Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method for assessing the sustainability of end-of-life alternatives for waste plastics: A case study of Norway.

Plastic, and its pollution of marine ecosystems, has emerged as a global concern. Among the several other sources, plastics from abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gears (ALDFG), and ropes are considered the most dangerous for marine wildlife. In EU states, the management ALDFG is prioritized through a dedicated action plan owing to the hazardous nature of ALDFG and the increase in commercial fishing activity in EU waters.

A method to extract fishers' knowledge (FK) to generate evidence for sustainable management of fishing gears.

The dangerous effects of Abandoned, Lost or Discarded Fishing Gears (ALDFG) is documented in the literature. However, there exists an overall lack of understanding in quantifying the pollution loads of fishing gears (FG) in territorial waters or on the beaches. The lack of data on FG life cycle results in mismanagement of one of the troublesome resources across the globe.

Choice of mineral fertilizer substitution principle strongly influences LCA environmental benefits of nutrient cycling in the agri-food system.

Increased nutrient cycling in the agri-food system is a way to achieve a healthier nutrient stewardship and more sustainable food production. In life cycle assessment (LCA) studies, use of recycled fertilizer products is often credited by the substitution method, which subtracts the environmental burdens associated with avoided production of mineral fertilizer from the system under study. The environmental benefits from avoided fertilizer production can make an important contribution to the results, but different calculation principles and often implicit assumptions are used to estimate the amount of avoided mineral fertilizer.

Sewage sludge disposal strategies for sustainable development.

The main objective of the present review is to compare the existing sewage sludge management solutions in terms of their environmental sustainability. The most commonly used strategies, that include treatment and disposal has been favored within the present state-of-art, considering existing legislation (at European and national level), characterization, ecotoxicology, waste management and actual routs used currently in particular European countries. Selected decision making tools, namely End-of-waste criteria and Life Cycle Assessment has been proposed in order to appropriately assess the possible environmental, economic and technical evaluation of different systems.

Recycling potential of secondary phosphorus resources as assessed by integrating substance flow analysis and plant-availability.

The plant-availability of phosphorus (P) plays a central role in the ability of secondary P resources to replace mineral fertilizer. This is because secondary P plant-availability varies, often with large fractions of residual P that has no immediate fertilization effect. Therefore, if low quality secondary P fertilizers are applied, they will accumulate in soils that, in the long run, may increase the risk of P runoff and eutrophication.

Assessment of Food Waste Prevention and Recycling Strategies Using a Multilayer Systems Approach.

Food waste (FW) generates large upstream and downstream emissions to the environment and unnecessarily consumes natural resources, potentially affecting future food security. The ecological impacts of FW can be addressed by the upstream strategies of FW prevention or by downstream strategies of FW recycling, including energy and nutrient recovery. While FW recycling is often prioritized in practice, the ecological implications of the two strategies remain poorly understood from a quantitative systems perspective.

Studying the demand-side vis-à-vis the supply-side of urban water systems--case study of Oslo, Norway.

The research focus of resource consumption and emissions from urban water services has, by and large, been restricted to what comes under the domain of the urban water utilities - the upstream sub-systems of water treatment and supply and the downstream sub-systems of wastewater collection, treatment and disposal. However, the material and energy flows necessitated by activities in the water demand sub-system (households, for instance) are by no means negligible. This paper studies the per-capita material and energy requirements, and the related emissions and life cycle environmental impacts, associated with water consumption in households of the city of Oslo for the year 2009.

Dynamic metabolism modelling of urban water services--demonstrating effectiveness as a decision-support tool for Oslo, Norway.

Urban water services are challenged from many perspectives and different stakeholders demand performance improvements along economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability. In response, urban water utilities systematically give more attention to criteria such as water safety, climate change adaptation and mitigation, environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), total cost efficiency, and on how to improve their operations within the water-energy-carbon nexus. The authors of this paper collaborated in the development of a 'Dynamic Metabolism Model' (DMM).

Carbon emissions of infrastructure development.

Identifying strategies for reconciling human development and climate change mitigation requires an adequate understanding of how infrastructures contribute to well-being and greenhouse gas emissions. While direct emissions from infrastructure use are well-known, information about indirect emissions from their construction is highly fragmented. Here, we estimated the carbon footprint of the existing global infrastructure stock in 2008, assuming current technologies, to be 122 (-20/+15) Gt CO2.

Influence of assumptions about household waste composition in waste management LCAs.

This article takes a detailed look at an uncertainty factor in waste management LCA that has not been widely discussed previously, namely the uncertainty in waste composition. Waste composition is influenced by many factors; it can vary from year to year, seasonally, and with location, for example. The data publicly available at a municipal level can be highly aggregated and sometimes incomplete, and performing composition analysis is technically challenging.

LCA for household waste management when planning a new urban settlement.

When planning for a new urban settlement, industrial ecology tools like scenario building and life cycle assessment can be used to assess the environmental quality of different infrastructure solutions. In Trondheim, a new greenfield settlement with carbon-neutral ambitions is being planned and five different scenarios for the waste management system of the new settlement have been compared. The results show small differences among the scenarios, however, some benefits from increased source separation of paper and metal could be found.

Environmental impact analysis of chemicals and energy consumption in wastewater treatment plants: case study of Oslo, Norway.

Wastewater treatment plants, while performing the important function of treating wastewater to meet the prescribed discharge standards, consume energy and a variety of chemicals. This paper analyses the consumption of energy and chemicals by wastewater treatment plants in Oslo over eight years, and their potential environmental impacts. Global warming and acidification were the dominant impacts for chemicals and energy, respectively.

Changes in material flows, treatment efficiencies and shifting of environmental loads in the wastewater treatment sector. Part II: case study of Norway.

In Part I, the wastewater treatment sector in the Netherlands was analyzed to determine how the degree of separation of COD (BOD), nitrogen, phosphorus and heavy metals from the wastewater increased over time, and how the proportions of these substances, separated out from the wastewater into the lithosphere and atmosphere, changed over time. This paper applies the same methodology, adopted in the first part, to Norway. Needless to say, the hydrosphere has benefited from a decline in eutrophication and marine/fresh water toxicity, owing to the favourable combination of higher degrees of separation over time and source control, especially in the industrial sector.

Changes in material flows, treatment efficiencies and shifting of environmental loads in the wastewater treatment sector. Part I: case study of the Netherlands.

The material that is separated from wastewater in wastewater treatment plants has to be transferred from the water phase to the atmosphere, lithosphere, and/or biosphere (and also the technosphere). After the initial discharges into the different environmental media (and the technosphere), there are further 'inter-sphere' leakages or redirections. However, these happen over protracted periods of time and have not been accounted for in this paper.

Importance of investment decisions and rehabilitation approaches in an ageing wastewater pipeline network. A case study of Oslo (Norway).

As Oslo Vann og Avløpsetaten (VAV, meaning Water and Sewage Department) looks into the future, it is faced with a quandary-to replace old pipelines or to continue maintaining them. The primary goal is to improve the level of service. The secondary goals are to rejuvenate the system and stem the decline in capital value.

Systems analysis as support for decision making towards sustainable municipal waste management--a case study.

During the last decade, systems analysis has become a more frequently used tool in municipal waste management. This paper investigates how one such analysis, carried out in a Swedish county, was perceived by local municipal officers and politicians as support in the decision-making process. A questionnaire was sent to municipal officers and politicians in local government committees and municipal councils.