Academic literature on the topic 'Waste minimization Economic aspects Australia'

The purpose of this study was to investigate the application of waste minimization technology to electroplating plants and to evaluate the economic aspects of such an application. Waste minimization in electroplating plants can be classified into two categories: recycling and source reduction. Generally, source reduction takes priority before the other and is the most economic tool for waste minimization. Reduction of spent cleaning solutions and drag-out minimization are two major tasks, in which 86% and 60%, respectively, of the plants reviewed were involved, while 74% of the electroplating plants utilized purification equipment to recycle raw materials. In the electroplating process, some heavy metals and rinse water can be recycled. Most of the plants that were investigated recycle the effluent water to the rinse process for further use. From the results of the case study, the cost of the equipment and the utilization rate of the facilities have greater influence on the net present value (NPV) than other factors. Therefore, if the cost or the utilization rate of the facilities varies, re-evaluation will be needed.

The purpose of this study is the development and experimental testing on simulation solutions of a precipitation-membrane method for fractionation of liquid radioactive waste and sorption post-treatment of the filtrate. The choice of processing method is based on the analysis of factors affecting the efficiency of ion-exchange purification of solutions; properties of complex compounds of polyvalent metals; characteristics of commercially available membrane elements and economic aspects of the preparation and disposal of radioactive waste. The basic idea is to use the internal properties of solutions to isolate polyvalent cations and acidoligands in the form of poorly soluble compounds in the volume of an inert polypropylene element, which will increase the efficiency of ion-exchange post-treatment and reduce the amount of waste. The architecture and operating parameters of the experimental setup are designed to provide favorable conditions for the formation in solution of complexes (ion pairs) of polycharged cations with acid ligands of various nature.

Municipal solid waste management is one of the key challenges of environmental, economic and social importance. It is a global problem regardless of economic development level and political orientation, and also applies to a country such as Belarus. There is a lack of studies considering the local aspects of waste management in Belarus, therefore the research is actual. The study aims to formulate the recommendations on the conceptual modelling of the MSW management system in Belarus. The research methods are based on the complex systems approach. The study provides a review of the actual concepts on MSW management, including its general principles, hierarchy and methods, analysis of the current state of MSW management system in Belarus, and recommendations on modeling the MSW management system covering the local and regional aspects in Belarus. The suggestions on formulating the MSW management system involve organizational, economic, technical and informational bases as well as considering the local and regional specifics. The results indicate the following: (1) the current MSW management system in Belarus does not move the country towards a circular economy, requiring an update of the existing waste management strategy; (2) sustainable waste management demands an integrated approach in order to support waste recycling into a manufacturing resource within circular economy; (3) two main approaches to solve the problem of waste management in rural communities have been identified— an economic approach implies the minimization of waste generation while a technological approach comprises the development of mini-solutions for waste recycling at the places of waste generation. The research results contribute to the increased interest in the issue of MSW management in Belarus, and can be a useful tool for improving the planning strategies considering the local and regional context.

The article is devoted to the consideration of modern approaches to the subsurface waste management and the integrated development of the mineral resources base, the development of which requires consideration of the environmental, industrial, technological and economic aspects of this issue. The authors of the article note that it is advisable to use such modern management technologies as circular business models, 3R and 5R concepts, as well as logistics methods of waste management for the waste management of enterprises of the mineral resources sector. These technologies make it possible to form an eco-industrial symbiosis, the main object of which is a mining enterprise connected with other symbiosis objects by material flows. The authors are convinced that the successful functioning of eco-industrial symbiosis will lead to the maximum use of subsurface waste, minimization of their storage and disposal volumes, and, ultimately, will contribute to the integrated use of mineral raw materials.

This work aims to contribute to the minimization of solid construction waste at construction sites through the application of sustainability concepts in the construction industry, addressing the recommendations of the LEED certification. The object of study was the works of reform and adaptation of the Maracanã Stadium, venue of the final match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The methodology consists of visits to the construction site of the stadium, interviews with responsible people for the jobs and data analysis collected by the Maracanã Consortium Rio 2014 Report. Based on the data collected, it was evaluated the used strategies and tools in the construction to minimize the generation of waste. It was found that the strategies were well executed, contributing to the reduction of waste at the construction site and to the sustainable disposal of the generated waste. The strategies involved environmental, social and economic aspects, giving the construction an international certification for sustainable building.

The Triple-bottom-line concept suggests that firms must consider the environmental and social impacts of their decisions, beside the economic aspects. Hence, the sustainability of the firms’ operations can be reached. The purpose of this study is to develop a bi-objective, multi-product and multi-period mixed-integer model for the operations planning of electrical-electronic waste (WEEE) recovery facilities, by considering social (workforce) constraints. Main objective is the minimization of net recycling and logistics costs offset by the profit earned by recovered material sales, and second objective is the maximization of hazardous materials recovery. Collection of used products from the specified regions is decided and the required machine-hours, inventory and workforce decisions are made. Besides, both weight-based and unit-based WEEE recovery targets are separately considered, as a unique aspect. A sensitivity analysis is conducted with various scrap prices to understand operations planning in changing conditions. Results show that weight-based targets enhance recovery amounts.

Additive manufacturing (AM) or three-dimensional (3D) printing has introduced a novel production method in design, manufacturing, and distribution to end-users. This technology has provided great freedom in design for creating complex components, highly customizable products, and efficient waste minimization. The last industrial revolution, namely industry 4.0, employs the integration of smart manufacturing systems and developed information technologies. Accordingly, AM plays a principal role in industry 4.0 thanks to numerous benefits, such as time and material saving, rapid prototyping, high efficiency, and decentralized production methods. This review paper is to organize a comprehensive study on AM technology and present the latest achievements and industrial applications. Besides that, this paper investigates the sustainability dimensions of the AM process and the added values in economic, social, and environment sections. Finally, the paper concludes by pointing out the future trend of AM in technology, applications, and materials aspects that have the potential to come up with new ideas for the future of AM explorations.

The problem of the development of the underground erosion is considered ion the article. The most brightly the underground erosion is shown in the massifs of the loessial breeds, which are widely developed in Uzbekistan. This phenomenon of consequences of the underground erosion development is described in science as the term “loessial pseudo-karst”. The loessial pseudo-karst have received the greatest spread and development in places of an active technogenesis since the second half of the XX century. Besides the territories connected with civil, industrial and hydrotechnical engineering the loessial pseudo-karst develops actively in the connection with active irrigation of the massifs formed with the loessial breeds. In case of not dosed water supply for the irrigation of agricultural grounds and the subsequent uncivilized dumping of surplus of water there is an extremely fast development of a loessial pseudo-karst (a day and even several hours). The negative consequences of the development of the underground erosion in loessial massifs lead to the violation of fragile balance of the natural and technical geosystems (NTG) and their conclusion from the condition of metastable balance. When forming pseudo-karst sinkholes near settlements, their unreasoned elimination by filling happens generally at the expense of solid and liquid household waste that considerably accelerates process of destruction of the massif, due to the impact on the loessial breeds of aggressive infiltrate. In case of active development of the underground erosion there is a final fracture of the loessial massif and formation of so-called pseudo-karst “bedlend”, that is sites where any economic activity is impossible. There are considerable economic, ecological and quite often social damages. It is easier to prevent a loessial pseudo-karst, than to fight against after its development has begun. The lack of due consideration to this promptly developing process annually causes the necessity of recultivation of the soil massifs broken by an underground erosion (pseudo-karst) or to the conclusion from the crop rotation of the most valuable irrigation lands in arid areas. The qualitative recommendations about the prevention of the development of a loessial pseudo-karst and minimization of damage are made.

In the last decade, particular attention has been paid to the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) power plant, a technology that implements a classical steam Rankine cycle using low-boiling fluid of organic origin. Depending on the specific application and the choice of the designer, the ORC can be optimized using one or several criteria. The selected objectives reflect various system performance aspects, such as: thermodynamic, economic, environmental or other. In this study, a novel criterion called exergy utilization index (XUI) is defined and used to maximize the utilization of an energy source in the ORC system. The maximization of the proposed indicator is equivalent to bring the heat carrier outlet temperature to the ambient temperature as close as possible. In the studied case, the XUI is applied along with the total heat transfer area of the system, and the multi-objective optimization is performed in order to determine the optimal operating conditions of the ORC. Moreover, to reveal a relationship between the XUI and important ORC performance indicators, a parametric study is conducted. Based on the results, it has been found that high values of the XUI (~80%) correspond to optimal values of exergy-based indicators such as: exergy efficiency, waste exergy ratio, environmental effect factor or exergetic sustainability index. Furthermore, the values of the XUI = 60%–80% are associated with beneficial economic characteristics reflected in a low payback period (<11.3 years). When considering the ecological aspect, the maximization of XUI has resulted in minimization of exergy waste to the environment. In general, the simple formulation and straightforward meaning make the XUI a particularly useful indicator for the preliminary evaluation and design of the ORC. Furthermore, the comparative analysis with respect to other well-known performance indicators has shown that it has a potential to be successfully applied as the objective function in the optimization of ORC power plants.

The 22nd issue of TECHNE, which deals with the theme of circular transition and design, stems from the planning and scientific-cultural orientations developed with the Direction and Editorial Board for the period 2017-2021. The conviction that the processes of transferring decisions and knowledge must be accepted and developed along appropriate lines of continuity, is envisaged with the new Board and the new Direction of the journal, in the awareness of the value that it represents for the scientific community of SITdA. Promoting knowledge that supports applied research and technology transfer is the basic reference for the editorial direction also at the start of the 2021-2023 three-year period. TECHNE journal is now an important part of the Society’s common heritage and is increasingly recognized for its ranking and the contents expressed in a significant “critical area” such as the relationship between knowledge, design, technology and the environment in architecture. In recent years, the journal has thus acquired a significant accreditation thanks to the work carried out, since the year of its foundation in 2011, by figures who have succeeded each other in the different roles (Paolo Felli, Roberto Palumbo and Maria Teresa Lucarelli are to be mentioned for their commitment in the Direction, as well as Chiara Torricelli and Emilio Faroldi for their work as Editor in Chief) and thanks to the active participation of the Editorial Boards, organisms and members of SITdA, as with the contributions of experts and stakeholders who have published in the journal. The topic of this issue, entitled “Circular Transition and Design”, is an emerging theme in the field of technical policy and international and national research, which is treated according to articulated guidelines and forms of scientific debate. Correlating the concepts of circular transition and design is part of a choice of field that is now based on continuity and development of the elaboration of themes that have been clearly announced since the 1970s. From that period a path of sensitivity and knowledge was born, which can be started with “the limits of development” (Meadows et al., 1972), with “the circle to be closed” (Commoner, 1972) and with the need to evolve “beyond growth” (Daly, 1996), until we consciously tend towards climax-type conditions, characterized by the minimization of energy and matter flows in the metabolism of ecosystems (Rifkin, 1983). The conceptual and scientific elaboration of the years in which ecological thinking grew, saw its progressive transfer to the field of architecture, through the central role played by the technological area in its recognition as a science of transformation processes and interactions among the natural and anthropic environment. In the wake of the crises that have occurred over the last few decades, the concept of transition has been developed in the scientific field based on the evidence of the growing degradation of the environment as a living space for communities. From the climate crisis to the socio-economic crisis and up to the latest pandemic crisis, the impacts of processes fuelled by the effects of the Anthropocene era (Crutzen, 2005) require a radical revision of dissipative development models, which consider growth as a factor of constant amplification of productivity in the different fields of human activity, without considering the value of nature and the services it provides. In the era of the “Great Acceleration”, we are observing the significant transformation of the relationship between the human species and the biosphere: human beings have become bio-geological agents that modify the physical and metabolic processes of the planet, mainly affecting urban areas where, between 1945 and 2015, the settled population increased from 700 million to almost 4 billion (McNeill and Engelke, 2018). The progressive mismatch between technological and biological cycles identifies a trend that is no longer sustainable as turbulent economic growth constantly conflicts with the natural limits of the planet. The metabolism of our societies is carried out by exploiting the stocks and flows of matter and energy from natural systems, which however have limited regenerative and receptive capacities (Bologna and Giovannini, 2017). Human action for continuous and unlimited growth has thus transformed the circular processes, characteristic of the workings of natural systems, into linear processes at the end of which waste and non-reusable waste are produced. To overcome this model of production and consumption it is necessary to make processes circular again, in which the extraction of resources is reduced by keeping them in a cycle of use for as long as possible (Ronchi, 2021). This challenge must be approached by relocating the whole of humanity within the natural system on which it is dependent and to which it is strongly connected. Thus, development without quantitative growth tends to be implemented within the biophysical limits of natural systems. It is necessary to equip ourselves against the phenomena of large population growth and the enormous withdrawal and consumption of resources by organizing circular development models that minimize waste, make efficient use of resources and drastically reduce the loss of natural capital, the loss of biodiversity, pollution, inequalities and socio-economic crises, to name but a few of the most important problems of our time. The transition can therefore only be circular, capable of ensuring a safe and fair space for mankind, and therefore it can only be ecological, since only the correspondence – in terms of “weights” and times – between transformation processes and the carrying capacity of the ecosystem will allow the ecologically sustainable development. The idea of a circular transition sees products designed and manufactured to facilitate recycling, reuse, repair, disassembly and reconstruction, where objects are used for greater efficiency, as in the case of leasing and sharing, by increasing the transit time of products and artefacts in environmental systems and habitats. So, it is not a question of reallocating known aspects under umbrella concepts, but of implementing a profound cultural, scientific, productive and relational reconversion through a paradigm shift that places options and, above all, values in a different position, inducing new ones and determining ecosystem implications not previously practised. A major challenge will be played out in terms of the many transitions that accompany the mainstream of the ecological one, starting with the economic transition but also the administrative, infrastructural, urban, building and energy transitions. An increasing number of countries are coping with the disruptive effects of global warming and climate change by intensifying decarbonizationthrough the transition from fossil to renewable energy sources. This pathway can be implemented through technological innovations of greater efficiency and the reduction of energy needs, fuelling the transition to greater electricity use and stimulating research into the use of scarce resources (Sassoon, 2019, p.9). Promoting the transition to regenerative cities requires, on the one hand, the development of circular metabolisms and processes gradually replacing conventional and linear ones, and on the other hand, the proposal of low-carbon technical policies and actions, support for social innovation, as well as urban organization in eco-districts where efficient and low-waste products and processes in the field of energy and materials are integrated. The management of complexity is the qualifying point through which it is necessary to increase the operational synergies between research, the professional world and local authorities. The transfer of knowledge and the acquisition of skills, as well as the relationship between generalist knowledge and the specializationof knowledge, is part of the delicate relationship between research, experimentation and innovation. The qualification of architectural design concerning the advanced principles of circular transition requires the management of integrated knowledge systems, expanding its approach in terms of pluralism, the interaction between disciplinary specializations, recognition of contributions avoiding cultural hegemonies or instrumental subalternity. If specialization becomes necessary, it requires «less and less abstraction and more focus on objectives on which the contributions of multiple and integrated skills converge. The horizons of knowledge and design must be measured against multidisciplinary collaboration and not so much against a transdisciplinarity that poses problems of scientific identity» (Torricelli, 2014). Within this scenario, the relationship between ecology and society must also take into account the relationship between the bio-economy and the organization of the territory, landscape and environment, in the same way as the interdependencies between the anthropic system and the natural system. The future of the project, in its necessary conditions of heteronomy, can only be human and environment centered, according to a broad systemic understanding and an adaptation to natural limits without pushing beyond the environmental capacities of resource regeneration and waste absorption (Bologna and Giovannini 2017).

Bibliography: leaves 123-130. The literature search and the findings from the investigation have been used to provide recommendations for a sector specific cooperative approach using regulation, self-regulation, voluntary agreements, economic incentatives and educational/information strategies to promote and acheive cleaner production in the South Australian foundry industry.

The hydrometallurgical refining of platinum group metals results in large volumes of liquid waste that requires suitable treatment before any disposal can be contemplated. The wastewater streams are characterized by extremes of pH, high inorganic ion content (such as chloride), significant residual metal loads and small amounts of entrained organic compounds. Historically these effluents were housed in evaporation reservoirs, however lack of space and growing water demands have led Anglo Platinum to consider treatment of these effluents. The aim of this study was to investigate whether biological wastewater treatment could produce water suitable for onsite reuse. Bench-scale activated sludge and anaerobic digestion for co-treatment of an acidic refinery waste stream with domestic wastewater were used to give preliminary data. Activated sludge showed better water treatment at lab scale in terms of removal efficiencies of ammonia (approximately 25%, cf. 20% in anaerobic digestion) and COD (70% cf. 43% in digestion) and greater robustness when biomass health was compared. Activated sludge was consequently selected for a pilot plant trial. The pilot plant was operated on-site and performed comparably with the bench-scale system, however challenges in the clarifier design led to losses of biomass and poor effluent quality (suspended solids washout). The pilot plant was unable to alter the pH of the feed, but a two week maturation period resulted in the pH increasing from 5.3 to 7.0. Tests on algal treatment as an alternative or follow-on unit operation to activated sludge showed it not to be a viable process. The activated sludge effluent was assessed for onsite reuse in flotation and it was found that there was no significant difference between its flotation performance and that of the process water currently used, indicating the effluent generated by the biological treatment system can be used successfully for flotation. Flotation is the method whereby minerals refining operations recover minerals of interest from ore through the addition of chemicals and aeration of the ore slurry. Target minerals adhere to the bubbles and can be removed from the process.