Integrated resource planning for urban waste management

© 2015 by the authors, licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. The waste hierarchy currently dominates waste management planning in Australia. It is effective in helping planners consider options from waste avoidance or "reduction" through to providing infrastructure for landfill or other "disposal". However, it is inadequate for guiding context-specific decisions regarding sustainable waste management and resource recovery, including the ability for stakeholders to compare a range of options on an equal footing whilst considering their various sustainability impacts and trade-offs. This paper outlines the potential use of Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) as a decision-making approach for the urban waste sector, illustrated using an Australian case study. IRP is well established in both the water and energy sectors in Australia and internationally. It has been used in long-term planning enabling decision-makers to consider the potential to reduce resource use through efficiency alongside options for new infrastructure. Its use in the waste sector could address a number of the current limitations experienced by providing a broader context-sensitive, adaptive, and stakeholder focused approach to planning not present in the waste hierarchy and commonly used cost benefit analysis. For both efficiency and new infrastructure options IRP could be useful in assisting governments to make decisions that are consistent with agreed objectives while addressing costs of alternative options and uncertainty regarding their environmental and social impacts. This paper highlights various international waste planning approaches, differences between the sectors where IRP has been used and gives a worked example of how IRP could be applied in the Australian urban waste sector

Le attivit\ue0 formative in campagna nella didattica delle geo-scienze. Tra tradizione ed innovazione

Sessione Tematica TS3.1 - Le attivit\ue0 formative in campagna nella didattica delle geo-scienze. Tra tradizione ed innovazione Convener: Stoppa M., Battisti G. Non \ue8 una novit\ue0 affermare che le attivit\ue0 sul terreno costituiscano un\u2019esperienza imprescindibile nella formazione culturale e professionale del geologo. In ambito universitario sono organicamente promosse dai corsi di Rilevamento geologico, ma sono rilevanti anche all\u2019interno di molteplici insegnamenti riferibili alle geo-scienze specialistiche, ove impongono il ricorso a metodologie curvate, spesso intrise di carattere spiccatamente innovativo. Nell\u2019ambito degli insegnamenti scolastici di Geografia e di Scienze le attivit\ue0 sul terreno svolgono un ruolo decisivo sul piano del consolidamento dei saperi e dell\u2019avviamento al metodo scientifico, senza contare le spiccate valenze orientative e motivazionali che le contraddistinguono. Un\u2019adeguata attenzione deve essere pure riservata al pullulare di attivit\ue0 di interesse divulgativo proposte dai musei scientifici (in particolare i musei geologici e i musei minerari) nonch\ue9 dalle aree protette, che contribuiscono, sinergicamente, a diffondere nella societ\ue0 una sensibilit\ue0 nei confronti delle geo-scienze, con evidenti ricadute sul piano della gestione sostenibile del territorio. There is nothing new in saying that field activities are a vital experience in the cultural and professional training of geologists. At university such activities are an organic part in the courses of geological survey. They are also relevant in various courses concerning the specialist geosciences, where the teachers resort to adjusted, often markedly innovative methodologies. As regard the curricula of geography and natural sciences in the schools, field activities play a decisive role in the consolidation of knowledge and introduction to the scientific method, not to forget the value in guiding and motivating students. Adequate attention ought to be reserved to the spreading of popular activities proposed by scientific museums - especially the geological and mining ones - and by the protected areas. Both help to promote a widespread appreciation of geosciences, producing a remarkable spin-off in the field of sustainable land use management

A methodological proposal to link Design with Additive Manufacturing to environmental considerations in the Early Design Stages

Additive manufacturing is an innovative manufacturing process that enables rapid manufacturing of functional products and parts. On the other side, considering environmental aspects in design is beneficial as it leads to lower costs, improved product quality, new business opportunities. Thus, in order to foster the potential of AM in product innovation and product manufacturing in the light of environmental concerns, a new design method is necessary. This paper proposes a method in the context of Design with Additive Manufacturing, to take into account the specificities of this manufacturing process in a Design to Environment approach. The method is focused on the Early Design Stages (EDS) of the product development process, which are crucial not only for choices regarding the product characteristics but also for the environmental parameters that need to be taken into consideration. The implementation of the proposed method in creativity session of the EDS underlined the need for dedicated supports in terms of environmental decisions. More and specifically the need for providing tools to capitalize the decisions made focusing on each Life Cycle Stage of the product was identified as a requirement for this support

Monitoring healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use at regional level through repeated point prevalence surveys: what can be learnt?

Abstract BACKGROUND: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) surveillance is an essential part of any infection prevention and control programme. Repeated point prevalence surveys (PPSs) according to European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) protocol have been implemented in all Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) region (Italy) acute hospitals to reduce and control HAIs. AIM: Using the repeated PPSs within a regional-healthcare system (RHS) to promote and evaluate infection prevention and control (IPC) programmes. METHODS: The standard versions of the ECDC PPS protocols were used in all four surveys (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017). All RHS public and private accredited hospitals were involved within the 'safe care network' programme. FINDINGS: The numbers of surveyed patients in the four PPSs were 3172, 3253, 2969 and 3036, respectively. Prevalence of HAIs and antimicrobial use (AU) decreased significantly from 2011: HAIs (P<0.05) 7.1%, 6.3%, 5.5%, 5.8% and AU (P<0.01) 40.4%, 39.2%, 36.0%, 37.2%, respectively. The appropriateness of duration of surgical prophylaxis increased significantly (<24\u202fh increased through surveys related to one in 2011: odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.29, 0.92-1.81; 1.95, 1.31-2.91; 1.78, 1.20-2.64, respectively). The most frequently detected HAIs were: bloodstream, urinary tract, pneumonia and surgical site (more than the 70% of HAIs in each PPS). CONCLUSION: The FVG regional approach to HAIs and AU surveillance was able to contribute to reduce prevalence over a 7-year period. Furthermore, it was able to keep hospital attention on HAIs and AU through the years and to guarantee a standardized and comparable evaluation of HAIs and AU burden in all RHS hospitals, as well as impacting on HAIs and AU regional programmes

Lessons, narratives, and research directions for a sustainable circular economy

International audienceThe current enthusiasm for the circular economy (CE) offers a unique opportunity to advance the impact of research on sustainability transitions. Diverse interpretations of CE by scholars, however, produce partly opposing assessments of its potential benefits, which can hinder progress. Here, we synthesize policy-relevant lessons and research directions for a sustainable CE and identify three narratives—optimist, reformist, and skeptical—that underpin the ambiguity in CE assessments. Based on 54 key CE scholars’ insights, we identify three research needs: the articulation and discussion of ontologically distinct CE narratives; bridging of technical, managerial, socio-economic, environmental, and political CE perspectives; and critical assessment of opportunities and limits of CE science–policy interactions. Our findings offer practical guidance for scholars to engage reflexively with the rapid expansion of CE knowledge, identify and pursue high-impact research directions, and communicate more effectively with practitioners and policymakers

Developing novel approaches to tracking domestic water demand under uncertainty - A reflection on the "up scaling" of social science approaches in the United Kingdom

Climate change, socio-demographic change and changing patterns of ordinary consumption are creating new and unpredictable pressures on urban water resources in the UK. While demand management is currently offered as a first option for managing supply/demand deficit, the uncertainties around demand and its' potential trajectories are problematic. In this paper we review the ways in which particular branches of social science offer a model of 'distributed demand' that helps explain these current and future uncertainties. We also identify a few potential strategies for tracking where the drivers of change for demand may lie. Rather than suggesting an alternative 'demand forecasting' technique we propose alternative methodological approaches that 'stretch out' and 'scale up' measures of demand to inform water resources planning and policy. These proxy measurements could act as 'indictors of change' to water demand at a population level that could then be used to inform research and policy strategies. We conclude by arguing for the need to recognise the co-production of demand futures and supply trajectories

Mineral supply for sustainable development requires resource governance

International audienceSuccessful delivery of the United Nations sustainable development goals and implementation of the Paris Agreement requires technologies that utilize a wide range of minerals in vast quantities. Metal recycling and technological change will contribute to sustaining supply, but mining must continue and grow for the foreseeable future to ensure that such minerals remain available to industry. New links are needed between existing institutional frameworks to oversee responsible sourcing of minerals, trajectories for mineral exploration, environmental practices, and consumer awareness of the effects of consumption. Here we present, through analysis of a comprehensive set of data and demand forecasts, an interdisciplinary perspective on how best to ensure ecologically viable continuity of global mineral supply over the coming decades

Lessons, narratives, and research directions for a sustainable circular economy

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MThe current enthusiasm for the circular economy (CE) offers a unique opportunity to advance the impact of research on sustainability transitions. Diverse interpretations of CE by scholars, however, produce partly opposing assessments of its potential benefits, which can hinder progress. Here, we synthesize policy-relevant lessons and research directions for a sustainable CE and identify three narratives-optimist, reformist, and skeptical-that underpin the ambiguity in CE assessments. Based on 54 key CE scholars' insights, we identify three research needs: the articulation and discussion of ontologically distinct CE narratives; bridging of technical, managerial, socio-economic, environmental, and political CE perspectives; and critical assessment of opportunities and limits of CE science-policy interactions. Our findings offer practical guidance for scholars to engage reflexively with the rapid expansion of CE knowledge, identify and pursue high-impact research directions, and communicate more effectively withpractitioners and policymakers