Developing sustainable household waste management - a Local Authority approach to zero waste

This project was a case study with a Local Authority (Charnwood Borough Council, Leicestershire) to research the options in response to the challenges of managing household waste. This research focused on establishing and analysing methods of improving the sustainability of household waste management operation within a Waste Collection Authority, where the interaction with a variety of external and internal stakeholders meant a holistic approach was needed. Waste management practices and performances in Charnwood were evaluated and benchmarked against national standards and the demography of a semi-rural Borough. Waste management practices nationally were also reviewed. The performance of the LA was quantitatively compared with other UK LAs where higher recycling performances are achieved. Differences were separate food waste collection and treatment; a larger proportion of urban housing and the university with a transient population. Other differences included strategy and operational practices for garden waste, the storage, collection, transportation and treatment of waste. A time series statistical model was modified and applied to investigate long term waste generation trends from the Boroughs official waste data returns to Defra. These were used to assess the success of interventions undertaken. This statistical model was able to differentiate interventions that were able to achieve lasting improvements in either waste minimisation or recycling. The declaration of a Zero Waste Strategy was to capture the public imagination. A series of focus groups and public consultations were held to judge public reaction and develop and refine the strategy. These were used to adapt the Zero Waste idea to suit the local conditions. A major conclusion was that householder involvement would be crucial for successful implementation of the further separation of waste that would be required

Household waste management practices in Charnwood Borough

Household waste recycling rates vary between 20-60% across the UK. Legislative and financial measures introduced to reduce landfill disposal of waste in the UK, have impacted on the way Local Authorities operate their household waste and recycling collection services. This paper reports on the performance of Charnwood Borough Council (CBC), a Local Authority in England, it is responsible for the collection and recycling of waste from 67,000 households. This service is carried out by a private company, Serco, who operate household waste collections for 15 UK Local Authorities. To improve recycling performance CBC has changed the collection frequency and increased the number of materials segregated from residual waste for recovery. There have also been actions and campaigns to raise public awareness. Together these have improved recycling and composting rates in the CBC area from 16% in 2002/03 to 46.1% in 2010/11. This paper is a case study and progress report on the details of how this was achieved. It compares performance with other Local Authorities, explores the impact of local operational and policy issues on the amount of household waste collected for recycling. The research has concluded that differences in how the household waste services were provided and local policies influenced the amount of recyclates recovered. Local decision making and the ability to tailor services to suit different demographic areas, together with partnerships between neighbouring Authorities supported better sustainable waste management

Household waste management in the UK: current practices and challenges

The UK’s reliance on landfill sites for waste disposal has been addressed in recent years with the Landfill Directive and Landfill Tax. This has encouraged Local Authorities to seek alternative methods of treating household waste, introducing and expanding kerbside collections of recyclates and organic waste. This paper assesses current household waste management practices and challenges in the UK. Drivers and instruments for change and various approaches to kerbside waste collections are discussed. The current household waste management challenges in the UK are identified, including the division of responsibility for household waste management between various Local Authorities and Government Departments and the methods available to tackle these issues. The research revealed adopting an integrated management system for household waste to comply with legislation and behavioural attitudes towards recycling and waste reduction activities are obstacles facing Local Authorities. Conversely, segregation of household waste by material is increasing, with separate kerbside collections for recyclates, organic waste and bulky waste collections, some of which is selected for reuse. The challenge now is to improve the yield of recyclates, reach people that do not segregate their waste for recycling and increase the quantity of material from participating householders with imaginative ways for reuse and recycling

Consumer expectations of product lifetimes around the world: a review of global research and methods

This paper presents the findings of research to identify and evaluate current studies into consumer expectations of product lifetimes across durable goods. Following a literature review, studies were classified using a product categorisation scheme formulated at Nottingham Trent University and a product lifetime expectations typology adapted from Oguchi et al. (2016a) was developed. The results would appear to suggest that consumer expectations of product lifetimes are in decline, and that those in the United Kingdom appear to be lower than those in other parts of the world. However, identifying differences in consumer expectations of product lifetimes is hindered by the different methods employed in studies, as face-to-face interviews, and online, telephone and postal studies all have the potential to produce different results. Three key challenges to furthering research into consumer expectations of product lifetimes were identified: Product coverage, definitions of consumer expectations and sampling strategies. Only if these challenges can be addressed will researchers be able to draw meaningful conclusions on both personal and cultural trends in expected product lifetimes and make a positive contribution to addressing both material and social aspects of the circular economy

Additional file 1: of An assessment of healthcare professionals’ knowledge about and attitude towards influenza vaccination in Freetown Sierra Leone: a cross-sectional study

A cross sectional survey on health care professional’s awareness of knowledge about and attitude towards influenza vaccination in Freetown Sierra Leone. (DOCX 115 kb

Additional file 2: of An assessment of healthcare professionals’ knowledge about and attitude towards influenza vaccination in Freetown Sierra Leone: a cross-sectional study

SPSS dataset. (SAV 851 kb

Circular economy business model opportunities, challenges, and enablers in the electrical and electronic equipment sector: stakeholders’ perspectives

The increasing global quantities of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and its inadequate management have sparked a drive for the circular economy in the electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) sector. The adoption of circular economy business models (CEBMs) in the EEE sector is still in its infancy. Few studies have addressed the adoption of specific CEBMs for one or multiple specific EEE products but often the focus has been on limited stakeholders or lifecycle phases. No study has yet been identified that explores and compares the key EEE stakeholders’ perspectives relating to the opportunities, challenges, and enablers for CEBM adoption. Hence, this research employed seven separate stakeholder questionnaire surveys to encapsulate, interpret and compare the perspectives of EEE products’ designers, manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, recyclers, business-to-business, and business-to-customer users on factors that drive and hinder the uptake of CEBMs in the EEE sector. The research indicated a strong level agreement amongst the responding EEE stakeholders that opportunities exist for the adoption of CEBMs, notably economic opportunities that should be seized to maximize value creation and capture. Opportunities for recovery and recycling and product longevity are shown to be favoured, while leasing and renting are overlooked. On the other hand, the findings demonstrate that the added value to be derived from the adoption of CEBMs and the costs associated with their adoption are still unclear, and that there are still limited offerings of circular products. The research contributes to an understanding and advancement of the circular economy via CEBM adoption in the EEE sector