Household waste management practices in Charnwood borough, England

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

Analyzing drivers’ preferences and choices for the content and format of variable message signs (VMS)

Background Recent advance in variable message signs (VMS) technology has made it viable to provide spatio-temporal information on traffic and network conditions to drivers. There is a debate whether VMS diverts drivers’ attention away from the road and may cause unnecessary distraction in their driving tasks due to inconsistent VMS contents and formats. There are also other external factors such as weather conditions, visibility and time of day that may affect the integrity and reliability of the VMS. In China, only about 23% drivers were persuaded by VMS to follow route diversion. Objective In order to capture the full benefits of VMS, the aim of this paper is therefore to identify the factors affecting VMS by examining what kinds of VMS contents, formats and their interactions are more preferable to drivers, specifically in China. Methods A revealed preference (RP) questionnaire and stated preference (SP) survey consisting of 1154 samples from private and taxi drivers was conducted and analyzed using discrete choice model. Results The results revealed that the information showed by amber-on-black on text format, white-on-blue on graph format or the suggested route diversion information showed by single line are preferred by drivers in fog weather. In addition, highly educated drivers or drivers with no occupation are more prone to the qualitative delay time on a text-graph format in fog weather. In normal weather, drivers with working trip purpose are mostly preferred to receive the information on a congested traffic condition with a reason on a text-only format. However, the congested traffic condition along with the information on the apparent causes shown by red-on-black or green-on-black on a text-only format was least preferred by drivers. Regarding current and adjacent road traffic information, drivers prefer to receive the suggested route diversion on a graph-only format in fog weather and the qualitative delay time on a text-graph format in normal weather. Irrespective to weather conditions, male drivers incline to the qualitative delay time on a text-graph format. Conclusions The findings of this study could assist traffic authorities to design the most acceptable VMS for displaying traffic information for the purpose of improving road traffic efficiency and provide the theory evidence for the design of in-vehicle personalized information service system

Overcoming the barriers to implementing urban road user charging schemes

Urban road user charging offers the potential to achieve significant improvements in urban transport, but is notoriously difficult to implement. Cities need guidance on the range of factors to be considered in planning and implementing such schemes. This paper summarises the results of a 3 year programme which has collated evidence on the issues of most concern to cities. A state of the art report has provided evidence on 14 themes, ranging from objectives and design to implementation and evaluation. A set of 16 case studies has reviewed experience in design and implementation across Europe. The paper summarises their findings, provides references to more detailed information, presents the resulting policy recommendations to European, national and local government, and outlines the areas in which further research is needed

Amputation-free survival in 17,353 people at high risk for foot ulceration in diabetes:a national observational study

Acknowledgements Some of the data were presented as an abstract at the Diabetes UK Professional Conference in 2017. Diabetes data for Scotland are available for analysis by members of the Scottish Diabetes Research Network (SDRN) thanks to the hard work and dedication of NHS staff across Scotland who enter the data and people and organisations (the Scottish Care Information –Diabetes Collaboration (SCI-DC) Steering Group, the Scottish Diabetes Group, the Scottish Diabetes Survey Group, the managed clinical network managers and staff in each Health Board) involved in setting up, maintaining and overseeing SCI-DC. The SDRN receives core support from the Chief Scientist’s Office at the Scottish Government Health Department. Members of the Scottish Diabetes Research Network Epidemiology Group who do not qualify for authorship but who contributed to data collection include R. Lindsay (Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK); J. McKnight (Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK); S. Philip (Institute of Applied Health Sciences, University of Aberdeen, UK); Members of the Scottish Diabetes Research Network Epidemiology Group who do not qualify for authorship but who contributed to data management include L. Blackbourn (Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, UK); B. Farran (Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, UK); D. McAllister (Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, UK); P. McKeigue (Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, UK); S. Read (Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, UK).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Bus accident severity and passenger injury: evidence from Denmark

Purpose Bus safety is a concern not only in developing countries, but also in the U.S. and Europe. In Denmark, disentangling risk factors that are positively or negatively related to bus accident severity and injury occurrence to bus passengers can contribute to promote safety as an essential principle of sustainable transit and advance the vision “every accident is one too many”. Methods Bus accident data were retrieved from the national accident database for the period 2002–2011. A generalized ordered logit model allows analyzing bus accident severity and a logistic regression enables examining occurrence of injury to bus passengers. Results Bus accident severity is positively related to (i) the involvement of vulnerable road users, (ii) high speed limits, (iii) night hours, (iv) elderly drivers of the third party involved, and (v) bus drivers and other drivers crossing in yellow or red light. Occurrence of injury to bus passengers is positively related to (i) the involvement of heavy vehicles, (ii) crossing intersections in yellow or red light, (iii) open areas, (iv) high speed limits, and (v) slippery road surface. Conclusions The findings of the current study provide a comprehensive picture of the bus safety situation in Denmark and suggest the necessity of further research into bus drivers’ attitudes and perceptions of risks and road users’ perceptions of bus operations. Moreover, these findings suggest the need for further training into bus drivers’ hazard recognition skills and infrastructural solutions to forgive possible driving errors