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Sustainable Waste Management in the Context of Urban Environment

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 March 2024) | Viewed by 5481

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jakub Kůdela

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Guest Editor

Institute of Automation and Computer Science, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic
Interests: waste management; optimization; scheduling; waste-to-energy; energy systems

Dr. Radovan Šomplák

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Guest Editor

Institute of Process Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic
Interests: waste management; optimization; waste-to-energy; recycling; forecasting
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Vlastimír Nevrlý

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Guest Editor

Institute of Process Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic
Interests: waste collection; optimization; waste transportation; routing models; logistics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to publish your latest research results in this Special Issue of Sustainability on sustainable waste management in the context of the urban environment. Waste management has emerged as a major concern, as unsustainable waste generation is causing a serious burden on the environment. The aim of this Special Issue is to explore the specifics of waste management in urban areas and larger cities.

We invite methodological, technological, and application-oriented contributions, including (but not limited to) the following topics:

Waste-to-energy technologies;
Forecasting of waste generation and composition;
Waste collection (scheduling);
Legislature development and planning;
Recycling (pricing and advertising strategies);
Food waste valorization;
Smart waste monitoring systems;
Trends in waste processing.

Review papers and articles based on multidisciplinary research are also encouraged.

Dr. Jakub Kůdela
Dr. Radovan Šomplák
Dr. Vlastimír Nevrlý
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

waste management
circular economy
waste-to-energy
planning
forecasting
waste collection
recycling
food waste valorization
smart waste monitoring
trends in waste processing

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 2803 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Advances in the Sustainable Production of Fertilizers from Spent Zinc-Based Batteries

by Silvia Patricia Barragán-Mantilla, Raquel Ortiz, Patricia Almendros, Laura Sánchez-Martín, Gabriel Gascó and Ana Méndez

Sustainability 2024, 16(10), 4255; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16104255 - 18 May 2024

Viewed by 475

Abstract

Wastes from spent batteries are a secondary source of raw materials. To ensure this, it is mandatory to design sustainable and low-cost processes. In the case of alkaline and zinc–carbon-based batteries, the high content of Zn and Mn makes them of interest in the development of fertilizers. The main objective of this research is to study the fertilizers production from spent zinc-based batteries, using sulfuric acid, citric acid (CIT) and glycine (GLY) solutions as leaching agents. Leaching with glycine at alkaline pHs shows a high selectivity of Zn over Mn, whereas the use of citric and sulfuric solutions leads to recoveries of Zn and Mn. Solutions with the highest Zn recoveries were tested in sand columns. Commercial ZnSO₄ heptahydrate was used as a control. For sulfuric acid, two solutions (H₂SO₄ 2M and 0.25M) were used. The elution of leached Zn and Mn in sand columns depended on the solution added. The Zn-Mn-CIT treatment showed a slight but steady increase in the leachates, reaching 70% and 75% of the total leached Zn and Mn, respectively, in the medium term. The Zn-Mn-H₂SO₄ 2M and ZnSO₄ treatments showed a similar behavior in Zn release. Both Zn-Mn-GLY and Zn-Mn-H₂SO₄ 0.25M treatments showed similar amounts of leached Mn in the medium term (77% of total leached Mn), differing in the leached Zn. Solutions from the leaching of spent black mass batteries, especially Zn-Mn-CIT or Zn-Mn-GLY, showed promising behavior as fertilizer from the point of view of Zn and Mn availability as nutrients. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Waste Management in the Context of Urban Environment)

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12 pages, 921 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Citizen Science-Based Waste Diaries: An Exploratory Case Study of Household Waste in Switzerland

by Lena Breitenmoser, David Behner, Alessia Baertsch, Maria Rosa Mondardini and Christoph Hugi

Sustainability 2024, 16(9), 3800; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16093800 - 30 Apr 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 650

Abstract

Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12) and national waste reduction goals require frequent waste analyses for monitoring and governance decisions. We developed and tested a citizen science (CS)-based household waste diary for ten consecutive days with 89 volunteer households in Switzerland as a complementary monitoring option to official composition analyses. Discrepancies between the CS-based household diary data and the official composition analyses ranged between 55–65% less reported waste quantities for minerals, compound products, and plastics and 80–90% less for paper, avoidable food waste, and glass. Household waste diaries should be digitalized and prolonged to 21–28 days, and volunteers from different demographic groups are needed to produce stratified, representative results. We conclude that a hybrid CS study design involving waste composition analyses and waste diaries could reduce self-reporting biases while increasing the monitoring frequencies of household waste compositions. CS-based hybrid household waste projects can be a powerful means to complement the measures identified in the 2022 Swiss action plan against food waste and for data reporting for the SDG 12.3 Food Waste Index. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Waste Management in the Context of Urban Environment)

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23 pages, 283 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Decommissioning and Recycling of End-of-Life Photovoltaic Solar Panels in Western Australia

by Niresh Shrestha and Atiq Zaman

Sustainability 2024, 16(2), 526; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16020526 - 8 Jan 2024

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1551

Abstract

Academics predict that a significant volume of end-of-life (EOL) photovoltaic (PV) solar panel waste will be generated in the coming years due to the significant rise in the production and use of PV solar panels since the late 20th Century. This study focuses on identifying a sustainable solution for the management of EOL PV solar panel waste by triangulating the information collected on areas such as the current state, the key barriers, and the key enablers with respect to managing EOL PV solar panel waste, specifically in Western Australia (WA). The data were collected using online survey questions and interviews with users of PV solar panels, sellers of PV solar panels, recyclers of PV solar panels, and local governments in Western Australia. Findings reveal that although there is a low generation of PV solar panel waste at present, it is concerning that WA lacks systems and infrastructure to manage this waste. Introducing and implementing an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy, banning EOL PV solar panels from landfills, and, finally, increasing financial investment in this study area through grants, subsidies, and loans could be a sustainable solution for the management of EOL PV solar panel waste in WA. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Waste Management in the Context of Urban Environment)

Review

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29 pages, 3013 KiB

Open AccessReview

Comprehensive Review on Waste Generation Modeling

by Radovan Šomplák, Veronika Smejkalová, Martin Rosecký, Lenka Szásziová, Vlastimír Nevrlý, Dušan Hrabec and Martin Pavlas

Sustainability 2023, 15(4), 3278; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043278 - 10 Feb 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2217

Abstract

Strategic plans for waste management require information on the current and future waste generation as a primary data source. Over the years, various approaches and methods for waste generation modeling have been presented and applied. This review provides a summary of the tasks that require information on waste generation that are most frequently handled in waste management. It is hypothesized that there is not currently a modeling approach universally suitable for forecasting any fraction of waste. It is also hypothesized that most models do not allow for modeling different scenarios of future development. Almost 360 publications were examined in detail, and all of the tracked attributes are included in the supplementary. A general step-by-step guide to waste generation forecasting, comprising data preparation, pre-processing, processing, and post-processing, was proposed. The problems that occurred in the individual steps were specified, and the authors’ recommendations for their solution were provided. A forecasting approach based on a short time series is presented, due to insufficient options of approaches for this problem. An approach is presented for creating projections of waste generation depending on the expected system changes. Researchers and stakeholders can use this document as a supporting material when deciding on a suitable approach to waste generation modeling or waste management plans. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Waste Management in the Context of Urban Environment)

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