Re-thinking incentives and penalties: economic aspects of waste management in Italy

Characterization of municipal solid waste in Kuwait: Sector-specific composition analysis and implications

Municipal solid waste (MSW) characterization plays a pivotal role in devising effective waste management strategies conducive to fostering a circular economy. This study presents composition analysis across twenty-four subcategories sourced from residential, commercial, and industrial sectors in Kuwait. The study is conducted in accordance with the Standard Test Method for Determination of the Composition of Unprocessed Municipal Solid Waste (ASTM D5231). The results indicate that organic waste comprises 45.3%, followed by paper waste (19.9%) and plastics (19.8%). The remaining waste comprises glass waste (3.5%), diapers (2.7%), textiles (2.6%) and other waste. Paper waste (19.9%) consists mainly of mixed paper (12.1%), cardboard (3.7%), newspaper (3.3%), printer printouts (0.6%) and other office paper (0.2%). Plastic waste (19.8%) consists mainly of film (11.2%), PET (3.1%), HDPE (1.1%) and other mixed plastics (4.4%). Residential and mixed areas have the highest proportion of organic waste. Commercial areas produce the highest proportion of wastepaper (22.4%) and textiles (3.7%). Industrial areas produce the highest proportion of plastic waste (29.1%), most of which is film (17.3%). The study also provides an overview of the MSW management system in the country, an overview over the legislative framework, and forecasts of future waste generation rates with comparison to historical baselines.Implications: The precise and up-to-date characterization of municipal solid waste is imperative for scholarly journal submissions, as it establishes a foundational understanding of waste composition, aiding researchers and policymakers in the development of effective waste management strategies, resource recovery initiatives, and sustainable solutions to address the evolving challenges in waste management systems.This study provides detailed composition analysis for twenty-four municipal solid waste (MSW) subcategories collected across different sources: residential, commercial, industrial, and mixed areas. Time series forecasting is applied to predict MSW generation based on historical data obtained through the local municipality over the past decade. Factorial analysis is applied to investigate changes across source areas, and a hypothesis test is used to compare the current MSW composition against previous baselines. The results demonstrated significant variation across most waste categories. The plastic waste proportion has increased by 48.5% compared to 2013 data, despite awareness campaigns. Paper waste has also increased in proportion from 6.8% to 16.2%; this increase is associated with the mixed paper subcategory, which is mostly used for packaging. The composition data provided in this study are necessary for long-term monitoring, strategy assessment, and legislation associated with waste reduction and remediation.

Significance of Ionic Character Induced by Ga-Doped γ-Al2O3 on Polyethylene Degradation to the Precursors of Gasoline and Diesel Oil with a Trace Amount of Wax

Polyethylene degradation has a significant ecological impact but is also economically beneficial because it generates fuels and useful chemical products. Our study mainly describes the cleavage of C-C and C-H bonds when polyethylene (dispersed in 1-octadecene) was low-temperature heat-treated in two steps, at 180 and 250 °C, for 24 h for each step. Finally, it was converted to a mixture of the precursors of gasoline and diesel oil with a trace amount of wax. A series of reactions resulted in cracking, dehydrogenation and oxidation, hence producing polycarboxylic acids and saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons. ESI-MS analysis revealed that mixed oil consisted of low carbon number hydrocarbons and their derivatives of carboxylic acids, with the carbon number ranging from C-6 to C-18. In the trace amount of wax, complicated carboxylic acids and hydrocarbons with carbon number C-22 to C-58 were also identified. FT-IR analysis further confirmed the presence of carboxylic acid derivatives and double bonds in the degradation products. γ-Al₂O₃ nanorods effectively catalyzed the degradation process by enhancing the C-C chain length in the products. Lewis acid (Al) and Lewis base (oxygen) in the γ-Al₂O₃ induced ionic character of the C-C bond chain, which led to the efficient cracking of the C-C bond. Poor shielding effect, smaller atomic size and greater ionization energy made Ga a stronger Lewis acid compared to Al; hence, Ga-doped γ-Al₂O₃ catalyzed the degradation process even more effectively.

Capacity Development for Plastic Waste Management—A Critical Evaluation of Training Materials

The emerging problems of plastic pollution and the mismanagement of plastic waste highlight the need to find a solution that involves adopting a systematic perspective. Capacity development is recognized as an approach that can tackle these problems on a global scale and improve the performance of waste management systems. This paper focuses on the educational and training aspects of capacity development by evaluating available teaching materials and their content regarding training topics and stakeholders. The methodology used for the evaluation of teaching materials was the weighting score method, which provided information about previously defined training topics and the extent to which they were present in the material. The results of the evaluation can be beneficial for all stakeholders involved in plastic waste management, organizations that are actively included in designing and publishing such materials, and groups who are focused on capacity development. The results of the evaluation are structured in such a way to provide easy access to certain material depending on t desired training topic or targeted stakeholder. Thus, the results of the evaluation can be used either directly in the training processes or indirectly as a baseline for the preparation of new teaching materials. The study also contributes to theory by analyzing stakeholders in plastic waste management and defining essential training topics. Moreover, the study has potential to be the benchmark for future research projects in the area of education for plastic waste management.

Implementation of circular economy in the management of municipal solid waste in an Italian medium-sized city: A 30-years lasting history

The Circular Economy model is gaining attention as a key factor for boosting sustainable development. Reducing the consumption of raw materials, as well as increasing the amount of recycled waste, are the current challenges the municipal solid waste management system is called for. In this study, the evolution of the municipal waste management strategies in the city of Brescia was analysed, covering a period of 30 years. The results obtained by a) progressively extending the separate collection with street containers, b) building a Waste to Energy plant, and c) moving to a door to door collection system, were assessed via numerical indicators and mass balances. In order to highlight the complexity of the system, the waste flow, from collection to the achievement of the "end of waste" attribute, was followed. Separate collection with street containers came to a saturation percentage around 40%. The realization of the incineration plant eliminated the direct disposal of waste to landfills. With the introduction of the new collection system, the separately collected waste increased up to over 73%, the per capita amount of collected waste decreased from 685.3 kg/(in y) to 579.6 kg/(in y), and a significant reduction of recyclable materials in the unsorted waste was gained. In the paper, these achievements and their affecting factors are analysed. Moreover, criticalities in the calculation of material recovery indices due to the complexity of the system (72 transformation sites were identified) are discussed.

Consumer Intention to Participate in E-Waste Collection Programs: A Study of Smartphone Waste in Indonesia

Indonesia is a developing country with a low-level e-waste management system based on a limited number of informal initiatives. E-waste requires proper management procedures, which involve the design of a reverse logistics management network. Consumers play a critical role in such a network, because the network runs when they willingly participate as suppliers of waste. This paper applies the Theory of Planned Behavior framework and extends it using Reverse Logistics drivers, the Value Belief Norm Theory, and facility accessibility to explain consumer intention to participate in e-waste collection programs. A survey was conducted on smartphone users in Indonesia, with a total of 324 valid questionnaires. The results showed that government drivers, facility accessibility, and personal attitudes significantly influence consumer intentions. Environmental concern has a positive influence on consumer intentions through the variables of the Theory of Planned Behavior and perceived behavioral control through government drivers. This study shows the need for integration, because the variables reinforce each other. However, neither economic drivers nor subjective norms significantly influence consumer intentions. This finding distinguishes Indonesia from other countries, especially developed countries, in that e-waste collection programs have not become part of the culture in Indonesia. For this reason, Indonesia needs regulations, as the most influential variable, to regulate the implementation of such a program.

Improving the carbon footprint of food and packaging waste management in a supermarket of the Italian retail sector

In a consumer society, the retail sector contributes significantly to waste production. Supermarkets play a central role in the challenges of resources efficiency and waste prevention. The circular economy has become a major alternative to the classical economic model and the retail sector has begun moving along this path. The aim of this study is to analyse supermarket waste management systems to identify more sustainable and circular processes. A specific case study was analysed to assess and improve the waste management system of a supermarket. We used the DMAIC (Define - Measure - Analyse - Improve - Control) model from the Lean Six Sigma methodology to collect data and information. We evaluated the environmental performance of the waste management system through its carbon footprint and compared the environmental impacts in terms of CO₂-eq of different waste treatments for each waste category. We introduced a new waste management system in the supermarket, which demonstrated better performance. Our comparison of different waste treatments highlights the importance of recycling, particularly in the context of the circular economy. We then focused on organic matter, as the category producing the most waste and compared composting and anaerobic digestion. We found that anaerobic digestion releases less greenhouse gas emissions. Similar improvement programs can be directly adopted by other stores without repeating the analysis. Our study can inform future research into the use of organic waste for obtaining biogas and other sub-products. The integration of the Lean Six Sigma methodology and other environmental tools can also be assessed as a strategy in the circular economy.

An overview of the challenges and trade-offs in closing the loop of post-consumer plastic waste (PCPW): Focus on recycling

Recycling of post-consumer plastic waste (PCPW) is increasingly promoted as the means to achieving circular economy (CE). It converts plastic waste into a secondary material that can be fed back into the system, for use in the same or new components and products, with similar or lower functionality; hence "closing the loop". Up until today, research on examining the environmental impacts, economic implications and technicalities of plastic waste recycling deals with one particular aspect, or stage on the plastic value chain, lacking coherence and structure. To move this research forward, understanding the challenges and trade-offs in scaling up plastic waste recycling is necessary. Here, we bring together existing literature on the multi-faceted aspects of closing the plastic loop, critically debating on the multi-stakeholder endeavours of promoting circularity in the plastics value chain. We present an overview of how the design, production, collection and sorting of PCPW present challenges for plastic waste recycling, which in turn result to a number of trade-offs. We explain that the evaluation of the multi-dimensional implications of trade-offs arising from the PCPW recycling, is essential in measuring the long-term sustainability of resource recovery from waste systems. This work scrutinises the sustainability of closing the plastic waste loops and sets a future research agenda.

Integrated environmental policy: A review of economic analysis

Holistic environmental policies, which emerged from a mere combination of technical activities in waste management some 40 years ago, constitute the most advanced level of environmental policies. These approaches to environmental policy, among them the policies in integrated waste management, attempt to guide economic agents to an environment-friendly behaviour. Nevertheless, current holistic policies in waste management, including policies on one-way drinks containers and waste electrical and electronic equipment, and implementations of extended producer responsibility with further applications to waste electrical and electronic equipment, reveal more or less severe deficiencies - despite some positive examples. This article relates these policy failures, which are not necessarily the result of an insufficient compliance with the regulations, to missing constitutive elements of what is going to be called an 'integrated environmental policy'. This article therefore investigates - mostly from a practical point of view - constitutive elements, which are necessary for a holistic policy to serve as a well-functioning allocation mechanism. As these constitutive elements result from a careful 'integration' of the environmental commodities into the economic allocation problems, we refer to these policies as 'integrated environmental policies'. The article also discusses and illustrates the main steps of designing such a policy - for waste electrical and electronic equipment and a (possible) ban of Glyphosat in agriculture. As these policies are dependent on economic and political stability with environmental awareness sufficiently developed, the article addresses mostly waste management policies in highly industrialised countries.

Prevention policies addressing packaging and packaging waste: Some emerging trends

Packaging waste is a major issue in several countries. Representing in industrialized countries around 30-35% of municipal solid waste yearly generated, this waste stream has steadily grown over the years even if, especially in Europe, specific recycling and recovery targets have been fixed. Therefore, an increasing attention starts to be devoted to prevention measures and interventions. Filling a gap in the current literature, this explorative paper is a first attempt to map the increasingly important phenomenon of prevention policies in the packaging sector. Through a theoretical sampling, 11 countries/states (7 in and 4 outside Europe) have been selected and analyzed by gathering and studying primary and secondary data. Results show evidence of three specific trends in packaging waste prevention policies: fostering the adoption of measures directed at improving packaging design and production through an extensive use of the life cycle assessment; raising the awareness of final consumers by increasing the accountability of firms; promoting collaborative efforts along the packaging supply chains.

Investigating motivating factors for sound hospital waste management

Sustainable management of hospital waste requires an active involvement of all key players. This study aims to test the hypothesis that three motivating factors, namely, Reputation, Liability, and Expense, influence hospital waste management. The survey for this study was conducted in two phases, with the pilot study used for exploratory factor analysis and the subsequent main survey used for cross-validation using confirmatory factor analysis. The hypotheses were validated through one-sample t tests. Correlations were established between the three motivating factors and organizational characteristics of hospital type, location, category, and size. The hypotheses were validated, and it was found that the factors of Liability and Expense varied considerably with respect to location and size of a hospital. The factor of Reputation, however, did not exhibit significant variation. In conclusion, concerns about the reputation of a facility and an apprehension of liability act as incentives for sound hospital waste management, whereas concerns about financial costs and perceived overburden on staff act as disincentives.

IMPLICATIONS

This paper identifies the non economic motivating factors that can be used to encourage behavioral changes regarding waste management at hospitals in resource constrained environments. This study discovered that organizational characteristics such as hospital size and location cause the responses to vary among the subjects. Hence a policy maker must take into account the institutional setting before introducing a change geared towards better waste management outcomes across hospitals. This study covers a topic that has hitherto been neglected in resource constrained countries. Thus it can be used as one of the first steps to highlight and tackle the issue.

Influence of DNA isolation method on the investigation of archaeal diversity and abundance in biogas plants

Various methods are available for DNA isolation from environmental samples. Because the chemical and biological composition of samples such as soil, sludge, or plant material is different, the effectiveness of DNA isolation can vary depending on the method applied and thus, have a substantial effect on the results of downstream analysis of the microbial community. Although the process of biogas formation is being intensely investigated, a systematic evaluation of kits for DNA isolation from material of biogas plants is still lacking. Since no DNA isolation kit specifically tailored for DNA isolation from sludge of biogas plants is available, this study compares five commercially available kits regarding their influence on downstream analyses such denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). The results show that not all kits are equally suited for the DNA isolation from samples of different biogas plants, but highly reproducible DGGE fingerprints as well as qPCR results across the tested samples from biogas reactors using different substrate compositions could be produced using selected kits.

Polyethylene recycling: Waste policy scenario analysis for the EU-27

This paper quantifies the main impacts that the adoption of the best recycling practices together with a reduction in the consumption of single-use plastic bags and the adoption of a kerbside collection system could have on the 27 Member States of the EU. The main consequences in terms of employment, waste management costs, emissions and energy use have been quantified for two scenarios of polyethylene (PE) waste production and recycling. That is to say, a "business as usual scenario", where the 2012 performances of PE waste production and recycling are extrapolated to 2020, is compared to a "best practice scenario", where the best available recycling practices are modelled together with the possible adoption of the amended Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive related to the consumption of single-use plastic bags and the implementation of a kerbside collection system. The main results show that socio-economic and environmental benefits can be generated across the EU by the implementation of the best practice scenario. In particular, estimations show a possible reduction of 4.4 million tonnes of non-recycled PE waste, together with a reduction of around €90 million in waste management costs in 2020 for the best practice scenario versus the business as usual scenario. An additional 35,622 jobs are also expected to be created. In environmental terms, the quantity of CO2 equivalent emissions could be reduced by around 1.46 million tonnes and the net energy requirements are expected to increase by 16.5 million GJ as a consequence of the reduction in the energy produced from waste. The main analysis provided in this paper, together with the data and the model presented, can be useful to identify the possible costs and benefits that the implementation of PE waste policies and Directives could generate for the EU.

Economic aspects of thermal treatment of solid waste in a sustainable WM system

This paper offers a systematic review of the literature of the last 15 years, which applies economic analysis and theories to the issue of combustion of solid waste. Waste incineration has attracted the interest of economists in the first place concerning the comparative assessment of waste management options, with particular reference to external costs and benefits. A second important field of applied economic research concerns the market failures associated with the provision of thermal treatment of waste, that justify some deviation from the standard competitive market model. Our analysis discusses the most robust achievements and the more controversial areas. All in all, the economic perspective seems to confirm the desirability of assigning a prominent role to thermal treatments in an integrated waste management strategy. Probably the most interesting original contribution it has to offer concerns the refusal of categorical assumptions and too rigid priority ladders, emphasizing instead the need to consider site-specific circumstances that may favor one or another solution.

Does industrial waste taxation contribute to reduction of landfilled waste? Dynamic panel analysis considering industrial waste category in Japan

Waste taxes, such as landfill and incineration taxes, have emerged as a popular option in developed countries to promote the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle). However, few studies have examined the effectiveness of waste taxes. In addition, quite a few studies have considered both dynamic relationships among dependent variables and unobserved individual heterogeneity among the jurisdictions. If dependent variables are persistent, omitted variables cause a bias, or common characteristics exist across the jurisdictions that have introduced waste taxes, the standard fixed effects model may lead to biased estimation results and misunderstood causal relationships. In addition, most existing studies have examined waste in terms of total amounts rather than by categories. Even if significant reductions in total waste amounts are not observed, some reduction within each category may, nevertheless, become evident. Therefore, this study analyzes the effects of industrial waste taxation on quantities of waste in landfill in Japan by applying the bias-corrected least-squares dummy variable (LSDVC) estimators; the general method of moments (difference GMM); and the system GMM. In addition, the study investigates effect differences attributable to industrial waste categories and taxation types. This paper shows that industrial waste taxes in Japan have minimal, significant effects on the reduction of final disposal amounts thus far, considering dynamic relationships and waste categories.

Sociological survey in a municipality with a high level separate collection programme in an area of historic unpopularity

Behaviours, opinions and knowledge of citizens on MSW and separate collection were investigated in the city of Mercato San Severino (about 22,000 people), in the Campania region of Southern Italy that is an area suffering from a serious solid waste emergency that has lasted over 17 years due to the absence of treatment facilities. The image of heaps of rubbish in the streets of Naples and other nearby cities is only one side of the coin. Mercato San Severino has adopted an effective kerbside collection system since 2001 and a pay-as-you-throw program during 2005, guaranteeing more than the minimum level of recycling required by the Italian legislation. Structured questionnaires were administered to a sample of 500 people in 2010. Chi-square tests of independence were applied to state whether the differences were statistically significant (5%). About 90% of the sample stated that the success of the separate collection program was due to either the citizens and local authority or only the local authority, highlighting the leading role of the local authority and confirming that trust is the key to any social program success. The registered level of knowledge was better than that of nearby university students and citizens. The higher the education level, the greater the level of knowledge was.