The role of socio-economic and cultural factors in municipal solid waste generation: a case study in Taman Perling, Johor Bahru

The absence of a comprehensive database on solid waste generation and composition appears to be the major drawback to the development of an integrated waste management system in Malaysia. While many studies have been conducted on related fields, such as Abd. Karim et al. (1996), Sabarinah (1997), and Salim et al. (1994), there is still a lack of clear model or approach in determining attributes influencing the amount of wastes generated by our community. A study conducted in Taman Perling, Johor Bahru has shown that such as attributes as income, education, and other socioeconomic factors barely affect the amount of waste generated. It seems that only family size and lifestyle factors, particularly the eating habits of residents, contribute significantly to variations in the generation of residential waste in the study area. While the amount increases with the size of family, it decreases as the respondents dine out more often. This study suggests new insights concerning the role of social factors and lifestyle in affecting the generation of household waste

Agriculture drainage affects river water quality

The acidic level of the freshwater is a major concern to water treatment plant operators. Extremely acidic freshwater could affect the operation of the treatment plant in many ways. The cost to neutralisation the water would increase and treatment scheduling would be more complicated. This paper reports the influence of agricultural drainage on river water quality in Bekok river system in Johor, Malaysia. The river is the sole source of freshwater supply to two water treatment plants located at the downstream reach of the river. Three water quality parameters, i.e. pH, Iron and Ammonia-N, were used as an indication parameter. Water samples collected from 16 different river reaches along the 20-km river were analysed. A significant decrease in pH was found near the water intake point, where most of the drained areas are located. The study also found that in general, the quality of the river water was better during low flow condition (non-rainy days) compared to high flow (rainy days). Multiple regression analysis showed that pH was significantly related to Iron and Ammonia contents

Experimental Design of Electrocoagulation and Magnetic Technology for Enhancing Suspended Solids Removal From Synthetic Wastewater

Design of experiments (DOE) is one of the statistical method that is used as a tool to enhance and improve experimental quality. The changes to the variables of a process or system is supposed to give the optimal result (response) and quite satisfactory. Experimental design can defined as a test or series of test series by varying the input variables (factors) of a process that can known to cause changes in output (response). This paper presents the results of experimental design of wastewater treatment by electrocoagulation (EC) technique. A combined magnet and electrocoagulation (EC) technology were designed to increase settling velocity and to enhance suspended solid removal efficiencies from wastewater samples. In this experiment, a synthetic wastewater samples were prepared by mixing 700 mg of the milk powder in one litre of water and treated by using an acidic buffer solution. The monopolar iron (Fe) plate anodes and cathodes were employed as electrodes. Direct current was varied in a range of between 0.5 and 1.1 A, and flowrate in a range of between 1.00 to 3.50 mL/s. One permanent magnets namely AlNiCo with a magnetic strength of 0.16T was used in this experiment. The results show that the magnetic field and the flowrate have major influences on suspended solids removal. The efficiency removals of suspended solids, turbidity and COD removal efficiencies at optimum conditions were found to be more than 85%, 95%, and 75%, respectively

The green construction site index (GCSI): a quantitative tool used to assess an ongoing project to meet the green construction concept

The development of the construction industry in Indonesia has been substantially contributing to the enhancement of the social and economic development of the people. However, its expansion has also become an issue, as the development might be implicated in the abuse of environmental sustainability when the practices of conducting the construction project abandon the rules and regulations of sustainable green construction concepts. Therefore, this study attempted to introduce a quantitative assessment tool called the Green Construction Site Index (GCSI) to evaluate the performance of an ongoing project to meet the sustainable green construction concept. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of GCSI as a quantitative assessment tool to measure the implementation of the green construction concept conducted by ongoing projects. Data were collected by onsite direct observation, interviews with key personnel, and project documentation review. Data were organized and analyzed using descriptive elaboration. The results showed that three aspects, the Efficiency Index (IE), Productivity Index (IP), and Awareness Index (IA), were effective in assessing 10 ongoing construction projects, categorized as Non-Commercial Non-Residential Building, Commercial Residential Building, and Commercial Non-Residential Building. The index generated using GCSI, upon assessing 10 buildings, was 3.39 and fell into the Good category with IE = 3.51, IP = of 2.86, and IA = 3.84. Another finding shows that the Project Organizational Commitment Index (POCI) to the indicator of the GCSI was 3.31 (Good category) with IPOL = 3.36, IPRO = 3.49, and IPRAC = 2.75. The capability of the GCSI to identify three aspects within a construction project simultaneously and comprehensively suggests the importance of its function as an effective tool that gives benefits to not only the contactors, but also to the authorities that control the green construction-related performance. Therefore, the GCSI is expected to be applied as a standardized reference by both the construction industries and regulating authorities. Despite its satisfactory findings, the GCSI needs to be furthered to achieve its reliability and validity to be adopted internationally

Penilaian Kinerja Lingkungan pada Proyek Konstruksi

Industri konstruksi menimbulkan dampak negatif terhadap lingkungan disebabkan oleh meningkatnya volume limbah yang dihasilkan oleh aktivitas konstruksi itu sendiri. Berbagai literatur menunjukkan bahwa upaya mengurangi limbah (reducing waste) menjadi sangat penting untuk dilakukan di semua tahapan kontruksi karena sampai saat ini masih menjadi cara terbaik dalam pengelolaan dan penanganan limbah. Penelitian yang ada di seluruh dunia telah banyak mengevaluasi berbagai dampak limbah dan energi yang ditimbulkan selama kegiatan kontruksi. Paper ini membahas tentang berbagai model penilaiaan (assessment) kinerja lingkungan dari suatu penelitian sebelumnya yang telah digunakan secara Internasional. Dan paper ini menyajikan kajian kritis dari metode terbaru dalam penilaian kinerja lingkungan dari proyek-proyek konstruksi. Metode yang digunakan untuk mengukur kinerja lingkungan antara lain: Contractor’s Environmental Performance Scoring System (C-EPSS), Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA), Building Waste Assessment Score (BWAS) Waste Management Performance Evaluation Tool (WMPET) dan Environmental Performance Score (EPS)

Penilaian Kinerja Lingkungan pada Proyek Konstruksi

Industri konstruksi menimbulkan dampak negatif terhadap lingkungan disebabkan oleh meningkatnya volume limbah yang dihasilkan oleh aktivitas konstruksi itu sendiri. Berbagai literatur menunjukkan bahwa upaya mengurangi limbah (reducing waste) menjadi sangat penting untuk dilakukan di semua tahapan kontruksi karena sampai saat ini masih menjadi cara terbaik dalam pengelolaan dan penanganan limbah. Penelitian yang ada di seluruh dunia telah banyak mengevaluasi berbagai dampak limbah dan energi yang ditimbulkan selama kegiatan kontruksi. Paper ini membahas tentang berbagai model penilaiaan (assessment) kinerja lingkungan dari suatu penelitian sebelumnya yang telah digunakan secara Internasional. Dan paper ini menyajikan kajian kritis dari metode terbaru dalam penilaian kinerja lingkungan dari proyek-proyek konstruksi. Metode yang digunakan untuk mengukur kinerja lingkungan antara lain: Contractor’s Environmental Performance Scoring System (C-EPSS), Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA), Building Waste Assessment Score (BWAS) Waste Management Performance Evaluation Tool (WMPET) dan Environmental Performance Score (EPS)

Landfill leachate treatment using copas

Human activities always generate solid wastes. Solid wastes is usually handled by processes such as, collection, transportation, sorting, recycling and disposal at dumping sites. As a result, the dumping sites become concentrated with wastes and may affect the environment. Most dumping sites generate landfill leachate which could pollute the water body nearby. Examples of chemical characteristic of leachate is shown in Table 1. It includes heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) (Fadil, 1994 and Norhayati et al., 1994). As shown by some reports, heavy metal can be removed by activated carbon (Reed, et al.,1995). Activated carbon also can reduce COD and metals from landfill leachate (Salim, 1992). By using the concept of activated carbon adsorption, some agricultural base materials were studied for their ability to remove heavy metals from water samples (Fadil et al., 1994). It is the intention of this paper to present a report on the ability of carbon which was made of oil palm shell to be used for heavy metal removal from water and landfill leachate samples

Improving Project Performance and Waste Reduction in Construction Projects: A Case Study of A Government Institutional Building Project

The construction industry plays an important role in establishing the infrastructure required for socio-economic development and directly contributes to economic growth. On the other side, it also generates severe impacts on the environment. The construction industry is one of the biggest environmental polluters and it also consumes large quantities of raw materials. Value Engineering originates from the manufacturing industry in order to deliver higher value and quality to a product by means of an increase in efficiency. ‘Lean Construction’ (LC) concepts emerged as a consequence of the application of VE philosophy, specifically for construction industry. LC extends from the objectives of a lean production system – to maximize value and to minimize waste – in relation to specific techniques and then applies them conceptually in a new project delivery process. The aims of this paper are to present practical examples of the application of Value Engineering and Lean Construction concepts within a green building construction project and to qualitatively assess its benefits in terms of environmental impact and waste minimization. A detailed case study was conducted for project execution of a new multi-storey government institutional building in the Jakarta central business district. This project adopts a Green Building and a Green Site concept in order to reduce potential environmental impact during the construction phase itself and during the occupancy phase of the building. The case study primarily concerns issues such as water consumption, power usage, etc. This project is a perfect example for the application of Value Engineering and Lean Construction philosophies in order to deliver better quality, faster completion, environmentally friendly practice, and less waste generation. The adoption of environmental awareness in the context of building design, the application of alternative and/or recycled/environmentally friendly materials, along with a number of “green” technologies and building systems featured in this building concept will deliver greater value without jeopardizing the ecology. Meanwhile, the adoption of prefabrication construction methods, intelligent excavation works, ‘Reduce-Reuse-Recycle’ principles, and simple ‘environmentally-aware’ on-site practices can minimize the waste produced and the local environmental impact emitted during project execution

MOPAS for metal removal

MOPAS for metal remova

Penilaian Kinerja Lingkungan pada Proyek Konstruksi

Industri konstruksi menimbulkan dampak negatif terhadap lingkungan disebabkan oleh meningkatnya volume limbah yang dihasilkan oleh aktivitas konstruksi itu sendiri. Berbagai literatur menunjukkan bahwa upaya mengurangi limbah (reducing waste) menjadi sangat penting untuk dilakukan di semua tahapan kontruksi karena sampai saat ini masih menjadi cara terbaik dalam pengelolaan dan penanganan limbah. Penelitian yang ada di seluruh dunia telah banyak mengevaluasi berbagai dampak limbah dan energi yang ditimbulkan selama kegiatan kontruksi.  Paper ini membahas tentang berbagai model penilaiaan (assessment) kinerja lingkungan dari suatu penelitian sebelumnya yang telah digunakan secara internasional. Dan paper ini menyajikan kajian kritis dari metode terbaru dalam penilaian kinerja lingkungan dari proyek-proyek konstruksi. Metode yang digunakan untuk mengukur kinerja lingkungan antara lain: Contractor’s Environmental Performance Scoring System (C-EPSS), Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA), Building Waste Assessment Score (BWAS) Waste Management Performance Evaluation Tool (WMPET) dan Environmental Performance Score (EPS).Kata kunci: Limbah Konstruksi, Model Kinerja Lingkungan, Indikator Penilaia