Polemics on Ethical Aspects in the Compost Business

Abstract

This paper focuses on compost use in overpasses and underpasses for wild animals over roads and other similar linear structures. In this context, good quality of compost may result in faster and more resistant vegetation cover during the year. Inter alia, this can be interpreted also as reduction of damage and saving lives. There are millions of tones of plant residue produced every day worldwide. These represent prospective business for manufacturers of compost additives called "accelerators". The opinions of the sale representatives' with regards to other alternatives of biowaste utilization and their own products were reviewed. The robust analyzes of several "accelerated" composts revealed that the quality was generally low. Only two accelerated composts were somewhat similar in quality to the blank sample that was produced according to the traditional procedure. Overlaps between the interests of decision makers on future soil fertility were weighed against the preferences on short-term profit. Possible causes that allowed the boom of these underperforming products and the possible consequences are also discussed. Conclusions regarding the ethical concerns on how to run businesses with products whose profitability depends on weaknesses in the legal system and customer unawareness are to follow.

A Review on Utilization Routes of the Leather Industry Biomass

“…However, this option is not the best method because of its environmental impact and the increasing contamination of groundwater and soil [17]. Due to this, European Union legislation bans landfilling of biomass in developed countries [18]. In addition, unutilized portion of the chemical process is disposed of in the wastewater.…”

The specificities of the circular economy (CE) in the municipal wastewater and sewage sludge sector—local circumstances in Poland

“…It is estimated that in Poland more than 100 WWTPs in Poland produce compost at high quality. Some authors suggest, however, that not every substrate added to waste during composting process will produce good quality compost (Maroušek et al 2016). The European Compost Network (ECN) noted that EU28 produced 12.1-16.2 million tonnes of compost.…”

Wet compounding with pyrolytic carbon black from waste tyre for manufacture of new tyre – A mini review

“…Many studies on the pyrolysis of tyres are in the production of oil (Ayanoğlu and Yumrutaş, 2016; Dai et al, 2017; Karagoz et al, 2020; Tudu et al, 2016; Uyumaz et al, 2019; Vihar et al, 2015). Other studies contain the production of carbon black (CB) as asphalt additive (Dong and Zhao, 2018), pigment (Zhou et al, 2006), filler for low-grade rubber products, active carbon (Guerrero-Esparza et al, 2017), soil amendment (Maroušek et al, 2016, 2019), and so on. Most of these studies have been carried out either at laboratory or at pilot plant scale.…”