Pecologix Political Ecology Blotter

Africa is not alone in its growth in domestic electronics users. Research in China and Peru has documented similar trends, with a burgeoning class of people who can afford to buy new and secondhand devices. By sometime between 2016 and 2018, domestic generation of e-waste in developing countries will outstrip generation in developed countries, says [...]

There is increasing interest in the use of biodegradable materials because they are believed to be “greener”. In a landfill, these materials degrade anaerobically to form methane and carbon dioxide. The fraction of the methane that is collected can be utilized as an energy source and the fraction of the biogenic carbon that does not [...]

This study evaluates the effects of co-gasification of municipal solid waste with and without the municipal solid waste bottom ash using two large-scale commercial operation plants. From the viewpoint of operation data, there is no significant difference between municipal solid waste treatment with and without the bottom ash. The carbon conversion ratios are as high [...]

The process itself uses Liquid Nitrogen to freeze the body to -196 degrees C until the body is brittle. The body is then fragmented, foreign metal objects removed, and body materials returned to the process. The remains are then freeze dried under a range of vacuumed conditions to remove the moisture. Our process (patent pending) [...]

We estimated the amount of waste reduction induced by the use of refills for shampoo and hair conditioner in Japan using point-of-sales (POS) data collected by retailers. The amount of waste reduction estimated was about 276 in fiscal year 2000, and increased to about 54% in fiscal year 2008, contributing to a waste reduction of [...]

Overall, this study found that there was no increase in the levels of compounds with dioxin-like activity in a population living close to an MSWI, in agreement with the literature reviewed, for plants of recent construction using state-of-the-art technology. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.09.009

There is increasing interest in the use of biodegradable materials because they are believed to be “greener”. In a landfill, these materials degrade anaerobically to form methane and carbon dioxide. The fraction of the methane that is collected can be utilized as an energy source and the fraction of the biogenic carbon that does not [...]