Solid waste management
Sandy Cairncross, Richard Feachem in Environmental Health Engineering in the Tropics, 2018
The major alternative to landfill and incineration is composting. Flintoff (1984) reports that 88% of the contents of Indian refuse are acceptable for composting. The figures from Mexico and Britain are 65% and 64%, respectively. Composting converts the organic content of refuse into compost, a soil conditioner which can improve the fertility and structure of agricultural soils. Its agricultural value is greatest if refuse is composted together with suitable quantities of nightsoil or sludge. The sale of compost to farmers can help to offset the running costs of a town’s waste disposal system. Nearly two-thirds of Indian cities and thousands of villages in China dispose of some or all of their refuse by composting it with nightsoil. Composting is further discussed in Chapter 13.
Waterborne zoonoses *
Jamie Bartram, Rachel Baum, Peter A. Coclanis, David M. Gute, David Kay, Stéphanie McFadyen, Katherine Pond, William Robertson, Michael J. Rouse in Routledge Handbook of Water and Health, 2015
Proper watershed management can play a fundamental role in decreasing the probability of source water contamination by zoonotic pathogens. This can be achieved through a number of means such as limiting the access of both domestic and wild animals to watersheds, through measures such as fencing waterways and providing alternative sources of drinking water to animals. While certain organisms such as Cryptosporidium oocysts are extremely resistant to environmental conditions, other infectious agents are sensitive to conditions encountered in the environment, and the rate of population decline is a critical factor in determining pathogen loads that enter water sources. Survival of these organisms is affected by a number of factors including cold, heat, desiccation, UV light, predation, competition from micro flora and lack of nutrients. Composting of animal wastes prior to application on land has also been shown to significantly reduce pathogen loads. The deposition of animal manure on cropland must also be limited to times of year with the least rain and/or snow melt run-off, in order to minimize overland transport of wastes to waterways. Other measures that are used to decrease pathogen transport include barriers to movement such as green strips. Natural and artificial wetlands are also effective in reducing nutrients, toxins and pathogens in run-off water.
Coordination of Decisions and Actions
Mindi K. McKenna, Perry A. Pugno, William H. Frist in Physicians as Leaders, 2018
One filing principle, however, that is particularly useful is that of the “compost” pile. Undoubtedly, each day, you’ll come across one or two pieces of paper or resources, the importance of which you cannot determine at the moment. Maybe this is just trash or maybe it is something that will be found to be important in the near future. May we suggest you immediately place these items on your compost heap, which is a small pile of paper immediately adjacent to your desk. Anytime you are unsure whether a document needs to be filed, discarded, given to someone else or acted upon, simply put on the compost pile. When your compost pile reaches the height of approximately six inches (which takes about three to four weeks), turn it upside down. Then briefly go through each page, taking what was on the bottom, looking at it, deciding whether it needs to stay in the compost pile because it may still become important, or its potential value has passed and it can be discarded. Going through the entire pile in this manner, you’ll usually be able to reduce it to less than an inch in height. Then return it to its place adjacent to your desk, where it will sit, ready for additional contributions. Should one of the items in the compost pile be determined of importance, it is usually a simple manner to quickly go through the stack and recover that item.
Characterization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons associated with PM10 emitted from the largest composting facility in the Middle East
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2021
Abbas Norouzian Baghani, Zohreh Bahmani, Armin Sorooshian, Mahdi Farzadkia, Ramin Nabizadeh, Mahdieh Delikhoon, Abdullah Barkhordari, Roshanak Rezaei Kalantary, Somayeh Golbaz, Majid Kermani, Qadir Ashournejad, Abbas Shahsavani
For example, Richard (1992) and He et al. (1992) expressed that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can volatilize into the air during the composting process and some can remain in the compost. Although composting facilities can be a suitable and cost-effective waste management option for waste disposal in high volumes, there are still concerns about their adverse impacts for workers (Viegas et al.2014a). For example, these facilities are recognized as the main sources of particulate matter (PM) that bind with PAHs in industrial and urban areas worldwide (Byeon et al.2008, Song and Li 2014, Viegas et al.2014b, Hadei et al.2017). Brändli et al. (2007) stated that composting is an important waste management strategy, while the resulting products can contain significant amounts of organic pollutants such as PAHs (Brändli et al.2007). In addition, compost production processes provide a good environment for the creation of PM in considerable quantities and different sizes during the decomposition of organic matter (Byeon et al.2008, Hadei et al.2017). PM emitted from different stages of compost production stemming from diverse wastes harbor dangerous chemical substances such as PAHs (Song and Li 2014, Viegas et al.2014b).
Antimicrobial resistance due to the content of potentially toxic metals in soil and fertilizing products
Published in Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease, 2018
Siamak Yazdankhah, Eystein Skjerve, Yngvild Wasteson
Through the use of fertilizing materials, the bacterial influx to the environment belongs to the large group of gut microbiota. These bacteria are adapted to the intestinal environment, and their environmental survival abilities are variable. Much of this microbiota will die out and not influence the environmental microbiota over time. Composting of livestock manure and the production process of sewage sludge reduces the number of microbes added to the soil and environment. However, data on the long-term fate of ARB and AMR genes originating from an intestinal environment are fragmented and limited.
Induced mutation in Agaricus bisporus by gamma ray to improve genetic variability, degradation enzyme activity, and yield
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2021
Tayebeh Harfi, Motallebi-Azar Alireza, Rasouli Farzad, Zaare-Nahandi Fariborz
After measuring morphological and physiological traits, superior variants were selected and their spawn was cultured at the same environmental condition as mentioned above in three different substrates. These were 1) 100% compost (100:0), 2) 75% compost + 25% raw straw (75:25) and 3) 50% compost + 50% raw straw (50:50) in three replicates and days to spawn running, pinning, and harvest, number of fruit bodies, the weight of single fruit bodies, dry weight, and ash percentage. Laccase and manganese peroxidase were also evaluated in the variants.
Related Knowledge Centers
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