Journal articles on the topic 'Hazardous wastes Great Britain Management'

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1

Jiang, Bo Tuo, Yan Qiang Jia, Xiao Long Xing, and Xu Zhang. "Environmental Safety and Health Issues Relating to Hazardous Wastes Generated by Chemical Industries." Applied Mechanics and Materials 448-453 (October 2013): 209–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.448-453.209.

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The importance of chemical products in todays society is known, which can increase food production, improve the quality of life and extend the lifespan. However, their dangers are also obvious. In addition, a large number of chemical accidents, that produce chemicals, continue to take place in the chemical industries in spite of the great improvement in the safety management standard of worldwide chemical industries. Such accidents are taking place not only in the developing countries, but also in developed countries, which result in a lot of property loss, death and serious environmental issues with long term negative effects. Therefore, how to live with these substances and how to handle, use and dispose them safely have attracted much attention because chemical safety and risk management of chemicals have formed an international challenge.
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Cayumil, Romina, Rita Khanna, Yuri Konyukhov, Igor Burmistrov, Jumat Beisembekovich Kargin, and Partha Sarathy Mukherjee. "An Overview on Solid Waste Generation and Management: Current Status in Chile." Sustainability 13, no. 21 (October 21, 2021): 11644. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su132111644.

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The widespread generation of, ever increasing volumes of and the sustainable management of solid wastes are global issues of great concern. Due to wide variations in composition and associated complexities, significant efforts are required for their collection, processing and environmentally safe disposal in a cost effective manner. An overview of solid wastes is presented in this article with a specific focus on municipal solid wastes and industrial waste from the iron/steelmaking and aluminium industries. Key waste issues such as its sources, compositions, volumes, the factors affecting waste generation and waste processing are first discussed, followed by a further discussion regarding recycling, resource recovery, disposal and the associated environmental impacts. In a special case study, waste generation and management in Chile is presented in greater detail. Detailed information is provided on government initiatives and legislation for integrated solid waste management and its movement towards a circular economy. Measures include regulations on waste management framework which concerns the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes, persistent organic pollutants, the closure of mining activities and installations and restrictions on plastics disposal. With Chile being world’s largest producer of copper, significant efforts for mining waste management, its infrastructure and procedures are being put in place to reduce the environmental impact of the mining sector and its associated waste generation.
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Chowdhary, Anjuman. "Study of knowledge, behaviour and practice of biomedical waste among health personnel." International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health 5, no. 8 (July 23, 2018): 3330. http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20183056.

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Background: Healthcare wastes are of great importance due to its hazardous nature. As World Health Organization (WHO) indicated, some of healthcare wastes are considered the most hazardous and potentially dangerous to human health and pollute the environment. With this background this study was undertaken to assess awareness, behavior and practices healthcare personnel about biomedical waste, its hazards and management.Methods: This one cross-sectional study was conducted at S.V.B.P. hospital associated with L.L.R.M. medical college, Meerut. A total of 291 healthcare personnel who consented for interview were interviewed biomedical waste management rules and observed for biomedical waste management practices by using redesigned and a pretested questionnaire. The data was analysed by using SPSS software.Results: Awareness regarding bio-medical waste management rules was 67% in doctors, 60% in nurses, 57% among lab technicians, but the sanitary staff was not aware about this. Awareness about category of BMW, number, colour coding, disposed content, labelling and cover of waste containers and segregation of waste were more among nurses and lab technicians in comparison to doctors but minimum among sanitary staff. All the respondents (100%) doctors, nurses and lab technicians knew that HIV and Hepatitis B transmitted through Bio medical waste but their awareness regarding Hepatitis C and other diseases was very low. 74% of sanitary Staff did not know that these diseases could be transmitted through bio medical waste.Conclusions: Healthcare facilities should get their healthcare personnel trained from accredited training centers.
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Abaikyzy, Moldir, Lazzat K. Yerkinbayeva, Kulyash N. Aidarkhanova, Gulnar T. Aigarinova, and Nurzhan S. Baimbetov. "The Formation of Land Conservation Principles as the Framework for the Implementation of the Concept of Sustainable Development of Society." International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning 15, no. 8 (December 22, 2020): 1231–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.18280/ijsdp.150809.

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The development of land legislation in the context of globalisation, the desire of countries to more widely implement global and European standards of environmental policies, as well as the interest in the experience of legislative solutions to problems connected with the design and development of legal institutions in environmental protection in foreign countries, determine the relevance of this study. The purpose of the paper is to identify the main problems of land protection legislation and form on their basis the effective system of environmental regulation, combining administrative and legislative instruments with economic, regulatory and market mechanisms. Analysis of international legal acts is used as the leading research method. Considered the positive experience of legal regulation of the land issue of such democratic states as the USA, Great Britain, and Germany and other developed countries. The authors propose to introduce the Concept for the Protection of Lands from Pollution by Hazardous Substances, as well as the development and adoption of regional and national programs in which a separate section should address issues of land protection from pollution by hazardous substances. The practical significance of the study is determined by the need to integrate the land legislation industry into national environmental legislation.
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Kaithari, Dinesh K., and Mona Al Balushi. "RECOVERY OF GOLD FROM E WASTE." International Journal of Students' Research in Technology & Management 4, no. 3 (December 2, 2016): 44. http://dx.doi.org/10.18510/ijsrtm.2016.431.

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E waste production in great amounts and its problems, which challenge the field of waste and environment management stem from the increase in the production of electronic appliances, diversity seeking consumers and perishable products. The disposal of e waste into the environment is hazardous as they contain chemicals. The conventional methods of disposing these e wastes are irrelevant and have an adverse effect on the environmental conditions which is threat to life. Gold is one of the precious metals that can be extracted from the e waste. The present work aim to extract gold from e waste by aqua regia solution based hydro metallurgy method which includes a sequence of process that starts from the treatment of the e waste in HCL solution and ends up with the use of fire assaying technology to get the piece of gold. The outcome of the project successful with 0.05395gm of 23.76 karat and 99.01 % purity of gold extracted. X ray method is used to check the purity and karat of the gold.
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Vahidi, Hossein, and Abbas Ghavam. "Waste Management to improve of condition in Kerman Graduate University of Technology." Journal of Advances in Environmental Health Research 10, no. 1 (March 5, 2022): 2. http://dx.doi.org/10.32598/jaehr.10.1.1228.

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Background: Green management is a major factor contributing to the sustainable development and improvement of organizational performance levels. Therefore, the development of university waste management with a green management approach can improve university sustainability indicators' environmental status and quality. This study aims to evaluate the Kerman Graduate University of Technology (KGUT) status of waste management. Methods: In this study, using field visits, checklists, and interviews with managers and service personnel, the status of waste management in different KGUT buildings was investigated. A sampling of university waste was performed, and then the storage status of special wastes and tanks were examined. Finally, we tried to suggest solutions to improve the status of the waste management system. Results and discussion: In this study, using Analytical Hierarchy Process the indicators were prioritized. Also, sampling and physical analysis of university waste was performed, and the amount of waste production was compared with other universities. Results and Discussion: 21 indicators of impact on KGUT waste management were discussed and prioritized in three categories of educational, executive, and managerial measures. The per capita production of ordinary waste in the university was 233.5 grams per day, an average amount compared to other universities. Conclusion: The management of hazardous waste in the university needs more attention, and improving the storage system and its disposal is the priority of corrective measures. An important step that is of great importance is training staff and students in the field of waste management, which can pave the way for many changes.
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Zhang, Mingshun, Yitong Yang, and Chun Xia-Bauer. "Measuring Urban Low-Carbon Sustainability in Four Chinese Cities." Sustainability 13, no. 21 (November 7, 2021): 12281. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su132112281.

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Practices and research on measuring traditionally urban sustainability abound, therefore the challenge now is related to how the urban carbon issues are included into current measuring methods, thus there is a need to develop methods for measuring urban low-carbon sustainability. In this paper, a simple method, which is based on low-carbon sustainability index, is developed. The overall urban low-carbon sustainability index is the weighted sum of 11 single indices, and each single index is defined as the indicator assessing the development level against the baseline. The baseline is often the criteria or the minimum requirement of low-carbon sustainability. Case studies in four Chinese cities have put this method into practice, and the results show that all four selected cities fail to pass the testing of sensible low-carbon sustainability rule and they are all in weakly low-carbon sustainable development. Although the four cities have made great progress in their capacity building on pollution control and their capacities on wastewater treatment, main pollutants’ removal and household and hazardous wastes treatment are enough to meet the needs of local development, they are all facing the great challenges on using of sustainable energy, offsetting of CO2 emissions and adoptions of nature-based solutions. The method developed by this research is a useful tool for decision makers identifying whether the local development is not on a low-carbon sustainable path.
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Dehnavi, S., A. A. Abkar, Y. Maghsoudi, and E. Dehnavi. "A STUDY FOR REMOTE DETECTION OF INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENTS’ EFFECT ON RICE USING THERMAL IMAGES." ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences XL-1-W5 (December 10, 2015): 147–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/isprsarchives-xl-1-w5-147-2015.

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Rice is one of the most important nutritious grains all over the world, so that only in some parts of Asia more than 300 million acres allocated for cultivating this product. Therefore, qualitative and quantitative management of this product is of great importance in commercial, political and financial viewpoints. Rice plant is very influenced by physical and chemical characteristics of irrigation water, due to its specific kind of planting method. Hence, chemically-polluted waters which received by plant can change in live plants and their products. Thus, a very high degree of treatment will be required if the effluent discharges to rice plants. Current waters receive a variety of land-based water pollutants ranging from industrial wastes to excess sediments. One of the most hazardous wastes are chemicals that are toxic. Some factories discharge their effluents directly into a water body. So, what would happen for rice plant or its product if this polluted water flow to paddies? Is there any remotely-based method to study for this effect? Are surface temperature distributions (thermal images) useful in this context? The first goal in this research is thus to investigate the effect of a simulated textile factory’s effluent sample on the rice product. The second goal is to investigate whether the polluted plant can be identified by means of thermal remote sensing or not. The results of this laboratory research have proven that the presence of industrial wastewater cause a decrease in plant’s product and its f-cover value, also some changes in radiant temperature.
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Arnaud, Tonang Zebaze, Njueya Kopa Adoua, Nguetnkam Jean Pierre, Tchameni Rigobert, Kwékam Maurice, and Akang Ndelle Brown. "Geochemical Assessment for Trace Metal Contamination of Mining Wastes of Fel and Its Environs in Adamawa Region (Cameroon)." European Journal of Environment and Earth Sciences 3, no. 5 (October 20, 2022): 41–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.24018/ejgeo.2022.3.5.332.

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Mining waste due to gold exploitation has a great consequence for the environment and needs to be assessed where mining sites are developed for good sustainable environmental management because it is responsible for the release of massive amounts of hazardous metals. For this purpose, the diagnosis of the current state of the environment of the mining sites of Fel and its environs was carried out through physical and geochemical analysis to assess evidence of pollutant capacity. Physical analyses focus on the granulometry of wastes while geochemical analyses concern the assessment of the amount 10 Metallic trace elements (MTE) on 9 samples from three mining sites. The results of the granulometric analyses reveal heterogeneity and discontinuity in the sandy gravel texture of the waste. Geochemical analyses show that a fine fraction less than 80 μm presents the best geochemical result for all chemical elements. The geoenvironmental assessment of the wastes according to the Geoaccumulation Index (Igeomax=7,14), the Contamination Factor (CFmax=212,45), the Degree of Contamination (DCmax=252,86) and the Sediment Pollution Index (SPI), characterized by low polluted sediment (SPImax=4,07), made it possible to establish the high link between As and Sb with very high concentrations, thus extreme pollution of these elements in the mining waste of the study area, particularly in Foum, Mama Wassande and Fel. Strong to very strong positive correlations observed between As and Cu, Pb, Cd and Cr, suggest that these MTE originated from a common source of contamination. Therefore, these MTE should be assessed on groundwater to prevent and avoid or minimize their effect on human health in this environment.
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Kopynets, Ivan, Volodymyr Kaskiv, and Оleksii Sokolov. "Study of properties of dusty wastes from power generating plants of Ukraine." Dorogi i mosti 2021 (March 25, 2021): 94–101. http://dx.doi.org/10.36100/dorogimosti2021.23.094.

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Introduction. Disposal of recycled materials is targeted at saving the natural resources and reducing the volume of wastes that have to be disposed of in special landfills. Disposal is encouraged by many countries of the European Union. A key element in promoting of wastes recycling is the «polluter pays» principle, which has been included in all Community directives regarding management of safe and hazardous wastes. In order to encourage recycling, many Member States have adopted specific environmental legislation, in particular, the wastes disposal tax.Problem statement. Today, in Ukraine the issue of utilization of industrial wastes has not been solved, that is why a considerable part of them are in the dumps and pose a great risk for the environment; and only a small part of them is utilized in the construction projects [1], although there exists the «State Target Economic Program for the Development of Public Roads of National Significance for 2018–2022» [2] and the Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine [3] which regulate the use of local materials, including industrial waste during the construction of motor roads. At the same time, millions of tons of dusty wastes are being produced at the Ukrainian power plants as a result of coal combustion — fly ash and ash from a tailings dam.Purpose. Carrying out of research of ash from a tailings dam and a mixture of limestone material with the ash from the tailings dam on conformity with the requirements to fillers.Materials and methods. The ash from a tailings dam, a mixture of limestone material with the ash from a tailings dam and commercially produced limestone filler have been selected for the study.Results. The results of the research on establishing the possibility of using the dusty waste products from power generating plants for the production of asphalt mixtures are presented. Experimental studies have been performed to determine the physical and mechanical properties of the ash from the tailings dam with partial replacement by limestone material. The conformity of the studied materials to the requirements of national standards was determined.Conclusions. Studies for determination of grading, porosity, swelling and structuring ability showed that the tested ash does not meet the requirements of Table No.5 of DSTU B V.2.7-121 for porosity in the case of compaction of 40 MPa; a mixture 80:20 — for swelling of samples of the filler with bitumen; and the mixture 50:50 meets the established requirements by defined indicators. A significant swelling increase of the samples from the mixture of filler with bitumen may be the result of high content of clay impurities in the test materials.Keywords: industrial wastes, limestone material, ash, filler. physical and mechanical properties.
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Mishra, Manisha, and Deepa Srivastava. "Mycoremediation: A Step towards Sustainability." INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PLANT AND ENVIRONMENT 6, no. 04 (December 30, 2020): 298–305. http://dx.doi.org/10.18811/ijpen.v6i04.09.

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Mycoremediation is a new wave of cutting-edge technology in this era that incorporates fungi in nursing environment damaged by toxins. Instigating fungi to such contaminated places leads the way for the natural cleaning process. Waste treatment plants running on incinerators, exercising physical and chemical methods, are injurious to the health of organisms and the environment. They lead to life-threatening diseases and negative soil pollution. Eco-friendly and secure techniques are to be employed for their management. Microfungi, as well as macrofungi, help in this procedure. They degrade environmental wastes as heavy metals, aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated compounds, organic compounds by their extracellular enzymes without harming any natural component of soil. Demand and the need for reaching net-zero emission remain farsighted deed in the current scenario of rapid industrialization. Therefore, merging of the fungi with new techniques can speed up other processes of sustainable recovery of hazardous pollutants that may help in fighting against deleterious pollution levels. Their enzymes assert a great role and help in xenobiotic degradation rendering land and water clean and safe. Nevertheless, they do not have any special growth demand. White rot fungi and many mushrooms can grow on a wide range of substrates. The most common being sawdust, agricultural waste, and straw. Their biosorption efficiency helps to reclaim contaminated land. Ligninolytic enzymes uphold the mycoremediation process. In this review, we have encapsulated the mycoremediation of toxic substances by various genera and species of fungi along with the mechanisms involved. The aim is to precisely draw attention to the magnificently inherited traits of fungi that make them apt for the remediation process.
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Levan Gogodze, Levan Gogodze. "Solid Waste Recycling Issues in Georgia." Economics 104, no. 10-12 (December 12, 2021): 79–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.36962/ecs104/10-12/2021-79.

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Georgia has made many commitments by signing the Association Agreement with the European Union, including the development of an effective waste management program. Waste management policies should include issues such as: waste management, landfills, identification and classification of waste facilities, urban wastewater treatment and more. There are four types of waste: household waste; Medical waste; Biological waste and industrial waste. Each type of waste can cause great harm to the environment. The medical and industrial waste are especially dangerous. About 5-10 thousand tons of medical waste are generated in Georgia. There is less waste planning opportunities and experience at the municipal level. In small towns and rural settlements, there are not enough garbage collection containers and garbage trucks. With the economic development of the country, the amount of waste generated and collected is increasing. Like developing countries, solid waste management in Georgia is associated with challenges of national, regional and local importance, as well as financial and environmental problems. The important steps have been taken in recent years to rectify the situation: a system for the safe disposal of municipal waste in a landfill environment and health has been established in Tbilisi and the regions. There is less waste planning opportunities and experience at the municipal level. In small towns and rural settlements, there are not enough garbage collection containers and garbage trucks. With the economic development of the country, the amount of waste generated and collected is increasing. The Work has already begun on arranging new landfills. The Waste Management Code, accompanying by-laws, the National Waste Management Strategy (2016-2030) and the National Waste Management Action Plan have made it the preferred course for Georgia to become a country focused on waste prevention and recycling. Despite the positive changes, according to experts on the issue, the country still has a long way to go to achieve this goal. Several factors are particularly challenging: 1. Incentive mechanisms for waste prevention, reuse, recycling and recovery are being developed; 2. Waste processing companies should be established or strengthened; 3. Effective mechanisms for waste management costs (both for citizens and companies) to be developed; 4. An extended producer obligation should be introduced, which implies the responsibility of the producer and / or importer for the collection and treatment of specific wastes hazardous to humans and health. Key words: Solid waste, Garbage processing plants, Household waste, Medical waste, Biological waste, Industrial waste.
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Luhar, Ismail, Salmabanu Luhar, Mohd Mustafa Al Bakri Abdullah, Rafiza Abdul Razak, Petrica Vizureanu, Andrei Victor Sandu, and Petre-Daniel Matasaru. "A State-of-the-Art Review on Innovative Geopolymer Composites Designed for Water and Wastewater Treatment." Materials 14, no. 23 (December 4, 2021): 7456. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma14237456.

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There is nothing more fundamental than clean potable water for living beings next to air. On the other hand, wastewater management is cropping up as a challenging task day-by-day due to lots of new additions of novel pollutants as well as the development of infrastructures and regulations that could not maintain its pace with the burgeoning escalation of populace and urbanizations. Therefore, momentous approaches must be sought-after to reclaim fresh water from wastewaters in order to address this great societal challenge. One of the routes is to clean wastewater through treatment processes using diverse adsorbents. However, most of them are unsustainable and quite costly e.g. activated carbon adsorbents, etc. Quite recently, innovative, sustainable, durable, affordable, user and eco-benevolent Geopolymer composites have been brought into play to serve the purpose as a pretty novel subject matter since they can be manufactured by a simple process of Geopolymerization at low temperature, lower energy with mitigated carbon footprints and marvellously, exhibit outstanding properties of physical and chemical stability, ion-exchange, dielectric characteristics, etc., with a porous structure and of course lucrative too because of the incorporation of wastes with them, which is in harmony with the goal to transit from linear to circular economy, i.e., “one’s waste is the treasure for another”. For these reasons, nowadays, this ground-breaking inorganic class of amorphous alumina-silicate materials are drawing the attention of the world researchers for designing them as adsorbents for water and wastewater treatment where the chemical nature and structure of the materials have a great impact on their adsorption competence. The aim of the current most recent state-of-the-art and scientometric review is to comprehend and assess thoroughly the advancements in geo-synthesis, properties and applications of geopolymer composites designed for the elimination of hazardous contaminants viz., heavy metal ions, dyes, etc. The adsorption mechanisms and effects of various environmental conditions on adsorption efficiency are also taken into account for review of the importance of Geopolymers as most recent adsorbents to get rid of the death-defying and toxic pollutants from wastewater with a view to obtaining reclaimed potable and sparkling water for reuse offering to trim down the massive crisis of scarcity of water promoting sustainable water and wastewater treatment for greener environments. The appraisal is made on the performance estimation of Geopolymers for water and wastewater treatment along with the three-dimensional printed components are characterized for mechanical, physical and chemical attributes, permeability and Ammonium (NH4+) ion removal competence of Geopolymer composites as alternative adsorbents for sequestration of an assortment of contaminants during wastewater treatment.
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Haroun, EL Mahdi Ahmed, Tisser Khalid, Abdelazim Mohd Altawil, Gammaa A. M. Osman, and Eiman Elrashid Diab. "Potentiality of municipal sludge for biological gas production at Soba Station South of Khartoum (Sudan)." World Journal of Biology and Biotechnology 5, no. 2 (August 15, 2020): 11. http://dx.doi.org/10.33865/wjb.005.02.0300.

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Biogas production considered the most encouraging sources of renewable energy in Sudan. Anaerobic process of digestion is considered as efficient techniques of producing biogas. The process also a trustworthy method for treatment of municipal wastes, and the digested discharge could be utilized as soil conditioner to improve the productivity. This research work states at the option of using domestic sludge of the wastewater treatment plant in Soba municipal station (south of Khartoum-Sudan) to produce biological gas (biogas). A laboratory investigation was carried out using five-liter bioreactor to generate biogas for 30 days. The total volume of gas made was 270.25 Nml with a yield of 20 Nml of biogas/mg of COD removed. Chemical oxygen demand, Biological oxygen demand, & total solids drop produced were 89, 91 & 88.23% respectively. Microbial activity was declined from 1.8x107 (before starting the process of digestion) to 1.1x105 germs/mL (after completion of 30 days of digestion). This study offered a significant energetic opportunity by estimated the power production to 35 KWh.Key word: Sludge, municipal plant, organic material, anaerobic process, breakdown, biological gas potentialNTRODUCTIONIncreasing of urban industries style in the world has given rise to the production of effluents in huge amounts with abundant organic materials, which if handled properly, be able to end in a substantial source of energy. Although of a fact that there is an undesirable environmental effect related with industrialization, the influence can be diminished and energy can be tapped by means of anaerobic digestion of the wastewater (Deshpande et al., 2012). Biological wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) is a station for removal of mainly organic pollution from wastewaters. Organic materials are partly transformed into sludge that, with the use of up-to-date technologies, represents an important energy source. Chemical biological, and physical technology applied throughout handling of wastewater produce sludge as a by-product. Recent day-to-day totals, dry solids range from 60–90 g per population equivalent, i.e. EU produces per year 10 million tons of dry sludge (Bodík et al., 2011). Sludge disposal (fertilizers use, incineration, and landfills) is often explored since of increasingly limiting environmental legislation (Fytili and Zabaniotou, 2008). The energy present in sludge is obviously consumed in anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic Process is considering the most appropriate choice for the handling of organic effluents of strong content. This process upgraded in the last few years significantly with the applications of differently configured high rate treatment processes, particularly for the dealing of industrial releases (Bolzonella et al., 2005). Anaerobic process leads to the creation of biological gas with high content of methane, which can be recovered, and used as an energy source, making it a great energy saver. The produced gas volume during the breakdown process can oscillate over a wide range varying from 0.5 – 0.9 m3 kg–1 VS degraded (for waste activated sludge) (Bolzonella et al., 2005). This range rest on the concentration of volatile solids in the sludge nourish and the biological action in the anaerobic breakdown process. The residue after digestion process is stable, odorless, and free from the main portion of the pathogenic microorganism and finally be able to use as an organic nourishment for different application in agriculture. Sludge significant coming out from breakdown which allows to yield a renewable energy, that was cheap, obtainable, & no polluting. Sustainable development considered the production of biogas as environmentally friendly and an economic key (Poh and Chong, 2009).OBJECTIVES Sudan have huge tones of sewage sludge from domestic sewage water is accumulated daily in lagoon of soba sewage treatment plant, so this work, we were carried for energy production and treatment of sludge, which constitutes a plentiful waste which ever know any sort of handling after few years from establishing the station.MATERIALS AND METHODSExperimental apparatus: Anaerobic breakdown was done in five liters fermenter. The fermenter was maintained at 35oC in a thermostatic bath and stirred regularly. U shaped glass tube was connected to the fermenter, allowing the measurement of produced biogas volume and pressure. Water displacement technique was used for determination of the volume of produced biological gas (biogas) at the beginning of each sampling. Testing of the biogas combustibility was determined by connecting one of ends of the tube to a gas collection and storage device (balloon), the other end to a Bunsen burner. In the process of reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) to maximum dissolution in the tube the liquid must be a salty saturated acid solution (5% citric acid, 20% NaCl, pH ¼ 2) (Connaughton et al., 2006).Substrate: About 5L sludge containing culture medium were taken from the lowest part of the first settling tank in Soba station. The moisture content of initial substrate was 35%. The collected sample was preserved at 4oC prior to loading the biological reactor (Tomei et al., 2008). Table 1 showed the sludge features in the reactor with a loading rate of 16 g TS/L, (Connaughton et al., 2006; Tomei et al., 2008).Analytical Methods: The pH was controlled by using HANNA HI 8314 model as pH meter device. Assay was used for determination of Alkanility & Volatile fatty acids (Kalloum et al., 2011). The standard method of analysis was used for recognized the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) (Raposo et al., 2009). Titrimetric method was used for analyzing Volatile fatty acids (VFA). Alkalinity assay was used for determination of Total Alkalinity (TA). Oxitop assay was used for measuring the biological oxygen demand. Ignition method was used for measuring Volatile Solids (VS) by losing weight in dry sample at 550oC in the furnace, & Total solids were done to constant weight at 104oC (Monou et al., 2009). A method of water displacement was used for determination of the total volume of Biological gas produced (Moletta, 2005). Microbial species & analyses were determined by microbial standard assay. Sample analysis was done by explore of three replicates and the outcomes were the middling of these replicates. Startup of experiments continues until a bubble of gas was detected.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONMeasurement of pH: Figure 2 exhibited pH trends during 30 days with a drop pattern from 7.0 to 6.0 during the first five days; this was mainly because of the breakdown of organic materials and the development of (VFA). Then later, an increasing pattern in pH was noticed to 6.98, for the next week, then Steadying around this pH level was continued till the completion of the breakdown period which taken 30 days. Those out comes were also reported by other researchers (Raposo et al., 2008)Measurement of VFA: Development of VFA throughout 30 days was depicted in figure 3, an increase in volatile fatty acids up to 1400 mill equivalents per liter (meq/L) in the first ten days. This criterion of making of volatile fatty acid is typical to the researcher’s report of identification of hydrolysis in acidogenesis stage (Parawira et al., 2006). The decline in volatile fatty acids after the tenth day was owing to intake by bacteria which would relate to the stage of acetogenesis.Total alkalinity (TA): During the ten days, we observed rise in volatile fatty acids content followed by a drop in a pH in the same time (figures 4 and 5). Encountered to these alterations, an increase in the total alkalinity in the medium for reestablishing situations of alkalinity to the outbreak of methanogens stage (figure 4). Through all the digestion period the ratio of VFA/TA which was equal and lower than 0.6±0.1 were described in figure 6. These ratios designated the achievability of the procedure despite the essential production of volatile fatty acid (Chen and Huang, 2006; Nordberg et al., 2007). The anaerobic digestion process may be hinder by the production of volatile fatty acid.Biogas production: Pressure measurement and biogas volume were used for controlling biogas production. Figure 7 explained the changing in biogas pressure throughout the digestion period. quality of Biogas was obtained with minimum methane of 40% (Bougrier et al., 2005; Lefebvre et al., 2006). Total volume of biological gas production was 270.25 Nml. The yield of biological gas was 20.25 Nml/mg COD removed, which is in range of the others researcher report (Tomei et al., 2008). Biogas production can be calculated from the following formula (Álvarez et al., 2006): Biogas production= (Total quantity of biogas produced)/(Total solid).The COD and BOD removal: Chemical oxygen Demand (COD) and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) showed a significant reduction of 89% and 91% respectively (figures 8 and 9). Consequently these reduction in contaminants proved that anaerobic process of digestion was an operational technique for removal of organic pollution. Some researchers reported the same results (Bolzonella et al., 2005; Álvarez et al., 2006; Wang et al., 2006). Another criterion for proving the removal of organic pollutants was reduction of total solids (TS), where the drop approached 88.23% (figure 10). Some researcher’s reports approached the same drop (Hutnan et al., 2006; Linke, 2006; Raposo et al., 2009). Therefore it was possible to conclude that anaerobic digestion necessary showed decrease or reduction of organic pollutants rates because of the transformation of organic substances into biogas and accordingly led to the drop of chemical oxygen demand (COD). This could be explained in figure 11 by the comparison of the two techniques during the anaerobic digestion process. That means the chemical oxygen demand (COD) drop should be tailed essentially by Total solids drop (TS).Microbial activity: Figure 11 showed the microbial variation during anaerobic digestion. The total micro flora (total germs) declined from 1.8x107 (before starting the process of digestion) to1.1x105 germs/mL (after completion of 30 days of digestion). Moreover figure 12 obviously explained what was running during the process of digestion in the reactor, microbial species vanishing after the 30 days such as streptococci and Escherichia coli. Some researchers reports explained that there was some sort of relationship between physicochemical and the biological parameters of micro flora with total solid (TS). figure 13 described obviously this relationship of the drop of micro flora which go along with total solids reduction. This intended that consumption and a declining in the mass residue of organic materials created at the termination of digestion was the outcome of the transformation of organic materials into biological gas and also the sum of microorganism reduction. This attained result proved that the process of anaerobic digestion was a good process for decontamination (Deng et al., 2006; Perez et al., 2006; Davidsson et al., 2007).CONCLUSIONSoba sludge’s municipal station carried in this research paper demonstrated operative for biological gas production (biogas). During the first five days, breakdown of organic materials and the formation of volatile acids were started. Volatile fatty acids increased up to 1400 mill equivalents per liter (meq/L) in the first ten days, then started to decline in after the tenth day this owing to intake by bacteria which would resemble to acetogenesis stage. The biogas production lasted until the 21th day then starting decreasing till the last day (30 day) this due to instability of the culture medium of fermentation which became completely poor. COD and BOD showed a significant reduction of 89% and 91% respectively. Another criteria for proving of removal rate of organic pollutants was reduction of total solids (TS), where the reduction rate approached 88.23%. Total volume of biological gas production was 270.25 Nml. The yield of biological gas was 20.25 Nml/mg COD removed, which is in range of the others researcher report. The total micro flora (total germs) declined from 1.8x107 (before starting the process of digestion) to 1.1x105 germs/mL (after completion of 30 days of digestion). Study proved that process of anaerobic digestion was a good process for decontamination. Industries and will be usefulness for bioremediation in marine environment and petroleum industry.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe authors wish to express their appreciation to Soba treatment plant, for their financial support of this research.CONFLICT OF INTERESTThe authors wish to express their appreciation to Soba treatment plant, for their financial support of this research.REFERENCES Álvarez, J., I. Ruiz, M. Gómez, J. Presas and M. Soto, 2006. Start-up alternatives and performance of an uasb pilot plant treating diluted municipal wastewater at low temperature. Bioresource technology, 97(14): 1640-1649.Bodík, I., S. Sedláček, M. Kubaská and M. Hutňan, 2011. Biogas production in municipal wastewater treatment plants–current status in eu with a focus on the Slovak Republic. Chemical biochemical engineering quarterly, 25(3): 335-340.Bolzonella, D., P. Pavan, P. Battistoni and F. Cecchi, 2005. Mesophilic anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge: Influence of the solid retention time in the wastewater treatment process. Process biochemistry, 40(3-4): 1453-1460.Bougrier, C., H. Carrere and J. Delgenes, 2005. Solubilisation of waste-activated sludge by ultrasonic treatment. Chemical engineering journal, 106(2): 163-169.Chen, T.-H. and J.-L. Huang, 2006. Anaerobic treatment of poultry mortality in a temperature-phased leachbed–uasb system. Bioresource technology, 97(12): 1398-1410.Connaughton, S., G. Collins and V. O’Flaherty, 2006. Psychrophilic and mesophilic anaerobic digestion of brewery effluent: A comparative study. Water research, 40(13): 2503-2510.Davidsson, Å., C. Gruvberger, T. H. Christensen, T. L. Hansen and J. la Cour Jansen, 2007. Methane yield in source-sorted organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Waste management, 27(3): 406-414.Deng, L.-W., P. Zheng and Z.-A. Chen, 2006. Anaerobic digestion and post-treatment of swine wastewater using ic–sbr process with bypass of raw wastewater. Process biochemistry, 41(4): 965-969.Deshpande, D., P. Patil and S. Anekar, 2012. Biomethanation of dairy waste. Research journal of chemical sciences, 2(4): 35-39.Fytili, D. and A. Zabaniotou, 2008. Utilization of sewage sludge in eu application of old and new methods—a review. Renewable sustainable energy reviews, 12(1): 116-140.Hutnan, M., M. Drtil and A. Kalina, 2006. Anaerobic stabilisation of sludge produced during municipal wastewater treatment by electrocoagulation. Journal of hazardous materials, 131(1-3): 163-169.Kalloum, S., H. Bouabdessalem, A. Touzi, A. Iddou and M. Ouali, 2011. Biogas production from the sludge of the municipal wastewater treatment plant of Adrar city (Southwest of Algeria). Biomass bioenergy, 35(7): 2554-2560.Lefebvre, O., N. Vasudevan, M. Torrijos, K. Thanasekaran and R. Moletta, 2006. Anaerobic digestion of tannery soak liquor with an aerobic post-treatment. Water research, 40(7): 1492-1500.Linke, B., 2006. Kinetic study of thermophilic anaerobic digestion of solid wastes from potato processing. Biomass bioenergy, 30(10): 892-896.Moletta, M., 2005. Characterization of the airborne microbial diversity of biogas. In: PhD diss. Montpellier 2.Monou, M., N. Kythreotou, D. Fatta and S. Smith, 2009. Rapid screening procedure to optimise the anaerobic codigestion of industrial biowastes and agricultural livestock wastes in cyprus. Waste management, 29(2): 712-720.Nordberg, Å., Å. Jarvis, B. Stenberg, B. Mathisen and B. H. Svensson, 2007. Anaerobic digestion of alfalfa silage with recirculation of process liquid. Bioresource technology, 98(1): 104-111.Parawira, W., M. Murto, R. Zvauya and B. Mattiasson, 2006. Comparative performance of a uasb reactor and an anaerobic packed-bed reactor when treating potato waste leachate. Renewable energy, 31(6): 893-903.Perez, M., R. Rodriguez-Cano, L. Romero and D. Sales, 2006. Anaerobic thermophilic digestion of cutting oil wastewater: Effect of co-substrate. Biochemical engineering journal, 29(3): 250-257.Poh, P. and M. Chong, 2009. Development of anaerobic digestion methods for palm oil mill effluent (pome) treatment. Bioresource technology, 100(1): 1-9.Raposo, F., R. Borja, M. Martín, A. Martín, M. De la Rubia and B. Rincón, 2009. Influence of inoculum–substrate ratio on the anaerobic digestion of sunflower oil cake in batch mode: Process stability and kinetic evaluation. Chemical engineering journal, 149(1-3): 70-77.Raposo, F., R. Borja, B. Rincon and A. Jimenez, 2008. Assessment of process control parameters in the biochemical methane potential of sunflower oil cake. Biomass bioenergy, 32(12): 1235-1244.Tomei, M., C. Braguglia and G. Mininni, 2008. Anaerobic degradation kinetics of particulate organic matter in untreated and sonicated sewage sludge: Role of the inoculum. Bioresource technology, 99(14): 6119-6126.Wang, J., D. Shen and Y. Xu, 2006. Effect of acidification percentage and volatile organic acids on the anaerobic biological process in simulated landfill bioreactors. Process biochemistry, 41(7): 1677-1681.
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"EVALUATION OF HAZARDOUS MEDICAL WASTES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN GREAT CAIRO GOVERNORATES." Journal of Environmental Science 46, no. 2 (November 1, 2019): 1–250. http://dx.doi.org/10.21608/jes.2019.69641.

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Mohamed Kamel Alay, Nizam Mahmoud El-Ashgar. "The Reality of Storage and Disposal of Hazardous Medical Waste in Al-Shifa Medical Complex in the Gaza: واقع التخزين والتخلص من النفايات الطبية الخطرة في مجمع الشفاء الطبي في قطاع غزة." مجلة إدارة المخاطر والأزمات 1, no. 3 (September 30, 2019). http://dx.doi.org/10.26389/ajsrp.m220919.

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This research study aims to identify the sources of medical waste in Al-Shifa Medical Complex, the ways of storing it, the disposal mechanisms, the storage places and conditions for the management of medical waste in times of crisis and disaster. The researcher used a descriptive approach to reach the results of the study. The study tool was a personal interview with the employees of Al-Shifa Medical Complex. The study concluded that the classification of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes is not properly carried out, that the temporary collection and storage sites used within the hospital do not conform to WHO specifications. The study concluded also, these wastes constitute a great danger and many problems suffered by the Palestinian society. The study recommended the need to raise the level of cooperation among the concerned authorities in the storage of hazardous medical waste and to establish a special record for each type of medical waste and storage methods.
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"A Study on Socio Economic Implications of E Waste Management." Advance in Environmental Waste Management & Recycling 3, no. 2 (June 20, 2020). http://dx.doi.org/10.33140/aewmr.03.02.09.

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In the 21st Century, the information and communication revolution has brought remarkable changes in the way we organize our lives. The development in communication and technology in India has a great impact on our economy, industries and life style of people. Initially, we dealt with record players, radios, VCRs and black-and-white televisions; followed by CD and DVD. Air conditioners, air coolers, cellular phones, refrigerators, computers, laptops, power bank and many other gadgets arrived in the Indian market and in the hands of common man. Electronics have become part of the throw away culture of developed countries. This is not an exception even in the developing countries. Electronic gadgets are meant to make our lives comfortable, happier and simpler, but they contain poisonous toxic substances, their disposal and recycling becomes a health nightmare. These have led to various problems including the problem of huge amount of hazardous waste and other wastes generated from electric products. Over the past two decades, the global market of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) continues to grow exponentially, while the life span of those products becomes shorter and shorter. Due to Rapid economic growth, urbanization and industrialization, demand for consumer goods, has been increased for both the consumption and the production of EEE. Any improperly disposed electronics can be classified as E-waste. E-waste basically comprises electronic goods that are not fit for their original use.
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18

Hindiyeh, Muna, Mustafa Jaradat, Aiman Albatayneh, Batool Alabdellat, Yazan Al-Mitwali, and Bashar Hammad. "Sustainable Green University: Waste Auditing, German Jordanian University as a Case Study." Frontiers in Built Environment 8 (April 26, 2022). http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2022.884656.

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In order to get on the path of sustainable development as a society as a whole, a great transformation is required. Universities are embedded in society and networked with it through various forms of interaction; they influence social discourses and often have a decisive influence on them. As educational institutions, universities have to take a critical stance on the state of our earth and actively fulfill their responsibility. The German Jordanian University (GJU), like any other university, produces solid and hazardous waste. A waste audit was done to identify the waste streams and the opportunities for reinforcing waste reduction, recycling, and composition while enhancing the comprehensive sustainability of a waste management program. The results showed that an average of 2,500 kg of waste was produced per week. The composition of the waste generated at the GJU main campus was 1,051 kg (41%) for paper and cardboard, 875 kg (35%) for plastics, 325 kg (13%) for biowaste, and 275 kg for other wastes. The performed UI GreenMetric showed high potential in the programs to reduce the use of paper and plastic on campus and the treatment of toxic waste with a score of 75 points. The results of this study indicate high potential in the recycling program for university waste, organic and inorganic waste treatment, and sewage disposal. The results for these indicators were moderate, a score of 75 points out of 300 points. Thus, more focus and actions should be placed on these indicators to enhance a sustainable green campus.
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Hindiyeh, Muna, Mustafa Jaradat, Aiman Albatayneh, Batool Alabdellat, Yazan Al-Mitwali, and Bashar Hammad. "Sustainable Green University: Waste Auditing, German Jordanian University as a Case Study." Frontiers in Built Environment 8 (April 26, 2022). http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2022.884656.

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In order to get on the path of sustainable development as a society as a whole, a great transformation is required. Universities are embedded in society and networked with it through various forms of interaction; they influence social discourses and often have a decisive influence on them. As educational institutions, universities have to take a critical stance on the state of our earth and actively fulfill their responsibility. The German Jordanian University (GJU), like any other university, produces solid and hazardous waste. A waste audit was done to identify the waste streams and the opportunities for reinforcing waste reduction, recycling, and composition while enhancing the comprehensive sustainability of a waste management program. The results showed that an average of 2,500 kg of waste was produced per week. The composition of the waste generated at the GJU main campus was 1,051 kg (41%) for paper and cardboard, 875 kg (35%) for plastics, 325 kg (13%) for biowaste, and 275 kg for other wastes. The performed UI GreenMetric showed high potential in the programs to reduce the use of paper and plastic on campus and the treatment of toxic waste with a score of 75 points. The results of this study indicate high potential in the recycling program for university waste, organic and inorganic waste treatment, and sewage disposal. The results for these indicators were moderate, a score of 75 points out of 300 points. Thus, more focus and actions should be placed on these indicators to enhance a sustainable green campus.
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20

Maxwell, Richard, and Toby Miller. "The Real Future of the Media." M/C Journal 15, no. 3 (June 27, 2012). http://dx.doi.org/10.5204/mcj.537.

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When George Orwell encountered ideas of a technological utopia sixty-five years ago, he acted the grumpy middle-aged man Reading recently a batch of rather shallowly optimistic “progressive” books, I was struck by the automatic way in which people go on repeating certain phrases which were fashionable before 1914. Two great favourites are “the abolition of distance” and “the disappearance of frontiers”. I do not know how often I have met with the statements that “the aeroplane and the radio have abolished distance” and “all parts of the world are now interdependent” (1944). It is worth revisiting the old boy’s grumpiness, because the rhetoric he so niftily skewers continues in our own time. Facebook features “Peace on Facebook” and even claims that it can “decrease world conflict” through inter-cultural communication. Twitter has announced itself as “a triumph of humanity” (“A Cyber-House” 61). Queue George. In between Orwell and latter-day hoody cybertarians, a whole host of excitable public intellectuals announced the impending end of materiality through emergent media forms. Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, Daniel Bell, Ithiel de Sola Pool, George Gilder, Alvin Toffler—the list of 1960s futurists goes on and on. And this wasn’t just a matter of punditry: the OECD decreed the coming of the “information society” in 1975 and the European Union (EU) followed suit in 1979, while IBM merrily declared an “information age” in 1977. Bell theorized this technological utopia as post-ideological, because class would cease to matter (Mattelart). Polluting industries seemingly no longer represented the dynamic core of industrial capitalism; instead, market dynamism radiated from a networked, intellectual core of creative and informational activities. The new information and knowledge-based economies would rescue First World hegemony from an “insurgent world” that lurked within as well as beyond itself (Schiller). Orwell’s others and the Cold-War futurists propagated one of the most destructive myths shaping both public debate and scholarly studies of the media, culture, and communication. They convinced generations of analysts, activists, and arrivistes that the promises and problems of the media could be understood via metaphors of the environment, and that the media were weightless and virtual. The famous medium they wished us to see as the message —a substance as vital to our wellbeing as air, water, and soil—turned out to be no such thing. Today’s cybertarians inherit their anti-Marxist, anti-materialist positions, as a casual glance at any new media journal, culture-industry magazine, or bourgeois press outlet discloses. The media are undoubtedly important instruments of social cohesion and fragmentation, political power and dissent, democracy and demagoguery, and other fraught extensions of human consciousness. But talk of media systems as equivalent to physical ecosystems—fashionable among marketers and media scholars alike—is predicated on the notion that they are environmentally benign technologies. This has never been true, from the beginnings of print to today’s cloud-covered computing. Our new book Greening the Media focuses on the environmental impact of the media—the myriad ways that media technology consumes, despoils, and wastes natural resources. We introduce ideas, stories, and facts that have been marginal or absent from popular, academic, and professional histories of media technology. Throughout, ecological issues have been at the core of our work and we immodestly think the same should apply to media communications, and cultural studies more generally. We recognize that those fields have contributed valuable research and teaching that address environmental questions. For instance, there is an abundant literature on representations of the environment in cinema, how to communicate environmental messages successfully, and press coverage of climate change. That’s not enough. You may already know that media technologies contain toxic substances. You may have signed an on-line petition protesting the hazardous and oppressive conditions under which workers assemble cell phones and computers. But you may be startled, as we were, by the scale and pervasiveness of these environmental risks. They are present in and around every site where electronic and electric devices are manufactured, used, and thrown away, poisoning humans, animals, vegetation, soil, air and water. We are using the term “media” as a portmanteau word to cover a multitude of cultural and communications machines and processes—print, film, radio, television, information and communications technologies (ICT), and consumer electronics (CE). This is not only for analytical convenience, but because there is increasing overlap between the sectors. CE connect to ICT and vice versa; televisions resemble computers; books are read on telephones; newspapers are written through clouds; and so on. Cultural forms and gadgets that were once separate are now linked. The currently fashionable notion of convergence doesn’t quite capture the vastness of this integration, which includes any object with a circuit board, scores of accessories that plug into it, and a global nexus of labor and environmental inputs and effects that produce and flow from it. In 2007, a combination of ICT/CE and media production accounted for between 2 and 3 percent of all greenhouse gases emitted around the world (“Gartner Estimates,”; International Telecommunication Union; Malmodin et al.). Between twenty and fifty million tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) are generated annually, much of it via discarded cell phones and computers, which affluent populations throw out regularly in order to buy replacements. (Presumably this fits the narcissism of small differences that distinguishes them from their own past.) E-waste is historically produced in the Global North—Australasia, Western Europe, Japan, and the US—and dumped in the Global South—Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, Southern and Southeast Asia, and China. It takes the form of a thousand different, often deadly, materials for each electrical and electronic gadget. This trend is changing as India and China generate their own media detritus (Robinson; Herat). Enclosed hard drives, backlit screens, cathode ray tubes, wiring, capacitors, and heavy metals pose few risks while these materials remain encased. But once discarded and dismantled, ICT/CE have the potential to expose workers and ecosystems to a morass of toxic components. Theoretically, “outmoded” parts could be reused or swapped for newer parts to refurbish devices. But items that are defined as waste undergo further destruction in order to collect remaining parts and valuable metals, such as gold, silver, copper, and rare-earth elements. This process causes serious health risks to bones, brains, stomachs, lungs, and other vital organs, in addition to birth defects and disrupted biological development in children. Medical catastrophes can result from lead, cadmium, mercury, other heavy metals, poisonous fumes emitted in search of precious metals, and such carcinogenic compounds as polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxin, polyvinyl chloride, and flame retardants (Maxwell and Miller 13). The United States’ Environmental Protection Agency estimates that by 2007 US residents owned approximately three billion electronic devices, with an annual turnover rate of 400 million units, and well over half such purchases made by women. Overall CE ownership varied with age—adults under 45 typically boasted four gadgets; those over 65 made do with one. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) says US$145 billion was expended in the sector in 2006 in the US alone, up 13% on the previous year. The CEA refers joyously to a “consumer love affair with technology continuing at a healthy clip.” In the midst of a recession, 2009 saw $165 billion in sales, and households owned between fifteen and twenty-four gadgets on average. By 2010, US$233 billion was spent on electronic products, three-quarters of the population owned a computer, nearly half of all US adults owned an MP3 player, and 85% had a cell phone. By all measures, the amount of ICT/CE on the planet is staggering. As investigative science journalist, Elizabeth Grossman put it: “no industry pushes products into the global market on the scale that high-tech electronics does” (Maxwell and Miller 2). In 2007, “of the 2.25 million tons of TVs, cell phones and computer products ready for end-of-life management, 18% (414,000 tons) was collected for recycling and 82% (1.84 million tons) was disposed of, primarily in landfill” (Environmental Protection Agency 1). Twenty million computers fell obsolete across the US in 1998, and the rate was 130,000 a day by 2005. It has been estimated that the five hundred million personal computers discarded in the US between 1997 and 2007 contained 6.32 billion pounds of plastics, 1.58 billion pounds of lead, three million pounds of cadmium, 1.9 million pounds of chromium, and 632000 pounds of mercury (Environmental Protection Agency; Basel Action Network and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition 6). The European Union is expected to generate upwards of twelve million tons annually by 2020 (Commission of the European Communities 17). While refrigerators and dangerous refrigerants account for the bulk of EU e-waste, about 44% of the most toxic e-waste measured in 2005 came from medium-to-small ICT/CE: computer monitors, TVs, printers, ink cartridges, telecommunications equipment, toys, tools, and anything with a circuit board (Commission of the European Communities 31-34). Understanding the enormity of the environmental problems caused by making, using, and disposing of media technologies should arrest our enthusiasm for them. But intellectual correctives to the “love affair” with technology, or technophilia, have come and gone without establishing much of a foothold against the breathtaking flood of gadgets and the propaganda that proclaims their awe-inspiring capabilities.[i] There is a peculiar enchantment with the seeming magic of wireless communication, touch-screen phones and tablets, flat-screen high-definition televisions, 3-D IMAX cinema, mobile computing, and so on—a totemic, quasi-sacred power that the historian of technology David Nye has named the technological sublime (Nye Technological Sublime 297).[ii] We demonstrate in our book why there is no place for the technological sublime in projects to green the media. But first we should explain why such symbolic power does not accrue to more mundane technologies; after all, for the time-strapped cook, a pressure cooker does truly magical things. Three important qualities endow ICT/CE with unique symbolic potency—virtuality, volume, and novelty. The technological sublime of media technology is reinforced by the “virtual nature of much of the industry’s content,” which “tends to obscure their responsibility for a vast proliferation of hardware, all with high levels of built-in obsolescence and decreasing levels of efficiency” (Boyce and Lewis 5). Planned obsolescence entered the lexicon as a new “ethics” for electrical engineering in the 1920s and ’30s, when marketers, eager to “habituate people to buying new products,” called for designs to become quickly obsolete “in efficiency, economy, style, or taste” (Grossman 7-8).[iii] This defines the short lifespan deliberately constructed for computer systems (drives, interfaces, operating systems, batteries, etc.) by making tiny improvements incompatible with existing hardware (Science and Technology Council of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 33-50; Boyce and Lewis). With planned obsolescence leading to “dizzying new heights” of product replacement (Rogers 202), there is an overstated sense of the novelty and preeminence of “new” media—a “cult of the present” is particularly dazzled by the spread of electronic gadgets through globalization (Mattelart and Constantinou 22). References to the symbolic power of media technology can be found in hymnals across the internet and the halls of academe: technologies change us, the media will solve social problems or create new ones, ICTs transform work, monopoly ownership no longer matters, journalism is dead, social networking enables social revolution, and the media deliver a cleaner, post-industrial, capitalism. Here is a typical example from the twilight zone of the technological sublime (actually, the OECD): A major feature of the knowledge-based economy is the impact that ICTs have had on industrial structure, with a rapid growth of services and a relative decline of manufacturing. Services are typically less energy intensive and less polluting, so among those countries with a high and increasing share of services, we often see a declining energy intensity of production … with the emergence of the Knowledge Economy ending the old linear relationship between output and energy use (i.e. partially de-coupling growth and energy use) (Houghton 1) This statement mixes half-truths and nonsense. In reality, old-time, toxic manufacturing has moved to the Global South, where it is ascendant; pollution levels are rising worldwide; and energy consumption is accelerating in residential and institutional sectors, due almost entirely to ICT/CE usage, despite advances in energy conservation technology (a neat instance of the age-old Jevons Paradox). In our book we show how these are all outcomes of growth in ICT/CE, the foundation of the so-called knowledge-based economy. ICT/CE are misleadingly presented as having little or no material ecological impact. In the realm of everyday life, the sublime experience of electronic machinery conceals the physical work and material resources that go into them, while the technological sublime makes the idea that more-is-better palatable, axiomatic; even sexy. In this sense, the technological sublime relates to what Marx called “the Fetishism which attaches itself to the products of labour” once they are in the hands of the consumer, who lusts after them as if they were “independent beings” (77). There is a direct but unseen relationship between technology’s symbolic power and the scale of its environmental impact, which the economist Juliet Schor refers to as a “materiality paradox” —the greater the frenzy to buy goods for their transcendent or nonmaterial cultural meaning, the greater the use of material resources (40-41). We wrote Greening the Media knowing that a study of the media’s effect on the environment must work especially hard to break the enchantment that inflames popular and elite passions for media technologies. We understand that the mere mention of the political-economic arrangements that make shiny gadgets possible, or the environmental consequences of their appearance and disappearance, is bad medicine. It’s an unwelcome buzz kill—not a cool way to converse about cool stuff. But we didn’t write the book expecting to win many allies among high-tech enthusiasts and ICT/CE industry leaders. We do not dispute the importance of information and communication media in our lives and modern social systems. We are media people by profession and personal choice, and deeply immersed in the study and use of emerging media technologies. But we think it’s time for a balanced assessment with less hype and more practical understanding of the relationship of media technologies to the biosphere they inhabit. Media consumers, designers, producers, activists, researchers, and policy makers must find new and effective ways to move ICT/CE production and consumption toward ecologically sound practices. In the course of this project, we found in casual conversation, lecture halls, classroom discussions, and correspondence, consistent and increasing concern with the environmental impact of media technology, especially the deleterious effects of e-waste toxins on workers, air, water, and soil. We have learned that the grip of the technological sublime is not ironclad. Its instability provides a point of departure for investigating and criticizing the relationship between the media and the environment. The media are, and have been for a long time, intimate environmental participants. Media technologies are yesterday’s, today’s, and tomorrow’s news, but rarely in the way they should be. The prevailing myth is that the printing press, telegraph, phonograph, photograph, cinema, telephone, wireless radio, television, and internet changed the world without changing the Earth. In reality, each technology has emerged by despoiling ecosystems and exposing workers to harmful environments, a truth obscured by symbolic power and the power of moguls to set the terms by which such technologies are designed and deployed. Those who benefit from ideas of growth, progress, and convergence, who profit from high-tech innovation, monopoly, and state collusion—the military-industrial-entertainment-academic complex and multinational commandants of labor—have for too long ripped off the Earth and workers. As the current celebration of media technology inevitably winds down, perhaps it will become easier to comprehend that digital wonders come at the expense of employees and ecosystems. This will return us to Max Weber’s insistence that we understand technology in a mundane way as a “mode of processing material goods” (27). Further to understanding that ordinariness, we can turn to the pioneering conversation analyst Harvey Sacks, who noted three decades ago “the failures of technocratic dreams [:] that if only we introduced some fantastic new communication machine the world will be transformed.” Such fantasies derived from the very banality of these introductions—that every time they took place, one more “technical apparatus” was simply “being made at home with the rest of our world’ (548). Media studies can join in this repetitive banality. Or it can withdraw the welcome mat for media technologies that despoil the Earth and wreck the lives of those who make them. In our view, it’s time to green the media by greening media studies. References “A Cyber-House Divided.” Economist 4 Sep. 2010: 61-62. “Gartner Estimates ICT Industry Accounts for 2 Percent of Global CO2 Emissions.” Gartner press release. 6 April 2007. ‹http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=503867›. Basel Action Network and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia. Seattle: Basel Action Network, 25 Feb. 2002. Benjamin, Walter. “Central Park.” Trans. Lloyd Spencer with Mark Harrington. New German Critique 34 (1985): 32-58. Biagioli, Mario. “Postdisciplinary Liaisons: Science Studies and the Humanities.” Critical Inquiry 35.4 (2009): 816-33. Boyce, Tammy and Justin Lewis, eds. Climate Change and the Media. New York: Peter Lang, 2009. Commission of the European Communities. “Impact Assessment.” Commission Staff Working Paper accompanying the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) (recast). COM (2008) 810 Final. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities, 3 Dec. 2008. Environmental Protection Agency. Management of Electronic Waste in the United States. Washington, DC: EPA, 2007 Environmental Protection Agency. Statistics on the Management of Used and End-of-Life Electronics. Washington, DC: EPA, 2008 Grossman, Elizabeth. Tackling High-Tech Trash: The E-Waste Explosion & What We Can Do about It. New York: Demos, 2008. ‹http://www.demos.org/pubs/e-waste_FINAL.pdf› Herat, Sunil. “Review: Sustainable Management of Electronic Waste (e-Waste).” Clean 35.4 (2007): 305-10. Houghton, J. “ICT and the Environment in Developing Countries: Opportunities and Developments.” Paper prepared for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2009. International Telecommunication Union. ICTs for Environment: Guidelines for Developing Countries, with a Focus on Climate Change. Geneva: ICT Applications and Cybersecurity Division Policies and Strategies Department ITU Telecommunication Development Sector, 2008. Malmodin, Jens, Åsa Moberg, Dag Lundén, Göran Finnveden, and Nina Lövehagen. “Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Operational Electricity Use in the ICT and Entertainment & Media Sectors.” Journal of Industrial Ecology 14.5 (2010): 770-90. Marx, Karl. Capital: Vol. 1: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production, 3rd ed. Trans. Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling, Ed. Frederick Engels. New York: International Publishers, 1987. Mattelart, Armand and Costas M. Constantinou. “Communications/Excommunications: An Interview with Armand Mattelart.” Trans. Amandine Bled, Jacques Guot, and Costas Constantinou. Review of International Studies 34.1 (2008): 21-42. Mattelart, Armand. “Cómo nació el mito de Internet.” Trans. Yanina Guthman. El mito internet. Ed. Victor Hugo de la Fuente. Santiago: Editorial aún creemos en los sueños, 2002. 25-32. Maxwell, Richard and Toby Miller. Greening the Media. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. Nye, David E. American Technological Sublime. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1994. Nye, David E. Technology Matters: Questions to Live With. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. 2007. Orwell, George. “As I Please.” Tribune. 12 May 1944. Richtel, Matt. “Consumers Hold on to Products Longer.” New York Times: B1, 26 Feb. 2011. Robinson, Brett H. “E-Waste: An Assessment of Global Production and Environmental Impacts.” Science of the Total Environment 408.2 (2009): 183-91. Rogers, Heather. Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage. New York: New Press, 2005. Sacks, Harvey. Lectures on Conversation. Vols. I and II. Ed. Gail Jefferson. Malden: Blackwell, 1995. Schiller, Herbert I. Information and the Crisis Economy. Norwood: Ablex Publishing, 1984. Schor, Juliet B. Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth. New York: Penguin, 2010. Science and Technology Council of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Digital Dilemma: Strategic Issues in Archiving and Accessing Digital Motion Picture Materials. Los Angeles: Academy Imprints, 2007. Weber, Max. “Remarks on Technology and Culture.” Trans. Beatrix Zumsteg and Thomas M. Kemple. Ed. Thomas M. Kemple. Theory, Culture [i] The global recession that began in 2007 has been the main reason for some declines in Global North energy consumption, slower turnover in gadget upgrades, and longer periods of consumer maintenance of electronic goods (Richtel). [ii] The emergence of the technological sublime has been attributed to the Western triumphs in the post-Second World War period, when technological power supposedly supplanted the power of nature to inspire fear and astonishment (Nye Technology Matters 28). Historian Mario Biagioli explains how the sublime permeates everyday life through technoscience: "If around 1950 the popular imaginary placed science close to the military and away from the home, today’s technoscience frames our everyday life at all levels, down to our notion of the self" (818). [iii] This compulsory repetition is seemingly undertaken each time as a novelty, governed by what German cultural critic Walter Benjamin called, in his awkward but occasionally illuminating prose, "the ever-always-the-same" of "mass-production" cloaked in "a hitherto unheard-of significance" (48).
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