This book covers a broad group of wastes, from biowaste to hazardous waste, but primarily the largest (by mass and volume) group of wastes that are not hazardous, but also are not inert, and are problematic for three major reasons: (1) they are difficult to manage because of their volume: usually they are used in civil engineering as a common fill etc., where they are exposed to environmental conditions almost the same way as at disposal sites; (2) they are not geochemically stable and in the different periods of environmental exposure undergo transformations that might add hazardous properties to the material that are not displayed when it is freshly generated; (3) many designers and researchers in different countries involved in waste management are often not aware of time-delayed adverse environmental impact of some large-volume waste, and also do not consider some positive properties that may extend the area of their environmentally beneficial application.

Despite significant improvements in pollution abatement and environmental remediation over the past several decades, billions of people around the world continue to live in unsafe and unhealthy physical environments with great risks to their health. Environmental issues concerning wastewater treatment in particular are quite considerable. The authors of this book take a deeper look at the contaminated soils and waters which pose major environmental, agricultural and human health problems world-wide. Alternatives for the sewage sludge final disposal from the wastewater treatment are also assessed from a life cycle assessment (LCA) point of view in order to identify the best environmental alternative. In addition, the generation of solid wastes constitutes a serious environmental problem, particularly in Cuba, where there is no waste selection system, so wastes from different origins are buried in landfills. This book explores recent research done on municipal solid waste (MSW), specifically based in Havana Cuba. Furthermore, as explained in this book, one of the possible alternatives for reducing the contaminant load from solid waste is that of reuse/recycle. A brief report on the development of electrodes (Carbon resin) from solid wastes is included in an attempt to encourage recycle and reduce environmental pollution through discarded batteries. Other chapters in this book report on an investigation conducted on iron doped carbon resin electrodes, municipal solid waste (MSW) management in Cameroon, effective and efficient litter management in nations with beaches, a report on medical wastes management in selected hospitals and environmentally safe methods to remediate mercury contaminated soils.

Waste Management and the Environment VIII contains papers present at the 8th International Conference on Waste Management and the Environment, organised every two years by the Wessex Institute. The contents were contributed by professionals, researchers, government departments and local authorities and cover the current situation of waste management. Waste Management is one of the key problems of modern society due to the ever-expanding volume and complexity of discarded domestic and industrial waste. There is a need to establish better practices and safer solutions for waste disposal. This requires further investigation into disposal methods and recycling, as well as new technologies to monitor waste disposal sites, clean technologies, waste monitoring, public and corporate awareness and general education. Unfortunately many of the policies adopted in the past were aimed at short-term solutions without regard to the long-term implications on health and the environment, leading in many cases to the need to take difficult and expensive remedial action. The development of sustainable strategies is the preferred trend for Waste Management. The approach which has emerged as the most promising has been called 4Rs, where reduction, reuse, recycling and recovery (including the sale of waste as Secondary Raw Materials (SRM) and of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF)) are seen as the best actions. This largely decreases the volume of waste that needs final disposal. Contents cover such topics as: Environmental impact; Reduce, reuse, recycle and recovery (4Rs); Waste incineration and gasification; Energy from waste; Industrial waste management; Hazardous waste; Agricultural waste; Wastewater; eWaste; Landfill optimisation and mining; Remote sensing; Thermal treatment; Emergent pollutants; Environmental remediation; Direct and indirect pre-treatment of MSW; Disposal of high-level radioactive waste; Legislation; Behavioural issues.

The proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Waste Management and the Environment follows on from the success of previous meetings held in Cadiz (2002), Rhodes (2004), Malta (2006), Granada (2008), Tallin (2010) and the New Forest (2012). There is growing awareness of the detrimental effects of current waste disposal and a movement towards greater accountability for effective waste management. Better practices and safer solutions are required. This creates a need for more research on current disposal methods such as landfills, incineration, chemical and effluent treatment as well as recycling, waste incineration, clean technologies, waste monitoring, public and corporate awareness, and general education. Waste Management is one of the key problems of modern society due to the ever expanding volume and complexity of discarded domestic and industrial waste. Unfortunately many of the policies adopted in the past were aimed at short term solutions without due regard to the long term implications on health and the environment, leading in many cases to the need to take difficult and expensive remedial action. The desired direction of waste management is towards sustainable strategies. The approach which has emerged as the most sustainable strategy has been called 3Rs, where reduction, reuse and recycling, in this order, are seen as the best actions. Recently recovery is added as the fourth action (4Rs) applied in order to; for example, recover energy from waste that cannot be classified under the 3Rs. This largely decreases the volume of the waste that needs final disposal. Further steps are required towards improvement of current technologies, increased collaboration between the public, government and private sectors and increased involvement of all stakeholders. Topics covered include: Environmental impact; Reduce, reuse, recycle and recovery (4Rs); Cost and benefits of management options; Waste incineration and gasification; Energy from waste; Industrial waste management; Nuclear and hazardous waste; Agricultural waste; Wastewater; eWaste; Landfill optimization and mining; Remote sensing; Thermal treatment; Emergent pollutants; Environmental remediation; Legislation; Behavioural issues.

Although several countries have been introducing more stringent laws to reduce the amount of waste to be land-filled, in an attempt to maximise recycling and materials recovery, landfilling is still the most generalised practice for municipal solid waste treatment. In this book, the authors discuss waste management in landfills, regional practices and its environmental impact. Topics include the reduction of environmental impact of municipal landfill leachate during oxidative treatment; polymers recycling; management of electronic waste in the Basque Country; and toxicity of landfills by plant cytogenetic and mutagenic effects.

This book focuses on waste management which is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, aesthetics or amenity. Waste management is also carried out to reduce the materials' effect on the environment and to recover resources from them. Waste management can involve solid, liquid or gaseous substances, with different methods and fields of expertise for each. Waste management practices differ for developed and developing nations, for urban and rural areas, and for residential and industrial, producers. Management for non-hazardous residential and institutional waste in metropolitan areas is usually the responsibility of local government authorities, while management for non-hazardous commercial and industrial waste is usually the responsibility of the generator.

It is generally acknowledged today that the most effective strategy for toxic and hazardous waste management is: reduction, reuse and recycle. However, to date most of the activity has been in treatment technologies. This book focuses on recent technological issues commercially available or in various stages of implementation. Developments in the U.S. and Europe in the area of waste management policy and regulation are also examined since management and remediation have usually been conducted in response to regulatory requirements. This book serves as a state of the art resource on technologies and methodologies for the environmental protection manager involved in decisions concerning the management of toxic and hazardous waste.