Waste Transportation Research Articles

Assessment of Policy Guidelines, Strategies, and Operational Processes Associated with Plastic Waste Management in Ghana

The study sought to assess to assess the policy guidelines, strategies, and operational processes associated with plastic waste management in Ghana. A descriptive cross-sectional study design that employed both quantitative and qualitative procedures was used. The data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive analysis was performed on the structured questionnaire whereas thematic analysis was conducted on data from the interview guided. The results revealed that there are guidelines, strategies, and operational processes for plastic waste management in greater Kumasi and there exist different activities of stakeholders (Recycling companies, KMA and Waste collectors) in plastic waste management in Kumasi. The extent of compliance with plastic waste management guidelines (National Plastic Waste Management Policy) is dependent on the different stakeholders. Plastic recycling companies are in the infant stage with their activities being centered on six processes with pelletizing plastics for export been their major activities whereas waste collectors are solely responsible for collection, transportation and final disposal of plastic waste from different places to either dump sites or plastic recycling companies. KMA and other government institutions involved in waste management must take steps by supervising the day-to-day activities of plastic recycling companies and waste collectors to regulate the activities of companies within the plastic recycling industry.

Landfill site selection in a mining dominated area using a fuzzy AHP and DRASTIC vulnerability based multicriteria decision analysis: a case study of Dhanbad, India.

Landfilling is the least preferred method in the hierarchy of solid waste management options, but it is the most widely practiced option. Thus, identification of environmentally and economically suitable landfill sites should be of prime importance. The main objective of this study is to identify environmentally and economically suitable landfill sites using fuzzy analytical hierarchy process-based weighted linear combination model within a GIS environment. This study also used the DRASTIC-based groundwater vulnerability index and distance of landfills from densely populated areas to protect groundwater and reduce cost of transportation of solid waste which were not considered by the previous studies. Using the previously reported methods, a total of 132 landfill sites were found environmentally suitable in the study area. But, after applying DRASTIC-based groundwater vulnerability index, the number of environmentally suitable sites reduced to 95. When the proximity of the 95 sites to densely populated areas was considered to reduce waste transportation cost, the number of selected sites further reduced to 21 site and they can be considered the most environmentally and economically suitable landfill sites. This study will help the policy makers and the concerned SWM authorities to construct the engineered landfills at environmentally and economically suitable landfill sites in the study area and in other similar areas.

Formulation and solution technique for agricultural waste collection and transport network design

Agricultural waste management in developing countries has become a challenging issue for rural planners due to the lack of an efficient planning tool. In the countries, farmers burnt agricultural waste at fields after each harvesting season to solve the issue. As a result, it has caused air and water pollution in the rural areas of the countries. In this paper, we present a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model for agricultural waste collection and transport network design that aims to stop burning waste and use the waste to produce bio-organic fertilizer. The model supports rural planners to optimally locate waste storages, and to determine the optimal set of routes for a fleet of vehicles to collect and transport the waste from the storages to the bio-organic fertilizer production facility. In the novel location-assignment-routing problem, the overall objective is to minimize total cost of locating storages, collecting waste from fields and planning vehicle routes. A solution technique is developed to linearise the mixed-integer nonlinear programming model into a model in linear form. In addition, a parallel water flow algorithm is developed to solve efficiently the large-sized instances. The efficiency of the proposed model and algorithm is validated and evaluated on the real case study in Trieu Phong district, Quang Tri province, Vietnam, as well as a set of randomly generated large-sized instances. The results show that our solution approach outperforms the general optimisation solver and tabu search algorithm. Our algorithm can find the optimal or near-optimal solutions for the large-sized instances within a reasonable time.

Are mangroves hotspots of marine litter for surrounding beaches? Hydrodynamic modeling and quali-quantitative analyses of waste in southeastern Brazil

The present study investigated the hypothesis that the marine litter found on the beaches of Santos, in Brazil, may have originated from the mangrove located in the adjacent estuary, acting as a hotspot. To this end, we performed quali-quantitative analyses of the waste found in the beach environments (beached and discarded litter) and the mangrove, as well as hydrodynamic modeling, to verify the influence of the tides on waste transport and the level of contamination according to the Clean Coast Index (CCI). The beached waste presented a similar composition to the items found in the mangrove, corroborated by multivariate analyses and Spearman’s correlation. The hydrodynamic conditions revealed that tidal currents transport waste from the interior of the mangrove to the beaches through the Santos Channel, therefore indicating that the mangrove itself acts as a marine litter hotspot. This problem needs to be managed on a macro-scale by public management agencies, not just locally.

Finding the best path based on geographic information systems for transporting construction waste

With the continued growth of the population, the activities resulting from this growth increased, especially urban expansion, which produced large construction waste. The random accumulation of this waste has turned into a global problem that cannot be ignored or postponed. Therefore, special landfills were established to transport the waste generated in any area to it, and because the cost of transportation depends the path that is taken directly, the best path had to be chosen. With the lack of scientific awareness of choosing the best path, this increased the cost of transportation, and here the need to intensify efforts and use technology to solve this problem. In this paper, the selection of the best path was studied. The field of study is in the city of Baghdad, where a specific building and two landfills approved by the Municipality of Baghdad were chosen. The required locations were obtained using (Google Earth) software, and the road network was downloaded with (QGIS) software, then (ArcMap) was used to determine the best path. As the first landfill was the closest in distance and the second was less in time. The study found that GIS technology is effective in the selection process and recommended the need to use GIS technology in construction waste management, and to install special steering devices on construction waste transport vehicles.

CHOICE OF SYNERGETIC MODELS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPLEX DISPOSAL OF POLYMER CONTAINERS AND PACKAGING AFTER THE END OF THEIR USAGE

The article presents the possibilities of solving some problems within the framework of the choice of models and the scientific justification for the development of a technology for the complex utilization of polymer containers and packaging after the end of their service life in order to increase the efficiency of the use of solid household waste and waste from various industries at a complex enterprise that can provide all its energy needs independently. Research is aimed at studying such issues as: 1) classification-identification of models of the organization of waste collection and transportation; 2) their classification-identification according to quality control methods, taking into account resistance to the action of natural factors - sunlight, water; climatic conditions and microorganisms; 3) analysis of the choice of scientifically based models of processing and utilization of polymers as part of solid household waste; 4) development of necessary technological schemes and equipment for waste processing; 5) the choice of enterprises for the utilization of polymers and the type of energy resources for the implementation of these design and technological solutions.

Site suitability analysis for locating construction and demolition waste transfer station: an Indian case study.

Construction and Demolition Waste Management (CDWM) includes collecting, transporting, processing, and disposing construction and demolition (C&D) waste, where collection and transportation of bulky and voluminous C&D waste contribute significantly to economic and environmental impacts. Transfer station (TS) being a link between various waste management (WM) facilities plays a significant role in collection and transportation of waste. Thus, locating TS at suitable site can help in reducing the overall impacts. Employment of Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis tools in CDWM is a powerful strategy for site suitability study. A case study in Coimbatore, India, is presented in this study using GIS-based multi-criteria analysis for locating C&D waste TS. The criteria for site suitability analysis are chosen based on literature review, regulations, and experts' opinions. Weights of the chosen criteria are estimated using analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and the final suitability map is created by weighted overlay analysis (WOA) in GIS environment. Results provide first-hand information for local decision makers to locate C&D waste transfer station in the chosen study region and report that 12% of the entire area is "highly suitable" for transfer station location.

Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Healthcare Buildings: A Policy Framework

The healthcare industry significantly impacts the environment due to its high usage of energy and natural resources and the associated waste generation. This study applied a cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) approach to assess the environmental and social life cycles of public hospitals. One hundred twenty-four public hospitals were selected for the current study; their sustainability performance was compared with those certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The comparison revealed several factors contributing to the poor sustainability performance of public hospitals. These include inadequate management, substandard planning, political interference, insufficient staffing and funding, high energy consumption, high expenses, inconsistent healthcare policies, and conventional building designs. System thinking was leveraged, and a causal loop diagram (CLD) was developed to visualize the interdependency of the identified indicators of LCSA. Based on the findings of the study, a policy framework is proposed to guide the development of sustainable healthcare buildings. The framework includes using eco-friendly materials and techniques in construction, harnessing solar energy, improving hospital management practices, promoting public awareness about sustainability, conserving energy and water, and adopting sustainable waste management and transportation. Additionally, it emphasizes addressing social issues such as improving indoor air quality, thermal comfort, lighting, acoustics, patient safety, and security and ensuring that healthcare services are accessible and affordable. This study contributes to the literature on sustainable healthcare buildings by providing a practical policy framework for achieving sustainability in the healthcare sector.

TSRes-YOLO: An accurate and fast cascaded detector for waste collection and transportation supervision

This paper addresses the problem of frequently mixed loading in the waste collection and transportation process, which leads to degradation of the waste classification effect. A supervision method based on a cascaded detector combined with ResNet18 and YOLOv5 for waste collection and transportation is proposed. First, the improved YOLOv5s is used to identify the location and states of the garbage cans. By replacing batch normalization in the backbone with representative batch normalization, the specific features are enhanced with a simple and effective feature calibration scheme and produce a more stable feature distribution. Introducing CBAM into the CSP module of YOLOv5 helps the network pay more attention to special regions. The Ghost convolution effectively reduces the number of parameters and faster the speed without affecting the performance of the model. Moreover, the classifier, improved ResNet-18, classifies the color of garbage cans detected by YOLOv5. SE-Net is added at the beginning of the residual structure, and ResNet-D structure is used to improve the accuracy of the network at the same time. Finally, a database for waste classification and collection supervision is constructed based on the images provided by the relevant city department. Then, a series of experiments are performed on the database. The experimental results show that the improved YOLOv5 network reaches an mAP of 98.0%, the accuracy of the improved ResNet18 reaches 98.4% and the accuracy of the cascaded detector reaches 90.93% with a speed of 43.2 ms/it, which meets the requirements for urban garbage collection and transportation supervision.

Analisa Pemborosan Pada Proses Produksi Air Minum Dalam Kemasan Dengan Metode Value Stream Mapping Dan Waste Assesment Model Di CV Dafista Mulia

CV Dafista Mulia is a drinking water producer company located in Lamongan Regency. The problem that is often faced by companies is the amount of waste that occurs in the process of producing bottled drinking water. The most critical percentage of waste in the bottled water production process (AMDK) is waste overproduction with a weighting percentage of 25.4%; waste defet with a weighting percentage of 16.2%; waste inventory with a weighting percentage of 14.9%; waste unnecessary motion with a weighting percentage of 14.1%; waste transportation with a weighting percentage of 11.7%; waste waiting with a weighting percentage of 9%; and waste excess processing with a weighting percentage of 8.7%. The initial activity time before the repair was 466 minutes (7 Hours 46 Minutes) and after the repair was reduced to 416 minutes (6 Hours 51 Minutes). Based on the Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), it is known that the root cause of the problem with the highest waste is Overproduction, namely production planning that is not quite right with a Risk Priority Number (RPN) score of 396. Recommendations for improvements that can be proposed are to carry out production planning using data - historical data that exists and is adjusted to balance the purchasing of raw materials with orders from consumers so that the results of the Overproduction can become a safety stock so that the Overproduction can function in the next consumer order.

CFD Simulation Study for Abrasive Waste Management Using Water Eductors for Abrasive Waterjet Cutting Collector Tanks

The work is mainly aimed at solving technical problems in the field of unconventional fluid-jet processing, a field in which ISIM Timisoara has developed technical and technological expertise. A crucial part of an effective cleanup process is the secure transportation and disposal of sludge-type materials and related clean-up waste in the industry to a designated site and then to waste treatment plants, as ecological regulations continue to evolve. As a result, experts strive to discover the most state of the art and effective methods for storing and cleaning produced waste.The technical solution studied in this paper consists in obtaining an efficient system for the evacuation of the waste water and abrasive mixture, elements generated during abrasive waterjet cutting, in the shortest time, without stopping the technological cutting process.In this sense, a water eductor system is studied, by carrying out a preliminary experimental program, for use in abrasive waterjet installations collector tanks, by CFD simulation process.The operating parameters of eductor-type mixing nozzles and their effect on the liquid abrasive mixture in a tank of an abrasive-water jet cutting system were analysed.

Mengubah Sampah Menjadi Rezeki: Analisis Actors Dalam Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Pada Pengelolaan Sampah.

In the ACTORS theory, there is an ACTORS framework consisting of Authority, Confidence and Competence, Trust, Opportunities, Responsibilities, and Support. This study aims to determine and describe the ACTORS and impacts in community empowerment through waste management at the Baiman Main Waste Bank, Alalak Utara Village, Banjarmasin City. This research uses qualitative research. The data collection techniques used in this research are observation, interviews and documentation. The results of research through the ACTORS framework show that the manager's authority in making decisions related to programs and activities in the waste bank is an authority that cannot be intervened by the Banjarmasin city government. Through trust that is well established between managers and customers, it provides opportunities for customers to participate in training and making recycled products. By participating in training and making recycled products, customers gain economic capacity. The opportunities provided by the Waste Bank through training in making recycled products foster an entrepreneurial spirit in the community. Support from the Banjarmasin City Government in providing transportation facilities to support waste transportation activities. Based on the ACTORS analysis, there are no points of belief and responsibility in the empowerment activities and programs of the Banjarmasin City Baiman Main Waste Bank. The programs carried out by Baiman Main Waste Bank have an impact on the community including: the health and environmental impact of sorting activities, the impact of sorting activities on gender equality, economic impacts and business opportunities, impacts related to the 3R principle, through the reuse of waste.

Presence of microplastics deposited in Sargassum sp. on sandy beaches

The atypical massive arrival of Sargassum sp. on the Mexican Caribbean beaches, mainly in summer, has increasingly become a major problem in the last decade, not only because of the economic and aesthetic impact it has caused on this region, but also due to the associated environmental effects. For instance, macroalgae could cause the transport and deposition of plastic waste on the shore. Thus, a study was carried out, which focused on quantification of the microplastics (MP) present in deposited Sargassum sp. on five sandy beaches, as well as in the sand under the macroalgae, and then, observing and comparing the results of both samples. In the case of the sand samples, the methodology used was based on what was reported by Alvarez-Zeferino et al., 2020, while for the Sargassum sp. samples, the methodology was fully developed as there was no reference methodology for this type of sample. The presence of MP was reported in all the samples from the five beaches. In sand, the concentration range was 17.6–52.8 MP/m2, with an average of 29.6 ± 10.4 MP/m2, while for Sargassum sp. the average was 15.7 ± 2.8 MP/ kgFW with a range of 11.2–19.3 MP/kgFW. The results point out that higher concentrations of MP in Sargassum sp. relate to higher concentrations of MP in the sand. This might suggest that Sargassum sp. spills would transport MP, becoming an additional source of plastic pollution on beaches.

Assessment of solid waste management in Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria

The rapid rate of population growth and urbanization has impacted the management of municipal solid wastes (MSW) and is increasingly becoming a major concern in many cities in developing countries. Insufficient area coverage for wastes collection, processing system, and unsuitable disposal all appear to be the causal factors. This paper discussed the current situation of solid waste management in Ota municipality as well as the challenges and associated problems. Structured questionnaires, interviews and on-site observations were used for data generation, and subsequently analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results indicated that 28.6% of the respondents incinerate their wastes, while 27.6% of the respondents dispose theirs to public waste bins. About 11.4% deposit their wastes by the road side, while 6.4% dump their wastes in drainages and water bodies. Most respondents incinerate their wastes which would impact negatively on the ozone layer. Results also indicated that 54.3% of the respondents have their wastes disposed regularly, while 66% do not sort their wastes which make them difficult to manage. The city's single dump site was visited in order to have a better understanding of the existing solid waste management measures in place. Other illegal waste dumps in the town were also visited. In order to address the difficulties of solid waste management in the municipality, it is recommended that the state government engage additional Private Service Provider (PSP) operatives to assist with waste collection and transportation, provide suitable facilities, machinery, and equipment, and launch a public awareness campaign

Optimization of Vehicles Routing Problem using GA For AL-Rasheed municipality, Baghdad, Iraq

There are several problems with waste collection, transportation, processing, and disposal, particularly in major cities. The frequency of garbage collection is an important concern for municipal control. If waste is not disposed of properly, environmental problems such as air pollution and groundwater contamination may occur. This problem raises the alarm for the need for specialized solutions for averting potential calamities that might occur throughout the world. Before deploying to actual situations, computer modeling and planning of waste collection are frequently performed to minimize the negative impact solid waste can have on the environment. As a result, choosing the optimal waste collection policy has a large effect on cost savings. The current study's objective is to apply a genetic algorithm to reach the goals, illustrating the process of selecting the optimal route for the vehicle with the lowest time and greatest weight among several paths. The other goal is to create a schedule for the vehicles in order to decrease them. The schedule will minimize vehicle-related costs such as maintenance, gasoline, work staff salaries, and other vehicle-related costs. In the current study, the MATLAB application R2020a is used to apply reliable data of 10 vehicles from the AL-Rasheed Municipality waste collection vehicles after processing it to be acceptable with the GA. After optimizing the time for routes and weights of lifted trash, the majority of the results improved dramatically. The results reveal that the top five vehicles (8, 6, 7, 1, 4) have a great percentage improvement in the number of collection points (133.3%, 100%, 100%, 66.7%, and 50%), respectively.

Market Waste Management Towards a Healthy Market

Garbage is a serious problem that must be considered. The amount of waste is increasing along with the population. One of the most common waste problems is market waste. Increased activity in the market dramatically affects the number of market waste piles. To overcome this, serious waste management is needed. Waste management starts with waste collection, transportation, temporary waste disposal, and the role of cleaners and traders. This study aims to find out how the Waste Management System at the Kersik Tuo Market works.
 This type of research is descriptive, using observation and interviews. The samples used were 85 traders and five janitors. The results of this study are that the Kersik Tuo Market is categorized as unhealthy where waste collection is 21 (24.7%), waste transportation is 21 (24%), availability of waste storage facilities is 21 (24%), and the role of traders is 37 (43.5%) not following provisions Permenkes No 17 of 2020 concerning Organizing Healthy Markets and the Role of Poor Traders in Waste Management. In conclusion, it is necessary to implement Government Regulation No. 17 of 2020 concerning Organizing Healthy Markets so that Kersik Tuo Market waste management can improve and make the Kersik Tuo market become a healthy market. To realize this, the participation of traders in market waste management.

Environmental performance of glass foam as insulation material from waste glass with the alkali activation process

Glass foams is an interesting option for the use of fractions of glass cullet otherwise destined to landfills. As building insulation materials, glass foams obtained by conventional processes have still some drawbacks in the purity of starting feedstock, which can be avoided by implementing an alkali activation process. Using the life cycle assessment methodology, the research analyses the potential impacts associated to the glass foam obtained from waste glass through the alkali activation in a laboratory scale plant with ‘cradle to grave’ perspective. The main phases included in the system boundaries are the downstream activities related to the transportation of glass waste and avoided landfill disposal, the production process to obtain the glass foam, and the upstream activities related to the transportation to potential use phase and the end of life. The life cycle environmental profile of glass foam is calculated starting from primary data integrated with the Ecoinvent database, and using the ReCiPe 2016 impact assessment method and the SimaPro software. Results demonstrate the greatest contribution on the overall environmental impacts due to the production, in which the main impacts are linked to electricity consumption for drying and firing and surfactant for the foaming. Sensitivity analyses clarify that consistent improvement in overall environmental impacts can be obtain with minimization of distances both between glass waste and production site, and between glass foam production and use; otherwise, different energy-mix and lower temperature in chemical processes have negligible effects in the environmental profile. The research reveals useful information to optimize the upcycling of glass foam production before moving on the industrialization: future investigations should involve the selection of biodegradable surfactants, from renewable sources.

A portable geometry-independent tomographic system for gamma-ray, a next generation of nuclear waste characterization

One of the main activities of the nuclear industry is the characterisation of radioactive waste based on the detection of gamma radiation. Large volumes of radioactive waste are classified according to their average activity, but often the radioactivity exceeds the maximum allowed by regulators in specific parts of the bulk. In addition, the detection of the radiation is currently based on static detection systems where the geometry of the bulk is fixed and well known. Furthermore, these systems are not portable and depend on the transport of waste to the places where the detection systems are located. However, there are situations where the geometry varies and where moving waste is complex. This is especially true in compromised situations.We present a new model for nuclear waste management based on a portable and geometry-independent tomographic system for three-dimensional image reconstruction for gamma radiation detection. The system relies on a combination of a gamma radiation camera and a visible camera that allows to visualise radioactivity using augmented reality and artificial computer vision techniques. This novel tomographic system has the potential to be a disruptive innovation in the nuclear industry for nuclear waste management.

Beta-TCP scaffolds with rationally designed macro-micro hierarchical structure improved angio/osteo-genesis capability for bone regeneration

The design of hierarchical porous structure in scaffolds is crucial for bone defect regenerative repair. However, bioceramic materials present a challenge in precisely constructing designed micropores owing to the limitation of forming process. To investigate micropore shape influences bone regeneration in bioceramic scaffolds with macropores, hierarchical porous scaffolds with interconnective macropores (~400 μm) and two types of micropores (spherical and fibrous) were prepared using a combination of direct ink writing (DIW) and template sacrifice methods. Compared to the scaffold with spherical micropores, the scaffold with highly interconnected fibrous micropores significantly improved cell adhesion and upregulated osteogenic and angiogenetic-related gene expression in mBMSCs and HUVECs, respectively. Furthermore, in vivo implantation experiments showed that hierarchical scaffolds with fibrous micropores accelerated the bone repair process significantly. This result can be attributed to the high interconnectivity of fibrous micropores, which promotes the transportation of nutrients and waste during bone regeneration. Our work demonstrates that hierarchical porous scaffold design, especially one with a fibrous micropore structure, is a promising strategy for improving the bone regeneration performance of bioceramic scaffolds.Graphical

Transport and accumulation of litter in submarine canyons: a geoscience perspective

Marine litter is one of the most pervasive and fast-growing aspects of contamination in the global ocean, and has been observed in every environmental setting, including the deep seafloor where little is known about the magnitude and consequences of the problem. Submarine canyons, the main conduits for the transport of sediment, organic matter and water masses from shallow to abyssal depths, have been claimed to be preferential pathways for litter transport and accumulation in the deep sea. This is supported by ongoing evidence of large litter piles at great water depths, highlighting efficient transfer via canyons. The aim of this article is to present an overview of the current knowledge about marine litter in submarine canyons, taking a geological, process-based point of view. We evaluate sources, transport mechanisms and deposition of litter within canyons to assess the main factors responsible for its transport and accumulation in the deep sea. Few studies relate litter distribution to transport and depositional processes; nevertheless, results from available literature show that canyons represent accumulation areas for both land-based and maritime-based litter. Particularly, accumulation of fishing-related debris is mainly observed at the canyon heads and walls and is related to fishing activities carried out in and adjacent to canyons, while transport and accumulation of general waste and plastic along canyon axes can be related to different mechanisms, encompassing enhanced bottom currents, dense water cascading and turbidity currents, and is related to the proximity of canyons to shore. Global assessment of canyons exposure to riverine plastic inputs and fishing-related debris indicates varying susceptibility of canyons to litter, also highlighting that most of the canyons prone to receive large amounts of anthropogenic debris have not yet been surveyed. Considering that litter research in canyons is still in its infancy, several knowledge gaps need to be filled before the role of canyons as litter traps and the implication for benthic ecosystems can be fully understood.