Public participation in solid waste management during mega festivals: A pilot study

Large festivals with over 50,000 participants have become a customary but hardly investigated practice in many countries across the world. Festivals management is increasingly being complicated because of their negative consequences such as solid waste accumulation and the destruction to the hosting city attractions. Recycling is an important process to reduce the negative consequences of the waste which public plays an extremely important role regarding its success. Therefore, this study is dedicated to explore campers’ environmental awareness and willingness to participate in the solid waste source separation during mega festivals in Kerbala city, Iraq. The outcome of a structured questionnaire survey completed by 20 camps’ managers during one mega festival showed low environmental awareness among the participants. On the other hand, the majority of the campers were willing to separate their wastes during mega festivals. These results can be invested in establishing a base for implementing a recycling scheme during such festivals

Facing up to waste: how can hotel managers in Kerbala, Iraq, help the city deal with its waste problem?

Every year, religious festivals attended by around 20 million pilgrims, take place in the city of Kerbala, Iraq. Management of the large amounts of waste which are generated pose severe problems to city authorities due to the negative impacts on the environment, human health and the attractiveness of the city. Minimization of the generated waste is one of the most economical approaches and one in which the public plays a key role regarding its success. However, waste management system currently applied in Kerbala lacks the use of source separation as well as recycling. Therefore, this study aims to investigate hoteliers’ knowledge and willingness to participate in waste source separation and recycling scheme during major festivals, which represent a new contribution to the knowledge. To achieve this goal, a survey was conducted with 150 respondents during one major religious event, over 20 days. Interviews and questionnaires were employed to collect the data. Questions were designed to collect information about knowledge of the environment, willingness to participate, preferred sorting alternatives and the actions that can motivate hoteliers and pilgrims to be involved in the program. The outcome of this research clearly indicates that the majority of respondents have poor environmental awareness. However, 68% were willing to participate in the WSS program. The provision of recycling containers was identified as the highest priority to encourage waste separation. Therefore, a set of actions has been proposed to support the Kerbala waste management authority adopt a waste separation plan during religious events

Treatment of Residential Complexes’ Wastewater using Environmentally Friendly Technology

Residential complexes discharge huge quantities of wastewater, which has a negative impact on nearby water bodies. Moreover, the treatment of this type of wastewater requires a large area, which could be a challenge as construction sites are normally limited in size. Different technologies have been used for the treatment of residential complexes’ wastewater (RCWW). Compared to the conventional wastewater treatments methods, sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) are lower cost and have smaller area requirements and sludge bulking rarely occurs. A considerable number of researchers have been optimising SBR operating conditions to gain a better removal efficiency of undesired wastewater pollutants. However, many researchers have reported bad, slow or incomplete particle settling. This study examines the impact of organic loading rate (OLR) on the effluent quality and sludge settling performance in a sequencing batch reactor. Four SBR reactors were used in this study; the working volume of each one is 5l. The reactors were operated under different glucose concentrations (750, 1000, 1250 and 1500 mg/l), constant aeration, 1.0 l/min, ±20 Cº temperature and 6 h cycle time. Each cycle of the SBR operation included Fill (30 minutes), React (240 minutes), Settle (30 minutes), Draw (30 minutes) and Idle (30 minutes). Influent and effluent samples were analysed for COD, NH3-N, NO3-N and NO2-N. In addition, the sludge volume index (SVI) and a morphological study were used to study the sludge characteristics. The SVI and morphological study results showed a direct relationship between the glucose concentration and sludge settling behaviour. The results obtained from this study, which operated for 120 days, showed that the sequencing batch reactor could biodegrade up to 93.2%, 95.2%, 94.9% and 96.5% for COD, NH3-N, NO3-N and NO2-N respectively with glucose concentration between 750 and 1250 mg/l, and a steady sludge settling performance occurred during that range

Ammonia Removal using Sequencing Batch Reactor: The Effects of Organic Loading Rate

This study examines the impact of organic loading rate (OLR) on the effluent quality and sludge settling performance in a sequencing batch reactor. Four SBR reactors were used in this study; the working volume of each one is 5l. The reactors were operated under different potassium nitrate concentrations (50, 100, 150 and 200 mg/l), constant aeration, 1.0 l/min, ±20 Cº temperature and 6 h cycle time. Each cycle of the SBR operation included Fill (30 minutes), React (240 minutes), Settle (30 minutes), Draw (30 minutes) and Idle (30 minutes). Influent and effluent samples were analysed for NH3-N to determine the removal efficiency. In addition, the sludge volume index (SVI) was used to study the sludge characteristics. The results obtained from this study, which operated for 60 days, showed that the sequencing batch reactor could biodegrade up to 91.5% for NH3-N with potassium nitrate concentration between 50 and 150 mg/l, and a steady sludge settling performance occurred during that range