Health risks of irrigation with untreated urban wastewater in the southern Punjab, Pakistan

Irrigation water / Water quality / Water reuse / Waste waters / Risks / Public health / Diseases / Farmers / Pakistan / Southern Punjab / Haroonabad

Use of untreated wastewater in peri-urban agriculture in Pakistan: risks and opportunities

Water reuse / Waste waters / Water quality / Groundwater / Irrigation practices / Soil properties / Environmental effects / Conjunctive use / Pakistan / Haroonabad

Role of natural nanoparticles, imogolite and allophane, on the mobility of trace metals in soils from La Reunion Island

This research adresses the sensitive field of waste management in an insular context. The case of the Reunion Island bears some aggravating factors making the waste management an even more sensitive subject: 1) it is a small island with a fast growing population and associated activities 2) the agricultural soils (mostly andosols) have an elevated natural concentration of trace metals. An inexpensive form of waste management is to reuse agricultural- waste (especially pig manure) as fertilizer. However, reuse of waste, may modify physico-chemical conditions and trace elements can be released from the soils. The accuracy of the prediction of metal fluxes in soils will be greatly enhanced by a detailed knowledge of the pollutants' speciation, which controls their mobility, toxicity and ultimately their bioavailability. Although the trace metals Cu, Ni, Zn selected for this study because of their occurrence in the soils and wastes, may bind to numerous components of the soils (clays, Fe and Al oxides, organics), we chose to focus on 2 types of nanosized alumino-silicates: the tubular imogolites (2nm diameter) and the spherical allophane (3-5nm). The choice of these phases is justified by their high abundance in the andosols of the Reunion, and their suspected high reactivity arising from the presence of -SiOH and -AlOH at the surface of structures whose specific surface area can reach 700m2/g. Here we detail using a molecular approach the types of the binding mechanisms between pollutants and natural occurring nanoparticles. (Texte integral

Reuse and upcycling of municipalwaste for zeb envelope design in European urban areas

Building energy efficiency and urban waste management are two focal issues for improving environmental status and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The main aim of this paper is to compare economic costs of new building envelope structures designed by authors reusing and upcycling municipal waste in order to decrease energy demand from the building sector and, at the same time, improve eco-friendly waste management at the local scale. The reuse of waste for building envelope structures is one of the main principles of the Earthship buildings model, based on the use of passive solar principles in autonomous earth-sheltered homes. This Earthship principle has been analyzed in order to optimize buildings’ energy performance and reuse municipal waste for new building envelope structures in urban areas. Indeed, the elaborated structures have been designed for urban contexts, with the aim of reuse waste coming from surrounding landfills. The methods include an analysis of thermal performance of urban waste for designing new building envelope structures realized by assembling waste and isolating materials not foreseen in Earthship buildings. The reused materials are: cardboard tubes, automobile tires, wood pallets, and plastic and glass bottles. Finally, comparing economic costs of these new building envelope structures, the obtained results highlight their economic feasibility compared to a traditional structure with similar thermal transmittance

Urban wastewater: A valuable resource for agriculture - A case study from Haroonabad, Pakistan

Waste waters / Irrigation water / Water reuse / Economic analysis / Soil properties / Households / Water availability / Water use / Water quality / Groundwater / Public health / Risks / Case studies

Urban wastewater reuse for crop production in the water-short Guanajuato River Basin, Mexico

Water quality / Waste waters / Water reuse / Water resource management / River basins / Irrigation water / Crop production / Water use / Data collection / Case studies / Mexico / Guanajuato River Basin / Tula Irrigation District

Construction and Demolition Waste Reduction: Yannell Residence, Chicago IL

This case study is one in a series developed by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center to highlight techniques for saving money and protecting the environment through reuse and recycling of construction and demolition debris. Goldberg General Contracting was the lead contractor for the two-story 2700SF LEED home. The home incorporates variety of site-related green products including 100% pervious paving, two green roofs, solar panels, and a zero-turf landscape design. Goldberg General Contracting recycled and reused 34.10 tons of material and disposed of 4.82 tons of mixed construction and demolition waste, for a total waste reduction rate of 87.64 percent.published or submitted for publicationnot peer reviewe

Integrating Deconstruction and Recycling Into the Demolition Process in Buffalo, NY

Buffalo’s Comprehensive Plan currently calls for the demolition of 10,000 buildings over a period of ten years. While demolition contractors may recycle a small percentage of the waste created from demolitions, the process generates a great deal of waste that ends up in landfills. Many of the materials that are thrown away after a building is demolished are either reusable or recyclable. In order to lessen the negative environmental impact of building demolition, Buffalo needs to encourage demolition contractors to reuse and recycle more building materials. Even more effective than encouragement is requirement. Buffalo should require a minimum level of recycling in all its demolition contracts

Composting Food and Yard Waste: A Guide for Individuals, Non-Profits, and the City of Buffalo

In 2010, the United States added 68 million tons of food and yard waste to landfills, accounting for roughly 34% of all municipal solid waste. Lowering the amount of this waste in a city’s garbage saves the taxpayers money and protects the environment. Composting is an easy and inexpensive solution. Instead of throwing out food and yard waste, homeowners, not-for-profits, businesses and local government can reuse it to create compost, a useful product that can be incorporated back into the soil