Sinkhole Flooding and Aquifer Recharge in Arid to Dry Sub-Humid Regions: A Systematic Review

Sinkhole flooding is an essential hydrological process to recharge karst aquifer in arid to dry sub-humid regions. On the other hand, the increase of rain extremes is one of the major consequences of the global warming, together with the expansion of drylands. Thus, appropriate runoff regulation in endorheic karst basins in order to reduce the risk of flooding and improve the quantity and quality of the water drained by sinkholes will be more and more crucial. With these premises, a systematic review was performed by using WoS engine to infer the best practices for the karst water management in regions actually or potentially affected by water scarcity. Hydrological models are essential to manage the consequences of climate change on karst water resource, however the review shows that providing the tools necessary for reliable modeling is still challenging. Finally, due to the intrinsic vulnerability of the karst aquifers, pollution reduction and wastewater recycling policy will play key role in the next decades.

Global Entanglements of Recycling Policy and Practice

In line with rising public and policy concern about wastes, there has been a distinct rise in scholarly analyses of these and other developments associated with economies of recycling, focusing especially on people’s material and moral encounters with reuse. These range from nuanced investigations into how lives and materials can both be re-crafted by recovering value from discards; following an object through its many social lives; or focusing on a material such as plastic or e-waste and tracking how waste is co-produced at each stage of creation and (re)use. Examining contested property rights in wastes, together with the infrastructures and ethics of engagements with wastes and their recovery or otherwise, reveal how global economies intersect with a rapidly shifting policy environment and systems of waste management. The global entanglement of policies and practices not only shapes what becomes of waste but also how it is variously imagined as pollutant or resource.

Determinants of household recycling

A case of managing a public utility in post-transitional context is elaborated in this paper. The aim is to identify main determinants of household recycling, in order to make recommendations for design of appropriate recycling policy in Split (Croatia). Based on the overview of relevant literature, individual motivation towards waste selection is explored and preliminary survey results are presented. Implications for local policy-making and management of local public utilities are discussed.

Normative Influence on Household Waste Separation: The Moderating Effect of Policy Implementation and Sociodemographic Variables

Background: With the increasing production of domestic waste in South African urban areas, household waste separation has become a crucial recycling activity for better management of domestic waste and a decrease in environmental pollution. Focus of the article: This empirical study investigates how normative influences can shape the intention to separate household waste and how these influences are moderated by sociodemographic attributes and upstream social marketing interventions (recycling policy implementation). Research Hypotheses: The hypotheses stipulate that descriptive, injunctive, and moral norms have an influence on the behavioral intention to separate household waste before disposal. Policy implementation and sociodemographic variables moderate the impact of these normative forces on behavioral intention. Methods: A cross-sectional design was applied to this study. A survey was administered to collect quantitative data from 350 households residing in a city that is currently implementing a mandatory recycling policy (Johannesburg) and from 349 households in a city that is not doing so (Tshwane). Structural equation modeling and moderation analysis were the main data analysis techniques applied to this study. Results: The findings underline the importance of injunctive and moral norms in influencing the intention to separate household waste. Gender and age appeared to play an important moderating role in the relationships between norms and behavioral intention. Policy implementation had no effect on the reported influences of social and moral norms on the intention to separate household waste. Recommendations for Practice: Policy makers in emerging markets are encouraged to apply more persuasive and decisive actions such as financial incentives (or disincentives) that will motivate households to comply with recycling policies. Limitations: One limitation of this study is the application of a cross-sectional design relying on self-reported measures of norms and behavioral intention.

Comparative Analysis of ELV Recycling Policies in the European Union, Japan and China

This research aims at revealing the current status of the End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) recycling systems in the European Union (EU), Japan and China which are known to have big vehicle manufacturers. The purpose of this research is to clarify their characteristics and issues, such as existing ELV recycling policy, limitations of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and environmental problems caused by secondhand car export. Japanese ELV recycling system will be analyzed as a specific example. Automakers’ effort to improve ELV recycling rate and the potential influence on recycling policy from large secondhand car export and Next-Generation Vehicle’s (NGV) popularization in Japan will be discussed and generalized. In addition, interview investigation for vehicle makers and government agencies has been conducted to have a comparative analysis of stakeholders’ (mainly automakers) attitude towards current ELV recycling law and future plans which can support Next-Generation Vehicle recycling well, as well as cross-border environmental/international resources recycling problems caused by secondhand car export.

A study on the impact of China’s urbanization on the quantity of municipal solid waste produced

Based on the IPAT model, this study selects the two-order lag period that is then applied to the dynamic model created to explore the impact of China’s urbanization on the quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) produced. The study uses panel data collected from 27 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China that report directly to the central government. Results show that nationwide urbanization and urban per capita disposable income are positively correlated with the quantity of MSW produced. However, specifically, urbanization in the eastern and midwestern areas of China is insignificantly correlated with the quantity of MSW produced. It is, therefore, recommended that citizens should make sensible and environmental consumption decisions based on per capita disposable income. It is also suggested that quality development and Stead’s urbanization plan should become national policy, and that MSW categorization and a recycling policy should be implemented to treat MSW effectively.

Determining Environmental Costs: A Challenge in A Governmental E-Waste Recycling Scheme

The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) concept involves having producers take environmental responsibility for post-consumer products. Based on this principle, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive of the European Union, enacted in 2006, is the most representative management program in the world and the most popular recycling policy many countries follow. Taiwan’s version of EPR for WEEE recycling, set up in 1998, had a focus on recycling fees determined by a recycling fee equation. Nowadays, the equation takes into account the consideration of the environment in the designs of products, in addition to the cost needed for recycling. The environmental performance upgrades in products, encouraged by the financial incentives from these considerations, is a side-benefit of this program. In this paper, the functions of the recycling fee equation that consider environmental costs are reviewed. It was found that in spite of the difficulty in determining the real environmental costs in practice, pricing is a mechanism which helps us to consider the cost of e-waste recycling, not only in terms of labor and administration, but also environmental quality.

The joint dynamic green innovation and pricing strategies for a hybrid system of manufacturing and remanufacturing with carbon emission constraints

Purpose Under the carbon regulation mechanism, managing operational strategies is a challenging task. Green innovation is introduced into a hybrid system of manufacturing and remanufacturing to handle the carbon emission constraints in a dynamic market environment. This paper aims to investigate the joint dynamic green innovation policy and pricing strategies in a hybrid manufacturing and remanufacturing system. Design/methodology/approach This paper first considers a monopolistic manufacturer who offers brand-new products and remanufactured items at the same price to consumers. Subsequently, the authors extend their analyses to distinct pricing strategies for both newly manufactured products and refurnished ones in such a hybrid system. Two different cases are considered: a loose carbon emission constraint and a binding carbon emission constraint. By solving the dynamic optimization problem, the differential game and Pontryagin’s maximum principle are used to obtain the joint green innovation and pricing strategies. Findings The retail price first increases then declines over a single period. The green innovation diminishes in the same pricing decision model, while it first increases then declines in a distinct pricing decision model over a single planning horizon. The green innovation investment as well as the retail price are discouraged by an emission cap and recycling fraction. The distinct retail price fluctuates violently, and they are, in descending order of the highest peak price as follows: the newly manufactured product, the same pricing product and the repaired product. Carbon emission caps that are either too high or too low decrease the revenue of the manufacturer. A small emission constraint margin benefits the manufacturer. The recycling policy, as well as other parameters, affects whether the hybrid system attains the carbon emission constraint or not, which suggests that the recycling policy is complementary to the carbon emission constraint mechanism in the hybrid system. Practical implications These results offer managerial implications to the hybrid system in terms of green innovation, pricing strategies and recycling policy. Originality/value This paper is among the first papers to research the joint dynamic green innovation policy and pricing strategies with/without a carbon emission constraint in a hybrid manufacturing and remanufacturing system with a differential game. Moreover, this paper presents a potential way of investigating other common resource constraints by a differential game in a manufacturing/remanufacturing system or closed loop supply chain.