Waste governance and ecological identity in Maui,Hawaii, USA

Recent scholarship examining environmental governance and solid waste management (SWM) in Hawaii has demonstrated the complexities of managing refuse in a remote, ecologically sensitive archipelago. Despite decades of calls for intensive recycling, composting, incineration, and other non-landfill disposal technologies, most islands of Hawaii continue to rely on sanitary landfilling. On Maui, a minor bureaucratic scandal centered on landfill permitting triggered the formation of an ad hoc entity intended to change SWM once and for all – the Solid Waste Resources Advisory Committee (SWRAC). I mobilize scholarship on waste governance, and in particular the ‘modes of governing’ framework to interrogate the decision-making processes of the SWRAC, evaluate their outputs, and consider the reasons for their ultimately limited impact on SWM governance on Maui. Based on a close reading of SWRAC meeting minutes and documents, I identify several factors, including the lack of clear goals or targets for SWRAC activity; a flawed, consensus-oriented decision-making process; and a failure to contextualize SWM within the broader environmental and cultural terrain of Maui. Taken together, I contend that these three problem areas underline the significance of seriously incorporating and harmonizing competing conceptions of ecological identity into both the ‘modes of governing’ framework and the scholarship of environmental governance more broadly.     

Solid waste management through multi-criteria decision making: using analytic hierarchy process as an assessment framework for the Hooghly district,West Bengal

Solid waste management (SWM) is a crucial service governed by urban local bodies (ULB). Hence, it is essential to identify challenges and opportunities in the SWM procedures and practices towards improved delivery of services. In this study, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been applied in the three sub-divisional towns of the Hooghly district, West Bengal (India), namely Chandannagar, Hooghly-Chinsurah and Serampore to analyze the existing SWM scenario. As AHP is a Multi-Criteria Decision Making tool, hence, it has been deployed by experts to come up with SWM performance index, clearly demonstrating the strengths and weaknesses of management strategies in selected study sites. This article further advances the significance of the AHP method by carving out multi-layered realities through the quantification of qualitative insights across various segments of waste management in the three towns. While interviews with waste management officials led to the formulation of key performance indicators and sub-indicators matrix, the obtained normalized weights brought to the fore the real engagement and actions executed by each of these towns in managing solid wastes. The application of this innovative AHP method ensured accuracy in the ranking system across performance of the specified ULBs. This AHP-induced situational analysis of SWM is not only significant in terms of policy formulation in the ULBs of the Hooghly district but has potentials to work at scales.

Graphical abstract

     

高放射性核废物深地质处置的环境问题

基于“多重屏障原理”的深地质处置是国内外公认的处置高放射性核废物的合适方法。本文从处置库建造与运行对环境的影响及环境对处置库反作用两方面探讨高放废物深地质处置中涉及的有关环境问题,并指出为确保处置库的长期安全性,必须特别注重选址及多因素耦合作用研究。     

Multi-criteria analysis for the identification of waste disposal areas

The municipality of Cachoeiro de Itapemirim (ES) is currently the largest domestic producer and exporter of marble and granite in Brazil. The processing of the rock, especially the sawing results in a large volume of waste, including the abrasives used during sawing and the off-cut pieces. Presently these waste products are disposed of without proper environmental protection and cause pollution to surface water and groundwater resources, including silting, an increase in hardness and increased aluminium values in the groundwater. In order to minimize the harmful effects of these practices on the environment, a research project was undertaken to identify potential disposal sites for the generated waste. A multi-criteria approach was followed during which a database was compiled of all the companies generating waste products and also including a baseline environmental study of the region, integrated analysis (multi-criteria analysis) of the restriction factors and the preliminary identification of possible disposal sites. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Why Delhi cannot plan its ‘new towns’: The case of solid waste management in Noida

Indian metropolises have witnessed the growth of ‘new towns’ on their peripheries over the past two decades, which have attracted investment as well as affluent residents. Most research on new towns examines the contentious politics of land acquisition and development, but less is known about urban governance and everyday life. This article focuses on solid waste management in Noida, a new town on the periphery of Delhi that has been unable to develop a large-scale waste management system, and we have two main foci. First, we show that the municipal government has sought to regulate waste collection, while waste processing and disposal have remained unregulated and this has discouraged the entry of medium and large-scale private enterprises. Second, we explore the contentious politics surrounding actually existing waste management practices that have emerged in the absence of significant public or private investment. Most waste is managed by small- and medium-sized enterprises in the informal sector, so associations that represent the so-called ‘new’ middle class must interact with informal-sector waste workers. These interactions result in moderately high levels of waste collection but waste disposal remains haphazard and this exposes the limits of the new middle class’ control over urban space. Ultimately, we show how municipal governance and the actually existing politics and practices of waste management contribute to the production of Noida’s socio-spatial landscape.     

A comparative study of waste landfill disposal in different countries

This study draws attention to the fact that natural processes can mobilize thallium （Tl）, a highly toxic metal, which may enter the food chain with severe health impacts on the local human population. A rural area having independent Tl mineralization in southwestern Guizhou, China, was chosen for a pilot study. Tl contents of soils extracted by HNO3 in the study area range from 35-165 mg/kg in soils from the mining area, 14-78 mg/kg in alluvial deposits downstream, and 〈0.2-0.5 mg/kg in soils from the background area. Tl contents in ammonium acetate EDTA-extracted fraction are 0.013-1.3 mg/kg, less than 1% of concentration in HNO3-extracted fraction. The amounts of Tl in NH4Ac-extracted fraction were thought to be more exchangeable and bioavailable, i.e., immediately available to plants and/or available to plant roots over a period of years. Tl concentration in crops exhibits species-dependent preferences. The enrichment of Tl in edible crop species decreases in the following order： green cabbage〉chili〉Chinese cabbage〉rice〉com. The highest level of Tl in green cabbage is up to 500 mg/kg （DW）, surpassing the values of Tl in the soils （13-59 mg/kg）. The enrichment factor for TI in green cabbage is up to 1-10 when considering the HNO3-extracted Tl, but the factor highly rises to 30-1300 while considering the NH4Ac-extracted Tl. The average daily uptake of Tl by the local villagers through consumption of locally planted crops was estimated at about 1.9 mg per person, which is 50 times the daily ingestion from the Tl-free background area.     

Households’ perceptions of private sector municipal solid waste management services: A binary choice analysis

The increase in the volume of waste materials discharged to the environment and deterioration of environmental quality in urban areas have been an issue of major concern for many governments in developing countries. To improve effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of waste management services some of the governments have involved the private sector. This study uses binary choice model to examine urban residents’ perceptions regarding solid waste management that involves the private sector and what could be done to improve the waste management services. The data were generated from survey conducted in 238 households in Ilorin in southwest Nigeria. The results show that most of the respondents were not satisfied with solid waste management in the Ilorin. Binary logit model estimates reveal that the respondents’ perceptions regarding waste management were determined by income, travel time to dump site and marital status, as well as awareness of laws regarding waste disposal and activities of sanitary inspectors. For solid waste management in urban areas to be sustainable, it requires participation of the government, private sector and residents. The results generated from this study can help waste management authorities in designing a more sustainable waste management strategy in Ilorin, as well as in other cities that have similar conditions.     

Radioactive waste management policies in seven industrialized democracies1

This paper provides an inventory of radioactive waste management policies in seven industrialized democracies: the U.S., France, Japan, West Germany, Canada, the U.K. and Sweden. Collectively, these countries account for almost 75% of the world's installed nuclear power capacity and over 61% of its spentfuel production. Special emphasis is given to siting procedures for both high- and low-/intermediate-level waste repositories. Although several low-level repositories are operating or under construction, only West Germany has selected a site for high-level waste disposal, at Gorleben. It is expected that siting decisions will be highly conflict-laden in each country except for pro-nuclear France. The procedures for resolving potential siting conflicts are briefly reviewed. Sweden's strategy of siting its low-level repository near Forsmark offshore beneath the Baltic seabed minimizes conflict and may become attractive to other nations. Also, transnational agreements may eventually be sought as radioactive waste disposal is an international problem. This paper concludes with a comparative discussion of siting policies and their potential impacts.     

Radioactive waste management policies in seven industrialized democracies*

This paper provides an inventory of radioactive waste management policies in seven industrialized democracies: the U.S., France, Japan, West Germany, Canada, the U.K. and Sweden. Collectively, these countries account for almost 75% of the world's installed nuclear power capacity and over 61% of its spentfuel production. Special emphasis is given to siting procedures for both high- and low-/intermediate-level waste repositories. Although several low-level repositories are operating or under construction, only West Germany has selected a site for high-level waste disposal, at Gorleben. It is expected that siting decisions will be highly conflict-laden in each country except for pro-nuclear France. The procedures for resolving potential siting conflicts are briefly reviewed. Sweden's strategy of siting its low-level repository near Forsmark offshore beneath the Baltic seabed minimizes conflict and may become attractive to other nations. Also, transnational agreements may eventually be sought as radioactive waste disposal is an international problem. This paper concludes with a comparative discussion of siting policies and their potential impacts.     

The impact of disposal and treatment of coal mining wastes on environment and farmland

In China, coal mining wastes have traditionally been dumped in cone-shaped heaps that have the potential to pollute air, soil and water environments and landscapes through dust generation, leachate production, self-ignition and as a consequence of an absence of vegetation cover. Since 1980s, the disposal technique for coal mining wastes has been changing and in many instances the wastes are now transported directly to subsided land as a fill to enable the reuse of that land. Thus, today, both coal mining waste dumps from the past and filled subsided lands are in existence. However, the comparative impacts of these different disposal techniques on the environment and farmland productivity have not been studied in detail. Using Dongtan (DT), Nantun (NT) and Xinglongzhuang (XLZ) coal mines as examples, the components of coal mining wastes and their potential pollution contribution to soil, surface water and ground water are tested in-situ. The results show that contaminants are released after self-ignition and weathering of coal mining wastes, but they are not above the allowable environmental standards. However, despite these findings, more and closer attention needs to be paid to the mobility, transportation and accumulation of these contaminants in the environment over time.     

Regional hydrogeological screening characteristics used for siting near-surface waste-disposal facilities in Oklahoma,U.S.A.

The Oklahoma Geological Survey has developed several maps and reports for preliminary screening of the state of Oklahoma to identify areas that are generally acceptable or unacceptable for disposal of a wide variety of waste materials. These maps and reports focus on the geologic and hydrogeologic parameters that must be evaluated in the screening process. One map (and report) shows the outcrop distribution of 35 thick shale or clay units that are generally suitable for use as host rocks for surface disposal of wastes. A second map shows the distribution of unconsolidated alluvial and terrace-deposit aquifers, and a third map shows the distribution and hydrologic character of bedrock aquifers and their recharge areas. These latter two maps show the areas in the state where special attention must be exercised in permitting storage or disposal of waste materials that could degrade the quality of groundwater. State regulatory agencies and industry are using these maps and reports in preliminary screening of the state to identify potential disposal sites. These maps in no way replace the need for site-specific investigations to prove (or disprove) the adequacy of a site to safely contain waste materials.     

Quantitative evaluation of the sustainability or unsustainability of municipal solid waste options in Tabriz,Iran

Iran has been seeking to develop fully functional waste management strategies to address the problem of its rapidly growing cities. This requires proper evaluation to determine the most appropriate strategies to meet the goals of sustainable waste management. Environmental Impact Assessment is capable of contributing towards this goal. However, such assessments tend to involve a qualitative approach in the evaluation of the sustainability or unsustainability of potential options. Therefore, a suitable quantitative approach to evaluate sustainability/unsustainability is necessary. The paper applies a mathematical model to evaluate the sustainability of unmitigated options for a municipal solid waste disposal site in Tabriz, Iran. This was based upon rapid impact assessment matrix evaluation of the options. The model’s application determines whether the options are sustainable or unsustainable. The model application results indicate that all of the options were considered as unsustainable in an unmitigated state. The results for Tabriz were then compared and contrasted with results obtained by the authors for another MSW disposal site near Tehran. Based on this, there are questions as to the potential value of current waste management strategies. The paper concludes by stating that economic costs are the largest single barrier to achieving sustainable waste management. Furthermore, it is important to develop solutions which disposes and manages waste in a manner conducive to the long-term sustainability of the environment–human relationship.     

Environmental impact and vulnerability of the surface and ground water system from municipal solid waste disposal site: Koshe, Addis Ababa

Geo-environmental assessment and geophysical investigations were carried out over the only functional municipal solid waste disposal site of the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, known locally as Koshe. The accumulated wastes from Koshe have impact on the surrounding human and physical environment since the disposal site was not designed. The study deserves emphasis because the city of Addis Ababa currently obtains a considerable portion of its domestic water supply from a well field developed not much farther from and along a groundwater flow direction in relation to the waste disposal site. It was found out that the leachates from the site contain high concentration of biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, chloride and sulphate besides high concentration of cobalt, nickel and zinc in the surrounding soils. The geophysical results have mapped weak zones and near-vertical discontinuities that could potentially be conduits for the leachate from the wastes into the deep groundwater system. Further, a zone of potential leachate migration from the landfill was identified from the electrical models; the location of this zone is consistent with the predicted direction of groundwater flow across the site. The results further suggested that the open dump site tends to cause increasing amount of pollution on the surrounding soil, surface and ground waters. Furthermore, it was observed that the Koshe waste disposal site has grown beyond its capacity and the poor management of the open dump landfill has reduced the aesthetic value of the surrounding environments. The need to change/relocate the existing waste disposal site to a more suitable and technologically appropriate site is emphasized.     

Environmental geological assessment of a solid waste disposal site: a case study in Sivas, Turkey

The selection of the disposal site is probably the most important step in the development of solid waste management. In site selection, geology plays a determining role. This study evaluates the characteristics of the environment on the basis of the geological, hydrogeological and geo-engineering properties of the solid waste site of the Sivas city, Turkey. The area is underlain by the Oligocene-Miocene rocks which have limited aquifer properties. Thin Quaternary alluvium and soil cover overlie the Oligo-Miocene rocks, which are represented as well graded sand and inorganic silt of low plasticity. The Quaternary alluvium and soil cover are classified as inorganic clays having a low plasticity and the permeability varies from 1.2×10⁻⁶ to 3.11×10⁻⁶ m/s. These values are much higher than 1×10⁻⁸ m/s, which is accepted for waste disposal standards. Seepage waters have a potential to pollute the ground water and the Kızılırmak River, which is 500 m to the southwest of the waste disposal area and because the disposal site is close to the river, the potential for flash flooding poses a high pollution risk. The waste disposal area must be covered by clay layers or an impervious artificial membrane. In addition, seepage must be controlled and removed from the site.     

Adsorption of Co and selected actinides by Mn and Fe oxides in soils and sediments

Iron and Mn oxides and associated radionuclides in soils and sediments from the radioactive waste burial grounds at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been selectively extracted using wet chemical techniques. Product-moment-correlation analyses have demonstrated that ⁶⁰Co and various actinides, principally ²⁴⁴Cm, ²⁴¹Am and ²³⁸Pu are dominantly associated with Mn oxides. Correlation coefficients between these radionuclides and Fe oxides and organic C are generally very low. The important role of Mn oxides in radionuclide adsorption is attributed to their unique surface and colloidal properties. The data illustrate the importance of the Mn oxide component of soils and sediments in controlling transition metal and actinide solubility.These results suggest two major implications for the disposal of radioactive waste. First, in order to minimize future ⁶⁰Co and actinide mobilization from disposal sites, a chemical environment in which Mn oxides are least soluble should be maintained. Second, the liberal use of Mn oxides in waste management operations might improve long-term retention of these radionuclides. Deep-sea Mn modules, which may in the future be mined for their trace metal contents, could serve as a ready supply of Mn oxide for waste disposal applications.     

Case studies in organic contaminant hydrogeology

The effective management of domestic solid waste and hazardous, toxic, and radioactive waste is a major problem in the area of environmental geology and water sciences over the world. This series of case studies of organic contaminants from both solid and hazardous waste disposal facilities provides examples of these problems. The facilities were investigated to determine risks and liabilities before acquisition, to determine the site hydrogeologic conditions for design of appropriate groundwater monitoring plans, and/or to determine the potential for groundwater contamination. The results of these studies and investigations by Waste Management Inc. (WMI) and its consultants have shown certain relationships in the distribution of organic pollutants to the different geologic and hydrogeologic charac teristics of each facility. In each of the case studies, all 129 priority pollutants were analyzed in private wells and/or monitoring wells at the request of regulatory agencies. The 31 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of the priority pollutant list were the majority of the organic compounds detected and these data are evaluated in each case study. The case studies are on disposal facilities located in glacial tills, carbonaceous weathered clay soils, weathered shale, limestone bedrock, dolomite bedrock, and alluvial and sedimentary deposits. A brief discussion of groundwater quality impacts and remedial measures also is included.Presented at the Second Annual Canadian/American Conference on Hydrogeology: Hazardous Wastes in Ground Water—A Soluble Dilemma. Banff, Alberta, Canada, June 26, 1985.     

Development of a master plan for industrial solid waste management

Rapid industrial growth in the province of Khuzestan in the south west of Iran has resulted in disposal of about 1750 tons of solid waste per day. Most of these industrial solid wastes including hazardous wastes are disposed without considering environmental issues. This has contributed considerably to the pollution of the environment. This paper introduces a framework in which to develop a master plan for industrial solid waste management. There are usually different criteria for evaluating the existing solid waste pollution loads and how effective the management schemes are. A multiple criteria decision making technique, namely Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), is used for ranking the industrial units based on their share in solid waste related environmental pollution and determining the share of each unit in total solid waste pollution load. In this framework, a comprehensive set of direct, indirect, and supporting projects are proposed for solid waste pollution control. The proposed framework is applied for industrial solid waste management in the province of Khuzestan in Iran and a databank including GIS based maps of the study area is also developed. The results have shown that the industries located near the capital city of the province, Ahwaz, produce more than 32 percent of the total solid waste pollution load of the province. Application of the methodology also has shown that it can be effectively used for development of the master plan and management of industrial solid wastes.     

The French experience in low level radioactive waste management

The Radioactive Waste Management Agency (ANDRA-FRANCE) is now operating a new facility in the eastern part of the Paris basin which is designed to dispose of one million cubic meters of waste.

The safety of the waste disposal is based on a multibarrier concept including waste packages, concrete disposal modules, site and closure operations.

Under normal conditions, confinement is guaranteed by the waste packages and the disposal modules, as they prevent the waste from being leached by rainfall or underground water over a certain period of time.

The site must bring an additional guarantee concerning the isolation of waste from water. Consequently, the chosen site must be located in an area where no natural disasters (landslides, earthquakes, etc.) can harm the isolating barriers. The geological, hydrogeological and chemical characteristics must allow us to minimize and control the transport of radionuclides within the ground. Finally, the chosen site must be in an area where it is easy to implement a system to monitor the environment.

A set of criteria guides the choice of site. The criteria include such factors as low seismicity, geotechnical stability, a hydrogeology that is simple to model, a location sufficiently above the water table and safe from the threat of flooding, good radionuclide sorption and the absence of any mineral or other natural resources of economic interest.

At the time of the closure of the disposal facility, the entire collection of modules will be covered by an impervious cap composed of clayey layers interbedded by sandy layers and overlain by humus to promote the growth of grass. The facility will then look like a succession of undulating green mounds.

A 300-year monitoring period will follow the closure. During this period, the water collecting networks and cap will be maintained and radioactivity in underground and stream water will be controlled.

We have selected the AUBE site as a case study to illustrate the French waste management experience. We will report on how the site characterization program has been calTied out, including the hydrogeological modelling which is being applied to both the operating and post-closure periods.     

Sulfur based hazardous waste solidification

Existing uses for sulfur are relatively advanced and offer limited opportunities to consume significant new supplies. Currently, sulfur is in net surplus on a global basis, and with environmental regulations, greater sulfur recovery from petroleum and gas processing is mandated. The outlook is clear: there will be substantial and growing surpluses in global sulfur supply in the foreseeable future. Sulfur prices are likely to be under pressure, and producers could face substantial and growing disposal fees. Therefore, new markets must be found for sulfur to avoid disposal crises. One potential new market is the production of sulfur-solidified concrete. This is a thermoplastic composite of mineral aggregates bound together with chemically modified sulfur. The product is more durable than Portland cement. There may be monetizeable benefits in reducing greenhouse gas emissions that would enhance the attraction of sulfur solidified cement applications. The main objective of this study is to evaluate experimentally the potential use of sulfur as a solidifying agent for hazardous waste. To achieve this objective, the study reviewed the sulfur concrete literature, analyzed locally produced sulfur, evaluated a number of sulfur polymer modifiers and physical stabilizing agents, designed a set of experiments and evaluated the produced product for its hydro-mechanical-chemical properties. The results indicated that the manufactured sulfur polymer cement is an excellent candidate for: waste management practices such as solidification/stabilization of hazardous waste; barrier systems for landfilling of hazardous waste; and waste water treatment plants.     

Experimental modelling of the near-field thermal regime in a nuclear-fuel waste disposal vault

Experiments have been performed to study the thermal performance of a backfilled disposal vault in which the waste containers are emplaced in boreholes and surrounded by a bentonitesand buffer.

The near-field thermal regime in a buffer-backfill disposal vault in which the nuclear fuel waste is emplaced in canisters, is studied by one-eight scale experimental models. The thermal performance of the buffer and backfill are examined in a thermal drying environment prior to the ground water recharge of the disposal vault.

The formation of shrinkage cracks in the buffer due to drying and the response of these shrinkage cracks to the rewetting condition and their influence on the near-field thermal regime are assessed.