Influencing factors and reduction of domestic solid waste at university dormitory in Shanghai, China

Increasing domestic solid waste (DSW) is becoming one of the most serious challenges for city and regional environment. As an epitome of the society, the investigation on the influencing factors and reduction of DSW of university students can not only provide policy suggestions for the waste management in the university campus, but also can achieve demonstration effect to other communities due to its high social status and wide impacts. This research combined direct weighing, questionnaire surveys, and regression analysis to quantify the influencing factors of DSW at East China Normal University’s dormitory in Shanghai. Direct weighting and questionnaire survey were conducted in 112 randomly selected dormitory rooms. Totally 523 valid questionnaires were collected. It is found that the average waste generation was 0.275 kg/day/cap, in which residual waste accounted for 64% of total, followed by household food waste (29%), and recyclable waste (7%). Regressions based on ordinary least square method suggested that students’ attitude towards waste played the most important role in affecting the waste reduction with its elasticity − 0.195. Lower educational level and better financial condition would lead to more waste generation, whose elasticity was 0.148 and 0.098 respectively. The influences of gender and major varied from waste types. Policies implications for university administration departments for sustainable waste and resource management include developing personalized and humanized waste management policies, enhancing environmental awareness through diverse educational activities, and expanding the publicity role of campus cultural activities on waste reduction.

Environmental Policy for the Restriction on the Use of Plastic Products in Taiwan: Regulatory Measures, Implementation Status and COVID-19’s Impacts on Plastic Products Recycling

In response to international trends regarding the reduction in plastic waste (or plastic pollution), this work used the official statistics that were recently released, focusing on regulatory actions restricting the use of plastic products and/or the increase in recycling in Taiwan. In addition, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on plastic waste generation and plastic products’ recycling were also addressed in the present study. The results showed that the plastic compositions in the garbage slightly increased in recent years, suggesting that the effect of restrictions on the use of plastic products in Taiwan was not significant, even though the regulatory measures have been implemented since 2002. However, chlorine contents in the garbage were significantly increased in 2020. The increase could be attributed to the fact that kitchen waste (containing salt), household waste containing disinfectant (e.g., chlorine dioxide, sodium hypochlorite) or PVC-made products were generated more during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the data also indicated that the monthly quantities of recycled plastic containers and other plastic products had no significant change since January 2020, especially in the outbreak period from May 2021 to July 2021.

The Carbon Footprint of a Public Sector University Before and During the COVID-19 Lockdown.

<p>Carbon footprint (CF) is a measure of greenhouse gas emissions generated from daily human-induced activities as carbon dioxide equivalent. This study is an attempt to represent a consumption-based CF study from the scope of transportation, electricity, and waste generation for University of the Punjab (PU), Lahore under the WRI/WBCSD greenhouse gas protocol corporate standards. Data acquired through fieldwork, questionnaire surveys, direct sampling, and existing records for the year 2019-20 suggested that electricity is the greatest contributor of CO2 emissions at 59%, followed by transportation at 36%, and waste generation at approximately 5%. The total CF(CO2_eq) generated from different sources is about 18360.62MT for one year. The recent COVID-19 lockdown has offered inimitable prospect to compare the carbon footprint of one of the largest higher education institutes of Pakistan before and during this pandemic. The data can serve for tracking, assessing, and setting goals for greenhouse gas emission reduction programs in future.</p>

Analisis Pemanfaatan Sampah Plastik dengan Metode Buang, Pisah, dan Untung Menggunakan Sistem Barcode

Sampah yang meningkat tanpa adanya penanganan lebih lanjut akan mengakibatkan permasalahan serius. Penimbunan sampah dapat bertahan dengan waktu yang lama, yang disebabkan oleh lambatnya waktu dekomposisi dari timbunan sampah, khususnya sampah plastik. Penelitian bertujuan mengetahui jumlah sampah plastik yang dihasilkan, keuntungan yang dihasilkan dan keberlanjutan dari penerapan metode Buang, Pisah, Untung (Bungpitung) menggunakan sistem barcode. Penelitian mengambil metode purposive sampling. Pengumpulan data berupa data sekunder harga jual sampah plastik dan data primer timbulan sampah plastik dan wawancara. Penelitian menggunakan analisis metode gabungan (mixed methods) penelitian kuantitatif dan kualitatif. Total timbulan sampah plastik dari semua responden sebesar 136.508 gr dengan rata-rata timbulan sampah plastik 65 gr/orang/hari. Bentuk sampah plastik dominan terbanyak Gelas Bening Sablon (GBS) sebesar 35.526 gr. Bentuk sampah plastik dominan terbanyak dari total seluruh jenis yaitu Botol Bening Biru (BBB) sebesar 40.525 gr. Total keuntungan sampah plastik yang diperoleh dari semua responden sebesar Rp 128.945 dengan rata-rata keuntungan sampah plastik Rp 61,4 /hari. Tingginya nilai timbulan sampah plastik, tingginya nilai keuntungan yang dihasilkan, kontinuitas penerapan metode bungpitung, peningkatan wawasan mengenai pengelolaan sampah plastik, peningkatan perilaku dalam mengelola sampah plastik serta pendapat secara langsung oleh responden mengenai kelayakan metode Bungpitung merupakan bukti metode Bungpitung layak diterapkan pada masyarakat di masa yang akan datang.ABSTRACTIncreased waste without further handling will lead to serious problems. The landfill can last for a long time, which is caused by the slow decomposition time of the landfill, especially plastic waste. This study aims to determine the amount of plastic waste produced, the profits generated from the application of the Dispose, Separate, Profit (Bungpitung) method using a barcode system. The research took the purposive sampling method. Collecting data in the form of secondary data on the selling price of plastic waste and primary data on the generation of plastic waste and interviews. This study uses a combined analysis (mixed methods) of quantitative and qualitative research. The total generation of plastic waste from all respondents is 136,508 grams with an average plastic waste generation of 65 grams/person/day. The dominant form of plastic waste is Screen Printing Clear Plastic Cups (GBS) as much as 35.526 gr. The most common form of plastic waste of all types is Blue Clear Plastic Bottle (BBB) of 40,525 gr. The total profit from plastic waste obtained from all respondents is Rp. 128,945 with an average profit of Rp. 61.4/day for plastic waste. The high value of plastic waste generation, the increase in the value of the profits generated, the continuity of the application of the bungpitung method, increased insight into plastic waste management, increased behavior in managing plastic waste, and direct assessment by respondents about Bungpitung methods suitable for use in the community in the future.

Rxn Rover: Automation of Chemical Reactions with User-Friendly, Modular Software

The automation of chemical reactions in research and development can be an enabling technology to reduce cost and waste generation in light of technology transformation towards renewable feedstocks and energy...