Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of Two Options for MSW Management in New York City: Modern Landfilling vs. Waste to Energy

Author(s):  
N. Krishnan ◽  
N. J. Themelis

The U.S. generates about 370 million short tons of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) each year. In 2002, an average of 26.9% of this material was either recycled or composted. Of the remainder, an estimated 242 million short tons were disposed of in landfills and about 29 million short tons were combusted in Waste to Energy (WTE) facilities to produce electricity and scrap metal. Effective management of MSW is becoming increasingly challenging, especially in densely populated regions, such as New York City, where there is little or no landfill capacity and the tipping fees have doubled and tripled in recent years. There is also a growing appreciation of the environmental implications of landfills. Even with modern landfill construction, impacts remain from the need for transfer stations to handle putrescible wastes, their transport to distant landfills, and finally landfill gas emissions and potential aqueous run-off. Environmental impacts of concern associated with disposal in WTEs include air emissions of metals, dioxins and greenhouse gases. In the U.S., there is also a strong negative public perception of WTE facilities. Decisions about waste management should be influenced by a consideration of the overall, quantified life-cycle environmental impacts of different options. In this paper we therefore develop a methodology to assess these impacts for landfilling and WTE waste management options. Specifically we attempt to compare these two options for New York City, a large urban area.

Author(s):  
Nickolas J. Themelis

This report presents the results of a study that examined alternatives to landfilling the municipal solid wastes (MSW) of New York City. Detailed characterization of the wastes led to their classification, according to materials properties and inherent value, to “recyclable”, “compostable”, “combustible”, and “landfillable”. The results showed that the present rates of recycling (16.6%) and combustion (12.4%) in New York City can be increased by a) implementing an automated, modern Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) that separates the blue bag stream to “recyclables” and “combustibles”, and b) combusting the non-recyclable materials in a Waste-to-Energy (WTE) facility. Combustion of wastes to produce electricity is environmentally much preferable to landfilling. An advanced technology for combustion is that used in a modern Waste-to-Energy plant (SEMASS, Massachusetts) that processes 0.9 million metric tons of MSW per year, generates a net of 610 kWh per metric ton of MSW, recovers ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and has lower emissions than many coal-fired power plants.


Author(s):  
Kelsie Cowman ◽  
Yi Guo ◽  
Liise-anne Pirofski ◽  
David Wong ◽  
Hongkai Bao ◽  
...  

Abstract We partnered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to treat high-risk, non-admitted COVID-19 patients with bamlanivimab in the Bronx, NY per Emergency Use Authorization criteria. Increasing post-treatment hospitalizations were observed monthly between December 2020-March 2021 in parallel to the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants in New York City.


2020 ◽  
pp. 0734242X2095427
Author(s):  
Maribel Velasco Perez ◽  
Perla Xochitl Sotelo Navarro ◽  
Alethia Vazquez Morillas ◽  
Rosa María Espinosa Valdemar ◽  
Jéssica Paola Hermoso Lopez Araiza

Absorbent hygiene products (AHP) have received much interest due to the notion that their end-of-life (EoL) stage has high environmental impacts. Since the use of AHP will continue to rise in the foreseeable future, information that helps with a reduction in the environmental impacts of AHP through their life cycle is needed. This research presents an estimation of AHP in municipal waste, and it also reviews and discusses waste management options, available treatments at bench, pilot or full scale, and life cycle assessments (LCAs) available in the literature. Municipal waste of countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development contains on average 2.7% of baby nappies, 4.8% of adult nappies and 0.5% of sanitary pads (in weight), whereas that of Latin-American countries have 7.3%, 3.3%, and 0.9%, respectively. Management options for AHP waste in developed countries are landfilling and incineration, while in developing countries AHP are disposed of in dumpsites and landfills. Most LCAs identify significant environmental impacts in the production of raw materials, while EoL scenarios involving incineration and landfill were found to have a significant contribution to global warming potential. Substitution with alternative products has been suggested as a way of decreasing environmental impacts; however, their use frequently causes a trade-off on different impact categories. Municipalities could use a wide range of policy tools, such as extended producer responsibility systems, bans, levies, ecolabelling, or a combination of these, to reduce the environmental and economic burden of AHP waste.


1987 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas T. Gurak

Utilizing data from a 1981 survey of Dominican and Colombian immigrants to New York City, and from 1975 marriage certificates for the entire city, this article describes the extent of family formation in the U.S. and patterns of marital selectivity of recent Hispanic immigrants residing in New York City. A core goal of the analysis is the provision of indicators of the extent of and nature of integration processes at an early stage of the immigration.


2010 ◽  
pp. 1284-1297
Author(s):  
Esperanza Huerta

Fotogenika is a small e-business that was born out of the idea of two young Mexican entrepreneurs. It started its operations in March 2004, and after a few months, it managed to successfully create a small customer base. Fotogenika.com is the commercial name of a company established in New York City that delivers digital pictures in Mexico. The company serves Mexicans living out of their country who want to keep in touch with their families in Mexico. Owned by Mexicans living in the U.S., Fotogenika understands the strong ties among Mexican families and their need to keep in touch with their family. Fotogenika shows how culture is important to serve customers in America and how to focus on a profitable market niche. Also, this case presents the technology and marketing challenges that small startup e-businesses face, as well. Finally, Fotogenika’s business proposition demonstrates the advantages of displacing a product digitally to where it will be produced and delivered at a low cost.


Author(s):  
Esperanza Huerta

Fotogenika is a small e-business that was born out of the idea of two young Mexican entrepreneurs. It started its operations in March 2004, and after a few months, it managed to successfully create a small customer base. Fotogenika.com is the commercial name of a company established in New York City that delivers digital pictures in Mexico. The company serves Mexicans living out of their country who want to keep in touch with their families in Mexico. Owned by Mexicans living in the U.S., Fotogenika understands the strong ties among Mexican families and their need to keep in touch with their family. Fotogenika shows how culture is important to serve customers in America and how to focus on a profitable market niche. Also, this case presents the technology and marketing challenges that small startup e-businesses face, as well. Finally, Fotogenika’s business proposition demonstrates the advantages of displacing a product digitally to where it will be produced and delivered at a low cost.


Stone Free ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Jas Obrecht

This detailed account of James Marshall Hendrix’s life before he transformed into “Jimi” Hendrix covers his hardscrabble childhood in Seattle, his early musical inspirations, first instruments and bands, and stint in the U.S. Army. Following his discharge, Hendrix embarks on his professional career, playing the chitlin circuit and making his first recordings as a studio musician. He then lands in New York City, where he lives in abject poverty until his “discovery” by Linda Keith and Bryan “Chas” Chandler. Chandler sees him perform “Hey Joe” and Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” in a Greenwich Village club and arranges his passage to London. In a move that will come back to haunt him, Hendrix agrees to let Chandler and Michael Jeffery manage his career.


1968 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-52
Author(s):  
J. Hernández-Alvarez

This article presents a concise summary of the geographic movement and settlement of Puerto Ricans within the United States from 1950 to 1960, based on data drawn from the Census taken on the latter date. The Author observes that a shift away from New York City occurred both in terms of migration from Puerto Rico and internal movements between states. This resulted in the development of major Puerto Rican communities in eight other metropolitan areas of the U.S. The Puerto Rican population was found highly mobile within the U.S., especially from neighborhood to neighborhood within the same city and usually in the direction of neighborhoods marked by out-migration of non-Puerto Ricans. The analysis is then extended to the different patterns of settlement outside New York City and the present evolution of the migrant colonias and to the diaspora of a small portion of the Puerto Rican population throughout the U.S. In the final remarks, the Author discusses the future trend of dispersion of the second generation population, especially, and the correlation between economically favored cities and the setlement of Puerto Ricans on the mainland.


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