Transitioning towards circular economy through municipal solid waste analysis and characterisation using SowaCLINK software

Municipal solid waste constitutes environmental challenges globally, especially in developing countries, due to increasing waste generation, population growth, inadequate infrastructure, lack of data and poor planning. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive waste audit on the municipal solid waste generated in Aba, a metropolis in southeastern Nigeria. Aba is a commercial city considered the messiest because of the massive municipal solid waste generation and poor management. The study investigated the energy potential and waste regeneration. Municipal solid waste data was sought to provide insight into the quantity and composition of municipal solid waste. The methodology was site-based, in line with the standard test method for determining unprocessed municipal solid waste (ASTM-D5231-92) and SowaCLINK software, a computer-based environmental application, was used for characterization. Linear extrapolation was adopted to quantify the rate of municipal solid waste generated. The geometric mean was applied to forecast the area’s population for a 10-year design period. The chemical elements of the characterized municipal solid waste were utilized based on the ASTM-D5291 standard for municipal solid waste thermochemical conversion, and the high and low heating values were analyzed. The outcomes provided energy recovery potential, the electrical power potential, and the power to the grid of electrical power of the municipal solid waste. The results obtained were 0.7813 kg/p/d and 490,268 t/y for a population of 1,719,185 persons. The percentage of the municipal solid waste components with energy potential was 71%, comprising 48% combustible and 23% organic components on average. The high heating value computed was 176.5 MJ/kg, and the low heating value was 14 MJ/kg. The energy recovery potential was 3,709,463 MWh, the electrical power potential was 38,680 MW, and the power to the grid was 26.1 MW daily. The research reveals a promising direction in transitioning from the linear economy of municipal solid waste management toward implementing an integrated sustainable municipal solid waste management based on the circular economy model. The study recommends adopting detailed steps to proffer solutions to the environmental challenges associated with municipal solid waste in most low-middle-income countries to achieve sustainable municipal solid waste management while generating electricity and bio-fertilizers through incineration and anaerobic digestion

A Sustainable Water Resources Management Assessment Framework (SWRM-AF) for Arid and Semi-Arid Regions:Part 1: Developing the Conceptual Framework

The evaluation of water resources management practices is essential for water usage decisions in regions with limited water resources. The literature provides numerous assessment frameworks, but many ignore the unique characteristics and conditions of some special arid and semi-arid regions, such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which lack any permanent rivers or lakes. Thus, this study, the first in a two-part series, seeks to develop a conceptual Sustainable Water Resources Management Assessment Framework (SWRM-AF). General and particular criteria explain how components and indicators were identified. The conceptual SWRM-AF provided here has four components (environment, economy, society, and infrastructure) and 24 indicators. Almost every indicator has been selected from the literature and is briefly explained and justified. This research presents, possibly for the first time, clear and straightforward directions for evaluating each indicator in colour-coded tables. To create a more holistic framework for arid and semi-arid regions, social indicators like “intervention acceptability” and environmental indicators for assessing the impacts of desalination treatment plants have been added to form a unique framework applicable to such regions. Therefore, the components and indicators of conceptual SWRM-AF could work collectively to aid the process of decision-making. The next phase is validating this framework using a participatory approach

Sustainable Water Infrastructure:Visions and Options for Sub-Saharan Africa

Developing a sustainable water infrastructure entails the planning and management of water systems to ensure the availability, access, quality, and affordability of water resources in the face of social, environmental, and economic challenges. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is currently in an era where it must make significant changes to improve the sustainability of its water infrastructure. This paper reviews the factors affecting water infrastructure sustainability and the interventions taken globally to address these challenges. In parallel, it reflects on the relevance of these interventions to the context of Sub-Saharan Africa through the lens of the STEEP (societal, technological, economic, environmental, political) framework. The paper goes on to recommend an extended analysis that captures additional critical dimensions when applying the concept of sustainability. Furthermore, this paper sheds light on the practice of sustainable development and fosters a deeper understanding of the issues, thereby forming the basis for further research and the development of sustainable and resilient solutions for water infrastructure and water asset management more generally

Delivering a multi-functional and resilient urban forest

Tree planting is widely advocated and applied in urban areas, with large-scaleprojects underway in cities globally. Numerous potential benefits are used to justify these planting campaigns. However, reports of poor tree survival raise questions about the ability of such projects to deliver on their promises over the long-term. Each potential benefit requires different supporting conditions—relating not only to the type and placement of the tree, but also to the broader urban system within which it is embedded. This set of supportingconditions may not always be mutually compatible and may not persist for the lifetime of the tree. Here, we demonstrate a systems-based approach that makes these dependencies, synergies, and tensions more explicit, allowing them to be used to test the decadal-scale resilience of urban street trees. Our analysis highlights social, environmental, and economic assumptions that are implicit within planting projects; notably that high levels of maintenance and public support for urban street trees will persist throughout their natural lifespan, andthat the surrounding built form will remain largely unchanged. Whilst the vulnerability of each benefit may be highly context specific, we identify approaches that address some typical weaknesses, making a functional, resilient, urban forest more attainable.

Appraising infrastructure for new towns in Ireland

Copyright © 2013 ICE Publishing Ltd. Permission is granted by ICE Publishing to print one copy for personal use. Any other use of these PDF files is subject to reprint fees.Over a 20 year period 1996–2016, a new 223 ha town is being developed 10 miles west of Dublin's city centre on the south side of Lucan, County Dublin, in the Republic of Ireland (ROI). This €4 billion ‘Adamstown’ development is the first of four planning schemes in ROI to be approved as a strategic development zone – an integrated planning framework deemed suitable for creating sustainable neighbourhoods in sites of strategic economic or social importance to the state. The creation of sustainable neighbourhoods in ROI is facilitated through the implementation of a checklist of 60 indicators. This paper critically examines the attempts being made to consider sustainability within the development's overall infrastructure plan, specifically: transport, energy and water services, information technology and waste. Inadequacies in the existing development are linked to shortfalls in the sustainability checklist, by way of a comparison of infrastructure-related indicators from the ROI checklist with those derived for the UK and exemplar European projects (i.e. Bedzed, UK and Freiberg, Germany). The subsequent legacy for future residents of Adamstown is then considered in the context of ‘what if’ scenarios

Urban futures and the code for sustainable homes

Copyright © 2012 ICE Publishing Ltd. Permission is granted by ICE Publishing to print one copy for personal use. Any other use of these PDF files is subject to reprint fees.A 6?6 ha (66 000 m2) regeneration site, commonly referred to as Luneside East, is to be turned from a run down, economically under-achieving area of Lancaster, UK, into a new, distinctive, vibrant, sustainable quarter of the city. As a result several aspects of water planning for 350 new homes and 8000 m2 of workspace needed to be considered before any infrastructure investment was undertaken. This included assessment of the future capacity requirements (i.e. inflows and outflows) for water infrastructure (i.e. mains water supply, wastewater disposal, rainwater storage and stormwater disposal) much of which will be located underground. This paper looks at the implications of various water management strategies on the Luneside East site (e.g. water-efficient appliances, greywater recycling and rainwater harvesting) in line with current policy measures that focus on technology changes alone (e.g. the code for sustainable homes). Based on these findings this paper outlines some basic implications for technological resilience discussed in the context of four ‘world views’ – that is, the urban futures scenarios considered in this special issue. Conclusions are drawn as to how far this can take engineers, planners and developers in understanding and planning for resilient water infrastructure within a development like Luneside East

Scenario-based sustainable water management and urban regeneration

Copyright © ICE PublishingDeployable output (source availability) from water resources in north west England is predicted to decrease over the next 25 years. Alternative supply management strategies are planned to help avoid a deficit in the supply–demand balance within the region but have yet to be considered in detail. This paper assesses the contribution of such an alternative supply strategy at local level on the water resource supply–demand balance at regional level based on a proposed urban regeneration site in north west England. Various water conservation and reuse measures are investigated considering local and regional conditions and constraints. Four future scenarios are presented and used to describe how the future might be (rather than how it will be), to allow an assessment to be made of how current ‘sustainable solutions’ might cope whatever the future holds. The analysis determines the solution contributions under each future and indicates that some strategies will deliver their full intended benefits under scenarios least expected but most needed. It is recommended that to help reduce the regional supply–demand deficit and maximise system resilience to future change, a wide range of water demand management measures should be incorporated on this and other sites