BACKYARD BURNING OF HOUSEHOLD WASTE IN RURAL AREAS. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT WITH FOCUS ON AIR POLLUTION

Waste management is one of the major problems facing Romania in terms of environmental protection. This refers to the activities of collection, transport, treatment, recovery and disposal (Apostol, T., 1999). Waste from cities and towns and rural areas are most frequently discharged into the nearest landfill or illegally dumped in remote locations. Due to lack of facilities and poor operation, waste landfills are among the recognized risk generators on environmental impact and public health. The main types of impact and risk caused by urban and industrial waste landfills perceived by the population are: pollution of surface waters; air pollution, visual, changes in the composition of soil fertility and adjoining biocoenoses. In this paper we present a study case regarding the forecasting of air pollution in an ecological landfill for urban waste.

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Quantifying Air Pollutant Variations during COVID-19 Lockdown in a Capital City in Northwest China

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos12060788 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (6) ◽

pp. 788

Author(s):

Rong Feng ◽

Hongmei Xu ◽

Zexuan Wang ◽

Yunxuan Gu ◽

Zhe Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Vehicle Emissions ◽

Motor Vehicle ◽

Northwest China ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Capital City ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Motor Vehicle Emissions

In the context of the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), strict lockdown policies were implemented to control nonessential human activities in Xi’an, northwest China, which greatly limited the spread of the pandemic and affected air quality. Compared with pre-lockdown, the air quality index and concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and CO during the lockdown reduced, but the reductions were not very significant. NO2 levels exhibited the largest decrease (52%) during lockdown, owing to the remarkable decreased motor vehicle emissions. The highest K+ and lowest Ca2+ concentrations in PM2.5 samples could be attributed to the increase in household biomass fuel consumption in suburbs and rural areas around Xi’an and the decrease in human physical activities in Xi’an (e.g., human travel, vehicle emissions, construction activities), respectively, during the lockdown period. Secondary chemical reactions in the atmosphere increased in the lockdown period, as evidenced by the increased O3 level (increased by 160%) and OC/EC ratios in PM2.5 (increased by 26%), compared with pre-lockdown levels. The results, based on a natural experiment in this study, can be used as a reference for studying the formation and source of air pollution in Xi’an and provide evidence for establishing future long-term air pollution control policies.

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Repairing the damage: cleaning up hazardous coal ash can create jobs and improve the environment

10.47923/2021.14314 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jeremy Richardson ◽

◽

Eric Dixon ◽

Ted Boettner ◽

Keyword(s):

Water Pollution ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Low Income ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Coal Ash ◽

Local Communities ◽

Work Place ◽

Communities Of Color ◽

Negative Impacts

Although coal has powered the nation for generations and today offers well-paying jobs—often the best opportunities in more rural areas—coal negatively affects human health and the environment at every point in its life cycle: when it is mined, processed, transported, burned, and discarded (Freese, Clemmer, and Nogee 2008). Local communities— often low-income communities and/or communities of color—have for decades borne the brunt of these negative impacts, including air pollution, water pollution, and work- place injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.

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Dome effect of black carbon and its key influencing factors: A one-dimensional modelling study

10.5194/acp-2017-967 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Zilin Wang ◽

Xin Huang ◽

Aijun Ding

Keyword(s):

Boundary Layer ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Black Carbon ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Land Surface ◽

Critical Role ◽

Aerosol Layer ◽

Near Surface ◽

Haze Pollution ◽

The Impact

Abstract. Black carbon (BC) has been identified to play a critical role in aerosol-planet boundary layer (PBL) interaction and further deterioration of near-surface air pollution in megacities, which has been named as its dome effect. However, the impacts of key factors that influence this effect, such as the vertical distribution and aging processes of BC, and also the underlying land surface, have not been quantitatively explored yet. Here, based on available in-situ measurements of meteorology and atmospheric aerosols together with the meteorology-chemistry online coupled model, WRF-Chem, we conduct a set of parallel simulations to quantify the roles of these factors in influencing the BC's dome effect and surface haze pollution, and discuss the main implications of the results to air pollution mitigation in China. We found that the impact of BC on PBL is very sensitive to the altitude of aerosol layer. The upper level BC, especially those near the capping inversion, is more essential in suppressing the PBL height and weakening the turbulence mixing. The dome effect of BC tends to be significantly intensified as BC aerosol mixed with scattering aerosols during winter haze events, resulting in a decrease of PBL height by more than 25 %. In addition, the dome effect is more substantial (up to 15 %) in rural areas than that in the urban areas with the same BC loading, indicating an unexpected regional impact of such kind of effect to air quality in countryside. This study suggests that China's regional air pollution would greatly benefit from BC emission reductions, especially those from the elevated sources from the chimneys and also the domestic combustions in rural areas, through weakening the aerosol-boundary layer interactions that triggered by BC.

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Association Between Household Air Pollution and Infant and Child Mortality in Myanmar: Evidence From The First Demographic and Health Survey

10.21203/rs.3.rs-152520/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Juwel Rana ◽

Md Nuruzzaman Khan ◽

Rakibul M Islam ◽

Razia Aliani ◽

Youssef Oulhote

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Child Mortality ◽

Health Survey ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Demographic And Health Survey ◽

Household Air Pollution ◽

Cluster Sampling ◽

High Exposure ◽

Under Five ◽

Under Five Children

Abstract Background: Household air pollution (HAP) from solid fuel use (SFU) for cooking has been considered a public health threat, particularly for women and children in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), with limited evidence. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of HAP on neonatal, infant, and under-five child mortality in Myanmar. Methods: This cross-sectional study employed data from the Myanmar Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS), the first nationally representative survey conducted in 2016. Data were collected from MDHS based on stratified two-stage cluster sampling design applied in urban and rural areas. The sample consists of 3249 under-five children in the household with a 98% response rate. Exposure measures were HAP (coal and biomass) and level of exposure to HAP (no exposure, moderate and high exposure). The main outcomes were neonatal, infant, and under-five child mortality reported by mothers presented in rates and risk ratios with 95% confidence intervals, accounting for survey weight and cluster variation. Results: The prevalence of SFU was 79.0%. The neonatal, infant and under-five child mortality rates were 26, 45, and 49 per 1,000 live births, respectively. The risks of infant (aRR 2.02; 95% CI: 1.01-4.05) and under-five mortality (aRR 2.16; 95% CI: 1.07-4.36) mortality were higher among children from households with SFU compared to children from households using clean fuel. When applying an augmented measure of exposure to HAP by incorporating SFU and the kitchen's location, the likelihoods of infant and under-five mortality were even higher among moderate and highly exposed children than unexposed children with similar trends. Neonatal mortality was not associated with either HAP exposure or levels of exposure to HAP.Conclusion: Infants and under-five children are at higher risk of mortality from exposure to HAP. Increasing access to cookstoves and clean fuels is imperative to reduce the risk of infant and under-five child mortality in LMICs, including Myanmar.

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EDU-GARDEN TRAINING FOR SUPPORTING ISLAMIC BASIC EDUCATION IN MEDAN

ABDIMAS TALENTA: Jurnal Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat ◽

10.32734/abdimastalenta.v3i2.4038 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 155-158

Author(s):

Hajar Suwantoro ◽

Nurman Achmad

Keyword(s):

Rural Areas ◽

Basic Education ◽

Household Waste ◽

Practical Training ◽

School Teachers ◽

Urban Green ◽

National Education ◽

Sustainable Environment ◽

Teachers And Students ◽

Land Recycling

Community service activities are focused on the problem of enriching the understanding and practice of making governance a simple garden, edu-garden, which can be done by the students of primary school in Medan city rural areas, with the conditions of the lack of urban green areas as well as the mandate of the national education, 2013 to make education sustainable environment-based vocational called as Adiwiyata school. Partnering with school teachers MIS Al Hidayah Medan Johor and Medan Selayang, be forming edu-garden as an alternative to the procurement of the garden utilizing household waste. Minimal conditions to the availability of land recycling infrastructure can be used for urban green movement through practical training programs edu-garden forming by utilizing waste for gardening activities. The result is the creation of edu-garden forming by teachers and students as teaching materials module based educational environment. The results of the simulation training and edu-garden forming this a viable alternative layout creation of urban green neighborhoods in order to achieve environmental health and public welfare.

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Mini-review of waste-to-energy related air pollution and their limit value regulations in an international comparison

Waste Management & Research ◽

10.1177/0734242x211060607 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0734242X2110606

Author(s):

Isla Hodgkinson ◽

Roman Maletz ◽

Franz-Georg Simon ◽

Christina Dornack

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Waste Incineration ◽

Waste To Energy ◽

Hazardous Substances ◽

Environmental Pressures ◽

Best Available Technologies ◽

Limit Value ◽

Anthropogenic Processes ◽

India And China

The concept of circular economy supports mitigation of climate change and other environmental pressures to the planet. Circulating materials in anthropogenic processes come with the risk of accumulating hazardous substances and compounds. In this concept, waste incineration or waste-to-energy (WtE) is a necessary technology to remove these compounds from the life cycle. In this mini-review, contaminants of major importance in the flue gas from waste incineration plants and their environmental impact are discussed. Air pollution of WtE is often seen as the most relevant environmental impact of this treatment option. The emission values parameter set for different countries is presented and compared. The most stringent legally set of emission values could be found in parts of Europe and South Korea. Japan also permits similar strict values when authorising individual incineration plants. In North America, the values are partially less strict as the best available technologies in Europe suggest being possible. Emerging economies, such as India and China, have shown efforts to improve their environmental protection standards but still have room to improve. This could be set in relation to other industrial emitting processes and therefore could be used to assess the relevance of this industry sector to the national emission inventories.

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People’s perception and awareness on air pollution in rural and urban areas of Mymensingh Sadar upazila

Progressive Agriculture ◽

10.3329/pa.v29i1.37477 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 29 (1) ◽

pp. 22-32

Author(s):

R Sarker ◽

M Yeasmin ◽

MA Rahman ◽

MA Islam

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Family Size ◽

Significant Relationship ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Correlation Coefficients ◽

Educational Qualification ◽

Independent Variables ◽

Rural And Urban Areas ◽

The Relationship

The present study was conducted to investigate peoples’ perception level and awareness of air pollution in some selected areas of Mymensingh sadar upazila. The relationship of independent variables (age, educational qualification, family size, residence and communication exposure) with the peoples’ perception level and awareness of air pollution (dependent variable) was done to understand the objectives of the study. Six Hundreds (600) respondents were selected randomly from six study sites under Mymensingh sadar upazila for collecting data during the period of Jan 2016-April, 2017. Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficients were computed to examine the relationship between the concerned variables. The findings revealed that about half (46.67 percent) of the peoples had medium perception and awareness, 31.67 percent had low and 21.67 percent had high perception and awareness about air pollution. In rural areas, 43.33 percent respondents had low, 50.00 percent had medium and only 6.67 percent had high perception and awareness of air pollution. In urban areas, 20.00 percent respondents had low, 43.33 percent had medium and 36.67 percent had high perception and awareness of air pollution. Majority of the respondents (93.33 percent) were lacking of proper awareness of air pollution in rural areas while 63.33 percent in urban areas. Out of five independent variables, three variables such as educational qualification, residence and communication exposure had positive and significant relationship, age had negative and significant relationship and family size had no relationship with their perception and awareness of air pollution.Progressive Agriculture 29 (1): 22-32, 2018

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Sri Lanka: report on its children’s environmental health

Reviews on Environmental Health ◽

10.1515/reveh-2019-0091 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 65-70

Author(s):

Himan Galappaththi

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Sri Lanka ◽

Infant Mortality ◽

Environmental Health ◽

Indoor Air ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Information Dissemination ◽

Agricultural Waste ◽

Infant Mortality Rate ◽

Children’S Environmental Health

AbstractSri Lanka is an island country located in the Indian Ocean, characterized by tropical weather, with an estimated population of 21.4 million in 2017, one third of them being children. Advancing and rapidly changing technology, novel industries, consumer goods and equipment have introduced new health hazards of a chemical, biological and physical nature to future generations. The infant mortality rate has declined to around 8–9 per 100,000 since 2015. Congenital malformations were the most significant cause of neonatal death. Thus, there might be unproven environmental factors which affect infant mortality rates despite robust field and hospital services. Air pollution is a major environmental health hazard to children, largely due to hazardous industries, vehicular emissions and traditional cooking stoves. The health of children living in urban households and attending schools in cities is adversely affected by air pollution. Usage of polythene and plastic for toys, utensils, bags, lunch sheets and other daily essentials leads to overusage and improper waste management and open burning. This emits dioxins, which are carcinogens, hormone disruptors, and which can be transferred to the fetus via the placenta. In rural areas, the burning of agricultural waste and certain agro-forestry activities have also led to air pollution. Indoor air pollution (IAP) remains a large threat as 66% of the population use biomass for cooking. Use of inefficient stoves and biomass, poor ventilation and absence of chimneys, contribute to IAP. Other indoor air pollutants such as tobacco smoke, volatile organic compounds, asbestos, pesticides, kerosene, mercury, mosquito coils and biological pollutants also prevail. Biological pollutants, such as dust mites, droppings and urine from pets, insects and rodents, pollen from indoor plants and outdoor air, and fungi, including moulds in poorly maintained buildings, can trigger asthma or cause allergic reactions and infections among children inhabiting these environments. In rural areas, chemicals were accountable for 30.2% of acute poisonings, with kerosene oil being the most common cause, followed by paracetamol. More than 80% of agricultural workers in the country work in the informal sector with limited personal protective equipment use, while pesticide usage is increasing. Children who engage in agriculture-related work and hazardous industries are at risk of developing health consequences at early stages. Dengue remains a major environmental health problem as the reduction of mosquito breeding sites has been a challenging task for many years. It is essential to gain more evidence of existing environmental risk factors and their associations with the health of children. Information dissemination among local and international experts on Children’s Environmental Health (CEH) issues needs to be enhanced and properly established. Training programs should be conducted for healthcare workers to update their knowledge. Pediatricians are needed for remote hospitals and primary healthcare centers. Environmental parameters and biological parameters are not routinely monitored in most of the hazardous environments.

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