Strategic planning of recycling options by multi-objective programming in a GIS environment

The twentieth century saw a dramatic increase in the production of urban solid waste, reflecting unprecedented global levels of economic activity. Most of the urban cities are facing problems of solid-waste collection, treatment, and disposal due to increasing population, rapid urbanization, industrialization, and commercialization. Learning lessons from the failures of the solid-waste management systems, it is felt that a systematic approach of solid-waste management is a desirable solution, which can be achieved only by a strategic planning approach for achieving a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Effective planning of solid-waste recycling programs is a substantial challenge for the current solid-waste management systems in developing countries like India. Due to the rapid depletion of landfill space and the continuing delay in construction programs of municipal incinerators, solid-waste management strategies have to be reorganized in the light of the success of recycling, recovery, and reuse of secondary materials. One of these efforts is how to effectively allocate recycling drop-off stations of appropriate size and how to design efficient collection-vehicle routing and scheduling programs in the solid-waste collection network. The present paper describes a multi-objective evaluation of the trade-off between the number and size of drop-off stations, population covered in the service network, average walking distance to drop-off stations by the population, and the distance traveled by collection vehicles. It is illustrated by the use of algorithms in a geographical information system (GIS) platform. A GIS-based model is proposed for the design of solid-waste system considering the waste generation, allocation, recycling options, and locating drop-off stations.     

罐装薯片包装的生命周期评价

对罐装薯片包装进行了生命周期评价,包括从原材料的获取、生产加工,工厂、消费者的运输,到包装容器的使用、二次回收使用,废弃物处理等包装的生命周期环节,对其能量消耗、环境影响等进行了评价。分析结果表明:纸铝塑复合包装的环境负荷主要体现在原材料的获取阶段,集中在燃料能源的消耗,其中纸材料加工的环境负荷要大于塑料与铝;填埋、焚烧、再利用这3种处置方式对环境的影响主要集中在化石燃料的消耗、土地占用和无机物对人体的损害上。因此,在维持现有结构的情况下,实行材料减量化和容器轻量化是提高包装环保适性最直接、有效的途径。     

Models for recycling electronics end-of-life products

Increasing environmental concerns about the disposal of mass produced products have resulted in efforts to take back end-of-life consumer products. Legislation aimed at forcing manufacturers to take back electronics products at the end of their useful lives has either been adopted or is impending in many countries. This, along with shrinking landfill capacity and the reluctance of communities to open new waste sinks underscores the importance of developing methods and models for the management of end-of-life materials and products. This paper reports a study of the reverse channels for recycling of electronics products. The economics of electronics recycling are modeled from the viewpoints of the generators, recyclers, and material processors separately. A variety of mathematical programming models, representative of the many ways in which the recycling industry currently operates, have been proposed along with numerical illustrations. Models integrating disassembly and material recovery decisions are also presented. These models can be used by recyclers and processors for optimizing recycling operations and thus contribute towards the economic sustainability of electronics recycling.     

Potential environmental gains from reducing food losses through development of new packaging – a life‐cycle model

Food losses are seldom included in life cycle analyses of the food packaging system, nor are they included in the debate on sustainable packaging. The development of packaging that decreases food losses does, however, provide an opportunity to reduce the overall environmental impact. In this paper, we present a model that calculates the environmental impact of the food packaging system as a function of food losses. The model can be used to analyse the potential environmental gains from developing packaging that reduce food losses. The model includes food production and processing, transports, packaging, retailer and consumer issues and waste handling. The results show that it can be environmentally motivated to increase the environmental impact of packaging, if necessary, when new packaging design helps to reduce food losses. However, the waste handling systems of food and packaging are important to consider if packaging are developed in order to reduce the environmental impact of the food‐packaging system. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Packaging Systems for Extended Shelf Life Milk

The aim of this study is to carry out a comparative analysis of the environmental impact of different packaging systems used for extended shelf life milk. The analysis, carried out exploiting the life cycle assessment approach, takes into account the packaging manufacturing process, the food packaging process, the transport phases and the end‐of‐life management of the different packaging systems. The packaging end‐of‐life is modelled by considering three possible options, such as recycling, thermo‐valorization with energy recovery and landfill. One litre of extended shelf life milk is used as the reference unit, while multilayer cartons, polyethylene terephthalate bottles labelled with shrink sleeve film and high‐density polyethylene bottles are analysed as the packaging types. The key characteristics of each component of the three packaging systems were either provided by packaging manufacturers or derived from data available in literature. The evaluation of the end‐of‐life impact was performed considering the Italian scenario, exploiting, in particular, the data provided by specific Italian consortia. Other data for the inventory analysis phase were extrapolated from the SimaPro databases (e.g. Ecoinvent or Plastic Europe Database). Cumulative energy demand and CML2001 were adopted as the impact assessment methods. The results obtained show that the multilayer carton system is the less environmentally impactful option for almost all the considered impact categories and that its environmental impacts are, on average, more than 12% lower than high‐density polyethylene system and more than 34% lower than polyethylene terephthalate with shrink sleeve label. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

南荻生态包装箱的全生命周期评价比较研究

目的 对南荻生态包装箱和传统木质胶合板包装箱的全生命周期进行环境影响比较分析,探索前者对后者的生态替代性。方法 文中基于生命周期评价(Life Cycle Assessment, LCA),使用ReCiPe 2016方法对2种包装箱的18种环境影响类型展开全生命周期的LCA研究。结果 南荻生态包装箱全生命周期环境影响单一分值为3.08 Pt,包装箱生产、运输和废弃物处置阶段占比分别为68%、8%、24%;传统木质胶合板包装箱全生命周期环境影响单一分值为3.61 Pt,包装箱生产、运输和废弃物处置阶段占比分别为75%、6%、19%;前者较之后者每功能单位减少14.7%的环境影响。结论 结果表明南荻生态包装箱整体环境表现优于传统木质胶合板包装箱,南荻刨花板用量的减少带来的环境效益最大,循环利用包装箱及其生物质,以及改进包装箱尺寸设计也是减少化石资源消耗的可能途径。在洞庭湖造纸业全面退出情境下,研究为决策者在技术和环境层面选择南荻的利用方式提供了依据。     

The Role of Household Food Waste in Comparing Environmental Impacts of Packaging Alternatives

This paper examines the environmental impacts of food waste and the influence that packaging alternatives can have on causing food waste. This paper presents the results of three life cycle assessment case studies on packed food products. The life cycle assessments were conducted for ham, dark bread and Soygurt drink (fermented soy‐based drink). In each case study, the environmental impacts of the products were assessed with different assumptions about the packaging sizes and alternative materials. The studies especially considered the environmental impacts resulting from food waste generated by consumers as a function of the variable packaging options. The food waste of other parts of the production chain of the studied products was also taken into account. A consumer survey was carried out to estimate the amounts of product waste generated in Finnish households connected to the three investigated products. The environmental impacts of the food products, household food waste and packaging were modelled by scenarios with varying rates of household food waste and different waste management options. The results indicated that the significance of the production and post‐consumer life of packaging was relatively low for climate change, eutrophication and acidification, in comparison with the production chain of the ham, dark bread and Soygurt. According to the results, packaging solutions that minimize the waste generation in households as well as in distribution and retail will lead to the lowest environmental impacts of the entire product‐packaging chain. Therefore, it is important to design packages that protect the food properly and allow the consumer to use the product fully. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attributes of packaging and influences on waste

An important area of focus for the reduction of domestic waste is packaging and food packaging specifically. At some point in the life of packaging in the consumers' home, the packaging goes through a transition from something of use, of value and of worth to the consumer to something that is no longer any of these. Being able to indentify attributes of packaging that might have an impact on this transitional point to change the use or value so that the packaging is re‐used, recycled or composted rather than being landfilled is very important in successfully diverting packaging waste from landfill. This research aimed to conduct a variety of tests to indentify attributes of packaging that have an influence on the eventual waste route and to determine what that influence was. The research included an extensive literature study looking at consumer test methods, current waste and packaging waste studies, and packaging design literature. This was followed by a series of four tests: ‘bin raids’, ‘digital diary’, ‘visual survey’ and ‘ethnography’. These tests were designed to determine how consumers would treat specific examples of packaging in an end‐of‐life scenario and what influences those decisions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Temperature development in a modern municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash landfill with regard to sustainable waste management

Municipal solid waste is treated in incineration plants to reduce the volume, the toxicity and the reactivity of the waste. The final product, municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash, was considered as a material with a low reactivity, which can safely be deposited in a MSWI bottom ash landfill, or which can be used, e.g. in road construction after further treatment. However, temperature measurements in MSWI bottom ash landfills showed temperatures up to 90 degrees C, caused by exothermic reactions within the landfill. Such high temperatures may affect the stability of the flexible polymer membrane liner (FML) and may also lead to an accelerated desiccation of the clay barrier. At the beginning of this study it was uncertain whether those reported results would be applicable to modern landfills, because the treatment techniques in MSWI and landfills have changed, bottom and fly ash are stored separately, and the composition of the incinerated waste has changed significantly since the publication of those results.The aim of this study was to gain detailed knowledge of temperature development under standard disposal conditions in relation to the rate of ash disposal, the variation of layer thickness, and the environmental conditions in a modern landfill.Temperatures were measured at nine levels within the body of a landfill for a period of nearly 3 years. Within 7 months of the start of the disposal, a temperature increase of up to 70 degrees C within the vertical centre of the disposal was observed. In the upper and central part of the landfill this initial temperature increase was succeeded by a decrease in temperature. The maximum temperature at the time of writing (May 2000) is about 55 degrees C in the central part of the landfill. The maximum temperature (45.9 degrees C) at the FML was reached 17 months after the start of the deposition. Since then the temperatures decreased at a rate of 0.6 degrees C per month.Temperature variation within each individual layer corresponds to the temperature of the underlying layer and the overall surface-to-volume ratio of the landfill. The temperatures in the uppermost layer are significantly influenced by the ambient temperatures.     

A novel approach to recycling of glass fibers from nonmetal materials of waste printed circuit boards

The printed circuit boards (PCBs) contain nearly 70% nonmetal materials, which usually are abandoned as an industrial solid-waste byproduct during the recycling of waste PCBs. However those materials have abundant high-value glass fibers. In this study, a novel fluidized bed process technology for recycling glass fibers from nonmetal materials of waste PCBs is studied. The recycled glass fibers (RGF) are analyzed by determination of their purity, morphology and surface chemical composition. This process technology is shown to be effective and robust in treating with nonmetal materials of waste PCBs. The thermoset resins in the nonmetal materials are decomposed in the temperature range from 400 °C to 600 °C. And the glass fibers are collected at high purity and recovery rate by the cyclone separators without violating the environmental regulation. This novel fluidized bed technology for recycling high-value glass fibers from nonmetal materials of waste PCBs represents a promising way for recycling resources and resolving the environmental pollutions during recycling of waste PCBs.     

考虑企业效益下的校园快递包装回收系统仿真研究

目的研究考虑企业效益下高校快递包装回收系统的系统优化问题,以改善高校校园因快递包装造成的环境污染。方法针对大学校园快递包装的回收特点,应用第三方企业回收的包装回收模式,引入包装破损率对包装进行分类回收,考虑再生效益对回收系统的影响,利用系统动力学方法建立校园环境下的快递包装回收模型。进一步,从快递包装平均重量与校企合作水平出发,设计4个不同仿真方案,通过VensimPLE仿真软件对模型进行验证,分析了影响快递包装回收效果的主要因素,并对主要影响因素进行了敏感性分析。结果实例验证可知,仅减小快递包装的平均重量对于高校快递包装回收现状改善效果不明显。通过增大校企合作水平影响因子、简化快递包装、提升学生环保意识相结合,可使校园被废弃包装量、废弃包装填埋量降低,企业回收效益明显,校企合作更加紧密。结论提高校企合作水平可以显著改善快递包装的回收效果,提升企业效益,同时减少包装平均重量可以有效控制校园废弃包装的累积速率与填埋量,对于发展绿色物流具有重要意义。     

Numerical modelling of the generation and transport of heat in a bottom ash monofill

Municipal solid waste is incinerated to reduce its volume, toxicity and reactivity. Several studies have shown that the resulting bottom ash has a high exothermic capacity. Temperature measurements in municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash landfills have found temperatures up to 90 °C. Such high temperatures may affect the stability of the landfill’s flexible polymer membrane liner (FML) and may also lead to an accelerated desiccation of the clay barrier. The purpose of this study was to gain detailed knowledge of temperature development under several disposal conditions in relation to the rate of ash disposal, the variation of layer thickness, and the environmental conditions in a modern landfill. Based on this knowledge, a simulation was developed to predict temperature development. Temperature development was simulated using several storage periods prior to the deposition and several modes of emplacement. Both the storage time and the mode of emplacement have a significant influence on the temperature development at the sensitive base of the landfill. Without a preliminary storage of the fresh quenched bottom ash, high temperatures at the bottom of a landfill cannot be avoided.     

Current research on the disposal of hazardous wastes

The Solid and Hazardous Waste Research Laboratory is one of six laboratories in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Environmental Research Center at Cincinnati, Ohio. The laboratory is responsible for research into new and improved systems of solid and hazardous waste management, development of technology, determination of environmental effects, and collection of data necessary for the establishment of processing and disposal guidelines. In the past, the laboratory concentrated on problems associated with municipal solid waste; but recently the emphasis has shifted, and present efforts are directed primarily toward the problem of industrial hazardous waste disposal on land. Under the solid waste program, investigations were initiated on the migration of municipal landfill leachate and leachate containment with synthetic liners. These studies have been underway for more than a year, but they will not be discussed here because of the present emphasis on industrial hazardous waste problems. Although none of our research projects is concerned specifically with the disposal of residues and sorbants generated during cleanup of hazardous material spills, much of the forthcoming information will be applicable to spill-cleanup problems. The extramural projects and program areas described here involve many activities that could be useful in spill problems.     

电厂灰渣库粉煤灰综合利用探讨

粉煤灰是燃煤电厂排出的固体废弃物,也是我国工业领域中排放量最大的固体工业废弃物.固体废弃物的直接抛弃或填埋,对环境造成污染和资源浪费,为节约资源、保护环境、发展循环经济,对局部地区电厂灰渣库粉煤灰有必要进行综合利用.     

Aerobic in-vessel composting versus bioreactor landfilling using life cycle inventory models

Potential environmental impacts associated with aerobic in-vessel composting and bioreactor landfilling were assessed using life cycle inventory (LCI) tool. LCI models for solid waste management (SWM) were also developed and used to compare environmental burdens of alternative SWM scenarios. Results from the LCI models showed that the estimated energy recovery from bioreactor landfilling was about 9.6 megajoules (MJ) per kilogram (kg) of waste. Air emissions from in-vessel composting contributed to a global warming potential (GWP) of 0.86 kg of CO₂-equivalent per kg of waste, compared to 1.54 kg of CO₂-equivalent from bioreactor landfill. Waterborne emissions contributing to aquatic toxicity is less coming from in-vessel composting than from bioreactor landfilling. However, emissions to air and water that contribute to human toxicity are greater for the composting option than for the landfill option. Full costs for in-vessel composting is about 6 times greater than for the landfilling alternative. Integration of individually collected commingled recyclables, yard wastes, and residual wastes with windrow composting and bioreactor landfilling produces airborne and waterborne emissions with the least environmental effects among the alternatives considered. It also yields greater energy savings due to the conversion of the landfill gas (LFG) to electrical energy than the option that diverts yard waste, food waste and soiled paper for aerobic in-vessel composting. However, this scenario costs 68% more than that where the commingled collection of wastes is integrated with in-vessel composting and conventional landfilling, owing to increased collection costs.     

新型环保胶带的研究思考

为贯彻落实新版“限塑令”的要求,符合国家绿色环保发展的主旋律,不可降解的包装耗材胶带将被禁用。目前行业使用胶带大部分为BOPP材质胶带,使用后不可降解,对行业生态环境保护造成较大压力,包装废弃物的回收后处理过程繁琐。本文重点讨论了行业新型环保胶带研究结果,对未来新型环保胶带发展提出思考建议。     

A system tradeoff model for processing options for household plastic waste

With the "Containers and Packaging Recycling Law", Japan has shown a firm conviction towards the promotion of recycling. Waste can be "recycled", i.e. resource value of waste material can be recovered, in many ways, from material recycling to energy recycling. Alternatively, waste can be reduced or disposed of in landfills. A system tradeoff model is developed from component process technology models of six different recycling and disposal options for household plastic waste processing: plastic pellet production, refuse derived fuel production, oil production, waste incineration to produce electricity, use of waste plastic as a coke substitute, and incineration for volume reduction. These technologies are compared with the case where all waste plastic is land filled. Models based on plant data, laboratory experiments, and theoretical considerations of scale effects and mass balances are developed to calculate the cost, energy consumption, CO₂ emission, and land fill occupancy. The models also calculate the valued products of each technology and convert them into cost, energy, CO₂, and landfill occupancy using life cycle inventory data. These values are subtracted from the outputs of the waste processing models to obtain overall performances for each technology. The overall tradeoff system model is then used to evaluate several scenarios of plastic recycling and disposal technologies in Tokyo. Electronic Publication     

农药包装废弃物的处理现状及对策研究

目的 破解农药包装废弃物污染难题，推进农药包装废弃物治理工作。方法 采用文献调查法总结农药包装废弃物的主要处理方式，介绍当前国内外农药包装废弃物的处理现状、主要技术和最新研究进展，分析当前农药包装废弃物处理中存在的主要问题，并给出推动农药包装废弃物回收的对策建议。结果 农药包装废弃物回收的主要问题有:回收意识淡薄、资金投入不足、监管手段有限、处理技术落后。推动农药包装废弃物回收的有效策略:落实主体责任、加大资金投入、变革监管模式、创新回收技术。结论 我国农药包装废弃物污染治理的整体效果依旧欠佳，其回收管理工作必须加以重视。     

高档白酒共享快递包装设计

目的 针对高档白酒快递包装在运输、配送、使用、回收等诸环节出现的产品破损及包装资源浪费等问题,结合共享包装的概念与特点,提出一款标准化、可折叠,并具有防伪、防盗功能的高档白酒共享快递包装创新设计方案.方法 通过市场调研深入分析高档白酒快递包装的现状,明确共享理念,并将其融入高档白酒快递包装中,从共享包装造型、结构设计、包装选材、显窃启功能、租赁和回收系统等方面探讨高档白酒共享快递包装设计策略,并进行创新设计实践.结果 方案采用环保材料以及标准化、易折叠的箱体结构设计,提高包装可循环使用频次,降低包装单次周转成本;在功能设计上,以内置气囊替代传统缓冲物,有效解决了内置产品的适配问题,在一定程度上提高了包装缓冲强度;显窃启辅助功能提高了包装的安全防护系数,极大地降低了包裹的失窃概率,使高档白酒快递包装能够做到绿色、安全的共享循环运输.结论 设计方案中的可循环高档白酒共享快递包装在满足快递包装基本功能的同时有效地解决了现有快递包装的资源浪费、安全性及适配性差等问题,为共享包装的创新发展提供良好的借鉴形式.