In order to use secondary waste from an incineration plant, it is necessary to process or treat it. Valorization of municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash (MSWIBA) is a popular treatment method. Moreover, there are other possibilities, such as alkaline pre-treatment, which can be used for the rest of the secondary waste from incineration plants, especially hazardous fly ash. The purpose of this study is to show the problem of secondary waste in Poland in relation to the rest of Europe. Due to the physicochemical research of secondary waste, the possibilities of the procedure and its management are indicated. By analyzing the literature and the market, the latest possibilities for improving the physicochemical properties of secondary waste are proposed. Searching for new methods for waste management is essential to the environment. This manuscript presents the problem of the increasing amount of waste, as well as possibilities to close the loop, and minimize the negative impact on the environment. Additionally, the article shows that environmental benefits can be achieved by replacing raw material with secondary waste.
Air pollution, a by-product of economic growth, generates an enormous environmental cost in Poland. The issue of healthy living spaces and indoor air quality (IAQ) is a global concern because people spend approximately 90% of their time indoors. An increasingly popular method to improve IAQ is to use air purifiers (APs). Indoor air is often polluted by bioaerosols (e.g., viruses, bacteria, fungi), which are a major concern for public health. This work presents research on culturable bacterial aerosol (CBA) samples collected from dwellings with or without active APs during the 2019 summer season. The CBA samples were collected using a six-stage Andersen cascade impactor (ACI). The CBA concentrations were expressed as Colony Forming Units (CFU) per cubic metre of air. The average concentration of CBA in dwellings when the AP was active was 450–570 CFU/m3, whereas the average concentration when the AP was not active was 920–1000 CFU/m3. IAQ, when the APs were active, was on average almost 50% better than in cases where there were no procedures to decrease the concentration of air pollutants. Moreover, the obtained results of the particle size distribution (PSD) of CBA indicate that the use of APs reduced the proportion of the respirable fraction (the particles < 3.3 µm) by about 16%. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to assess the ecological cost of air purification. Our conceptual approach addresses the impact of indoor air pollution on human health and estimates the ecological cost of APs and air pollution prevention policies.
The article presents an analysis of the impact of bio-based materials on the environment, with a special focus on polylactic acid (PLA), as it is considered one of the most popular bioplastics in the market. The results show that there are several factors that must be taken into account when choosing the best end-of-life option for this type of material, in agreement with the newly introduced concept of the circular economy, according to the physical–chemical analysis obtained at the end of this study. The ecotoxicity tests showed that all tested materials (PLA spoon, PLA filament, b2w technology bag and cocoa paper tray) could be suitable for incineration with energy recovery without producing dioxines during combustion (chlorine content in all tested materials was below 1.00% w/w). It was also determined that PLA was the material with the highest potential for energy recovery since it presented the highest calorific value and highest carbon content (18.73 MJ/kg and 52.23%, respectively). The biodegradation rate of the different bio-based materials was also tested under different environments during three months, with Baltic Sea water and medium-grain sand being the environments in which the majority of the bio-based materials showed the lowest degradation rates. An additional test in a small-scale electric composter with microbe technology was carried out in order to evaluate the degradation of the studied materials in an environment with controlled conditions, and results showed high values of weight loss for the majority of the bio-based materials (all above 80% weight loss) due to the high temperature that the device could reach during the composting process. Finally, a strategy for providing guidance in selecting routes for the waste management of bioplastics, depending mainly on the available infrastructure and material properties, was proposed as a result of this work. For the case of low- and medium-income countries, an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy is proposed as a provisional solution to control plastic waste pollution, which should be complemented by regulations and systems aimed at the successful introduction of bioplastics.
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