An essential guide for every person on earth to help save our planet.

How do we live more gently on our planet? Can we put a stop to the environmental disasters that loom larger every day? These burning questions are on everyone’s mind. Wise About Waste addresses these urgent issues by providing a practical guide to reducing the waste we generate. Well-known author, academic and activist Helen Moffett looks at how we can all create less waste, and use resources more wisely. She tackles plastic waste, energy waste, food waste, manufacturing waste and much more – from homes to businesses, from immediate actions to long-term plans, there’s a strategy for everyone.

With over 150 practical tips and ideas, from the tiny and the quirky to the big and the dramatic, Wise About Waste can help us work towards waste-wise lifestyles. While there are tough questions and even tougher answers, these go hand-in-hand with reasons for hope and a good dash of humour.

Offers a guide to current environmental health and safety statutes--providing a working knowledge of the major legislations and regulations and demonstrating the steps necessary for compliance. Illustrates overall health and safety management skills for multimedia facilities.

From human waste to nuclear waste, the question of how we must manage what we no longer want, in terms of either recycling or disposal, is one of the most pressing issues in environmental law. Alexander Gillespie addresses the gaps in previous literature by incorporating economics, philosophy and the ideal of sustainable development in order to provide context to the surrounding legal and policy considerations for the management of waste. The book's premise is that all forms of waste are expanding exponentially, and are often of a hazardous nature. The author examines the size of the problem, considers how it is evolving, and assesses the legal and political implications. He then shows that existing solutions to reducing consumption and recycling are limited, and concludes by discussing potential ways forward. Students and scholars with an interest in environmental law at the national, regional and international level will find this book to be of use. The book will also be of interest to practitioners looking to solve the issues surrounding waste and recycling.

Packed with simple and practical ways to start reducing the amount of plastic you use, How to Go Plastic Free will show you how to eliminate plastic from your life, one step at a time. With 100 easy-to-follow tips championing the plastic-free cause, this is the stress-free, guilt-free guide to: * Getting started simply * Plastic-free eating and drinking * Maintaining the lifestyle you love, without plastic * Shopping responsibly and resourcefully * Creative ways to phase plastic out of your life.

Completely updated and featuring 50% more information than its predecessor, the Second Edition provides you with the most comprehensive and current information now available on hazardous waste management, site cleanup, and treatment alternatives. More than 40 of the bookÕs chapters are revised while the other 30 chapters are new and offer you state-of-the-art insight into storage and transportation of hazardous wastes, health effects of hazardous waste, environmental assessment and audits, containment technologies, and many more critical areas. Also included is the latest word on federal hazardous waste legislation, waste minimization and pollution prevention techniques, and leading-edge treatment technologies.

This study focuses on the social and political implications of waste disposal, within a policy making, urban planning and public administration framework. Luton argues that an overburdened infrastructure and citizen activism, has brought waste management politics to the forefront of our lives.

Since the thirteenth century, quay walls of significant retaining height have been built in the Netherlands in urban environments. Over time, structural revisions were often carried out due to excessive deformations or the use of increasingly larger and deeper vessels. These historic quay walls were seldom designed for the current functional requirements they are subjected to. These mostly older quay walls require more maintenance and revisions to secure a certain degree of safety. In some cases they need to be demolished and completely rebuilt. Urban Quay Walls offers safety protocols and a clear approach on how to inspect, design and maintain urban quay walls. The book offers: - an insight on the development of urban quay walls; - a description of the main forms (as used in The Netherlands); - quicksteps for the inspection of existing quay walls. Urban Quay Walls presents a proposal for a uniform and standardised method to verify the actual state of current quay walls in urban environments. This handbook presents an overview of the development of urban quay walls over the course of time and describes the main types in use in the Netherlands. Subsequently, a method is presented for deciding whether or not a historic quay wall needs to be renovated, renewed or maintained.

If you are concerned about the health of our planet then turn your attention to what lies under your feet. In the soil below are creatures at work that play a pivotal role in producing the food we eat and impacting the quality of our food crops. Earthworms were described by Darwin as the most important species on our planet and by Aristotle as 'the intestines of the earth'. The beginner's guide to earthworm farming provides you with all the information you need on these remarkable creatures and how important they are to the functioning of all life on Earth. In addition to this, this title contains simple and easy-to-implement tips on many of the important environmental issues currently facing us, including: How earthworms benefit the environment, your garden and the economy; the role earthworms play in reducing carbon emissions and removing heavy metals and toxins from our soil; how you can set up your own earthworm farm or compost heap; recycling, how waste negatively impacts water and the environment and how to effectively reduce waste and much more.

Can waste become a profitable business rather than a costly problem, creating green business opportunities and green jobs while protecting the environment? Might this reduce illegal trade and improper recycling of hazardous wastes by making the legitimate alternatives more attractive? Addressing these questions, this book examines environmentally sound waste management as a driver in the transition to a green economy, and discusses how this transition is challenged by technical limitations, weak regulatory environments and lack of financial incentives. This in-depth analysis of the link between waste management and a green economy identifies key elements of a solid overarching legal and policy framework that could address these challenges, noting that consistent implementation and enforcement is crucial. It complements its examination of the legal and policy issues with contributions on technical and economic aspects, taking into account the interdisciplinary nature of the problem, and offers a perspective from Asia, where the challenges of waste management as well as the possible opportunities are particularly significant. With interdisciplinary authorship and contributions drawn from academia and practice, this book will be a timely resource for academics and practitioners in the areas of law, policy and economics. It will also provide insights for civil servants engaged in waste policy and related areas, private sector operators engaged in waste management and sustainable development, and non-governmental organizations engaged in environmental protection and poverty reduction efforts.

As recently as the 1880s, most American cities had no effective means of collecting and removing the mountains of garbage, refuse, and manure-over a thousand tons a day in New York City alone-that clogged streets and overwhelmed the senses of residents. In his landmark study, Garbage in the Cities, Martin Melosi offered the first history of efforts begun in the Progressive Era to clean up this mess. Since it was first published, Garbage in the Cities has remained one of the best historical treatments of the subject. This thoroughly revised and updated edition includes two new chapters that expand the discussion of developments since World War I. It also offers a discussion of the reception of the first edition, and an examination of the ways solid waste management has become more federally regulated in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Melosi traces the rise of sanitation engineering, accurately describes the scope and changing nature of the refuse problem in U.S. cities, reveals the sometimes hidden connections between industrialization and pollution, and discusses the social agendas behind many early cleanliness programs. Absolutely essential reading for historians, policy analysts, and sociologists, Garbage in the Cities offers a vibrant and insightful analysis of this fascinating topic.

This book will address concepts and techniques for preparation and disposal of low- (LLW) and intermediate-level (ILW) radioactive waste from the nuclear industry, the weapons industry, university labs, research institutes, and from the commercial industry. It will aid decision-makers in finding optimal technical/economical solutions, including how site investigations, design, construction, identification and selection of construction materials (clay and concrete), and monitoring can be made. It will also examine techniques for isolating soil and rock contaminated by leaking nuclear plants and from damaged nuclear reactors such as those at the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear plants.

The world is overflowing with waste. It's time to take action. You can make positive changes without radically altering your lifestyle. This practical book suggests ways to reduce waste, including how to cut unnecessary packaging, patch up or recycle old household items and drastically limit food waste. With 101 simple ways to create less waste, you'll find it easy to take the first step and make a difference.

This book presents an assortment of case-studies pertaining to the use of sustainable technologies for heavy metal removal and recovery from mining and metallurgical wastes, construction and demolition wastes, spent catalysts and electronic wastes. Wastewaters from diverse industrial and mining activities have caused pollution problems, but these sectors also serve as a hotspot for metal recovery. Several metal removal technologies based on physical, chemical and biological processes have been successfully implemented in full-scale operation, while metal recovery, which is beneficial for economic and environmental reasons, is still limited due to challenges arising from downstream processing. For instance, microbial recovery (bioleaching) of metals from their ores is an established technology with a number of full-scale applications. Bioleaching of electronic wastes to recover metals is also a highly promising technology with low environmental impact and high cost-effectiveness; yet, this technology is still at its infancy. As the individual chapters of this book focuses on the applications and limitations of different technologies, this book will serve as an excellent resource for chemical engineers, environmental engineers, mining engineers, biotechnologists, graduate students and researchers in these areas.

Wastewater treatment is designed for teaching in advanced wastewater treatment at universities and in companies. The book provides a basis for process understanding, design, and optimization of operation and is furthermore a guide in troubleshooting for advanced wastewater operators at municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants. Today, you can find massive information on all topics on the Internet, including wastewater treatment. Therefore, it justifies this book even more, crystallizing the important basic scientific knowledge on treatment mechanisms and design.

We've reached an environmental crisis point with plastic, and it's time to take action. But is it possible to make positive changes without radically changing your lifestyle? Absolutely! This practical book suggests eco-friendly alternatives to plastic, including budget options, high-street substitutes and DIY ideas to help you drastically reduce your plastic consumption. With 101 simple ways to use less plastic, you'll find it easy to take the first step and make a difference.

This state-of-the-art reference details the legal, organizational, hierarchal, and environmental components of pollution prevention and waste reduction-illustrating fundamental concepts of pollution prevention, including life-cycle planning and analysis, risk-based pollution control, and industrial ecology. Provides case studies that utilize pollution prevention principles in process design Written by leading experts in the field, the Handbook of Pollution Control and Waste Minimization discusses current legislative and regulatory policies governing waste management in Europe and the U.S. elements of multicriteria decision making contemporary techniques to reduce hazardous by-products in the mining, oil, and chemical industries designing for the environment and more Containing nearly 1000 useful references, tables, equations, and illustrations, the Handbook of Pollution Control and Waste Minimization is an up-to-the-minute resource for chemical, process, civil, and industrial engineers; environmental and soil scientists; hazardous and industrial waste specialists; and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in these disciplines.

The siting or development of risky facilities, such as nuclear power plants or waste repositories, remains an intractable policy problem for all democratic nations. In this valuable new book, the authors present a comparative study of various siting controversies in North America, Asia, Europe and Australia. They argue that devising effective policies for dealing with siting conflicts will require social learning and changes in both institutional design and policy process. This volume studies the issue of siting in the context of a transactions cost framework. It analyses the extent to which the institutional and policy environment can assist in managing siting conflicts, as well as considering the effect of other important factors such as equity, incentive structures, social pressures, alliances, the nature of decision processes and information strategies. By adopting a broad comparative perspective and using international case studies, the authors are able to identify the similarities and differences in siting problems between nations, and the approaches and policies adopted. As well as extending the theoretical and comparative knowledge of siting conflicts, they also help to develop more robust and effective policies for managing and resolving future disputes. This book addresses a growing policy problem confronting all democratic nations. By exploring the lessons to be learned from international siting experiences, it will prove invaluable reading for academics, policymakers, government agencies, NGOs, and other societal interests involved in environmental and siting issues.

This book presents reviews, examples and case studies of innovative applications in solid and hazardous waste management. The economics of waste management have since become a significant research area in their own right, and two chapters address these issues. In addition, dedicated chapters cover specific categories of waste such as biomedical and institutional waste, plastics and e-waste. The book subsequently discusses newer analytical methods like SEM, EDX, XRD and optical microscopy, along with selected "older" methods for sampling and characterizing different types of waste. The various applications of mathematical tools like linear optimization, various software/models like WISCLeach, and DRASTIC, and tools like remote sensing and GIS are illustrated in many of the chapters. Lastly, since composting is one of the most popular treatment methods for managing the organic component of municipal solid waste, the book provides an overview of composting and the fundamentals of microbiology that are essential to understanding waste-related biological processes. The book was primarily written for students and practitioners in the field who are already familiar with the basics. All chapters were prepared by practicing experts and scholars in the field, and are intended to help readers better understand and apply these principles and practices in their own endeavours. Key topics covered in the book: * The circular economy and the economics of solid waste management * Various remote sensing and GIS applications for managing municipal solid waste, coal fires in mines, changes in land use and land cover in industrial areas, etc. * Treatment and management of different types of solid waste: institutional (including biomedical), residential, e-waste, plastic, and ash from thermal power plants * Sampling and characterization of municipal waste and compost * Fundamentals of microbiology * Overview of environmental regulations, especially those pertaining to solid and hazardous waste management

This volume is a compilation on issues related to sustainable practices in geo-environmental engineering, particularly as applying to developing nations such as India. While, the developed world has already developed some solutions such as landfills, developments in landfills, barriers and liners in the North America and waste-to-energy and waste incineration in Europe, developing countries like India are trying to figure out ways which suit the present condition without compromising the future needs and comforts. This volume presents case studies on the various problems and solutions adopted for different sites. Although a common approach for all the problems is not feasible or recommend, this collection aims to provide a compendium on the current efforts underway and to help achieve common ground for the practitioners and researchers involved. The works included here give insight to the possible development of resilient and sustainable structures (like offshore wind turbines) and energy geotechnics. The book covers topics such as liners and barrier systems, use of recycled and waste materials, waste management and hazard assessment, sustainable infrastructure, and sustainability and the environment. The contents of this book will be useful to researchers and professionals working in geo-environmental engineering. The book will also be useful to policy makers interested in understanding geotechnical concerns related to sustainable development.

This volume comprises a collection of four special lectures, six general reports and 112 papers presented at the Sixth International Symposium of Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in Soft Ground (IS-Shanghai) held between 10 and 12 April 2008 in Shanghai, China. The Symposium was organised by Tongji University and the following themes were covered: 1. Analysis and numerical modelling of deep excavations 2. Construction method, ground treatment, and conditioning for tunnelling 3. Case histories 4. Safety issues, risk analysis, hazard management and control 5. Physical and numerical modelling 6. Calculation, design methods, and predictive tools This volume provides a valuable source of information on the the state-of-the-art in geotechnical engineering associated with the design, construction and monitoring of tunnels and excavations in soft ground, and will be of interest to academics and professionals involved in these areas.

This book provides a timely review of strategies for coping with polluted ecosystems by employing bacteria, fungi and algae. It presents the vast variety of microbial technologies currently applied in the bioremediation of a variety of anthropogenic toxic chemicals, mining and industrial wastes and other pollutants. Topics covered include: microbe-mineral interactions, biosensors in environmental monitoring, iron-mineral transformation, microbial biosurfactants, bioconversion of cotton gin waste to bioethanol, anaerobe bioleaching and sulfide oxidation. Further chapters discuss the effects of pollution on microbial diversity, as well as the role of microbes in the bioremediation of abandoned mining areas, industrial and horticultural wastes, wastewater and sites polluted with hydrocarbons, heavy metals, manganese and uranium.

Understanding the mechanisms associated with metal complexes and the sequestering metal contaminants in the environment is essential for effective remediation. Heavy Metal Release in Soils describes and quantifies desorption/release kinetics and dissolution reactions in the release of heavy metals from soil.
The book focuses on:
New techniques - microscopic surface techniques, NMR and electrophoresis, XAFS, SFM, and time-resolved ATR-FTIR
Theoretical analysis and kinetic approaches - adsorption/desorption hysteresis, competitive sorption and transport, multi-component models, speciation kinetics, isotherms and soil and metal parameters, and the role of soil properties on transport
Applications - arsenic speciation and mobility in contaminated soils, modeling activity of CD, Zn, and Cu in contaminated soils, and in situ chemical immobilization
A timely addition to the literature, this book highlights the desorption/release mechanisms for the purpose of resolving remediation dilemmas in contaminated environments. It gives you the added advantage of case studies at both the microscopic and macroscopic scales, and provides both experimental and numerical investigations. With contributions from an international panel of authors, Heavy Metals Release in Soils fills a gap in the current literature concerned with subsurface contaminant fate and transport processes.

Cementitious materials are being widely used as solidification/stabilisation and barrier materials for a variety of chemical and radioactive wastes, primarily due to their favourable retention properties for metals, radionuclides and other contaminants. The retention properties result from various mineral phases in hydrated cement that possess a high density and diversity of reactive sites for the fixation of contaminants through a variety of sorption and incorporation reactions. This book presents a state of the art review and critical evaluation of the type and magnitude of the various sorption and incorporation processes in hydrated cement systems for twenty-five elements relevant for a broad range of radioactive and industrial wastes. Effects of cement evolution or ageing on sorption/incorporation processes are explicitly evaluated and quantified. While the immobilisation of contaminants by mixing-in during hydration is not explicitly addressed, the underlying chemical processes are similar. A quantitative database on the solid/liquid distribution behaviour of radionuclides and other elements in hydrated cement systems is established on the basis of a consistent review and re-evaluation of literature data. In addition to recommended values, all underlying original experimental data and key experimental info rmation are provided, which allows users to trace the given recommendations or to develop their own set of key values. This database is closely tied to the safety analysis of near surface disposal of radioactive waste in Belgium. It focuses on radioelements, toxic stable elements and heavy metals, which makes it relevant for investigations involving the interaction of radioactive and conventional contaminants with cement-based barriers.

Because water access, distribution and quality are the most urgent challenges for societies across the world, this book focuses on the current and future demands and challenges in the areas of water scarcity we may face and possible solutions in terms of technology and management including infrastructure changes that are needed for the future smart cities. Readers of this book shall gain an increased understanding of water supply and its demands and shall learn some of the research trends to overcome global water scarcity and urban growth by creating smart cities.