Household Solid Waste Generation and Composition in Different Family Size and Socio-Economic Group - Essay Example

Article Summaries Suthar, Surindra. and Singh, Pavitra. Household solid waste generation and composition in different family size and socio-economic groups: A case study. Sustainable Cities and Society, 14 (2015), 56-63. Web. April 18, 2015. Summary According to Suthar and Singh (2015) in the article, “Household solid waste generation and composition in different family size and socioeconomic groups: A case study”, Household Waste (HW) make up a large composition of municipal solid waste (MSW). The design of an effective solid management plan has to take into consideration the importance of household waste. The study aimed at “investigating the quantity and quality of household waste in terms of socio-economic groups and family size in the Dehradun city, India” (Suthar and Singh, 56). The article provides the reasons for the increased MSW in developing countries in Africa and Asia as increasing population growth in urban centres. The causes of the high population are provided by rural-urban migration, urban lifestyle changes, economic growth, and social improvement. The study was conducted in Dehradun City in India, which is the fastest growing City in India with information on HW quality and quantity conducted between March to May 2011 from 11 blocks consisting of 144 households. ANOVA and descriptive analysis aided in the analysis of HW data collected allowing for the determination of the significant difference in the garbage generation rate in households earning different income levels. Wide statistical parameters including median, range, skewness, standard deviation, kurtosis, steam-and-leaf- plots, and variance were determined using descriptive statistical analysis. SPSS statistical package was used in the study for data analysis purposes. The study found out that biodegradable waste makes up a huge junk of HW including paper waste and food/vegetable waste. Recyclable wastes comprised a small percentage of HW and the authors believe that the reasons for the few percentage of recyclable waste were the screening by households of HW for reusable/recyclable waste. The lack of plastic, glass, metals, fresh paper, cardboards, among others in HW is because of resale by HW to recycling dealers/Pheriwalas (Suthar and Singh, 57). The research also concludes that the absence of secondary waste collection points creates health and environmental issues in the city. Owing to the high percentage of biodegradable waste in HW, generation of value-added products including compost, digestive slurry, and biogas is possible from HW. Opinion I strongly believe that household waste plays an important role in the development of effective measures to manage waste since they make up a large percentage of municipal waste. The reason behind the assertion is the increased population in cities that continues to grow each passing day. The presence of recycling centres and dealers purchasing recyclable waste from HW is the main reason for the small percentage of recyclable waste in the HW as found out by the study. Household receive a small amount from selling the waste and such efforts if well implemented could be effective in reducing the percentage of recyclable waste to zero through augmenting prices and development of recycling centres for direct sell by households in urban centres. The other measure that can be undertaken as evidenced by the results and conclusion of the study to augment the benefits and effectiveness of MSW management is the creation of value-added products. Management the high percentage of biodegradable waste in HW to create a slurry, compose, and biogas will be sustainable and benefit environmental conservation efforts in cities. They will also augment the reduction of health and environmental issues that arise from mismanagement of MSW in cities. Concerted efforts of the government and the public in terms of waste management through recycling, separation of degradable and biodegradable wastes, and proper disposal will effective in meeting waste management efforts in different cities. Gallardo, A., Carlos, M., Peris, and Colomer, F. Methodology to design a municipal solid waste generation and composition map: A case study. Waste Management 34 (2014), 1920-1931. Web. April 18, 2015. Summary According to Gallardo et al. (2014), in the article “Methodology to design a municipal solid waste generation and composition map: A Case Study”, management of municipal solid waste (MSW) is an important undertaking for local governments and private companies. Economic activity and population being homogenous in cities differentiate efforts for waste management in cities. The article relates an increase in the waste generation to the growth in urban population, packing systems, and quicker product obsolescence. Seasonal changes, economic level, population movement, and the type of town affect MSW generation. Analysis of the factors in the article necessitated the use of Geographical Information system allowing for the automation of waste management processes. From the article, availability of information determines the achievement of MSW map with available information resulting in the use of the direct way while the indirect way is used when there is no adequate information. The article used Castellon as a case study in presenting the MSW methodology map. The article concludes that the development of an efficient MSW management plan in each town is required to access healthy living, protect the environment and natural resources. The need for high information amounts is also highlighted in the article’s conclusion with the economic activity, population density, seasonal population variation, and the type of commercial areas forming the main MSW management plan. The case study revealed the need to have information in the development of an effective MSW management plan in towns. Opinion I strongly believe that the management of solid waste is an important undertaking for local governments and private companies for environmental, human health, and natural habitat conservation. I believe that waste management is important in augmenting living standards, alleviation of diseases, and the preservation of the environment. The need to consider the economic activity, population density, and income levels of the residents are factors that all cities and towns have to take into consideration in the development of MSW management plans. Seeking and verification of quality information by private companies and local governments should be a continuous process aimed at the creation of effective, comprehensive MSW management plans in towns as demonstrated in the article with the case of Castellon. I also have a strong believe in the need for the concerted efforts by the government, private organizations, and the public to allow for the success of MSW management. The need for research and academics to develop extensive measures and breakthroughs for the management of waste in towns and cities has never been higher. The need for urban and town MSW management measures has risen owing to the high increased population in urban centres, the growing importance of living in urban centres to a percentage of the population, and the high impact of waste on environmental, living standards, and habitat protection. Crociata, Alessandro, Agovimo, Massimiliano, and Sacco, Luigi. “Recycling waste: Does culture matter?” Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 55 (2015) 40–47. Web. April 18, 2015. Summary According to the article, “Recycling wastes: Does culture matter?” the cultural dimension is a complementary factor in developing and sustaining pro-environmental behaviours. The article aimed at exploring the relationship between culture and waste recycling to aid in estimating the impact of cultural participation in sustainability issues (Crociata et al., 40). The article makes use of micro data from 19,170 households including 48,253 individuals on habits, satisfaction, and daily life. Data on cultural consumption and waste recycling programs and attitudes were collected from the Italian sample to allow for the investigation of cultural impacts on the recycling efforts of individuals and the community. The article concludes that there is a strong relationship between culture and pro-social waste recycling attitudes (Crociata et al., 45). According to the article, culture has a strong impact on recycling decisions, and cultural experiences have a strong impact on individual decisions always to recycle compared to individuals who have less cultural experience who recycle less frequently. The article reiterates the need for more research on the influence of culture on recycling in other European and non-European countries to allow the understanding of phenomenon in different socioeconomic contexts. Regional understanding of the impacts of culture on recycling at household and personal level is also called for in the study. An investigation of urban influence, through the augmented presence of recycling bins and cultural facilities important in determining recycling success, is the other recommendation by the study. Opinion I strongly believe culture plays a monumental role in the development and subsequent following of recycling efforts at both household and individual level. Culture determines the awareness of the households and the individuals to recycling, the benefits of recycling to the community, and the inclination to recycling by an individual. Awareness of environmental concerns, the need for cleanliness, and appropriate waste disposal mechanism are developed at the community level in regards to the cultural beliefs and inclination of the community influencing individual recycling efforts. Aspects of culture are aimed at ensuring sustainable living and conservation of the environment that are portrayed through recycling efforts by individuals and households depicting the strong relation between culture and recycling. Culture and sustainability are intertwined owing to the need for the preservation of the environment for future generations and the preservation of cultural norms and practices. The need for sustainability and conservation as part of culture ties individuals who strongly participate in cultural experiences to have practices that allow for better recycling efforts for the achievement of satisfaction and daily habits for conservation through recycling. Recycling and culture are, therefore, inseparable owing to the requirements of cultural needs and practices for individuals ascribing to the culture to be cognisant of the need to protect the environment and live in better for future generations. I believe the relation between culture and individuals resulted in the study finding out the close relationship between culture and waste recycling efforts in the community. Cultural beliefs on sustainability and environmental conservation impacted on the individuals at community and household level are responsible for recycling tendencies of culturally active individuals compared to less culturally active individuals who recycle less frequently as reported by the study. Carvalho, Pedro, Rui, Marques, and Dollery, Brian. “Is bigger better? An empirical analysis of waste management in New South Wales”. Waste Management 39 (2015) 277–286. Web. April 18, 2015. Summary According to the article, the existence of natural or legal monopolies has resulted in the huge growth of MSW service providing companies. The need to study the efficiency of bigger MSW service providing companies emerged owing to the ever increasing costs and lack of incentive to reduce costs owing to lack of competition forming the main aim of the study. The study makes use of New South Wales local government MSW management system to consider economies of scale and output density. The article provides the reasons for increased need for waste collection and treatment services for increased standards of living resulting in the allocation of more resources to waste collection and treatment (Carvalho et al., 277). The NSW local government is tasked with waste management services including collection and recycling of waste, as well as landfill disposal. Collection and disposal of municipal waste are done using commercial contractor’s weekly collection of waste from households at predetermined places and is prescribed bins for degradable and biodegradable waste. Waste disposal and recycling at NSW is possible through the presence of “321 landfills, 287 recycling facilities, and 70 composting facilities” (Carvalho, 279). Several models were used in article methodology including Frontier Analysis chosen for its efficiency in analysis, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used for efficiency estimation, and E-size is used in the estimation of production costs relative to output growth. Data collected over a six-year period in 184 local utilities in NSW under the local government (Carvalho, 280). On policy and implications pooled model, random-effects model, fixed-effects model, true-fixed effects model, and True-random effects models aided the authors in the ensuring the robustness of the results. The study finds several conclusions from the analysis including that bigger is not better for waste collection owing to the high costs that come with increased size. Large waste collecting firms have diseconomies of scale. The presence of economies of scale is evident in small utilities collecting large amounts of unsorted municipal waste. Economies of scale are also evident in operations that consist of both collection and recycling services. Opinion I strongly believe that having very large monopolies controlling waste collection efforts in a municipality or other local governments is not beneficial. The tendencies for the monopolies to have high costs are present owing to the lack of incentive for cost reduction. The need for competition in caring out the waste collection and the reduction of monopolies in waste collection form measures for augmenting efficiency in waste collection. Having several utilities providing waste collection services allows for high competition that provides for cost reduction efforts and ensures efficiency in waste collection. All stakeholders in waste collection including households, local governments, waste collection companies, and environmentalists accrue the benefits of lower costs and efficiency. Effective waste collection measures allow for better efforts at achieving environmental conservation and reduction of carbon waste emission through recycling and proper disposal mechanisms. Having varied companies providing waste collection services allows for smaller, more effective companies meeting the conclusion of the study that “bigger is not better.” I also believe that competition in waste collection measures through competitive contract lasting short period allows companies to reduce costs effectively and provides for the reduction ion monopolies. Achieving cost-effective waste reduction measures requires the reduction and eventual elimination of monopolies to pave the way for efficient, optimal smaller firms. The achievement of efficiency and cost reduction efforts for MSW collection, recycling, and disposal can be achieved through public-private partnerships allowing for emphasis on better management, cost efficiency, overall environmental conservation, and health and high standards of living maintenance. Work Cited Carvalho, Pedro, Rui, Marques, and Dollery, Brian. “Is bigger better? An empirical analysis of waste management in New South Wales”. Waste Management 39 (2015) 277–286. Web. April 18, 2015. Crociata, Alessandro, Agovimo, Massimiliano, and Sacco, Luigi. “Recycling waste: Does culture matter?” Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 55 (2015) 40–47. Web. April 18, 2015. Gallardo, A., Carlos, M., Peris, and Colomer, F. Methodology to design a municipal solid waste generation and composition map: A case study. Waste Management 34 (2014), 1920-1931. Web. April 18, 2015. Suthar, S. & Singh, P. Household solid waste generation and composition in different family size and socio-economic groups: A case study. Sustainable Cities and Society, 14 (2015), 56-63. Web. April 18, 2015. Read More