Waste Containers Research Articles

Development of a Smart Waste Management System with Automatic Bin Lid Control for Smart City Environment

As cities worldwide transform into smart, interconnected urban environments, the management of municipal waste emerges as a pressing challenge. This paper, titled "Development of a Smart Waste Management System with Automatic Bin Lid Control," offers a sophisticated solution that integrates seamlessly within the concept of smart cities. This system harnesses the power of the Internet of Things (IoT) to optimize waste collection and enhance urban cleanliness. The primary aim of this project is to create a smart waste management system that extends beyond traditional waste bins. It introduces a network of intelligent waste containers equipped with automatic lid control mechanisms that operate based on real-time waste level data. When approaching these bins, the lid control mechanism automatically opens the bin only if the waste level is not full, thereby facilitating convenient waste disposal. In the context of smart cities, this innovative approach presents several advantages. It optimizes waste collection efficiency by prioritizing bins in need of immediate attention and ensures that waste containers are not prematurely emptied, reducing unnecessary waste disposal trips. Moreover, the system enables city authorities to gain insights into waste level trends, fostering data-driven and proactive waste management strategies for a cleaner, more sustainable urban environment.

Hidden Behind the Curtains of Inequality in Tehran

In 2018, during a garbology project in Tehran, a bundle of documents was found in a waste container in a middle-class district. The papers included the daily reports of two marketers working in the private healthcare system as well as some documents listing the salaries of private laboratory staff. As most marketers in the private healthcare system in Iran are young females, the documents indicate how the employment policy of the government has impacted the lives and career paths of educated women, so that they now must work long hours under temporary contracts. The documents also reveal some of the mechanisms of the private system, such as arrangements between physicians and private labs, and expose the complications of marketers’ daily living. In this article, the authors examine the documents and garbage bags attributed to single working women, in order to portray the everyday lives of these female marketers.

Effect of groove angle on the residual stress and deformation of nuclear waste container cylinder body welded by plasma arc welding

AbstractAs an important barrier for high‐level radioactive waste transportation and deep burial disposal, the welding quality of nuclear waste container is particularly important. At present, nuclear waste container is usually manufactured by plasma arc welding. Therefore, in order to manufacture nuclear waste container parts with high quality, based on the finite element simulation software simufact welding, this paper uses a combination of numerical simulation and experimental verification to simulate the temperature field, stress field and deformation of the longitudinal weld of 316L nuclear waste container cylinder body by selecting different welding groove angles. The test results show that the groove angle of the V‐groove increases, the residual stress distribution and size increase, and the deformation increases. The stress value of the I‐shaped groove is between the V‐shaped groove angle of 30° and 45°, but the deformation is the smallest. In practical engineering applications, residual stress and deformation need to be considered comprehensive. Reasonable groove angle plays an important role in controlling residual stress and deformation after welding.

Investigating Pitting Behavior of Stainless-Steel for Canister in Vertical Position Using Electrochemical Acceleration Test

Stainless steel is renowned for its corrosion resistance and is widely used in constructing canisters for nuclear waste containment. These canisters are designed to endure burial in soil for over a century, making it crucial to study the long-term corrosion behavior of SS in this specific context. However, analysis of the corrosion behavior of SS is challenging due to its slow corrosion rate. Therefore, electrochemical acceleration methods are essential in studying the corrosion behavior of SS. This research employs the potentiostatic polarization test to comprehensively analyze SS pitting corrosion. The study focuses on vertically-positioned SS specimens, simulating canister conditions. Advanced microscopy techniques and simulation aid in understanding anolyte, pit depth, and pit shape behavior. Through this, the pitting propagation process of SS could be divided into four stages. Key outcomes of this study include models for absolute depth during propagation and the formation of secondary pitting. Comparative analysis with immersion tests reveals insights crucial for industrial installations safety and longevity.

Perspective on “An Electrochemical Approach to Predicting Long-Term Localized Corrosion of Corrosion-Resistant High-Level Waste Container Materials,” D.S. Dunn, G.A. Cragnolino, and N. Sridhar, Corrosion 56, 1 (2000): p. 90-104

Perspective on “An Electrochemical Approach to Predicting Long-Term Localized Corrosion of Corrosion-Resistant High-Level Waste Container Materials,” D.S. Dunn, G.A. Cragnolino, and N. Sridhar, <i>Corrosion</i> 56, 1 (2000): p. 90-104

Modelling localized water inflow into a region filled with bentonite pellets

There is significant international consensus that the appropriate approach for long-term management of radioactive waste is disposal in an underground geological disposal facility. The gaps between waste containers and the host rock may be filled with bentonite, which swells to fill the gaps as it absorbs groundwater. Bentonite is soft, absorbing shear displacements in the host rock, and has low permeability, which restricts groundwater flow and hence corrosion of the waste containers. Many experiments have studied localized inflows of water into a region of bentonite pellets. Upward flow against gravity has often been observed. This study attempted to build understanding of this by modelling one experiment. A systematic approach was adopted in which models of increasing complexity were used, with the parameters at earlier stages used as a guide for later stages. Initially, only water flow was considered. Then water absorption and swelling, which lead to stresses and strains, were addressed. On the basis of the understanding developed, a conceptual model that represents the observed behaviour is proposed. Thematic collection: This article is part of the Sustainable geological disposal and containment of radioactive waste collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/topic/collections/radioactive

Determining the Efficacy of Chemicals for the Inactivation of Liquid Waste Containing Gram-Positive Bacteria of Risk Group 2

Determining the Efficacy of Chemicals for the Inactivation of Liquid Waste Containing Gram-Positive Bacteria of Risk Group 2

Eutrophication of seawater intensified biocorrosion of copper caused by Desulfovibrio vulgaris biofilm

Seawater eutrophication increases the abundance of microbial communities and metabolic activities of microorganisms in seawater and potentially impacts microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC). Copper as a common material in marine structures and nuclear waste containers faces serious MIC problems. This study investigated the copper MIC caused by Desulfovibrio vulgaris in anaerobic artificial seawater (ASW) with four eutrophication levels: pure ASW (PASW), oligotrophication ASW (OASW), mesotrophication ASW (MASW), and eutrophication ASW (EASW). It was found that the copper MIC increased along with the eutrophication level. The higher eutrophication led to an increase in the planktonic and Cu surface sessile D. vulgaris cell counts and H2S concentration in the headspace of anaerobic vials. The resultant weight loss and maximum pitting depth of copper in OASW were 2.0 and 2.4 times those in PASW, while their values in EASW were 2.8 and 4.2 times after 10 d of incubation, respectively. The experimental results combined with a bioenergetic analysis in this study indicated the copper MIC caused by D. vulgaris as belonging to biogenic H2S corrosion (i.e., metabolite MIC or M-MIC), which was further confirmed by the identical cytochrome c (Cyt c) (redox-active protein for extracellular electron transfer) expression levels of the planktonic D. vulgaris cells and sessile cells on copper.

Analisis Pengelolaan Limbah Medis Padat di Rumah Sakit Umum Daerah Haji Abdoel Madjid Batoe (RSUD HAMBA) Kabupaten Batanghari

Regional General Hospital Haji Abdoel Madjid Batoe (RSUD HAMBA) Batanghari Regency is included in the ten hospitals that produce the most solid medical waste in 2021. In 2022, 115,781 kg of waste is generated, consisting of 14,425 kg of infectious solid waste and 14,425 kg of non-infectious waste 101.356 kgs. If the increase in medical waste is not addressed and managed seriously, it will cause massive environmental degradation. The purpose of this research is to analyze the management of solid medical waste (Sorting and Container, Transportation, Storage and Processing) and develop a solid medical waste management strategy at HAMBA Hospital in Batanghari Regency according to Minister of Environment and Forestry Regulation P.56/Menlhk-Setjen/2015. The process of sorting and container has been separated directly from the waste producer, transportation and storage are transported by special officers (Cleaning Service) and stored in the temporary storage area (TPS) of B3 waste. Processing using its own incinerator which already has a permit. The strategy for managing solid medical waste at HAMBA Hospital in Batanghari Regency with a SWOT analysis, namely, establishing cooperation with other hospitals and health centers, providing education and training budgets for management officers and operators to obtain B3 waste management competency certification.

Long-term field studies of a distributed network of sensors for environmental radiological monitoring

The W-MON project goal is to establish an automatic control mechanism of the presence of radioactive material in conventional waste containers at CERN using a distributed network of interconnected low-power radiation sensors. This network facilitates continuous data recording, transfer and storage in a database while allowing online and offline data analysis, in addition to alarm triggering. Data transmission, processing and evaluation is achieved by a centralized IoT end-to-end data architecture that has been developed for real-time monitoring and visualization of the radiation levels in waste containers. In this paper the results of field tests of the W-MON system described in two previous papers are presented for three different types of sensors. Estimation of failure detection probability, long-term stability tests and sensitivity studies carried out using radioactive samples of various activities placed in standard waste containers are described. A comparison between the manual monitoring procedure currently used at CERN and the W-MON system is discussed in detail.

Modelling geomechanical stability of a large deep borehole in shale for radioactive waste disposal

Large diameter boreholes drilled to a depth of 1000–2000 m are currently investigated in Australia as a potential solution for waste emplacement and long-term containment for long-lived intermediate-level radioactive waste (ILW). Different potentially suitable types of host rocks are considered, including granite, shale and salt. This study is aimed at assessing the risk of borehole instability for a large diameter deep borehole in shale. The investigation is conducted with numerical simulations using the CSIRO-developed modelling tools FRACOD and FRCAOD3D, and the commercial code Irazu. Previous laboratory experiments on boreholes in deep shale reported in literatures have been used as validation tests of the numerical models. Under hydrostatic stresses, the FRACOD model showed extensive shear-dominated “log-spiral” fractures around a borehole in shale which is similar to the laboratory testings reported in literatures. Subsequently, 2D and 3D numerical models representing a 0.7-m diameter vertical borehole drilled to the depths of 1000 m and 2000 m have been used. “Strong” and “weak” shales are simulated. The strong and weak shales represent the higher and lower ends of the shale strength reported in literature, respectively. Results showed that a “strong” shale exhibited only small borehole breakouts at the depth of 2000 m. The “weak” shale showed large breakouts (>1.5 m) at depths of 1000 m and 2000 m caused by extensive shear fracturing. In the scenario where a pre-existing 3D fracture crosscuts the borehole, the existing fracture may propagate deeper into the rock formation depending on its orientation and on the in situ stress magnitudes. Predictions based on analytical solutions indicate a 0.02-m and 0.04-m thick casing could prevent severe failure of rock mass at 1000 and 2000 m depths, respectively. Insights from model-based investigations of borehole breakouts are critical during the site selection of rocks with suitable geomechanical properties for waste disposal and for optimising the design of large-diameter boreholes for drilling, waste emplacement and long-term safety.

A Study on Waste Disposal Management and Recommendation for Safe Disposal

By conducting awareness campaigns, putting safety measures in place, and collaborating with a specialist to remove medical wastes properly, you can do your bit to reduce the hazards associated with improperly managing these wastes. To protect your facilities and personnel, handling biohazardous waste disposal is crucial. Suppose a biohazardous waste container such as a sharps container or a hazardous waste container is not properly disposed of. In that case, it might seriously endanger the safety of both personnel and guests. Biohazardous waste management may also involve transporting biohazardous items to a designated area for safe disposal. Safe ecosystems and healthy populations depend on effective biomedical waste treatment. The opinions on BMWM, laws, customs, and treatment methods now in use across the world are reviewed in this article. The best-case scenario would be for B7 yMWM to be the focus of a national plan with specialised infrastructure, cradle-to-grave laws, an effective regulatory body, and trained employees.

Using viscosity as an index for polymer loading of bentonite-polymer composite geosynthetic clay liners

Bentonite-polymer composite (BPC) geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) containing a mixture of air-dry granules of bentonite and polymer have been developed for containment of wastes that generate leachates that are too aggressive for conventional sodium bentonite GCLs. Sufficient polymer loading is essential for BPC GCLs to maintain low hydraulic conductivity, and expedient methods are needed for manufacturing quality control and construction quality control to confirm that BPC GCLs contain sufficient polymer. In this study, a methodology for developed to estimate the polymer loading based on viscosity testing of slurries prepared with the BPC. A simplified version of the method can be used to determine if polymer is present in a BPC. Factors influencing the viscosity measurement were evaluated systematically, including water-to-BPC ratio, tempering time, and mixing method. The method that was developed consists of (1) adding deionized water to dry BPCs to achieve a water-to-BPC ratio of 30, (2) blending the BPC-water mixture with an overhead stirrer at 5000 rpm for 30 min to create a homogeneous slurry, (3) tempering the slurry in a zip-top bag for 24 hr, and (4) measuring the viscosity of the slurry in a viscometer at 300 and 600 rpm. Linear relationships were developed between polymer loading and viscosity for two BPC GCLs. Independent validation confirmed that the polymer loading estimated with the method is ±0.25% of the actual polymer loading.

Investigating chemical and cracking processes in cement paste exposed to a low external sulfate attack with emphasis on the contribution of gypsum

Durability of concrete exposed to an external sulfate attack is a great concern for the long-term reliability of nuclear waste containment. This paper presents experimental results obtained on cement paste subjected to a low concentration (30 ×10−3 mol/L) external sulfate attack. Samples were characterized with complementary methods (XRD, SEM-EDS, microtomography, microindentation, autoradiography) to follow the evolution of chemical, mineralogical, microstructural and mechanical properties during 8 months. Cement pastes of different C3A contents were used to boost either ettringite or gypsum formation during the sulfate attack to assess their respective impact on the degradation. Cracks parallel to the attacked surface occurred in the zone of gypsum formation and portlandite dissolution, which suggests that gypsum has a key effect on the expansion. Reactive transport modeling supported the discussion on the competition between hydrolysis, gypsum and ettringite precipitation as well as the analytical homogenization to estimate Young’s moduli.

Apparatus for swelling deformation of compacted bentonite utilizing multi-ring moulds for evaluation of dry density and water content distribution

In the geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste, bentonite buffer materials are required to have self-sealing property, which is the ability to fill gaps by swelling deformation between the buffer material and the waste containment vessel or surrounding bedrock. Self-sealing property was evaluated based on the pressure generated after the gap filling under the assumption of constant dry density and water content in the specimen and buffer material. On the other hand, it takes tens to hundreds of years for the transitional period until the buffer contacts with groundwater, fills the gap, and the internal state converges to a uniform state. To assess changes more accurately in the condition of the buffer material, it is necessary to evaluate time courses in the density and water content of the buffer material because of groundwater infiltration and swelling deformation. From these, the authors developed an experimental apparatus for swelling deformation of bentonite, which consists of a mould with 2 mm-thick stacked rings. It is aimed to evaluate the distribution of dry density, water content, and degree of saturation inside the specimen by cutting the specimen with a 2 mm thick ring after the end of experiment. In this paper, results of preliminary experiments to confirm the applicability of this apparatus to swelling deformation test of bentonite was firstly described. Then, experiments were conducted on compacted bentonite specimens using this apparatus, and changes in the dry density and water content distribution inside the specimens were evaluated in terms of swelling deformation behaviour.

Optimizing Waste Collection Efficiency by NodeMCU enabled Ultrasonic Trash Can Surveillance and ThingSpeak Dashboards

The use of inflexible route schedules for garbage collection results in inadequate waste disposal, posing environmental risks and incurring high operational expenses, including fuel costs and landfill fees, even when the waste containers are not completely full. This study utilizes a cost-effective Internet of Things (IoT) monitoring system to facilitate dynamic routing. The aim is to enhance the efficiency and frequency of waste collection by optimizing it based on real-time fill levels, rather than following fixed cycles. The prototype employs an ultrasonic distance sensor in conjunction with a NodeMCU ESP8266 micro-controller to detect the fill level of a trash can. The collected data is then transmitted to the ThingSpeak cloud platform. Real-time visualization dashboards display live data on waste levels in different containers, providing guidance for collection scheduling. The estimated scope entails conducting circuit simulation using Proteus, optimizing PCB layout, and developing an integrated IoT prototype connected to ThingSpeak for IoT analytics. Ultimately, integrating cost-effective IoT edge sensors such as ultrasonic ranging with cloud analytics dashboards greatly enhances effectiveness, sustainability, and intelligent allocation of resources in public trash collection. This results in economic and environmental advantages by reducing landfill overflow through the digitalization of smart cities.

Hydraulic conductivity of two geosynthetic clay liners with different bentonite granule sizes

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the hydraulic conductivity of two commercially available geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) with similar properties but different bentonite granule sizes (D50=1.0 mm or 0.3 mm). A synthetic municipal solid waste (MSW) leachate prepared in the laboratory and four actual coal combustion product (CCP) leachates collected from the field were used as permeant solutions to represent different permeant chemical conditions for waste containment applications. The two GCLs had comparable hydraulic conductivity to dilute or moderate ionic strength (I) leachates (&lt; 0.1 M). With more concentrated leachates (I &gt; 0.1 M), hydraulic conductivity of the GCL containing finer bentonite granules (FG) was 10 to 500 times lower than the hydraulic conductivity of the GCL containing coarser bentonite granules (CG) under the same equilibrium conditions. These results suggest that GCLs containing finer bentonite granules may be less vulnerable to permeant chemistry.

Operando scanning electron microscopy platform for in situ imaging of fluid evolution in nanoporous shale.

Fluid-solid interactions in nanoporous materials underlie processes fundamental to natural and engineered processes, including the thermochemical transformation of argillaceous materials during high-level nuclear waste disposal. Operando fluid-solid resolution at the nanoscale, however, is still not possible with existing optical and electron microscopy approaches that are constrained by the diffraction limit of light and by vacuum-fluid incompatibility, respectively. In this work, we develop an operando scanning electron microscopy (SEM) platform that enables the first direct in situ imaging of dynamic fluid-solid interactions in nanoporous materials with spatio-temporal-chemical resolutions of ∼2.5 nm per pixel and 10 fps, along with elemental distributions. Using this platform, we reveal necessary conditions for thermochemical pore and fracture generation in shales and measure their surface wetting characteristics that constrain the feasibility of high-level nuclear waste containment. Notably, we show that low heating-rate conditions typical of radioactive decay produce hydrocarbon liquids that wet fracture and pore surfaces in a self-sealing manner to impede aqueous radionuclide advection.

An assessment of municipal solid waste management system in Oshogbo, Osun State Nigeria: Challenges and prospects

The study empirically assessed the challenges and prospects of municipal solid waste management system in Oshogbo, Osun State, Nigeria. The study specifically looked into the current - status, the performance of municipal solid waste social control system of the city, and the households solid waste social control practice. Primary data were used and sourced through a well-design survey questionnaire, field observation, reviewing published and unpublished documents, and on spot access. Descriptive statistics was used for the data analysis. The main factors aggravating the present poor state of municipal solid waste social control of Oshogbo were revealed in the study. The results further showed that Osun state waste management agency is not leaving up to its responsibility and delay in collection of wastes, the activity of municipal solid waste social control of the town is majorly executed by micro and macro scale enterprises with very limited contribution of the agency saddled with such responsibilities. Besides this, there is no involvement of non- governmental organization and private sectors as the government of the day portrayed it. Inadequate solid waste social control pattern of the households. The first inadequacy of households is poor handling of short-lived storage material of various houses. That is, trash disposal around the waste container. Likewise, they are uncovering in the rain, light and heat, they do not take cognizance of sustainable solid social control actions for instance, reprocessing, reclaim and composting. Except, for the prohibited solid waste disposal. In addition, they are less motivated to clean their immediate environment. Thus, the study recommends that government waste management agency in conjunction with non-governmental organization should commence training on waste social control practices, with focus on women as agent of change in a community, while the institutions should leave up to their responsibilities.

Study the Relevance of the Development of a Garbage Power Plant to the Large Increase in Waste Volume in Indonesia

Garbage endangers the community in terms of health, the economy, and the land that is taken up. Indonesia is a country with many waste piles, but there is waste management in terms of recycling, the use of computers, and other things, even from energy sources for power plants. The Waste Power Plant (PLTSa) is an electric power plant that helps add electrical energy for the PLN to be distributed to the community. The source of combustion and the driving point for garbage power plan (PLTSa) is waste; therefore, most of these locations are located in landfills in big cities. This research article aims to strengthen the argument that the development of PLTSa can be accelerated because the increase in waste piles every year will cause unmanaged waste to also increase. The results of studies and literacy studies show that the average managed waste pile is 15,000 tons/year and still leaves 5 million tons/year of waste that is not appropriately managed; however, the PLTSa capacity is still small at 10 MWh/year. It is necessary to increase the quality of waste containers as a source of PLTSa energy to reduce the amount of unmanaged waste.