Sustainability, substance flow management and time. Part I

Kümmerer, Klaus; Hofmeister, Sabine

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2007.07.021

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…in terms of biodegradability), advanced effluent treatment options are seen as a potential risk management opportunity (www.start-project.de; Schulte-Oehlmann et al 2007;Götz and Keil 2007;Kümmerer 2007). Within this context, substance flows of a range of pharmaceuticals have to be quantified to enable any identified concerns to be tackled properly and efficiently (Kümmerer and Hofmeister 2008). Advanced effluent treatment can be applied at both municipal sewage treatment plants (STP) and hospitals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flows of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Originating from Health Care Practices on a Local, Regional, and Nationwide Level in Germany—Is Hospital Effluent Treatment an Effective Approach for Risk Reduction?

Schuster

Hädrich

Kümmerer

2008

Water Air Soil Pollut: Focus

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Pharmaceuticals are designed to be bioactive and therefore are among the most important chemical compounds manufactured. In recent years pharmaceuticals have been detected in a range of environment compartments, with concerns raised that they may impose a risk to both humans and environmental organisms. To support informed management of any associated risks, knowledge about their substance flows is indispensable. However, little is known about sources and attributable substance flows with regard to the use of human pharmaceuticals. Often data available on a national level are used to judge local or regional situations and to calculate expected concentrations. In this paper, computations on the use of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) of drugs used in human medicine at the local, regional and national levels were conducted. Different data sources were used and raw-data were scaled up-or downwards and compared. Results of this analysis indicated that hospitals are, by far, minor sources of pharmaceuticals to the aquatic environment in comparison to non-point emissions from households. Differences in flows at the local, regional and national scales are also identified.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flows of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Originating from Health Care Practices on a Local, Regional, and Nationwide Level in Germany—Is Hospital Effluent Treatment an Effective Approach for Risk Reduction?

Schuster

Hädrich

Kümmerer

2008

Water Air Soil Pollut: Focus

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“…small capacitors with PCB as the isolating agent. [See also Kümmerer and Hofmeister (2008) and Hofmeister and Kümmerer (2009) describing the role of time for chemical policy.] Second, scarce resources cannot be substituted by secondary raw materials as long as they are in use.…”

Section: Reasons For Shortcomings Of the Regulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of material recovery from used electric and electronic equipment-alternative options for resource conservation

Friege¹

2012

Waste Manag Res

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For waste from electric and electronic equipment, the WEEE Directive stipulates the separate collection of electric and electronic waste. As to new electric and electronic devices, the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive bans the use of certain chemicals dangerous for man and environment. From the implementation of the WEEE directive, many unsolved problems have been documented: poor collection success, emission of dangerous substances during collection and recycling, irretrievable loss of valuable metals among others. As to RoHS, data from the literature show a satisfying success. The problems identified in the process can be reduced to some basic dilemmas at the borders between waste management, product policy and chemical safety. The objectives of the WEEE Directive and the specific targets for use and recycling of appliances are not consistent. There is no focus on scarce resources. Extended producer responsibility is not sufficient to guarantee sustainable waste management. Waste management reaches its limits due to problems of implementation but also due to physical laws. A holistic approach is necessary looking at all branch points and sinks in the stream of used products and waste from electric and electronic equipment. This may be done with respect to the general rules for sustainable management of material streams covering the three dimensions of sustainable policy. The relationships between the players in the field of electric and electronic devices have to be taken into account. Most of the problems identified in the implementation process will not be solved by the current amendment of the WEEE Directive.

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“…[7]. It should be noted that the point times evaluated at each bioassay are intrinsically connected to the organizational level under study [8,9]. For instance, it can be performed before/ after a treatment process and/or at different point times in order (1) to estimate the toxicity of a flux as a whole for research or compliance purposes and (2) to investigate the effectiveness of mitigation measures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioassays Currently Available for Evaluating the Biological Potency of Pharmaceuticals in Treated Wastewater

Vasquez

Michael²,

Kümmerer

et al. 2015

The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry

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Water deprivation with regard to quantity and quality is one of the most important environmental problems of the century. The increasing demand of water resources puts pressure on the utilization of alternative sources such as treated wastewater. In the context of "reduce, reuse, and recycle," the inclusion of treated wastewater in the water cycle seems a promising practice for water management. The lack of general acceptance of stakeholders and public, however, still hinders the widespread application of wastewater reuse. A reason for this is, among others, the presence of contaminants of emerging concern in treated wastewater. This has led to an increased concern about direct and indirect effects to the environment and possible implications to human health. The development and application of bioassays able to identify and quantify the biological potency of treated wastewater is an ongoing research effort, especially when taking into consideration that a plethora of contaminants exist and interact in this complex matrix. This chapter summarizes available literature regarding the sensitivity of currently applied bioassays for assessing biological effects of treated wastewater and their correlation with chemical analysis. The focus is on pharmaceuticals since they represent one of the major groups of contaminants of emerging concern with many unanswered questions currently in place.

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Sustainability, substance flow management and time. Part I

Cited by 13 publications

References 18 publications

Flows of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Originating from Health Care Practices on a Local, Regional, and Nationwide Level in Germany—Is Hospital Effluent Treatment an Effective Approach for Risk Reduction?

Flows of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Originating from Health Care Practices on a Local, Regional, and Nationwide Level in Germany—Is Hospital Effluent Treatment an Effective Approach for Risk Reduction?

Review of material recovery from used electric and electronic equipment-alternative options for resource conservation

Bioassays Currently Available for Evaluating the Biological Potency of Pharmaceuticals in Treated Wastewater

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