Waste Mitigation Research Articles

Sustainability of Recycling Waste Picker Sustainopreneurs for Prevention and Mitigation of Municipal Solid Waste in Swat

This study assessed the role of waste picker sustainopreneurs (WPS) by examining their recycling contributions in a special case of District Swat, Pakistan. Using a transformative worldview, this study acknowledges their contributions to recycling. The study envisages how entrepreneurial agency works in unanticipated ways where the poorest of the poor enterprise without resources demonstrate unexpected agency to improve the environment. An inductive research design in conjunction with grounded theory was used to analyze data from 37 interviews in three tehsils of District Swat. The recycling sector uses primitive measures, which are completely informal, self-organized, and self-controlled. Surprisingly, we discovered that informal recycling contributes unfavorably to waste, energy, and food (WEF) security due to intermixing and adulteration, as well as acts as a gray channel for illicit practices that have taken advantage of tax amnesty in the area until 2023. The uncontrolled welding of half cut and nose cut car parts has skyrocketed the motorization index and CO2 emissions; however, it has also resulted in alternative sources of livelihoods, as these accidental environmentalists had found modern sources of income. This is similar to low-tech innovation and business creation that takes advantage of tax holidays due to the special status of District Swat. The study highlights the most and least valuable recyclables and identifies the gray channel markets of spare parts, metal recycling, counterfeit products, fuel intermixing, and adulteration. The study contributes by untangling the understanding of a legal gambit of tax amnesty as a critical pre-policy input as well as advocates for rights of invisible stakeholders of waste management in Pakistan.

Dewaterability improvement and environmental risk mitigation of waste activated sludge using peroxymonosulfate activated by zero-valent metals: Fe0 vs. Al0

The stabilization and dewaterability of waste activated sludge (WAS) are essential factors for downstream disposal or reuse. Herein, two types of zero-valent metals, zero-valent iron (Fe0) and zero-valent aluminum (Al0), were compared for their ability to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) during the WAS conditioning process, with the effects of PMS activation by these two metals on WAS dewaterability and the potential environmental risks evaluated. Results showed that compared to Al0/PMS treatment, Fe0/PMS treatment achieved superior WAS dewaterability and reduced operational costs. Using PMS combined with Fe0 and Al0 treatments under optimal conditions, the water content (Wc) of dewatered sludge decreased to 55.7 ± 2.7 wt% and 59.4 ± 1.3 wt%, respectively. Meanwhile, application of the Fe0/PMS treatment system reduced the total annual cost by approximately 33.1%, compared to the Al0/PMS treatment. Analysis of the dewatering mechanism demonstrated that in the Fe0/PMS treatment, Fe3+/Fe2+ flocculation played an important role in the enhancement of WAS dewatering, while sulfate radical (SO4•−) oxidation was the dominant factor for WAS dewaterability improvement in Al0/PMS treatment. The greater enhancement of WAS dewaterability by Fe0/PMS treatment, was mainly attributed to more efficient reduction of hydrophilic extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and an increase in surface charge neutralization. Environmental risk evaluation results indicated that Fe0/PMS and Al0/PMS treatments both effectively alleviated the environmental risks of heavy metals and faecal coliforms in dewatered sludge. Overall, this study proposes a novel perspective for the selection of an optimal PMS activator in sludge treatment.

PROVIDING A SCENARIO OF WASTAGE MITIGATION IN THE HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM BASED ON KAIZEN THEORY IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OMAN

his study aims to provide a scenario of waste mitigation in light of the Kaizen approach for Human Resources Development and Management Departments in the Ministry of Education (MOE)- Oman. It is also set to identify the manifestations and level of waste, from the point of view of the study sample, in these departments. In addition, it focuses on pointing out the differences in the level of waste in those relevant departments in accordance with gender, job level, academic qualification, years of experience, and department. This study proceeded, with the descriptive approach, to determine the manifestations and level of waste and used the scenario method to build the proposed scenario to reduce waste in light of the Kaizen approach to improve the organizational situation in these departments at MOE. The researcher has built an interview tool to form the proposed scenario and developed a questionnaire consisting of 30 items in three areas of waste, namely: Muda Mura and Muri. The questionnaire was utilized to spot the manifestations and level of waste, as well as the point of view of all directors and departments heads of the relevant departments regarding the impact of reducing waste in improving the organizational position of these departments. Moreover, 123 individuals were selected for the sample study. The study concluded that waste in Human Resources Development and Management Departments in the Ministry of Education was of a moderate degree. The results also revealed that there are no statistically significant differences at the level of (α ≤ 0.05) in the waste level of these departments due to the social variable in the study topics as a whole. The results showed that there are statistically significant differences between job titles levels in all topics of the study. The study concluded that a proposed scenario was developed to reduce waste in light of the Kaizen approach, including a number of requirements and components, for Human Resources Development and Management Departments in the Ministry of Education

Incorporating interaction terms in multivariate linear regression for post-event flood waste estimation

Multivariate linear regression methodology has been conceived as a viable technique in flood waste estimation. The fundamental assumption of the conventional flood waste model, independence between input variables, may not work in reality. As an alternative, we evaluated the effectiveness of including interaction terms in flood waste modeling. The secondary objectives include to suggest the strategy in flood waste mitigation and to explore a plausible explanation to the modeling results. In the scheme of model development and assessment, ninety flood cases in South Korea were statistically analyzed. Input variables for regression analysis were selected from available datasets in the national disaster information system and the selected variables were flood damage variables used to quantify the amount of flood waste. According to the results, incorporating the interaction terms improved the estimation accuracy of the model. The single-variable sensitivity analysis revealed that mitigating damage to rivers and croplands would most efficiently reduce potential flood waste generation. The interaction terms appeared to compensate for the over/underestimated waste amounts by single terms, and they explained the nonlinear response of waste generation. Observations made throughout the field survey revealed that the nonlinear and interactive pattern of flood waste generation corresponded to the results from the regression analysis. In a practical aspect, incorporating the interaction terms would be an effective method to enhance the flood waste estimation model without costly works for further variables exploration.

Food loss and waste in food supply chains. A systematic literature review and framework development approach

This study examines the state of the art of the literature in the domain of food loss and waste (FLW) in food supply chains (FSC). The authors used a systematic literature review (SLR) approach to examine and synthesise the findings of the existing literature to identify the key research themes, research gaps and avenues of future research on FLW in FSC. To this end, this SLR considered 152 articles relevant for the review. The authors uncovered the extant literature in the domain by presenting the research profile of the selected studies, along with thematic analysis. The authors identified eight key themes from the extant literature. The themes range from factors responsible for FLW generation to new, emerging areas of research such as digitalisation and food surplus redistribution. The study’s findings will help clarify existing practices in FSC for waste mitigation and act as a foundation for strategic and policy initiatives in this area. The findings indicate that the major factors responsible for FLW include the poor management of perishable food items, stakeholder attitudes, buyer−supplier agreements and supply chain interruptions. Some of the important implications of the study include formal guidelines and policy-level interventions for assisting the accurate quantification of FLW along with an impetus on digitalisation to reduce FLW. The study concludes with the development of a research framework to assist future research in this domain.

Assessment of environmental and economic aspects of household food waste using a new Environmental-Economic Footprint (EN-EC) index: A case study of Daegu, South Korea

While the global food demand has continued to increase, the enormous natural resources required for its production are limited, in addition to the accompanying environmental degradation. Despite all these, food waste generation continues unabated, especially at the household level, further compounding the environmental impacts, economic cost, and food security issues. In this study, granular primary data of edible household food waste using direct-weighing from 218 households in Daegu, South Korea was used to assess the environmental (carbon footprint, and water footprint) and economic (wasted cost) impacts associated with their wastage. For the first time, the Environmental-Economic (EN-EC) Footprint index is proposed as a single indicator for environmental and economic impacts to assess the hotspot food waste products among the selected 42 major food waste items. This study presents that the selected food products had a significant contribution to an average edible food waste generation of 0.73 ± 0.06 kg (per household/day), 0.71 ± 0.05 kg CO2eq of GHG emissions, 0.46 ± 0.04 m3 of water footprint, and 3855.93 ± 527.27 won of economic loss, respectively. Based on the newly developed EN-EC Footprint index, we found that wasted animal-based food products had relatively high environmental and economic losses compared to non-animal-based food products. The findings of this study presented a novel method of estimating combined environmental and economic impacts associated with household food waste, which may further act as convenient guides for the waste management authorities and policymakers in addressing the mitigation of household food waste impacts.

Optimization of fly ash based soil stabilization using secondary admixtures for sustainable road construction

Fly ash, despite being a suitable cement substitute, is only utilized at a low rate in engineering applications, hence not contributing to its current waste mitigation efforts. Under a five-part comprehensive testing program, this study investigated the efficiency of fly ash stabilized soil when combined with secondary additives (enzymes and lime). Part one explored the suitable fly ash and enzyme dosages. Parts two and three assessed the effect of time and lime on enzymatic fly ash stabilized soil, respectively. Part four unveiled the mechanism of stabilization by secondary additives. Part five analyzed the significance and benefits of these additives in pavement stabilization. The study found that the efficiency of fly ash stabilization can be significantly improved when combined with 1% of 1:500 diluted enzyme. Addition of 2% lime has also supplemented with improved load-bearing capacity. Benefits of this research include enhanced fly ash waste mitigation, saving natural resources used as wearing course materials, and development of an alternative solution for pavement stabilization.

Effective policy mix for plastic waste mitigation in India using System Dynamics

Mitigation of plastic waste is a serious concern for policymakers. The present waste management system in India is grossly ineffective, with a significant proportion of mismanaged plastic waste. This paper identifies the effective policy mix to mitigate the plastic waste problem in India using system dynamics modelling. It simulates four major policy interventions - charging disposal fee, provision of recycling subsidies, provision of kerbside recycling facilities and a new intervention - imposing a plastic ban - and studies their relative impacts on the accumulated plastic waste stock under different implementation scenarios and combinations. The findings suggest that while composite combinations of policies offer more effective policy mix than individual policy interventions, a suitable choice of policy mix along with its timing and extent is crucial. Phased implementation of policies has a better impact than the constant rollout of equivalent magnitude. A phased composite mix of the provision of kerbside recycling facilities with either charging disposal fee or provision of recycling subsidies is the most effective policy mix, followed by the phased mix of charging disposal fee and provision of recycling subsidy. The plastic ban has a detrimental impact in the absence of proper enforcement mechanisms and substitutes. The paper presents a reliable roadmap to policymakers for the rollout of the effective policy mix. It contributes to theory-building by providing few novel insights about different policy mix and suggests new research directions.

A Review On The Comparison Between Slow Pyrolysis And Fast Pyrolysis On The Quality Of Lignocellulosic And Lignin-Based Biochar

In recent years, biochar has attracted considerable attention due to its unique characteristics and wide applications in agricultural and environmental areas. Biochar is recognized for its potential role in carbon sequestration, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, soil amendment, bioenergy production and waste mitigation. The current review discusses on the utilization of various lignocellulosic and lignin-based feedstocks for the biochar production. However, the quality of biochar varies among different thermo-conversion technologies due to the differences in their key process parameters and the feedstock composition. This article aims to review two production technologies for lignocellulosic and lignin-based biochar, namely, slow pyrolysis and fast pyrolysis. The effects of feedstock composition (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin) and pyrolysis conditions such as temperature and heating rate on the quality of biochar are compared. The relationship between the feedstocks composition, temperature, heating rate of pyrolysis and the quality of biochar are also discussed. Future work would further correlate the effects of feedstock composition and process parameters on the quality of biochar such as surface area and functionality.

IMPACT OF CIRCULAR CONSTRUCTION ON DEMOLITION WASTE MANAGEMENT IN THE INDIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

In recent times due to the Indian economic growth, there is a surge in construction activities. This surge has led to an excess amount of demolition waste that is produced. According to the Building Material Promotion Council, India generates an estimated 150 million tons of C and D waste every year. Some existing initiatives and the significant stakeholders' involvement have created the demolition waste management systems essential in the building’s demolition phase. The research in the C and D and Awareness program for C and D waste that initiated has led to the implementation of some waste management systems in the building's demolition phase. In India, the amount of demolition waste produced is higher than the construction waste produced while constructing buildings. So, it is essential for the demolition waste mitigation plan in the building's demolition phase. The study aims to know circular construction and current demolition waste management performance in the Indian construction industry. Through literature review, demolition waste management systems that are carried out all around the world are collected. The current practices carried out by different stakeholders practicing in India are known through a questionnaire survey. Data interpretation is made using the data collected in the literature review and the questionnaire survey. This research identified the significant benefits, barriers, and motivation factors to implement the waste management system, and proposing any necessary changes. Designer innovation and BIM deconstruction is considered as one of the barrier-breaking innovation in adopting the circular construction.

Application of Visual Project Management to build a pro-sustainability design tool

The article aims to present the application of Visual Project Management in the construction of a pro-sustainability project tool with an emphasis on the mitigation of solid textile waste. This is the Zero Waste Tool for Apparel Design (ZWTAD). The construction of the tool took place in two stages: (I) initially, based on the use of the visual panel of the Orientation Guide for Project Development; and (II), then, under the application of the structural elements (premises, requirements and usability principles) of Visual Project Management. Therefore, methodologically, this article can be understood as applied, descriptive, bibliographic and qualitative research. It is inferred that the development of the ZWTAD can constitute a case of Visual Project Management, however, for now, it is still an incomplete visual model.

Biotechnology for the mitigation of plastic waste from the oceans

In contemporary times, the term “plastic” represents a family of polymers that are synthetically developed and have the property of being deformed without breaking. Since the beginning of its manufacturing at industrial levels, the amount of the world’s plastic production has already risen over 20,000%. Most of the produced plastic ends up having the sea as the end destination and it is known that there are toxic compounds associated with its decomposition that can cause serious problems to the ecosystem and to marine fauna. Biotechnology, as an area of study that integrates several areas of science, is committing to develop methods that may be useful in reversing the impacts that improper disposal of plastic can cause in the environment. The development of biodegradable materials and faster degradation tests with selected microorganisms have been the most effective biotechnological techniques, although they do not yet have a major impact on existing pollution mitigation. This paper will discuss the current accumulation of plastic in the oceans, as well as some of the biotechnological alternatives adopted to reverse the amount of plastic material discarded annually which ends up in the sea.

Recent advances and viability in biofuel production

Alternative for petroleum due to its nontoxic, sulfur-free, biodegradable nature biofuels have been considered. Based on the feedstock, classification of biofuels were discussed. Endorsement of biofuel advancement have been reported from available plant matters consumption. The fossil fuel issues due to toxic carbon dioxide emissions and climate change have a direct link with the particulate matter that has caused severe threat to the environment. The bio-based products such as biodiesel and bio-compressed natural gas (Bio-CNG) can be less expensive and adaptable. Biofuels are increasingly being used in transportation, heat, and power development requiring the need for renewable sources of energy. This review highlights the use of dreck organic matters from aquatic environment and soil supplies for renewable energy production for human requirements, sustaining a clean and healthy environment. Dreck can be harnessed to manufacture bioenergy that would help to mitigate greenhouse gases and preserve the environment. Methane, hydrogen, ethanol, bioelectricity, algal diesel, and butanol, or other forms of fuels provide a renewable supply of bioenergy, which can be created by the biological systems. The waste-to-energy methodologies (thermal plus biochemical) for energy production via agro-residues are covered. The key focus of this study is the recent advances in the area of 'synchronous waste mitigation with energy development' techniques. This review addresses the significance of organic substances for the production of clean and renewable energy, including alternate solutions for non-renewable fuels. The needs for appropriate and renewable alternatives for fossil fuels are discussed.

Global versus local framing of the issue of food waste: The role of Identification With All Humanity and the implications for climate change communication

Food waste is a major source of carbon emissions at the local and global levels. Effective public communication is essential for mitigation engagement. This study refers to the climate change communication literature to examine global versus local message framing and its interaction effects with a global identity—Identification With All Humanity (IWAH)—versus a local (American) identity on food waste mitigation behaviour. I propose that, due to its all‐inclusive nature, when IWAH is strong there will be no difference between reading a globally versus a locally framed message for intentions concerning food waste mitigation behaviour. By contrast, individuals with a weak IWAH will be less likely to engage in mitigation behaviour after reading the globally framed compared to the locally framed message, whereas a strong local (American) identity is hypothesized to induce higher mitigation engagement in the local framing condition than the global framing condition. Results showed no interaction effects except for one behavioural proxy measure, whereas IWAH was a consistent predictor of most of the mitigation behavioural intentions. The present research assesses IWAH with regards to climate change mitigation efforts and sheds light on the existing inconsistent findings about the effects of local versus global framing on climate change.

Exergy analysis of a whole-crop safflower biorefinery: A step towards reducing agricultural wastes in a sustainable manner

The huge amount of agro-wastes generated due to expanding agricultural activities can potentially cause serious environmental and human health problems. Using the biorefinery concept, all parts of agricultural plants can be converted into multiple value-added bioproducts while reducing waste generation. This approach can be viewed as an effective strategy in developing and realizing a circular bioeconomy by accomplishing the dual goals of waste mitigation and energy recovery. However, the sustainability issue of biorefineries should still be thoroughly scrutinized using comprehensive resource accounting methods such as exergy-based approaches. In light of that, this study aims to conduct a detailed exergy analysis of whole-crop safflower biorefinery consisting of six units, i.e., straw handling, biomass pretreatment, bioethanol production, wastewater treatment, oil extraction, and biodiesel production. The analysis is carried out to find the major exergy sink in the developed biorefinery and discover the bottlenecks for further performance improvements. Overall, the wastewater treatment unit exhibits to be the major exergy sink, amounting to over 70% of the total thermodynamic irreversibility of the process. The biomass pretreatment and bioethanol production units account for 12.4 and 10.3% of the total thermodynamic inefficiencies of the process, respectively. The exergy rates associated with bioethanol, biodiesel, lignin, biogas, liquid digestate, seed cake, sodium sulfate, and glycerol are determined to be 5918.5, 16516.8, 10778.9, 1741.4, 6271.5, 15755.8, 3.4, and 823.5 kW, respectively. The overall exergetic efficiency of the system stands at 72.7%, demonstrating the adequacy of the developed biorefinery from the thermodynamic perspective.

A system-wide interdisciplinary conceptual framework for food loss and waste mitigation strategies in the supply chain

The issues of food loss and waste (FLW) in the global supply chains have recently gained attention. However, causes for FLW and their mitigation strategies for curbing FLW at different stages of the supply chains remains under researched. Our research aims to address these research gaps in a three-fold way: i), we identified key causes (through root-cause analysis) of FLW in the supply chain of developed and less developed countries; ii), systematically classified measures and policies, which have been implemented to mitigate FLW; iii), developed an interdisciplinary conceptual framework for waste utilisation practices that can contribute towards the triple bottom-line in food system. A root-cause analysis was performed, and mitigation strategies identified by systematically analysing and synthesizing the extant research published over the past 20 years (1998 to 2018) in the areas of food loss and waste in the supply chain. A conceptual model for the prevention of FLW utilising a systems approach through the circular economy concept has been proposed. Since the agri-food sector is largely interdisciplinary, we have also demonstrated a method of integrating contributions from multiple disciplines in our proposed model towards achieving a total depollution (zero waste supply chain).

Food waste management in ethnic food restaurants

Abstract The foodservice sector generates excessive amounts of food waste. This wastage remains however understudied, especially in the context of specific foodservice sub-sectors catering for a large number of consumers. This holds true for ethnic food restaurants holding a noticeable share of the global out-of-home food consumption market. This paper contributed to knowledge with an exploratory study of food waste and its management in Chinese cuisine restaurants operating in the UK. By applying a novel approach to estimating food waste in foodservice operations, it demonstrated the magnitude, established the drivers and revealed managerial approaches to food waste mitigation. The study showcased the role of contextual, UK market-specific, and cultural, ethnic cuisine-related, factors in food waste generation and its management. Drawing upon perspectives of foodservice operators, the study outlined the key barriers to more effective mitigation of food waste and proposed how these could be at least partially overcome in the future.

Measurement, mitigation and prevention of food waste in supply chains: An online shopping perspective

This study introduces a framework and model, although applied in a practical setting, sets the stage for further theoretical development of mid-range theory. The methodology applied in the study has four main stages, namely interviews with managers from an online food retail supply chain, analysis of soft and hard data using questionnaire-based surveys of customers and suppliers, archival and factual information gathered from the supplier and the online food retailer to measure food waste across the supply chain and analytical models to quantify various effects. A number of propositions emerged from our multiple methodologies and observations. The major research contribution of this work is to advance Natural Resource Based View (NRBV) to the supply chain and various complexities involved in food waste management. Dynamic capabilities were clearly evident and necessary in rapidly changing industrial contexts such as online food supply chains. This paper also proposes a food waste minimization-and-mitigation model, establishes the direct and indirect outputs of food waste and brings attention of the food waste debate in the context of an exemplar online food supply chain, as well as provides a middle range theoretic framework to enhance understanding on theory and its application to this field informed mainly NRBV.

Mitigating Climate Change via Food Consumption and Food Waste: A Systematic Map of Behavioral Interventions

Demand-side policies for mitigating climate change based on behavioral insights are gaining increased attention in research and practice. Here we describe a systematic map that catalogs existing research on behaviorally informed interventions targeting changes in consumer food consumption and food waste behavior. The purpose is to gain an overview of research foci and gaps, providing an evidence base for deeper analysis. In terms of food consumption, we focus on animal protein (meat, fish, dairy, and eggs) and its substitutes. The map follows the standards for evidence synthesis from the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (CEE) as well as the RepOrting Standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses (ROSES). We identified 49 articles including 56 separate studies, as well as 18 literature reviews. We find a variety of study designs with a focus on canteen and restaurant studies as well as a steep increase of publications since 2016. We create an interactive evidence atlas that plots these studies across geographical space. Here, we find a concentration of research in the Anglo-Saxon world. Most studies follow multi-intervention designs and focus on actual food consumption behavior, fewer on food waste behavior. We identify knowledge clusters amenable for a systematic review focusing on the effectiveness of these interventions, namely: priming, disclosure, defaults, social norms, micro-environment changes, and ease of use. The systematic map highlights knowledge gaps, where more primary research is needed and evidence cannot support policy; it identifies knowledge clusters, where sufficient studies exist but there is a lack of clarity over effectiveness, and so full synthesis can be conducted rapidly; finally, it reveals patterns in research methods that can highlight best practices and issues with methodology that can support the improvement of primary evidence production and mitigation of research waste. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic study mapping this specific area.

Drivers and reduction solutions of food waste in the Chinese food service business

Food waste generated from the food service sector is associated with significant social, ecological and economic impacts. There is lack of knowledge on status quo, drives and solutions for food waste in food service sector despite its importance. In order to understand and identify key issues of food waste and find potential solutions for food waste minimization in food service business, both a questionnaire and a qualitative study were conducted using China as a case country. 228 questionnaires were collected and in a subsequent workshop 51 representatives from 19 enterprises and other organizations joined. The results show that more than half (57%) of the respondents pay no attention to food waste issue, while majority of the respondents (86%) pay attention to regulations and policy on waste issues, suggesting that these instruments would be efficient tools to take actions on reducing food waste. The workshop identified 21 drivers with division of different stages including pre-kitchen (upstream processing, procurement and storage), kitchen and post-kitchen (consumption & communication with consumers), which is then categorized according to the focus (including 13 internal drivers derived from foods service business itself and 8 external factors caused by other parties). 33 possible solutions were proposed for food waste mitigation and reduction, among which 25 were directly for Chinese food service business internal improvement such as food waste management system upgrading, staff capacity raising, innovative actions, more tasteful dishes and adjusted potion size from different angles or for the joint activities by food service business and other relevant stakeholders like consumers interaction, clear communicated procurement standards with upstream suppliers. This paper pinpointed some interesting findings under the Chinese context, such as lacking of food waste measurement, considerable amount of upstream processing waste resulted from combination of unclear standards and buyers’ privilege”, noticeable food waste from central kitchen and decoration/free snacks food waste etc.. This paper has not only identified the current status quo of the Chinese food service business food waste, but also summarized systematically the potential drivers from the business with specific division of different stages and gave out possible solutions, all directly from the staffs’ opinions. The findings would be referential to global food waste issues under similar situation.