Challenges on the recycling of cigarette butts Yousefi, Mahmood; Kermani, Majid; Farzadkia, Mahdi ...
Environmental science and pollution research international,
06/2021, Letnik:
28, Številka:
24
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Cigarette butt (CB) is a crucial litter in urban communities because it may contain various toxicants. Due to serious limitations on incinerating or landfilling CB, recycling of this hazardous waste ...is essential. The objective of this study was to investigate the most important challenges in CB collection and recycling. To this end, a search was done on Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science by defining a search protocol and identifying appropriate keywords. At the end of the screening process, 52 appropriate papers were selected. In this review, all methods for the CB recycling were considered. This review showed that nine categorizations of different products have been produced from the recycling of CBs, but three important challenges were identified for the recycling of this hazardous waste. It should be noted that finding solutions to these challenges may be helpful in better management of CB as a toxic litter.
Millions of tons of plastic are consumed annually in the world due to its significant characteristics such as durability, flexibility, and low weight. High consumption has made plastic one of the ...most important municipal solid waste compounds, the quantity of which has increased in recent decades. Plastic solid wastes are known as a threat to the environment, and its efficient management in various aspects such as cost–benefit requires decision-making tools. This study was assessing the cost–benefit of plastic solid waste management by development of an economic model, and definition of different scenarios to change plastic solid waste management status. The results showed that 8971 tons of plastic solid waste were generated annually in the studied city. The plastic solid wastes were finally transferred to either recycling or landfilling site through 5 identified routes. 83 percent of the total recycled plastic solid waste was due to post-separation routes, and only 7.7 percent of the total plastic solid waste was recycled from the source separation route. The economic comparison of scenarios showed that with the aggregation of post-separation routes, the net revenue of plastic solid waste management increases by 334,000 euro per year while increasing the public participation and the ratio of source separation route raises net revenue by 875,000 euro per year, which was the best economic condition among the scenarios. Using life cycle cost method and it’s respected developed economic model truly satisfied the conditions of both, the current plastic solid waste management and the alternative scenarios, and hence can be adopted as a tool for decision-making.
This study investigated the recycling of freshly-smoked cigarette butts (FCBs) and unsmoked cigarette filters (UCFs) into a cellulose acetate (CA) membrane. The both samples were prepared by means of ...a combination of seven cigarette brands, and the phase inversion method was used to recycle each sample into a membrane using N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone. The efficiency of the prepared membranes for the removal of chromium, cadmium, and lead from an aqueous solution in a forward osmosis reactor was investigated. The results showed that the both membranes had a smooth surface and macrovoids. The flux of the prepared membranes from the UCFs and FCBs recycling were 14.8 and 13.2 LMH, respectively. The porosity and reverse salt of the UCFs membrane were 61% and 3.5 gMH, while those for FCBs membrane were 58% and 3.9 gMH. The observed metal removal efficiency of the both membranes was in the range of 85 to 90%. However, increasing the concentration of metals up to five times caused a slight decrease in the removal efficiency (less than 5%).
Littered waste is one of the ubiquitous problems in urban environments. In this study, urban environmental pollution was evaluated for the first time using a new developed index. The findings ...indicated that cigarette butts with an average 58% are the largest share in the composition of littered waste. In addition, the numbers of littered wastes throughout the study area had a spatial variation. According to clean environment index (CEI), the entire study area was found to be in a moderate status. However, 40% of the study areas were classified in a dirty and extremely dirty status. Comparison of the studied urban land-uses showed that residential land use with CEI equal to 3.38 is interpreted in the clean status, while commercial land use with CEI equal to 15.05 can be classified in the dirty status. The application of CEI has a good capability to assess littered waste; this index can be employed to evaluate the pollution of urban sidewalks and other environments such as beaches.
Recycling is known as a solution for cigarette filter management, but this may cause the release of trapped pollutants in it. Cigarette smoke toxins and chemicals that trapped in the cigarette filter ...can accumulate in the recycling leachate. In this study, littered cigarette filters and freshly smoked cigarette filters were recycled and the resulting leachate was analyzed. The results showed that the minimum and maximum Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) of the studied leachates were 2100 mg/L and 11,300 mg/L, respectively. The maximum temporal variation in the studied leachate quality was 74.28%, but the maximum spatial variation was 314.2%. COD in the freshly smoked sample was 2600-9200 mg/L more than the littered samples. The average concentration of chromium, lead, nickel, and cadmium in littered samples was 0.023, 0.024, 0.045, and 0.019 mg/L, respectively. Environmental conditions such as humidity, the efficiency of the urban cleaning system in reducing the resistance of littered filters, the difference in the quality of the filter and tobacco, and the difference in smoking behaviors were effective in this variation. Reducing the toxicity of cigarette smoke and improving the efficiency of the urban cleaning system can lead to the same quality, but leachate treatment is necessary to reduce the environmental risk.
Landfilling is known to be the most widely used method in municipal solid waste management in many countries. Landfill leachate containing different recalcitrant compounds are recognized to ...contaminate the soil and water and accordingly threat both the human health and environment. A variety of chemical and biological methods have recently been employed for landfill leachate treatment, one of which is the ultrasonic process. In this review, the efficiency of the ultrasound-assisted method for leachate treatment, factors influencing the treatment process are studied by defining a search protocol. The results showed that ultrasound can reduce pollutants by creating cavitation, microstreaming, and microturbulence. Increasing turbidity in initial of irradiation time and increasing the cost of treatment are the disadvantages of using ultrasonic in leachate treatment. Moreover, ultrasound-assisted method leads to improve the leachate quality, especially the COD/BOD. Therefore, ultrasound can be considered a good pretreatment for biological processes. Although, the application of this process in combination with other treatment processes such as biological processes and advanced oxidation increases the efficiency of leachate treatment, its efficiency depends on several factors such as exploitation features and leachate quality.
In addition to health consequences, the Covid-19 pandemic has had important effects on the environment and lifestyle. Municipal solid waste management faced serious challenges due to consequence of ...the Covid-19 pandemic. In this study, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the quantity and composition of municipal solid waste in Tehran were investigated. The international experiences of municipal waste management in the Covid-19 pandemic were reviewed and the results were used to develop a guideline for waste management in epidemic conditions adapted to local characteristics. The results showed that changes in the quantity of municipal solid waste affected by the Covid-19 pandemic had temporal and spatial variation. The most change in quantity by 15.81% was seen at the beginning of the pandemic, and non-recyclable waste had the most ratio change among the components of municipal solid waste (144%). The emergence of scattered point sources of infectious waste generation was the most important consequence of the epidemic in municipal solid waste management. These experiences were the basis for defining a guideline for the management of municipal solid waste in biological crises. A guideline in six activities and more than 90 items based on the local characteristics such as available equipment, general culture, local economy, and quantitative changes was defined.
•Biological crisis affects quantity and composition of municipal solid waste.•Waste management in the biological crisis must be adapted to the new conditions.•Local techno-economical characteristics are effective in solutions.•Regional guidelines based on international experiences is a suitable solution.
Annually, over 5.5 trillion cigarettes are produced worldwide, and it is estimated that 4.5 trillion cigarette butts (CBs) are still being littered in the world. The dispersal of the CBs has caused ...this hazardous waste to be considered as one of the most important litters and environmental risks all over the world. This systematic study with the search protocol definition and keyword identification was developed to find the CBs control and recycling methods by searching in five scientific databases. Founded articles were monitored and finally, 35 related articles were selected and studied by the authors. The results of this study showed that CBs recycling methods have been tested in 10 specific categories all over the world. The CBs have been applied without any pre-processing methods in the bricks and asphalt production. However, other applications of the CBs such as the absorbent material production, vector control, and use as a biofilm carrier in wastewater treatment need various processing methods. The researchers also presented models and suggestions such as taxes, penalties, and public education for the control of CBs littering. Despite the innovative methods applied for the CBs recycling in previous studies, CBs have not received much attention in terms of pollutant control and environmental issues in recycling processes.
Medical waste incinerator is a matter of concern for the environment and public health due to secondary pollutants. The present work aims to evaluate the toxic emissions from medical waste ...incineration, such as Polychlorinated Dibenzo-Dioxin/Furan (PCDD/Fs), Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), and the inorganic components in ambient air and ash. Hence, this study discusses several strategies to reduce emissions. For this purpose, searches were done in Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed databases from 2000 to 2020. After the search, screening was done according to the predefined criteria, 96 papers were finally selected for this study. The results show that the emissions levels depend on many factors like the composition of the feeding, waste type, waste classification, segregation practice, types of incinerators, operation conditions (designed temperature, retention time, and excess oxygen), and air pollution control devices. For instance, emissions of Medical Waste Incinerators (MWIs) rise sharply with a decrease in temperature, increase in oxygen levels and chlorine content in waste, and the absence or weak function of air pollution control systems. This review prepared a comprehensive detailed for decision-makers to help them to understand the environmental consequences of using incinerators. However, there is a gap in finding efficient methods to reduce emissions of incinerators.
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