Refuse

Water quality index was applied to assessment water quality of six different types of bottled water that's available in Erbil city (Life, Shireen, Kani, Al-Hayat, Rawan, and Massafi) for drinking purposes, depending on the physicochemical parameters of water (Turbidity, EC, TDS, pH, Alkalinity, Hardness, Ca+2, Mg+2, and No3 -2). The water quality index showed that the Life, Rawan, and Massafi are excellent; also Shireen, Kani, and Al-Hayat are good for drinking purposes depending on the World Health Organization (WHO) standards. The results indicate the bottled water quality generally changed from years 2009 to 2012, some of the bottles have changed to the better and improved their quality, and another's changed to the worse side and declined their quality. WQI is also suggested as a very helpful tool that enable the public and decision makers to evaluate water quality of different bottle waters.

Karachi is the largest metropolitan city of Pakistan with a population of 207,774,520 (Statistics, 2017).Ironically, a megacity of a developing state has its drawbacks and discrepancies in solid waste mechanism being one ofthem. Karachi has always been the center of businesses and government offices since independence, first as capital ofPakistan and later as a provincial capital. This study evaluates the importance of solid waste management for an urbancity such as Karachi, and the steps which have been taken by the successive governments to fulfill the demands of thisgrowing megapolis since independence. In this study, models of solid waste management adopted by different citieswill be analyzed and a suitable model for Karachi will be proposed. Needless to say, Karachi has the potential tobecome an eco-friendly city by adopting the public private partnership. In short, the civil society’s role is of paramountimportance.

Current managerial practices of municipal solid waste at Salt City in Jordan are facing a variety of problems. This study aims to evaluate the existing Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) through surveying the citizen's perspectives pertaining to quality of services, awareness level of the present MSWM and their willingness to participate in MSWM. The current status of the MSWM evaluated through questionnaire distribution among all segments of the residents. The collected data has been analyzed based on Likert scale, community satisfaction, level of awareness and readiness to participate in waste recycling projects. The results showed that approximately 60% of the respondents expressed low level of satisfaction with the services related to the quality of solid waste management and the cleanliness services. The results also indicated that citizens' satisfaction is obviously influenced by the demographic variables. The results have demonstrated clearly that the respondents...

This study deals with the utilization of chicken feather waste as a substrate for anaerobic digestion and improving biogas production by degradation of the compact structure of the feather keratin. In order to increase the digestibility of the feather, different pretreatments were investigated, including thermal pretreatment at 120 °C for 10 min, enzymatic hydrolysis with an alkaline endopeptidase [0.53-2.66 mL/g volatile solids (VS) feathers] for 0, 2, or 24 h at 55 °C, as well as a combination of these pretreatments. The effects of the treatments were then evaluated by anaerobic batch digestion assays at 55 °C. The enzymatic pretreatment increased the methane yield to 0.40 Nm(3)/kg VS(added), which is 122 % improvement compared to the yield of the untreated feathers. The other treatment conditions were less effective, increasing the methane yield by 11-50 %. The long-term effects of anaerobic digestion of feathers were examined by co-digestion of the feather with organic fraction ...

Microbial fuel cells were designed and operated to treat landfill leachate while continuously producing power. Two different anodes were tested in batch cycles using landfill leachate as a substrate without inoculation: an activated carbon anode and biochar anode. In addition, a semi-continuous serpentine design was evaluated. No significant difference of the mean was found for the peak voltage, current density or power densities between the batch cell with activated carbon or biochar. Similar COD reduction occurred at both the batch (with biochar) and semi-continuous scale (28% ± 8.8% and 21.7% ± 12.2%, respectively). The batch MFC with activated carbon anode had significantly higher COD removal (74.7% ± 5.5%). BOD was removed by the semi-continuous MFC, but ammonia was not removed in four of the five cycles. The results provide further information on the possibility of using MFCs in landfill leachate treatment systems.

Egypt is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change due to the expected detrimental impacts on coastal zones, agriculture, water security as well as indirect social and health impacts. Egypt is responsible for 0.57% of the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Although Egypt is a non-annex I country not requiring any specific emission reduction or limitation targets under the Kyoto protocol, its National plans have included mitigation measures to reduce its greenhouse gases. The main sectors contributing to climate change in Egypt are energy, industry, agriculture and waste. Waste, on the other hand, has been accumulating in the streets of Egypt and along its water banks causing considerable air, soil and water pollution and indirect detrimental health impacts. However, this waste which is composed of organic municipal waste, agricultural residues, agro-industrial waste, animal manure and sewage sludge are valuable biomass resources. Utilizing the waste resources of Egy...

An experiment was carried out to evaluate the growth of mycorrhizal Pinus halepensis seedlings planted in a semiarid soil amended with urban refuse in southeast Spain. Three fungal species were used: Pisolithus tinctorius, Rhizopogon roseolus, and Suillus collinitus. After 8 months, inoculated seedlings grown under controlled conditions did not differ significantly from controls with regard to plant height and nutrient assimilation. Other features such as root development and stem dry weight showed that the plants grew better in the absence of mycorrhizal inoculation. The mycorrhizal seedlings and the controls were planted in three experimental plots treated with urban refuse (0, 6, and 12 Kg m-2). After 1 year of growth under field conditions the results showed that the type of fungus inoculated significantly influenced P. halepensis development. This effect varied with the dose of urban refuse. Plant growth was encouraged by the application of refuse but only at the lowest dose. Under these conditions P. tinctorius was the most effective fungus and R. roseolus yielded poorer plant development. The highest application of urban refuse led to notably worse results and a significant decrease in seedling growth compared to controls. In the control plot (without refuse) S. collinitus was the most effective fungus in plant growth improvement. The smallest application of urban refuse had a positive effect on the assimilation of N, P, and K in seedlings inoculated with P. tinctorius and S. collinitus.