South Africa has a system of graded landfilling standards that takes account of climatic conditions, waste type and the rate of deposition of waste. At present, waste is classified into general, i.e., municipal solid waste and low and high hazard wastes. Many of the hazardous wastes are liquids, and these are codisposed with general wastes at restricted, fully lined and drained sites. The characteristics of the municipal or general wastes differ, depending on the income level of the originating community and the source of the energy they use. The major source of variation lies in the relative proportions of putrescible matter. There is presently no differentiation between general wastes, based on composition. However, it may be possible to relax standards when low putrescible content general waste is landfilled, and this is the issue addressed in this paper. Experiments, using waste from low and middle income communities, are being conducted using small and large field test cells or lysimeters and laboratory lysimeters. Preliminary results indicate significant differences in the quality of leachate from the two waste types. The characteristics for gas generation also differ significantly. It will be necessary to continue long‐term monitoring of the test cells and lysimeters to determine differences in the long term analyses of leachate and gas and the long‐term total contaminant load of the wastes. The results may influence future landfilling standards, but on present evidence, this will be unlikely.
South Africa has a system of graded landfilling standards that takes account of climatic conditions, waste type and the rate of deposition of waste. At present, waste is classified into general, i.e., municipal solid waste and low and high hazard wastes. Many of the hazardous wastes are liquids, and these are codisposed with general wastes at restricted, fully lined and drained sites. The characteristics of the municipal or general wastes differ, depending on the income level of the originating community and the source of the energy they use.The major source of variation lies in the relative proportions of putrescible matter. There is presently no differentiation between general wastes, based on composition. However, it may be possible to relax standards when low putrescible content general waste is landfilled, and this is the issue addressed in this paper. Experiments, using waste from low and middle income communities, are being conducted using small and large field test cells or lysimeters and laboratory lysimeters. Preliminary results indicate significant differences in the quality of leachate from the two waste types. The characteristics for gas generation also differ significantly. It will be necessary to continue long-term monitoring of the test cells and lysimeters to determine differences in the long term analyses of leachate and gas and the long-term total contaminant load of the wastes. The results may influence future landfilling standards, but on present evidence, this will be unlikely. IntroductionAlthough South Africa has large mmmg and industrial sectors, it cannot be regarded as an industrialized or developed country. The gross national product per capita in 1995 was only US$ 1800 (South Afncan Institute of Race Relations 1996) and levels of unemployment are about 40% of the economically active sector of the population. Nonpayment for services provided by local councils became a form of protest during the &dquo;apartheid years&dquo; and levels of payment have since remained low, despite every effort by the new government to persuade the population that nonpayment is no longer patriotic. At the same time the population growth rate m developing communities (which comprise 80% of the population) continues at an extremely high rate of 2.4% per year. Spending of scarce resources, even on services as vital to community health as waste management, at OAKLAND UNIV on April 6, 2015 wmr.sagepub.com Downloaded from 125 thus has to be prioritized carefully. The development of rational and affordable standards for the management and disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) by landfillmg is one way in which expenditure on health-related service provesion can be optimized. In terms of South Afnca's Envmonment Conservation Act (Act 73 of 1989), legislative power for the control of pollution caused by waste disposal sites is vested in the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry. To date, control has been achieved by means of a landfill site permitting system. As a further measure, a committee was formed by the Depa...
Dykes, or levees, are structures designed and constructed to keep the water in a river within certain bounds in the event of a flood. In relation with climate change, more frequent floods, of higher intensity, can be expected due to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The objective of this review paper is to address the many ways in which geosynthetics contribute to sustainable construction of dykes and thus to water systems management. This review paper, prepared by the four Technical Committees and the Sustainability Committee of the International Geosynthetics Society, briefly describes geosynthetics and their function, dykes and dyke failure modes, before presenting the main focus of the use of geosynthetics for the design and construction of durable dykes to ensure the protection of life and infrastructure. The optimization of dyke construction with geosynthetics to increase their resilience not only results in performance advantages, but also in economic advantages. The way geosynthetics can contribute to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions for a sustainable river management is discussed. This is done not only by allowing more economic construction methods to be implemented, but also solutions with increased resilience to face the extreme stresses related to climate change, while at the same time bringing about a positive contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions during the construction process itself. Finally, it is shown that by following state of the art standards and design practice any possible risk associated with the use of geosynthetics in dykes can be mitigated.
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