Waste Minimization Projects Research Articles

DRIVING FACTORS FOR CONSTRUCTION WASTE MINIMIZATION: EMPIRICAL STUDIES IN HONG KONG AND SHENZHEN

ABSTRACT Effective waste management is an important aspect of green building development. However, a number of studies find that construction waste minimization actions are not satisfactorily performed in practice. Thus, it is of significance to identify the driving factors that influence construction practitioners' waste minimization behavior. This paper aims to explore the driving factors by comparing the affecting factors and construction waste minimization behavior between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Firstly, through a comprehensive literature review, potential affecting factors were categorized into five groups: background information variables, construction waste minimization intentions, economic viability, governmental supervision, and project constraints. Based on the identified factors, a questionnaire was initially designed and then refined through a focus group meeting with three experienced experts. A total of 166 questionnaires were collected and non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney U Test and Kruskal-Wallis Test) were conducted to investigate the underlying driving factors. Results revealed that background information variables play insignificant roles in construction waste minimization. Compared with other affecting factors (i.e., waste minimization intentions, governmental supervision, project constraints), economic viability is the most important driving factor that determines construction waste minimization. Results suggested that local governments should make policies that increase practitioners' profit, rather than just increasing their intentions or regulating waste management behavior.

WASTE GENERATION AND ITS MANAGEMENT IN SCHOOLS

Waste management in schools continues to generate thoughts, interest and research because of the huge amount of the refuse that schools generation which include papers, cartons, cans, broken bottles, polymers which can be recycled but are rather turned out as rubbish to be collected as refuse. These refuse from schools are collected alongside other household refuses and heaped on streets or refuse dump with it antecedent health challenges which include unsightly heap of refuse, the odour emanating from such heap and the heap being a breeding ground for disease vectors like mosquitoes, cockroaches, rodents, reptiles among others. Among all the significant contributors of environmental waste, schools have been chosen for this write up since the waste generation rate and its corresponding composition has not been reported or has been underestimated. Hence, the present paper is an attempt to fill up this gap in knowledge. The objective of this paper specifically is to raise awareness among educators, learners and their families of the cause and effect of poor waste management and the benefits of recycling, reuse and reduce as waste management strategies. Also, to provide environmental tools to enhance quality of life and assist schools with portfolio development and waste minimization projects. Article visualizations:

From Waste to Superbrand: The Uneasy Relationship between Vegemite and Its Origins

From Waste to Superbrand: The Uneasy Relationship between Vegemite and Its Origins

A critical appraisal of the UK's largest rural waste minimisation project: Business excellence through resource efficiency (betre) rural in East Sussex, England

ES betre rural was a groundbreaking waste minimisation project that was designed to meet the diverse needs of businesses in a rural area in East Sussex, England. The project had a strong focus on the smaller sized SME. Of the businesses that signed up and became involved with the project, 83% of the target database businesses were micro (<9 employees), a much higher ratio than previous SME focused projects in East Sussex, reflecting the make up of businesses in the rural area. ES betre rural provided a range of free support and advice over an 18-month period (2005–2006) including: 102 helpline enquires, 23 environmental audits, 5 grants, 4 training events and 4 newsletters. Marketing activities were extremely successful, reaching a target database of 987 rural businesses regularly via newsletters, mailings and presentations at trade association events. As a result 170 (13% of the target database) businesses used the free services on offer. Mailings and newsletters accounted for 52% of recruitment. Excellent links with local trade associations were built up and recruitment by word of mouth accounted for 26% of new businesses signing up for free services. ES betre rural, successfully encouraged businesses to start to take action, with 339 improvement actions identified by 58 businesses. By the end of the project, 48% of savings identified had been achieved and 40% of actions identified had been achieved. The actions identified could result in estimated cost savings of at least £145,572 p.a. In addition, actions taken to prevent pollution and ensure compliance with environmental legislation have the potential to save businesses a further £126,000 in potential fines. The total savings (resource and compliance actions) of £271,572 totalled almost three times the running costs of the project (£100,512). There was a strong correlation between the level of involvement (and hence support received) of a business in the project and the resulting savings. Those with a high involvement achieved higher savings, £945 typically compared to £520 for medium involved. High involvement businesses were more likely to have identified improvement actions—59% of high compared to 19% of medium involved. They were also more likely to have achieved their actions, with 48% of high and only 9% of medium achieving their actions by the end of the project. Businesses typically identified cost savings of £913, which at a 10% profit margin is equivalent to increasing sales by £9000.

Cleaner production practices in a medium size gold-plated jewelry company in Brazil: when little changes make the difference

The paper reports the experiences of a medium size gold-plated jewelry company, located in São Paulo – Brazil, in order to reduce waste and pollution. Actions taken for this purpose are described, as well as the key factors affecting progress, the changes that have been introduced, their cost-effectiveness and the additional benefits accomplished. A waste minimization project was carried out to obtain environmental and economic benefits. The first cleaner production (CP) interventions targeting the improvement of the company's environmental performance are also described and related to economic benefits. Local scale performance indicators were employed to evidence the economic and the material savings by kilogram of piece produced. Additionally, savings achieved included 86% reduction in volume of degreasing solution and 36% reduction in electricity consumption. The results are complemented with the use of global scale performance indicators (Material intensity, MIs, and Emergy accounting), which look at upstream impacts and evaluate the environmental performance of the system on the biosphere scale, respectively. Material savings (MIs) account for each matter flow to and from a chain of processes from raw material to the final products, and were calculated in order to estimate the changes avoided in material flows and cycles due to the reduced use of inputs by the company. The total emergy of the savings is used as a quantitative measure of the total environmental support to the flows of energy and matter involved in the process, and is calculated to assess the work of nature spared by the reduced use of materials and energy by the company. Emergy values were converted to currency. Global scale performance indicators have shown that little changes within the company reduce upstream impacts and that benefits to the environment are greater than that observed in the companies neighborhood.

04/00472 Business excellence through resource efficiency (betre): An evaluation of the UKs highest recruiting, facilitated self-help waste minimisation project: Ackroyd, J. et al. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2003, 38, (4), 271–299.

04/00472 Business excellence through resource efficiency (betre): An evaluation of the UKs highest recruiting, facilitated self-help waste minimisation project: Ackroyd, J. et al. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2003, 38, (4), 271–299.

The value of resource efficiency in the food industry: a waste minimisation project in East Anglia, UK

Waste minimisation can be as successful in the food and drink industry as in other industries often seen as more polluting. £1.1m was realised in annual savings by 13 companies in the East Anglian Waste Minimisation in the Food and Drink Industry Project, which exceeded the Project investment of £412,000 plus the £335,000 invested by companies in cleaner technologies. The 13 food and drink companies annually reduced: raw materials use and solid waste production by 1400 tonnes; CO 2-emissions by 670 tonnes; and water use by 70,000 m 3. Significant amounts of food grade material are rejected from the production line for their unsatisfactory quality. This can be for visual, physical, microbiological or compositional (chemical or biochemical) reasons. The reduction in the use of raw materials carried the greatest potential for financial savings. This reduction at source approach exceeded the corresponding savings in landfill costs by more than two orders of magnitude. This reinforces the importance for companies to identify opportunities for source reduction rather than end-of-pipe solutions and the relatively low cost of disposal for the food and drink industry. Minimising the packaging of food products presents an opportunity as well as considerable challenges to the food and drink industry as the main concern in the supply-chain is for food safety. Initiatives to reduce electricity and water consumption and to improve effluent quality did not individually carry the same potential for costs savings as the other areas. Consequently, these potential savings were given a lower priority within the companies. However, many electricity, water and effluent initiatives were implemented by fairly simple means and led to substantial savings. Changes in technology brought significant savings in manpower, as well as for materials and utilities. These savings are controversial in sustainability terms and attention has to be focused on ensuring that increased efficiency creates alternative work for people, as well as for equipment. Procedural changes often focused on auditing, material handling and staff training, and with low associated capital cost, these proved to be keys to success. The results from the Project have shown that there is a great potential for more sustainable production and consumption systems simply through improving dialogue between producers, retailers and consumers.

Assessment of the impact of the DESIRE project on the uptake of waste minimization in small scale industries in India (1993–1997)

Project Demonstrations In Small Industries for Reducing waste (DESIRE) was implemented between 1993 and 1995 to foster the uptake of waste minimization among small scale industries in India. The project adopted the PRISMA project design and included: waste minimization assessments in 12 demonstration companies (from three industry sectors); development of a waste minimization assessment methodology customized to the needs and opportunities of small scale industries; assessment of company level constraints and enabling measures; formulation of policy recommendations; and dissemination activities. The follow-up assessment confirmed in all five demonstration companies that still operate under comparable conditions at the start of the DESIRE project, the continued utilization of the capacity built in the DESIRE project. There is also compelling evidence that some companies that participated in follow-up dissemination activities were able to implement waste minimization without an expensive external waste minimization assessment. The policy impact of the DESIRE project is mixed. The project results did however inspire change and catalyze new initiatives and follow-up waste minimization and cleaner production projects.

Business excellence through resource efficiency (betre): An evaluation of the UKs highest recruiting, facilitated self-help waste minimisation project

The business excellence through resource efficiency (betre) project aimed to increase awareness of the benefits of waste minimisation for SMEs in West Sussex, South East England. The programme was run by the West Sussex Sustainable Business Partnership, a collaboration of all West Sussex Local Authorities, the Environment Agency and EcoSys (a service provider). Betre provided a range of free business support and advice over an 18-month period including; workshops, newsletters, audits, grants and a technical Helpline. Information on environmental compliance and Best Practice for waste minimisation, recycling, energy and water efficiency was disseminated. All activities were linked with the UK government's Best Practice programmes. Although company recruitment was initially slow, betre was ultimately extremely successful at attracting companies to join; with 308 recruited. This is probably the most successful recruitment to a project, of this type, in the UK to date. Over half of the business members became actively involved and attended training events or had environmental audits. There were over 200 improvement actions identified by 64 of the participating companies. These resulted in estimated cost savings of at least £215 000 per annum. In addition, actions taken to prevent pollution and ensure compliance with environmental legislation have the potential to save businesses a further £204 000 in possible penalties. The environmental impact of the project has been significant, with reductions identified in waste (1437 tonnes), water (62 933 m 3) and energy (15 million kW h—equivalent to 668 tonnes CO 2). In addition to actions with directly measurable results, betre has stimulated long-term benefits by addressing pollution prevention and compliance, through the formulation of environmental policies and from the adoption of Environmental Management Systems. One of the key learning points is that it may have been better to devote less time to running training events and instead to have diverted this time to increased business support, mainly through audits. To capitalise on this success, a new project is being planned to disseminate Best Practice.

Corby Waste Not: an appraisal of the UK's largest holistic waste minimisation project

Abstract The UK Sustainable Development Strategy requires that society makes prudent use of resources so as to protect the environment and at the same time maintain high and stable levels of economic growth and employment. Waste minimisation projects/clubs have been a central feature of the UK programme to encourage the adoption of more sustainable practice by industry. More recently, it has been recognised that there is a requirement to link such industrial projects with those that encourage the general public to adopt more sustainable practice. A large and dynamic partnership of local and regional players has delivered a programme of some 17 waste minimisation/resource efficiency projects in Northamptonshire, a County in the East Midlands of England, since 1997. The projects have delivered impressive financial savings and training to over 300 companies, mostly SMEs. The Corby Waste Not (CWN) was a project, based within Corby Borough, Northamptonshire, which has the highest degree of deprivation in the County. It was a holistic waste minimisation project in that it initiated and integrated activities across the whole spectrum of the community. CWN was funded by some £ 148 380 of external funds and was managed by an extensive partnership that included all key local and regional organisations. Project outcomes were impressive by UK standards, the industrial/commercial developments alone resulted in savings greater than £ 250 000 for an expenditure of £ 35 000, making it one of the most cost-effective in the UK. Using theories of planed behaviour, the CWN management team introduced a number of other activities that have resulted in clear evidence of a marked improvement in relation to waste issues by the community.

The Northamptonshire Resource Efficiency Project: the exit strategy

The Northamptonshire Resource Efficiency Project (NREP) was a waste minimisation project club that ran in Northamptonshire, a county in the East Midlands region of the UK, between August 1997 and December 1999. Over the length of the Project, the 19 club members reported total savings of £1.9 million and reported possible additional savings of £1.24 million. NREP was a highly cost-effective way for businesses in Northamptonshire to achieve a reduction in waste at source and to introduce more sustainable methods of waste management. This paper examines the milestones set for sustainable development for UK industry; the value of waste minimisation clubs and the exit strategy employed to leave behind a network and structure to assist Northamptonshire businesses achieve more sustainable waste management practices. The exit strategy has allowed a larger number of businesses to be assisted than through the original Project.

Minimizing material flows and utility use to increase profitability in the food and drink industry

This paper, and the project it describes, identifies opportunities that food and drink companies can take to simultaneously cut costs and reduce waste production. All savings from a waste minimization project can be expressed as savings in raw materials, manpower, energy consumption, packaging, consumables, water and effluent. The project showed that savings in raw materials carried the greatest potential for financial savings. The saving in reduced disposal costs was proven to be insignificant for the companies in comparison to the savings due to increased raw material yield. This confirms the importance for food and drink companies of looking for reduction of waste at source rather than end-of-pipe solutions. Cost saving opportunities stemming from electricity and water usage and effluent generation did not individually carry the same potential as the other areas, but a large number of smaller initiatives were easily implemented, which led to substantial aggregated savings.

The challenge of waste minimisation in the food and drink industry: a demonstration project in East Anglia, UK

Waste minimisation in the food and drink industry leads to many of the improvements demonstrated in other sectors—energy efficiency, reduction of raw material use, reduction in water consumption and increasing reuse and recycling on site. Such improvements in environmental performance produce a directly beneficial effect on the profitability of business. The East Anglian Waste Minimisation in the Food and Drink Industry Project has demonstrated that significant amounts of food-grade material are rejected from the production line for their unsatisfactory quality, whether visual, physical, microbiological or compositional (chemical or biochemical). The Project has demonstrated that waste reduction of 12% of raw materials can be achieved and that this makes significant contributions to company profitability by improving yields per unit output and by reducing costs associated with waste disposal. Evidence also shows that there is potential for further improvements through improving dialogue between producers, retailers and consumers. The East Anglian Waste Minimisation Project has demonstrated that the packaging of food products presents considerable challenges to the food and drink industry. Significant opportunities exist for modifying both primary and secondary food packaging. However, whilst packaging requirements principally consider health and safety, the demands of the major supermarket chains and consumers have taken little or no account of criteria designed to meet the wide-ranging demands of waste minimisation. Optimising the opportunities for waste minimisation in the key areas of putrescible wastage and packaging, and improving consensus and dialogue are essential catalysts between purchasers, including both consumers and the major supermarkets, and between food producers and manufacturers. These food and drink sectors must identify the process options that result in a lower waste burden, pursuing contractual agreements that reinforce and support the selection of such options.

Starting continuous improvement with a cleaner production assessment in an Austrian textile mill

This paper deals with the course and the results of a waste and emissions minimization project in an Austrian textile mill producing interlining fabrics. It was conducted within the Austrian PREPARE-project, which was designed to produce case studies in Austria to demonstrate the potential of the cleaner production approach to solve existing environmental problems of companies to our industry. The results proved the concept. In this mill, water use could be reduced by 30%, the COD of waste water by 30%, and 15% of the gas consumption of the dryers could be saved. The management stated at the end of the project early in 1993: “Suddenly we became aware of things we used to be blind to!”. The project was only the beginning of a continuing process.

The environment –A route to better management?

AbstractIncreasing environmental awareness on the part of society as a whole has, in recent years, led to increased scrutiny of the impact of industrial and commercial activities upon the environment. Arising from the general feeling that it is ‘right’ to conserve, re‐use and recycle resources, the concept of environmental management has come increasingly to the fore. The relatively recent successes achieved during well‐known waste minimization projects such as Aire and Calder and Project Catalyst have increased the fervour with which such a management approach has been lauded, because for the first time it has become clear that ‘the environment’ does not have to be a costly ‘bolt on’ extra, but can lead to genuine financial savings and efficiency improvements. But is environmental management the cure for all ills, or is it simply part of an overall picture that needs to be set in the right context? Copyright © 1995 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

New Directions in Industrial Environmental Analytical Chemistry: Beyond Compliance Testing

Abstract The scope of industrial environmental analytical chemistry is being expanded increasingly to include measurement efforts that support voluntary pollution prevention and waste minimization projects. The new function supplements the routine regulatory compliance testing task. This additional priority naturally broadens and enriches the responsibility and the nature of the challenges of the environmental analytical chemist. This article presents a reveiw of selected strategies that hold particular promise for addressing the diverse measurement problems associated with pollution prevention and waste minimization projects.

Recent Pollution Prevention Research In III-V Device Manufacturing At Hewlett-Packard

AbstractSeveral coordinated hazardous waste minimization projects have been undertaken at our facilities involved in III-V device manufacturing. These include modifications to existing processes to reduce or eliminate emissions of CFCs, 1,1,1-TCA, xylenes, ethylene glycol ethers, 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene (in photoresist stripper), and other compounds. These issues are addressed in turn, noting the unique aspects of GaAs and GaP device manufacture that need to be taken into account. Goals achieved have been complete cessation of CFC and 1,1,1-TCA use and 33% reductions in xylene and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene usage since 1990, despite significant increases in total production volume during the same time period. Specific strategies are also described for tracking chemical use and sharing best practices for hazardous waste reduction across functional groups.

Study spots ways to cut chemical waste output

In an apparent break with the traditional command-and-control approach to pollution abatement, Pont and the Environmental Protection Agency last week released a jointly prepared study that suggests EPA and industry can do more to cut chemical wastes by cooperation than by confrontation. The 141-page report outlines process modifications and chemical handling improvements that reduce production of chemical wastes. Moreover, the report finds, these changes, yield significant cost savings through improved production efficiencies and lowered waste disposal costs. The improvements are applicable to a broad range of chemical industry operations. Pont undertook the study—the Du Pont Chambers Works Waste Minimization Project—under a 1991 consent decree with EPA. The decree also included a $1.8 million fine for pollution violations at the 1450-acre Chambers Works, Pont's largest production site, in Deepwater, N.J. Paul V. Tebo, Ponf s vice president for safety, health, and environment, says the $1 mi...