted on farms for later transport to regional processing centers appears feasible. This two-part composting procedure will eliminate the transport of raw litter and improve poultry biosecurity. Most likely, a private compost business would provide the expertise, on-farm compost procedures and operate the regional facility.

Application of ultrasound in comminution

This paper deals with a new technology for fine grinding of hard materials, based on a high-compression roller mill with ultrasonic capabilities. The machine was tested by producing fine powders from hard rocks, with and without ultrasonic activation, permitting the beneficial effects of ultrasound to be evaluated. The experimental set-up allows the following operational parameters to be measured: material flow, applied torque, angular velocity of the rollers, stress on the shafts, ultrasonic energy applied and the vibration amplitude and phase behaviour of the transducer roller. It is found that the application of ultrasonic energy diminishes the torque required, the stress over the shafts and the total energy consumed for the same grinding results. In addition, a reduction in the erosion of the grinding surfaces was found. The optimal value of the applied ultrasonic power was determined by measuring the specific rate of breakage, a parameter that refers to the energy consumed for the generation of 1 ton of material, for each size range.

Environmental History, Environmental Management and the Public Record: Will the Records Be There When You Need Them?

Developing solutions to current environmental crises depends on understanding through the historical record how the planet attained its current state. Since first European settlement in 1788 parts of the Sydney estuary (Port Jackson. Middle Harbour, Lane Cove River and the Parramatta River) have been substantially modified by dredging and foreshore reclamation, activities with significant environmental implications. Dredging in particular took place over a period of more than 140 years, removing as much as 100M tonnes of material from the estuary and redistributing it in reclamation sites or offshore. Investigation of the history of dredging in the estuary reveals major gaps in the records, with even basic information on gross annual expenditure and quantities not available through periods of major dredging works. This article examines the availability of the ‘public record’ relating to this single government activity in the light of archival theory on the appraisal and retention of records. The dredging records are used to test whether recent archival practices in New South Wales have been able to identify and preserve an adequate record in a sphere of activity which has a range of demonstrable environmental consequences and which has generated records of scientific importance. In finding they have not, suggestions are made for ways in which environmental managers might influence future retention of records of environmental significance.

Total recycling of CCA treated wood waste by low-temperature pyrolysis

A system to turn a potentially harmful stream of solid waste into a set of substreams with either commercial value or highly concentrated residual streams is presented. The waste which is considered is metal impregnated (in particular Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) treated) wood waste and timber, such as telephone poles, railway sleepers, timber from landscape and cooling towers, wooden silos, hop-poles, cable drums and wooden playground equipment. These waste streams sum up to several 100,000 tons of material per year currently to be dumped in every major country of the European Community (EC). Technologies need to be developed to reduce this CCA treated wood waste, such that all of the metals are contained in a marketable product stream, and the pyrolysis gases and/or pyrolysis liquid are used to their maximum potential with respect to energy recuperation. Pyrolysing the CCA treated wood waste may be a good solution to the growing disposal problem since low temperatures and no oxidising agents are used, which result in lower loss of metals compared to combustion. An experimental labscale pyrolysis system has been developed to study the influence of the pyrolysis temperature and the duration of the pyrolysis process on the release of metals and the mass reduction. The macrodistribution and microdistribution of the metals in the solid pyrolysis residue is studied using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP–MS) and Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (SEM–EDXA). Furthermore, a complete mass balance is calculated over the pyrolysis system. Based on these results a semi-industrial pyrolysis system (pilot plant scale) has been developed consisting of three stages: grinding, packed bed pyrolysis and metal separation. Special types of equipment have been developed to carry out the three stages. A new grinding system has been developed, based on a crushing mechanism rather than a cutting mechanism. The crushed wood is introduced by means of a screw feeding system into a reaction column. In this pyrolysis reactor the wood is heated by subjecting it to a flow of hot gases. This causes an adiabatic pyrolysis, which results in volatilisation of the volatile compounds whereas the mineral compounds (containing the metals) remain entrapped in a coal-type residue which is very rich in carbon. The condensable compounds in the pyrolysis gas condense while leaving the reaction zone due to the inverse temperature gradient. The pyrolysis gas leaving the reactor is used as fuel for the hot gas generator. The charcoal which is extracted at the bottom of the reactor, is cooled, compressed, removed and stored, ready to feed the subsequent stage. A specially developed grinder is used to remove the metal particles from the charcoal and the separation between metal and charcoal particles is accomplished in a pneumatic centrifuge as a result of the difference in density. Using this system the ultimate waste is less than 3% of the initial wood mass. Results obtained with a semi-industrial scale prototype confirm the effectiveness of the process.

The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemunde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era (review)

Reviewed by: The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era* Arden Bucholz (bio) The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era. By Michael J. Neufeld. New York: The Free Press, 1995. Pp. xiii+368; illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $25. Michael Neufeld, curator of World War II history at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, aims to provide a balanced and readable history of the German liquid-fuel rocket project. In large measure he has done so. The archival foundations—mainly fourteen tons of materials buried in a mine in north central Germany, seized in 1945 and later microfilmed by the U.S. Army, and archives in Berlin, Koblenz, Freiburg, Munich, and elsewhere— [End Page 574] seem to have been well used. One can only wonder, however, if everything has been looked at; the guide alone to some of the microfilms is almost three thousand pages long. Additionally, the author used more than a dozen interviews with participants. The German rocket work described here had four stages. The first, in the 1920s, grew from the fact that the constrictive weapons clauses of the Treaty of Versailles did not mention rockets. Although amateur inventors and Fritz Lang’s film The Woman in the Moon led to a certain popularization of the idea of space flight, it was Karl Becker, with a doctorate in engineering, who pushed the idea into practicality. As dean of the faculty of military technology at the Technical University, Berlin, he sought projects that would provide funding and draft exceptions. When he later became head of army ordnance, Becker converted the banned Prussian artillery laboratory into a university institute with a small group of former Prussian officers. University science, allied with and paid for by the military bureaucracy, propelled this work from then on. The second phase began with the Nazi accession to power in January 1933. Although the Nazi regime became a collection of warring bureaucratic empires, these empires had access to greatly expanded rearmament funding. By the time Werner von Braun, then a young student, graduated in 1934, his dissertation was so secret that even the title was classified. Becker, Walter Dornberger, and von Braun made an alliance with Goering’s Luftwaffe to allow Peenemünde to be built. The third stage of rocket work began in September 1939 with World War II. This period saw the decline of the army’s power within the overall Nazi state and the frantic search for funds and support from other government sources, who long remained unconvinced of the rockets’ utility. The direction of the war after December 1941 and the search for miracle weapons with which to rescue Germany propelled Armaments Minister Albert Speer and, later, SS Gen. Hans Kammler into rocket work. In the last several years of World War II, Germany employed massive slave labor to build the missiles. Two months after the Allied landing in Normandy, when it was clear that hundreds of cruise missiles—the V-1—fired each week on London had failed to change the course of the war, Hitler ordered renewed emphasis on the missile upon which their hopes still depended, the A-4. The results of this final effort were marginal. The A-4, the only one of sixteen rocket projects to have a substantial production run (6,000), was a unique weapon: more people were killed making it than died from being hit by it. But it was too little, too late. The problems, as Neufeld outlines them, were many. First, electronics and computers were then too primitive for the missile technology to be cost effective. Additionally, the missiles were prematurely forced into mass production by a manufacturing organization ill prepared for this. Other manufacturing problems were the confusion in component production and the constant alterations in the details [End Page 575] of various parts. The result was that the actual weapon had a much greater margin of error than postwar technology. Stage four of rocket work took place after 1945, after the United States and Soviet Russia split the scientific spoils of war. The United States got most of it because the German rocket workers...

Environmental-protection and energy-saving direction of development of hydraulic transport systems

1. With respect to ecological and energy indices HTSs have large reserves, the realization of which can multiply reduce the consumption and pollution of large masses of water participating in hydraulic transport and filling with a simultaneous, and also multiple, decrease of energy expenditures. In terms of 1 billion tons of materials being transported, an increase of S/L just from 1∶20 to 1∶5 would approximately reduce water consumption by 15 billion m3 and energy expenditures by 1 billion kWh. 2. The established practice of designing and operating HTSs with multiple reductions of the pulp consistency is explained mainly by the reliability requirements of the HTSs, which are most simply provided by increased water and energy expenditures. 3. For a general evaluation of HTSs with respect to energy expenditures and water consumption it is recommended to use the proposed concept of efficiency of the system, which should figure in the main indices of HTSs characterizing its design virtues and perfection of operating technology. 4. In the case of optimization, HTSs should be considered not closed systems but subsystems of a general system of constructing a hydraulic-fill structure. In view of the ever more obvious need to increase environmental protection measures in all areas of technology, the criterion of optimization of HTSs should include, in addition to reduced expenditures, efficiency as an index of water and energy consumption.

Experience with the dismantling of three secondary steam generators in unit A in Gundremmingen by the ‘ice-sawing’ technique

The unit A in Gundremmingen (KRB A), was the first commercial nuclear power plant in Germany. It had an electrical power of 250 MWe and was in operation from 1966–1977. The plant was equipped with a dual cycle boiling water reactor of a former General Electric design and includes three recirculation lines each with a big recirculation pump and a steam generator comparable with those of pressurized water reactors. Therefore dismantling experience is gained for systems and components of boiling water reactors as well as pressurized water reactors.In early 1980, it was decided to decommission the plant. Actual decommissioning work started in 1983 with the removal of the components and systems in the turbine house. Since 1990 the decommissioning activities have been expanded to all primary water systems inside the reactor building. In 1992 , KRB A obtained a licence for dismantling the remaining activated components like the reactor pressure vessel and the biological shield.Meanwhile more than 5200 tons of contaminated components have been dismantled. Special cutting and handling tools were tested, developed and optimized for the purpose of working in radiation fields and under water. The dismantling work of the contaminated systems and components ends up in about 6000 tons of material with a rather low amount of waste, especially due to optimized decontamination techniques Eickelpasch et al. (1992). For the dismantling of the three secondary steam generators in the reactor building the ‘ice-sawing’ technique was developed and patented.

Standards for Advocacy Research

As one of the four Brooklyn College scientists who drafted the petition citing the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) for research misconduct, I would like to clarify several points in the article “Charges fly over advocacy research” by Jock Friedly (News & Comment, [7 Mar., p. 1411][1]). The issue is not whether advocacy research should be held to the same standards as those used for peer-reviewed science (our petition did not address that question), but whether the standards and procedures used are minimally sufficient to support the conclusions reported. Our petition states that NYPIRG research does not “meet accepted minimum standards.” Contrary to NYPIRG’s statement, its study of the Audi 500 car ([1][2]) contains original data [as does its landfill study ([2][3])], which as NYPIRG acknowledges in print ( 1 , p. 95), were gathered in a survey it prepared. In any case, the premise that studies without original data should be judged by lower standards than studies with such data is fallacious. Any data, original or not, can be manipulated to support a desired, albeit invalid, result. The implication of political scientist Michael Kahan that our petition was issued in lieu of publishing a rebuttal to NYPIRG’s studies is incorrect: three of the five NYPIRG studies at issue were critically examined in scholarly journals ([3][4]). The evidence developed in those publications is unassailable. For example, the analytical procedure used in NYPIRG’s recycling report ([4][5]) provides a result which, while favorable to their position, is physically impossible (its proposed recycling plants yield 3600 more tons of material daily than they take in). 1. [↵][6]T. A. Wathan and H. Caffey, Shifting the Blame: A Report on Sudden Acceleration in the Audi 500 (New York Public Interest Research Group, New York, 1987). 2. [↵][7]“What’s blowing in the wind: Preliminary findings of a health study of a community near the Fountain Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue landfills” (Toxics Project, New York Public Interest Research Group, New York, 1983). 3. [↵][8]D. E. Seidemann, Northeast. Environ. Sci. 6 , 103 (1987); Environ. Manage. 15 , 73 (1991); Buffalo Environ. Law J. 3 , 221 (1995). 4. [↵][9]W. L. Hang and S. A. Romalewski, The Burning Question: Garbage Incineration vs. Total Recycling in New York State (New York Public Interest Research Group, New York, 1986). [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.275.5305.1411a [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #ref-2 [4]: #ref-3 [5]: #ref-4 [6]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [7]: #xref-ref-2-1 View reference 2 in text [8]: #xref-ref-3-1 View reference 3 in text [9]: #xref-ref-4-1 View reference 4 in text

Industrial recycling and the Basel Convention

Abstract The scope of the recycling of industrial ‘wastes’ is summarized with examples and figures from the United States where more than 260 million tonnes of material recycled per annum can be accounted for. Some of this recycling converts what would otherwise be hazardous waste to commodities and converts some of it to a non-hazardous residue. Many of the products from the recycling are traded internationally. Figures are given for world trade patterns of scrap metals and metal-bearing residues destined for recycling with a discussion in the contexts of the effects on economies of receiving nations, particularly of developing nations, and of the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes. In 1995, an amendment to the convention was proposed that can diminish this trade, especially by denying developing countries sources of secondary raw materials. The approach being taken within the Basel Convention to better define and characterize what are hazardous wastes under the convention's regimes is summarized.

Lifecycle assessment and economic evaluation of recycling: A case study

Recycling is widely assumed to be environmentally beneficial, although the collection, sorting and processing of materials into new products also entails significant environmental impacts. This study compares the relative environmental impacts of a recycling system (incorporating the kerbside collection of recyclable materials and their subsequent use by manufacturers), with a waste disposal system (in which the waste is disposed to landfill and primary raw materials are used in manufacture), using the technique of lifecycle assessment. The methodology is then extended to incorporate an economic evaluation of the environmental impacts. This combination of lifecycle assessment and economic evaluation can be termed ‘Lifecycle Evaluation’. Lifecycle assessment quantifies and evaluates the environmental impacts of a product from the acquisition of raw materials, through manufacture and use, to final disposal. Lifecycle assessment can also provide a framework for the analysis of environmental impacts from systems such as transport, or waste management, as demonstrated in this paper. The results, for a case study of Milton Keynes in Central England, show that the recycling system generally performs better than the waste disposal system in terms of contribution to global warming, acidification effects and nutrification of surface water. An alternative method of analysis is then used, in which an economic valuation of the environmental impacts is carried out. This produces net benefits for recycling, per tonne of material, of £1769 for aluminium, £238 for steel, £226 for paper and £188 for glass, and net costs of £2.57 for high density polyethylene (HDPE), £4.10 for poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC) and £7.28 for poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET). It is concluded that lifecycle evaluation, the combination of lifecycle assessment and economic valuation, can be applied to a variety of waste management issues such as the appraisal of alternative methods of collection for recycling or an examination of the UK waste management hierarchy. This technique allows impacts to be expressed in homogenous units, and the inclusion of social and environmental impacts that would not normally be addressed within a lifecycle assessment. The approach would also facilitate the evaluation of environmental and social effects at a local level, which are particularly crucial to the success of community recycling schemes. Lifecycle evaluation could provide a powerful tool to aid the development of sustainable waste management and recycling policy.

Blasting technology applied to production enhancement at the iron ore company of Canada : B. Kelly & T. George, CIM Bulletin, 88(994), 1995, pp 69–72

The Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) moves approximately 60 000 000 tonnes of material each year to support production of both iron concentrates and pellets for sale in North America and overseas. Over the past three decades IOC has prided itself on its safety commitment, successful utilization of pacesetter technology, the implementation of advanced quality management techniques and the continuous focus on improving the bottom line business results. Over the past year IOC has been actively pursuing the application of blasting technologies to the improvement of its mining operations. The introduction of new explosive materials, new initiating systems and the implementation of advanced computer technology, has contributed to the increase in productivity in 1994. This paper discusses the successful application of blasting technology in 1994 and the directions future work will take at IOC.