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Introduction  Hazardous healthcare waste produced at home contributes to approximately 0.5% of biomedical waste, and although potentially infectious, is often discarded with other domestic wastes. The study aimed to quantify and compare types and patterns of biomedical waste generated in homes and to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding biomedical waste among selected urban and rural households in the coastal area of Mangalore city in Karnataka. Methods  A cross-sectional study was conducted in households consisting of rural and urban field practice areas of a tertiary care hospital in coastal Karnataka from November 2017 to February 2018. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire on knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding healthcare waste generated at home was assessed. Qualitative variables of the waste segregation practice, types of biomedical waste, the knowledge, perception, and attitude to practices regarding biomedical waste were expressed in percentages proportions and analyzed using SPSS v.20. Results  Baby diapers were the most common hazardous waste. The number of baby diapers produced daily in rural and urban areas was 32 (42.7%) and 64 (85.3%), respectively. The urban households had better knowledge of possible hazardous healthcare waste at home, 28 (37.33%) compared with 7 (9.3%) in rural households. Seventy-one (94.7%) urban and 49 (65.3%) rural households had a favorable attitude toward the disposal of hazardous domestic biomedical waste. Conclusion  The knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding hazardous healthcare waste produced at the household level were better among urban households compared with rural households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars in the field of theology and biblical studies have extensively explored eco-theology from Genesis creation narratives especially 1:26 and 28. In spite of the good numbers of literature in this field of study, less is known in the area of contextual eco-theology that focuses on Christians and environmental care in Uvwie, Nigeria. Therefore, using the eco-theology approach in the interpretation of Genesis 2:15, this paper examines the importance of Christians’ involvement in environmental care by using Uvwie Local Government Area of Nigeria as a focus point. Drawing on the understandings of דַ בָע) abad) and רַ מָ ש) shamar) in Genesis 2:15 which are translated to mean ‘to serve’, to ‘tend’, ‘to dress’ or to ‘care’, it argues that דַ בָע) abad) and רַ מָ ש) shamar) are veritable Biblical and theological bases for Christian involvement in environmental care in contemporary society such as Uvwie. It shows that Genesis 2:15 implies environmental stewardship and environmental conservation and as such a theological basis for Christians in Uvwie-land to develop a positive attitude towards the community and its environment and desist from dumping refuse indiscriminately in the community. As such this paper contributes to the discourse on climate issues in Africa. Besides, humanities scholars will appreciate the essentiality of Christians’ contribution to a sustainable clean and green environment by becoming custodians of God’s creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several international regulatory bodies and researchers have identified employees in the municipal refuse and recycling industry as potentially at risk of noise induced hearing loss. Whilst materials recycling facilities have been subject to research regarding the health effects of hazardous exposures, the roadside recycling collection aspects of the industry has been identified as requiring further investigation. The requirement for characterization of such risk has been increased in the European Union by legislation that has led to increased rates of municipal recycling in the waste disposal industry. In particular, the introduction of glass recycling collection rounds over recent years, alongside long-established refuse collection activities, has given rise to possible further increased levels of industrial noise exposure, beyond that of refuse collection alone. This cross-sectional study describes hearing threshold categorization in 201 male full-time refuse collection workers, most of whom had many years of employment in municipal refuse collection, and all of whom, in the 3–4 years preceding the study, had commenced a work pattern of alternating weeks of municipal glass recycling collection and refuse collection. During this period there was no compulsory use of personal hearing protective equipment. No excess of hearing loss was found in this group, irrespective of years in refuse collection duties or when compared with those studied with additional responsibilities as a driver of refuse wagons (a task not considered to lead to excessive noise exposure). Further research into hearing loss in such employees is merited, given the short time period of exposure to noise from glass collection, but the possible benefit of undertaking detailed full shift personal noise exposure in this group is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nest architecture is a key factor in the development of ant colonies. Species-specific constructed nests can be simple such as surface-level nests or elaborate such as subterranean or arboreal nests. Subterranean nests are more difficult to study and their internal structure is little known. This study was carried out with the objective of studying the structure of leaf-cutting ant nests in an extreme environment. For such, seven nests of Acromyrmex landolti were excavated in a semiarid region of the Caatinga, an exclusively Brazilian biome. The nests were measured both externally and internally and then photographed. Nests were found in open and sunny areas and externally all nests presented a loose soil mound, straw protection over the entrance hole, and a refuse dump. The number of underground chambers found ranged from 4 to 17, with differing heights, widths, and lengths. The chambers were found from near the surface of the ground to a maximum depth of 1.70 m. Our results showed that strategies used by A. landolti include the construction of an ornate straw tower at the entrance of the nest and the construction of deep underground rooms, with the chambers of fungi near the water table. The structure of the nests of A. landolti is probably related to its habit of building their nests in open, sunny locations associated with environmental factors characteristic of the semiarid climate of the Caatinga biome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential energy uses of landfill gas (LFG) are investigated herein, focusing on electricity generation and leachate evaporation. LFG generation is estimated with the application of the GasSim method, using real data on the municipal solid waste disposal at the Metropolitan Sanitary Landfill of João Pessoa (Northeast Brazil). The results show significant LFG generation, with an estimated peak production of 11,277.28 t in 2028, and LFG generation until 2042. Commercially available biogas‐operated equipment were analysed for electricity production in situ, considering production and operation restrictions at the landfill. It was verified that after 2018, a cogeneration facility can generate electricity and the available heat is sufficient to evaporate leachate. Positive net economic results are obtained, with an internal rate of return over 30% after 26 years, demonstrating that the cogeneration facility is profitable and self‐sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the interest that developed in Great Britain around composting from the late 1920s. It argues that before the current vogue for composting, the technique attracted considerable attention in the middle of the twentieth century and that interest in this technology was not limited to a few 'mystical' members of the organic movement. This paper also analyses the role of an institution called the Natural Resources (Technical) Committee and attempts to show that opposition in Whitehall played a key role in the marginalisation of this technology. It thus suggests that the rise of the 'hegemony of disposal' in the twentieth century did not go uncontested and that it was not a purely technical and inexorable movement. The example of composting thus shows that the birth of a 'throwaway society' was not as consensual as usually described and rather than the result of a widespread aversion to refuse, it should be seen as the result of political decisions, themselves informed by a specific type of quantitative and reductionist type of expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background According to the WHO, nearly 24% of the global disease burden is attributable to environmental risk factors (RFs). People living in periurban areas are particularly at risk due to lack of basic sanitation requirements. Objective To investigate the possible association between environmental RFs and disease prevalence for a community living in a periurban area in Alexandria, Egypt. Materials and methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2012. The study sample consisted of 355 families. An interviewing questionnaire and an observation checklist were used for data collection. In addition, 10 drinking water samples were randomly collected for physical, chemical, and bacteriological analyses. The questionnaire included questions on indoor environmental RFs as well as morbidity in the study sample, and the observation checklist covered outdoor environmental RFs. The environmental risk was determined using a risk score whose calculation was based upon the presence/absence of 10 indoor and 12 outdoor environmental RFs. The association between risk scores and 14 morbidities was investigated using unconditional logistic regression analysis, expressed as odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results A significant association was found between the total environmental risk score and respiratory diseases (OR = 2.298, 95% CI: 1.231-4.291), diarrhea (OR = 2.083, 95% CI: 1.102-3.939), liver diseases (OR =2.491, 95% CI: 1.067-5.819), skin diseases (OR = 1.821, 95% CI: 1.012-3.310), and bronchial asthma (OR= 2.228, 95% CI: 1.066-4.565). Noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and musculoskeletal diseases did not show any significant association with environmental RFs. Conclusion and recommendations Environmental RFs have an adverse impact on health within communities living in periurban areas. It is recommended that sanitation be improved and various outdoor environmental RFs be addressed in these underprivileged areas, as well as health education campaigns be organized aiming at raising the awareness of residents on indoor environmental RFs and ways to prevent them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical laboratories are significant generators of infectious waste, including microbiological materials, contaminated sharps, and pathologic wastes such as blood specimens and blood products. Most waste produced in laboratories can be disposed of in the general solid waste stream. However, improper management of infectious waste, including mixing general wastes with infectious wastes and improper handling or storage, could lead to disease transmission. The aim of this study was to assess waste management processes used at clinical laboratories in Shiraz, Iran. One hundred and nine clinical laboratories participated In this cross sectional study, Data collection was by questionnaire and direct observation. Of the total amount of waste generated, 52% (by weight) was noninfectious domestic waste, 43% was non-sharps infectious waste and 5% consisted of sharps. There was no significant relationship between laboratory staff or manager education and the score for quality of waste collection and disposal at clinical laboratories. Improvements in infectious waste management processes should involve clearer, more uniformly accepted definitions of infectious waste and increased staff training. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Formation processes are all too infrequently addressed by archaeologists excavating in Mesoamerica. This paper examines refuse disposal patterns from the site of Cuauhtémoc on the Pacific coast of Chiapas, Mexico, to provide insight into how the site formed and how artifacts accumulated. This analysis uses materials dating between 1600–800 BCE which encompass the centuries before, during and after the late Early Formative or Early Olmec period (i.e., 1250–900 BCE). First, I employ sherds and daub from shared open-air middens and trash-filled pits to explore trash deposit formation through the 800 years that the site was occupied. Next, I use these same classes of data to make synchronic comparisons between five different depositional contexts dating to the Conchas phase (900–800 BCE). For all phases, these analyses demonstrate that pit features received more debris than open-air middens and that material in the latter contexts were more broken up. Further, the low density of daub from late Early Formative period contexts suggests that distinctive architectural customs may have been practised during this time. Conchas phase refuse indicates that waste disposal locations physically separated an elite residential zone from the rest of society and that elite contexts were more intensively used. Accounting for the formation of archaeological deposits allows for more nuanced interpretations of this early Mesoamerican village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]