Epidemiological studies have associated adverse health impacts with ambient concentrations of particulate matter ( PM ) , though these studies have been limited in their characterization of personal exposure to PM. An exposure study of healthy nonsmoking adults and children was conducted in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, to characterize the range of personal exposures to air pollutants and to determine the influence of occupation, season, residence location, and outdoor and indoor concentrations on personal exposures. Twenty -four -hour personal, at -home indoor, and ambient measurements of PM 10 , PM 2.5 , sulfate ( SO 4 2 À ) and nicotine were obtained for 18 office workers, 16 industrial workers, and 15 high school students in winter and summer. Results showed that outdoor levels of pollutants were modest, with clear seasonal differences: outdoor PM 10 summer / winter mean = 35 / 45 g / m 3 ; PM 2.5 summer / winter mean = 22 / 32 g / m 3 . SO 4 2 À levels were low ( 4 ± 7 g / m 3 ) and relatively uniform across the different sample types ( personal, indoor, outdoor ) , areas, and occupational groups. This suggests that SO 4 2 À may be a useful marker for combustion mode particles of ambient origin, although the relationship between personal exposures and ambient SO 4 2 À levels was more complex than observed in North American settings. During winter especially, the central city area showed higher concentrations than the suburban location for outdoor, personal, and indoor measures of PM 10 , PM 2.5 , and to a lesser extent for SO 4 2 À , suggesting the importance of local sources. For PM 2.5 and PM 10 , ratios consistent with expectations were found among exposure indices for all three subject groups ( personal > indoor > outdoor ) , and between work type ( industrial > students > office workers ) . The ratio of PM 2.5 personal to indoor exposures ranged from 1.0 to 3.9 and of personal to outdoor exposures from 1.6 to 4.2. The ratio of PM 10 personal to indoor exposures ranged from 1.1 to 2.9 and the ratio of personal to outdoor exposures from 2.1 to 4.1. For a combined group of office workers and students, personal PM 10 / PM 2.5 levels were predicted by statistically significant multivariate models incorporating indoor ( for PM 2.5 ) or outdoor ( for PM 10 ) PM levels, and nicotine exposure ( for PM 10 ). Small but significant fractions of the overall variability, 15% for PM 2.5 and 17% for PM 10 , were explained by these models. The results indicate that central site monitors underpredict actual human exposures to PM 2.5 and PM 10 . Personal exposure to SO 4 2 À was found to be predicted by outdoor or indoor SO 4 2 À levels with 23 ± 71% of the overall variability explained by these predictors. We conclude that personal exposure measurements and additional demographic and daily activity data are crucial for accurate evaluation of exposure to particles in this setting.

second indoor sample (collected at a spectator's area) was 221 ppb, with a range of 1-3,175 ppb. The ratio of the indoor to outdoor NO 2 concentrations was above 1 for 95% of the rinks sampled, indicating the presence of an indoor NO 2 source (mean indoor:outdoor ratio = 20). Estimates of short-term NO 2 concentrations indicated that as many as 40% of the sampled rinks would have exceeded the World Health Organization 1-hour guideline value of 213 ppb NO 2 for indoor air.Statistically significant associations were observed between NO 2 levels and the type of fuel used to power the resurfacer, ABSTRACTAn international survey of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) levels inside indoor ice skating facilities was conducted. One-week average NO 2 concentrations were measured inside and outside of 332 ice rinks located in nine countries. Each rink manager also completed a questionnaire describing the building, the resurfacing machines, and their use patterns. The (arithmetic) mean NO 2 level for all rinks in the study was 228 ppb, with a range of 1-2,680 ppb, based on a sample collected at breathing height and adjacent to the ice surface. The mean of the Brauer, Lee, Spengler, Salonen, Pennanen, Braathen, Mihalikova, Miskovic, Nozaki, Tsuzuki, Rui-Jin, Xu, Qing-Xiang, Drahonovska, and Kjaergaard Journal of the Air & Waste Management AssociationVolume 47 October 1997 the absence of a catalytic converter on a resurfacer, and the use of an ice edger. There were also indications that decreased use of mechanical ventilation, increased number of resurfacing operations per day, and smaller rink volumes were associated with increased NO 2 levels. In rinks where the main resurfacer was powered by propane, the NO 2 concentrations were higher than in those with gasoline-powered resurfacers, while the latter had NO 2 concentrations higher than in those using diesel. Rinks where the main resurfacer was electric had the lowest indoor NO 2 concentrations, similar to the levels measured outdoors.

The constant consumption of resources exerts pressure on the environment. In this sense, waste management has obtained increasing attention from the view of a circular economy. The European Union deals with these mentioned aspects, trying maintain long-term competitiveness and to provide sustainable development in accordance with all related environmental aspects. This paper focuses on the evaluation of the production of communal waste in 36 EU countries. The main aim is to evaluate the success of countries’ efforts to decrease waste production and increase recycling rates. The methodology used for the evaluation included data collected from the publicly available database Eurostat, consequent analyses and evaluation in the statistical software JMP 13 through regression, distribution, and cluster analysis, and the interpretation of the results. The results of the cluster analysis showed that despite clear EU waste management legislation, EU member states have significantly different waste management systems at the national level. However, generally, we could see positive correlation between the generation of waste and recycling rates. Although, Malta, Austria, Greece, and Norway recorded a decreasing level of waste recycling over the last several years, some countries (Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania) had significantly lower recycling rates accompanied by low landfill taxes. The evaluation of waste production and recycling can be used for government policy in the area of waste management, as well as for individual communities dealing with communal waste.

In the European Union, basic strategy results from the need to provide intelligent, sustainable, and inclusive growth, along with respect to social and economic impacts of waste treatment. The paper focuses on municipal waste and its separation. Generally, within global waste management initiatives, the main goal is to minimize the negative effects of waste on the environment, as well as to increase and optimize the sources’ efficiency in the waste economy. Research on municipal waste development and its separation was done in individual regions of Slovakia to find if socially weaker regions have worse waste treatment. The results were compared according to the waste development per inhabitant and per household, as well as through rate indexes, which are connected to relationships between waste, social, and economic indexes. The results confirmed research results from other countries that show that the volume of municipal waste is increasing due to increased living standards of inhabitants. However, on the other hand, waste separation rates also increased—mainly based on the legislative support.

Healthy living environment is basic factor of modern society, orientated to the sustainable development. Waste economy presents activity, orientated to the avoiding and limitation of waste rising and decreasing of their negative impacts to the living environment. Slovak Republic gives to the tasks of living environment intensive attention from the view of legislative and economic measurements. Every year financial means are invested to the protection of living environment and there is created database and system for monitoring of living environment situation. Contribution is orientated to the competence of municipalities in area of waste economy. The goal is to analyze volume of fees from communal waste that present part of tax incomes for municipalities and to show its development in relation to produced volume of waste. During elaboration of the contribution we resulted first of all from the content law of waste and local taxes and fee for communal waste. Results show presently increasing of environmental awareness of public, resulting in decreasing production of mixed communal waste and increasing separated waste. Such situation could contribute to the support of circular system of economy in the country.