Solid Waste Management in Rural Communities of Developing Countries: An Overview of Challenges and Opportunities

Solid waste management (SWM) in rural areas of many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) represents a critical and underrated topic. However, almost half of the world's population still lives in rural areas and an adequate SWM is crucial in reducing environmental and health threats. A lack of knowledge and appropriate tools often leads to inappropriate practices such as waste dumping and uncontrolled burning. However, appropriate methods can transform waste into resources and even guarantee a revenue source. This manuscript provides an overview of the state of the knowledge characterising SWM in rural communities of LMICs, analysing common practices and principal issues. Different solid waste fractions are considered. Virtuous approaches are presented, taking into account recent sustainable solutions. Considering that a relevant part of the world population is still living in rural areas, the benefits associated with an appropriate SWM may be enormous. Such activities may improve local conditions from social, environmental and health perspectives; furthermore, they may have a global impact on facing climate change and environmental pollution

A Simplified Model for Estimating Household Air Pollution in Challenging Contexts: A Case Study from Ghana

Almost three billion people rely primarily on inefficient and polluting cooking systems worldwide. Household air pollution is a direct consequence of this practice, and it is annually associated with millions of premature deaths and diseases, mainly in low- and lower-middle-income countries. The use of improved cookstoves often represents an appropriate solution to reduce such health risks. However, in the distribution of such units, it can be necessary to prioritize the beneficiaries. Thus, in this study, we conducted field research involving five rural villages in the Northern part of Ghana, where using three-stone fires or rural stoves was common. Concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, and carbon monoxide (CO) were measured indoors and outdoors. Considering each field mission lasted less than 24 h, assumptions were made so as to calculate the average pollutant concentrations in 24 h through a new, simplified equation that combined efficiency and cost-savings by shortening field assessments. The obtained values were compared with international guidelines. The results showed that PM2.5 and PM10 limits were overstepped in two villages, which should thus be prioritized. However, further research will be necessary to strengthen and validate our proposed equation, which must be seen as a starting point

The Width of the Colour Flux Tube

We discuss and rederive in a general way the logarithmic growth of the mean squared width of the colour flux tube as a function of the interquark separation. Recent data on 3D $Z_2$ gauge theory, combined with high precision data on the interface physics of the 3D Ising model fit nicely this behaviour over a range of more than two orders of magnitude.Comment: 3 pages, contribution to the Lattice '94 conference, uuencoded compressed ps-fil

Rough Interfaces Beyond the Gaussian Approximation

We compare predictions of the Capillary Wave Model with Monte Carlo results for the energy gap and the interface energy of the 3D Ising model in the scaling region. Our study reveals that the finite size effects of these quantities are well described by the Capillary Wave Model, expanded to two-loop order (one order beyond the Gaussian approximation).Comment: Contribution to LATTICE 94. 3 pages, PostScript fil

On the relation between the width of the flux tube and Tc−1T_c^{-1} in lattice gauge theories

Within the framework of a quantum flux tube model for the interquark potential it is possible to predict that in (2+1) dimensions the space-like string tension must increase with the temperature in the deconfined phase and that the thickness of the flux tube must coincide with the inverse of the deconfinement temperature. Both these predictions are in good agreement with some recent numerical simulations of SU(2) and $Z_2$ gauge models.Comment: 3 pages, uuencoded .ps file (Proceeding of Lattice '93 Conference