Waste Treatment and Assessment of Long-Term Emissions (8pp)

Goal, Scope and Background The disposal phase of a product’s life cycle in LCA is often neglected or based on coarse indicators like ‘kilogram waste’. The goal of report No. 13 of the ecoinvent project (Doka 2003) is to create detailed Life Cycle Inventories of waste disposal processes. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the models behind the waste disposal inventories in ecoinvent, to present exemplary results and to discuss the assessment of long-term emissions. This paper does not present a particular LCA study. Inventories are compiled for many different materials and various disposal technologies. Considered disposal technologies are municipal incineration and different landfill types, including sanitary landfills, hazardous waste incineration, waste deposits in deep salt mines, surface spreading of sludges, municipal wastewater treatment, and building dismantling. The inventoried technologies are largely based on Swiss plants. Inventories can be used for assessment of the disposal of common, generic waste materials like paper, plastics, packaging etc. Inventories are also used within the ecoinvent database itself to inventory the disposal of specific wastes generated during the production phase. Inventories relate as far as possible to the specific chemical composition of the waste material (waste-specific burdens). Certain expenditures are not related to the waste composition and are inventoried with average values (process-specific burdens). Methods The disposal models are based on previous work, partly used in earlier versions of ecoinvent/ETH LCI data. Important improvements were the extension of the number of considered chemical elements to 41 throughout all disposal models and new landfill models based on field data. New inventories are compiled for waste deposits in deep salt mines and building material disposal. Along with the ecoinvent data and the reports, also Excel-based software tools were created, which allow ecoinvent members to calculate waste disposal inventories from arbitrary waste compositions. The modelling of long-term emissions from landfills is a crucial part in any waste disposal process. In ecoinvent long-term emissions are defined as emissions occurring 100 years after present. They are reported in separate emission categories. The landfill inventories include long-term emissions with a time horizon of 60’000 years after present. Results and Discussion As in earlier studies, the landfills prove to be generally relevant disposal processes, as also incineration and wastewater treatment processes produce landfilled wastes. Heavy metals tend to concentrate in landfills and are washed out to a varying degree over time. Long-term emissions usually represent an important burden from landfills. Comparisons between burdens from production of materials and the burdens from their disposal show that disposal has a certain relevance. Conclusion The disposal phase should by default be included in LCA studies. The use of a material not only necessitates its production, but also requires its disposal. The created inventories and user tools facilitate heeding the disposal phase with a similar level of detail as production processes. The risk of LCA-based decisions shifting burdens from the production or use phase to the disposal phase because of data gaps can therefore be diminished. Recommendation and Perspective Future improvements should include the modelling of metal ore refining waste (tailings) which is currently neglected in ecoinvent, but is likely to be relevant for metals production. The disposal technologies considered here are those of developed Western countries. Disposal in other parts of the World can differ distinctly, for logistic, climatic and economic reasons. The cross-examination of landfill models to LCIA soil fate models could be advantageous. Currently only chemical elements, like copper, zinc, nitrogen etc. are heeded by the disposal models. A possible extension could be the modelling of the behaviour of chemical compounds, like dioxins or other hydrocarbons.     

Waste treatment in product specific life cycle inventories

The final disposal of waste in sanitary landfills generates environmental impacts in the form of gaseous emissions and effluents in the seepage water. In product specific Life Cycle Assessments, these environmental impacts resulting from the disposal of the product under study frequently have a strong influence on the overall results. The Sanitary Landfill (SL), like the Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI), is a complex system with a large variety of different types of waste with varying input composition. A direct determination of the environmental impacts resulting from the landfilling of a single input component, e.g. by measurements, is not possible. The model approach described in this paper shows an operationalized concept for the allocation of the environmental effects caused by the landfill process to special input components. The calculation of the landfill emissions in the model is based on the emission spectrum (landfill gas and seepage water) of an average-sized landfill in Germany and the elementary composition of the single waste fraction under consideration. The resulting reactor landfill module comprises an average split for diffuse and captured landfill emissions, the use of captured landfill gases in a gas engine and a cleaning of captured seepage water in a waste water treatment plant. A short case study demonstrates the calculation of the effects of landfilling of a defined waste fraction (bottle fraction in post-consumer plastic waste).     

Stench and sensibilities: On living with waste,animals and microbes in India

Stench is often the most immediate mark of something dirty, decaying and diseased. In India, stench and the smell of acrid smoke commonly indicate the proximity of an open dump or landfill. Frequently a slum is located in the vicinity too, housing waste‐pickers who forage in these sprawling dumps for salvageable waste. These spaces are also host to vermin, birds, stray dogs, pigs, cows and, more recently, dangerous bacteria resistant to even top‐end antibiotics, popularly known as ‘superbugs’. In this paper I examine the socio‐ecological context of neighbourhood, community open garbage dumps and larger landfills in an effort to understand these as part of a dynamic ecosystem of ‘more‐than‐human’ relations. Perceptual variations of smell as experienced in and around waste (in its solid, liquid and gas states) are intrinsically linked to symbolic and material practices across species. Additionally, I suggest that one productive way to think about the emergence of disease and pathogenicity is by considering the information stimulated by smell, which is mediated by cultural interpretations, biological capacities and wider political economies.     

The impact of landfilling and composting on greenhouse gas emissions – A review

Municipal solid waste is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions through decomposition and life-cycle activities processes. The majority of these emissions are a result of landfilling, which remains the primary waste disposal strategy internationally. As a result, countries have been incorporating alternative forms of waste management strategies such as energy recovery from landfill gas capture, aerobic landfilling (aerox landfills), pre-composting of waste prior to landfilling, landfill capping and composting of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. As the changing global climate has been one of the major environmental challenges facing the world today, there is an increasing need to understand the impact of waste management on greenhouse gas emissions. This review paper serves to provide an overview on the impact of landfilling (and its various alternatives) and composting on greenhouse gas emissions taking into account streamlined life cycle activities and the decomposition process. The review suggests greenhouse gas emissions from waste decomposition are considerably higher for landfills than composting. However, mixed results were found for greenhouse gas emissions for landfill and composting operational activities. Nonetheless, in general, net greenhouse gas emissions for landfills tend to be higher than that for composting facilities.     

垃圾填埋场N2O排放通量及测定方法研究进展

氧化亚氮(N₂O)是第三大温室气体和最主要的臭氧层破坏气体.填埋是目前城市生活垃圾处理处置的主要方式,而垃圾填埋场是N₂O的排放源之一.实验室研究和现场测定均表明,生活垃圾填埋场可以有高的N₂O释放通量,但不同填埋场测定数据差异很大.目前,对生活垃圾填埋场N₂O排放量的原位准确测定以及排放机理和重要性的认识仍有很多不足.本文概述了生活垃圾填埋场N₂O排放研究现状,从垃圾堆体和覆土层两部分探讨了传统厌氧卫生填埋场的N₂O产生和排放机理,并就此对新型脱氮型生物反应器填埋场做了相应探讨.最后,就静态箱法、涡度相关法等N₂O通量测定方法在填埋场的适用性进行了讨论,并展望了填埋场N₂O排放的研究方向.     

Solid waste treatment and disposal: effects on public health and environmental safety

The safety and acceptability of many widely used solid waste management practices are of serious concern from the public health point of view. Such concern stems from both distrust of policies and solutions proposed by all tiers of government for the management of solid waste and a perception that many solid waste management facilities use poor operating procedures. Waste management practice that currently encompasses disposal, treatment, reduction, recycling, segregation and modification has developed over the past 150 years. Before that and in numerous more recent situations, all wastes produced were handled by their producers using simple disposal methods, including terrestrial dumping, dumping into both fresh and marine waters and uncontrolled burning. In spite of ever-increasing industrialisation and urbanisation, the dumping of solid waste, particularly in landfills, remains a prominent means of disposal and implied treatment. Major developments have occurred with respect to landfill technology and in the legislative control of the categories of wastes that can be subject to disposal by landfilling. Even so, many landfills remain primitive in their operation. Alternative treatment technologies for solid waste management include incineration with heat recovery and waste gas cleaning and accelerated composting, but both of these technologies are subject to criticism either by environmentalists on the grounds of possible hazardous emissions, failure to eliminate pathogenic agents or failure to immobilise heavy metals, or by landfill operators and contractors on the basis of waste management economics, while key questions concerning the effects of the various practices on public health and environmental safety remain unanswered. The probable and relative effects on both public health and environmental safety of tradition and modern landfill technologies will be evaluated with respect to proposed alternative treatment technologies.     

The Application of the Environmental Product Declaration to Waste Disposal in a Sanitary Landfill - Four Case Studies (10 pp)

Goal, Scope and Background

The aim of the present study is to evaluate, through LCA, the potential environmental impact associated to urban waste dumping in a sanitary landfill for four case studies and to compare different technologies for waste treatment and leachate or biogas management in the framework of the EPD® system. Specific data were collected on the four Italian landfills during a five-year campaign from 2000 to 2004. This work also analyses the comparability of EPD results for different products in the same product category. For this purpose, a critical review of PSR 2003:3, for preparing an EPD on ‘Collection, transfer and disposal service for urban waste in sanitary landfills', is performed.

Methods

PSR 2003:3 defines the requirements, based on environmental parameters, that should be considered in an LCA study for collecting and disposal service of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in a sanitary landfill. It defines functional unit, system boundaries towards nature, other technical systems and boundaries in time, cut-off rules, allocation rules and parameters to be declared in the EPD. This PSR is tested on four case studies representing the major landfills located from the farthest west to the farthest east side of the Ligurian Region. Those landfills are managed with different technologies as concerns waste pre-treatment and leachate or biogas treatment. For each landfill, a life cycle assessment study is performed.

Results and Discussion

The comparison of the LCA results is performed separately for the following phases: Transport, Landfill, Leachate and Biogas. The following parameters are considered: Resource use (Use of non-renewable resources with and without energy content, Use of renewable resources with and without energy content, Water consumption); Pollutant emissions expressed as potential environmental impact (Global Warming Potential from biological and fossil sources, Acidification, Ozone depletion, Photochemical oxidant formation, Eutrophication, Land use, Hazardous and other Waste production). The comparison of the LCA results obtained for alternative landfill and biogas management techniques in the case studies investigated shows that the best practicable option that benefits the environment as a whole must be identified and chosen in the LCA context. For example, a strong waste pre-treatment causes a high biological GWP in the Landfill phase, but a low GWP contribution in the Biogas phase, due to the consequent low biogas production, evaluated for 30 years since landfill closure.

Conclusion

The analysis of four case studies showed that, through the EPD tool, it is possible to make a comparison among different declarations for the same product category only with some modification and integration to existent PSR 2003:3. Results showed that different products have different performances for phases and impact categories. It is not possible to identify the \best product\ from an environmental point of view, but it is possible to identify the product (or service) with the lowest impact on the environment for each impact category and resource use.

Recommendation and Perspective

In consequences of the verification of the comprehensiveness of existent PSR 2003:3 for the comparability of EPD, some modifications and integration to existent rules are suggested.

     

小兴安岭南麓野猪春冬季行为状态的生境选择

野猪(Sus scrofa)造成的人兽冲突是我国目前野生动物管理中急需解决的问题之一,但往往管理成本高,却效果甚微。了解野猪觅食、卧息等重要行为状态的生境选择规律,对科学管理策略的制定及避免人兽冲突极为重要。以小兴安岭南坡农林混交区域的野猪(5只雌性,8只雄性)为研究对象,基于其2019-2022年春冬季卫星定位项圈追踪数据,运用隐马尔科夫模型(HMM)识别野猪觅食、卧息和移动的三种行为状态,然后用步选择函数(SSF)研究这三种行为状态的生境选择。结果表明:野猪觅食、卧息和移动的生境需求不同,但均回避落叶针叶林,且性别差异明显,雌性野猪回避农田;地形是影响雌性野猪春季和雌雄野猪冬季三种行为状态生境选择的主要因子,地形和植被类型是影响雄性野猪春季三种行为状态生境选择的主要因子;雌性野猪,在春季,选择海拔高、坡度小的生境卧息、觅食及移动,且卧息和觅食均偏爱阴坡,冬季则选择海拔高,坡度大的阳坡卧息及觅食,偏爱在混交林和阳坡移动;雄性野猪,在春季,选择在混交林和坡度大的阴坡卧息,在混交林、落叶阔叶林和海拔低的区域觅食,在落叶阔叶林、常绿阔叶林内、海拔低、坡度小和距河流近的区域移动,在冬季,选择坡度大、海拔高、接近河流的阳坡卧息,在距河流近、坡度小的区域觅食,在常绿阔叶林、坡度小和距河流近的阳坡移动。本研究结果可为该区域的野猪毁田的预测和预警,捕获地点的选择等管控措施的制定提供依据和新思路。     

中国餐厨垃圾处理的现状、问题和对策

餐厨垃圾具有高水分、高盐分、高有机质含量、组分时空差异明显、危害性与资源性并存的特点。目前国内外常用的餐厨垃圾处理技术如焚烧、卫生填埋、生态饲料、厌氧消化、好氧堆肥和蚯蚓堆肥等,通常存在着资源化利用效率低、经济效益不够理想的缺陷。总结相关文献及报道,中国在餐厨垃圾资源化处理上存在"行政瓶颈"和"技术瓶颈"两大方面的问题:"行政瓶颈"的解决之道在于完善管理及处理体系,各级政府部门切实重视、加大投入,强力推进垃圾分类投放;而对于"技术瓶颈",除综合运用多种现有处理技术外,开发新技术提高餐厨垃圾的资源化循环利用程度,是关键所在。     

Predictable anthropogenic food subsidies,density‐dependence and socio‐economic factors influence breeding investment in a generalist seabird

Recent European policies on the ban of fishing discards and the closure of open‐air landfills are expected to reduce predictable and abundant food resources for generalist seabirds. In order to forecast the consequences of this reduction on seabird breeding investment it is important to understand whether diverse anthropogenic foraging resources act synergistically or not and whether their influence is mediated by density‐dependent mechanisms. To assess these effects at large spatio‐temporal scale, we measured mean egg volume as a proxy of breeding investment in ca 5000 three‐egg clutches of the yellow‐legged gull Larus michahellis from 20 colonies of the Western Mediterranean, located both along European and African coasts. In European gull colonies, egg volume increased with the availability of fishing discards and landfills in the vicinity of the colony. However, the landfill effect was weaker than the effect of fishing discards, probably due to the lower quality of waste as food for gulls. In contrast, none of the anthropogenic food subsidies influenced egg volume in African colonies, likely due to socio‐economic differences (i.e. a much lower availability and predictability of both discards and waste food. Finally, results showed that the positive association between fishing discards and open‐air landfills on egg volume was mediated by negative density‐dependent mechanisms probably related to an increase in competition for food.     

Assessment of the risk of introduction of Anoplophora glabripennis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in municipal solid waste from the quarantine area of New York City to landfills outside of the quarantine area: a pathway analysis of the risk of spread and establishment

The risk associated with spread of Asian longhorned beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky), from infested areas in New York City to the wide array of landfills across the eastern United States contracted by the city since 1997 was unknown, but of great concern. Landfills, some as far as South Carolina, Virginia, and Ohio, occupied forest types and climates at high risk of Asian longhorned beetle establishment. The city proposed a separate waste wood collection known as the "311 System;" this was estimated to cost federal and state agencies $6.1 to $9.1 million per year, including the cost of processing and disposal of the wood. Pathway analysis was used to quantify the probability that Asian longhorned beetle present in wood waste collected at curbside would survive transport, compaction, and burial to form a mated pair. The study found that in seven alternate management scenarios, risks with most pathways are very low, especially given existing mitigations. Mitigations included chemical control, removal of infested trees, and burial of wood waste in managed landfills that involved multiple-layering, compaction, and capping of dumped waste with a 15-cm soil cover at the end of each day. Although the risk of business-as-usual collection and disposal practices was virtually nil, any changes of policy or practice such as illegal dumping or disposal at a single landfill increased the risk many thousandfold. By rigorously maintaining and monitoring existing mitigations, it was estimated that taxpayers would save $75 to $122 million dollars over the next decade.     

Quantity,Components, and Value of Waste Materials Landfilled in the United States

The current system of production and consumption needs end‐of‐life disposal to function, but the linkage between upstream production‐consumption with the downstream landfill as terminus is, at best, a tenuous, one‐way relationship, suggesting a partial system failure. A starting point to fix this link is to confront, systematically, the messy “black box” that is mixed waste landfilling, interrogate its contents locally, and determine a baseline that can be used to scale up results. Here, we develop a detailed model characterizing landfilled municipal solid waste (MSW) in the United States across the dimensions of material quantity, quality, location, and time. The model triangulates measurements spanning 1,161 landfills (representing up to 95% of landfilled MSW) and 15,169 solid waste samples collected and analyzed at 222 sites across the United States. We confirm that landfilled quantities of paper (63 million megagrams [Mg]), food waste (35 million Mg), plastic (32 million Mg, textiles (10 million Mg), and electronic waste (3.5 million Mg) are far larger than computed by previous top‐down U.S. government estimates. We estimate the cost of MSW landfill disposal in 2015 (10.7 billion U.S. dollars [USD]) and gross lost commodity value of recyclable material (1.4 billion USD). Further, we estimate landfill methane emissions to be up to 14% greater (mass basis) than the 2015 U.S. inventory. By principally relying on measurements of waste quantity and type that are recorded annually, the model can inform more effective, targeted interventions to divert waste materials from landfill disposal, improve local, regional, and national emission estimates, enhance dissipative loss estimates in material flow analyses, and illuminate the dynamics linking material, energy, and economic dimensions to production, consumption, and disposal cycles.     

Breeding Yellow-legged Gulls increase consumption of terrestrial prey after landfill closure

The ecology of opportunistic foragers can be highly dependent on anthropogenic food sources, such as landfills, resulting in changes in several ecological and demographic aspects. The total closure of several landfill sites and the use of deterrence systems to prevent access to the remaining open landfill sites in a region in the northern Iberian Peninsula provided an excellent opportunity to evaluate the consequences of landfills on the trophic ecology of an opportunistic forager, the Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis, using these resources. Based on stable isotope analyses, we used mixing models to estimate changes in diet before and after the closure of the majority of landfills in the breeding and the non-breeding season. We found a decrease in the consumption of food from landfills after their closure, which was accompanied by an increase in feeding on terrestrial prey (mostly earthworms), but only in the breeding season. Interestingly, we observed no increase in marine prey consumption after the landfill closures. In winter there was a decrease in terrestrial prey consumption, whereas the consumption of marine and, despite their reduce availability, landfill resources increased. Thus, and unlike when all the landfills were open, we detected significant trophic differences between breeding and non-breeding seasons. Additionally, we found significant trophic differences among colonies that were quite close to each other, but not between breeding adults and chicks. In conclusion, landfill closure or the use of deterrence systems had a direct impact on the trophic ecology of Yellow-legged Gulls; loss of refuse was mainly compensated for by prey of terrestrial origin when breeding, but not in winter. Thus, this species may experience foraging constraints in winter with potential effects on other life-history aspects including their dispersal, breeding and survival that needs further evaluation.     

Soil seed bank of the waste landfills in South Korea

The restoration of urban landfill is a topic of growing interest in reclamation ecology as the acreage of abandoned sites near cities increases. The goals of this study were to assess the ecological status of waste landfills and to elucidate the role of seed banks in the establishment of vegetation at these sites. The study sites were located at five landfills around Seoul and Kyongki Province. On average, soils were sampled on 20 plots per landfill in 2001 to record species composition and to estimate the number of seeds in the soil. Soil seed bank vegetation and the individual number of seedlings that germinated were recorded using the seedling emergence method. Relative density per species was calculated from the number of individual seedlings. We conducted canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) using the program CANOCO to survey the relationships between 23 environmental variables and plant importance values. Environmental variables included categorical and numerical variables (landfill age, landfill size, distance from landfill edge, human disturbance level, slope, periodic management level) and soil physico-chemical variables (bulk density, soil moisture content, organic matter content, total N, available P, K, Na, Ca, Mg, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn). The mean seedling density per m ² differed significantly among sites (P < 0.05). As landfill age increased, the mean seedling density per m ² decreased. The mean seedling density of the Sangpaedong landfill, which was less than 1 year old, was higher than that found in 6- and 7-year-old landfills. The Sangpaedong landfill mainly contained seeds of Chenopodium albumL. and Digitaria ciliaris(L.) SCOP. With regard to early vegetative colonization in landfills, our results highlighted the importance of seed banks occurring in cover soils. Cover soils, derived from various sources, will determine landfill landscapes because of different seed banks present in them. The first axis of the CCA was correlated with landfill age, Na, and human disturbance level, while the second axis was correlated with landfill size, slope, periodic management level, Zn, total N, and organic matter content. Understanding seed banks in landfill cover soils is important, therefore, for proper landfill management and restoration.     

Segmentation scale parameter influence on the accuracy of detecting illegal landfills on satellite imagery. A case study for Novo Sarajevo

Illegal waste dumping has been widely regarded as one of the biggest source of environmental damage. Illegal landfills are a prevailing problem existing in a large number of countries. To control and better manage illegal landfills, it is necessary to know the current locations and contents of illegal landfills. This could increase efficiency in illegal landfill management and preserve the biodiversity and ecological balance. Remote sensing methods have been proven extremely effective in detecting potential illegal landfill sites. This paper investigates the relationship between the segmentation scale parameter and the detection accuracy of illegal landfill sites in urban areas that are not covered by vegetation or buried in the ground. The research showed that there is an optimal scale parameter (SP = 20) value for the used satellite image Pléiades 1B and area of interest (Novo Sarajevo municipality). The scale parameter's stated value gives maximum Kappa values and Overall accuracy coefficients for detected illegal landfills on the satellite image.     

Product specific emissions from municipal solid waste landfills

This paper presents and verifies the computer tool LCA-LAND for estimation of emissions from specific waste products disposed in municipal solid waste landfills in European countries for use in the inventory analysis of LCA. Examples of input data (e.g. distribution of the waste product in different countries, composition of the product and physical/chemical/biological properties of waste product components) and output data (e.g. estimated emissions to atmosphere and water) are given for a fictive waste product made of representative types of components (toluene, cellulose, polyvinylchloride (PVC), copper and chloride). Since waste products from different processes in the product system may be disposed at different landfills where they are mixed with waste originating outside the product system, the estimated emissions from specific waste products cannot be compared with measured emissions from true landfills. Hence, the computer tool is verified in terms of mass balances and sensitivity analyses. The mass balances agree exactly and the sensitivity analyses show that different types of waste product components behave differently in different types of landfills. Emission of e.g. toluene is significantly reduced in the presence of landfill top-cover, landfill gas combustion units and leachate treatment units. Generally, the sensitivity analysis shows good agreement between the relative proportions of various types of emissions (based on properties of the waste and properties of landfills) and good agreement with emission levels that would be expected based on a general understanding of landfill processes.     

Demographic impact of landfill closure on a resident opportunistic gull

The management of mixed municipal waste can have an impact on wildlife and ecosystems. Previous studies have investigated how opportunistic species like gulls can react very fast to new landfills; however, the impact of landfill closure on bird populations is less investigated. Yet, there is a need to understand how fast and to what extent, animal populations can be adapted to new scenarios where the waste will not be deposited in landfill sites anymore. The aim is to determine the influence of landfill closures on apparent survival of a resident Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis) population, used as a model species showing short-distance foraging movements, and with a high dependence on local food subsidies. Complementarily, we built some basic population growth models in order to determine how potential changes in survival (before/after landfill closure) will impact on population growth rate. Using a data set of 4,437 Yellow-legged Gull chicks ringed in four colonies over a period of 13 years, we obtained evidence supporting that the apparent survival was affected by landfill closure, especially if the landfill was located within a buffer of 10 km around the colony. Landfill closure affected the survival of first-year gulls (with a mean decrease of ~ 0.5–0.36), but not of older birds. Consequently, we did not detect a remarkable effect of landfill closures on population growth rate, probably due to the lack of effect on adult survival rates except for one of the surveyed colonies, where we found an annual decline of 7%.     

Diet Overlap and Foraging Activity between Feral Pigs and Native Peccaries in the Pantanal

Inter-specific competition is considered one of the main selective pressures affecting species distribution and coexistence. Different species vary in the way they forage in order to minimize encounters with their competitors and with their predators. However, it is still poorly known whether and how native species change their foraging behavior in the presence of exotic species, particularly in South America. Here we compare diet overlap of fruits and foraging activity period of two sympatric native ungulates (the white-lipped peccary, Tayassu pecari, and the collared peccary, Pecari tajacu) with the invasive feral pig (Sus scrofa) in the Brazilian Pantanal. We found high diet overlap between white-lipped peccaries and feral pigs, but low overlap between collared peccaries and feral pigs. Furthermore, we found that feral pigs may influence the foraging period of both native peccaries, but in different ways. In the absence of feral pigs, collared peccary activity peaks in the early evening, possibly allowing them to avoid white-lipped peccary activity peaks, which occur in the morning. In the presence of feral pigs, collared peccaries forage mostly in early morning, while white-lipped peccaries forage throughout the day. Our results indicate that collared peccaries may avoid foraging at the same time as white-lipped peccaries. However, they forage during the same periods as feral pigs, with whom they have lower diet overlap. Our study highlights how an exotic species may alter interactions between native species by interfering in their foraging periods.     

Product specific emissions from municipal solid waste landfills

For the inventory analysis of environmental impacts associated with products in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) there is a great need for estimates of emissions from waste products disposed at municipal solid waste landfills (product specific emissions). Since product specific emissions can not be calculated or measured directly at the landfills, they must be estimated by modeling of landfill processes. This paper presents a landfill model based on a large number of assumptions and approximations concerning landfill properties, waste product properties and characteristics of various kinds of environmental protection systems (e.g. landfill gas combustion units and leachate treatment units). The model is useful for estimation of emissions from waste products disposed in landfills and it has been made operational in the computer tool LCA-LAND presented in a following paper. In the model, waste products are subdivided into five groups of components: general organic matter (e.g. paper), specific organic compounds (e.g. organic solvents), inert components (e.g. PVC), metals (e.g. cadmium), and inorganic non-metals (e.g. chlorine,) which are considered individually. The assumptions and approximations used in the model are to the extent possible scientifically based, but where scientific information has been missing, qualified estimates have been made to fulfill the aim of a complete tool for estimation of emissions. Due to several rough simplifications and missing links in our present understanding of landfills, the uncertainty associated with the model is relatively high.     

Cancer Cluster Investigation in Residents Near a Municipal Landfill

While there are several studies of the health status of residents near hazardous waste landfills, relatively few have focused on the health of individuals living near municipal landfills. We assessed whether there were increased incidence rates of 18 cancer types and all cancers combined among residents near the Northampton Regional Landfill in western Massachusetts by conducting analyses for the cities of Northampton and Easthampton, as well as each census tract in these cities, between years 1982 and 2004. We also examined incidence rates within a 1-mile radius of the landfill and examined spatial patterns of all cancer cases in Northampton and Easthampton. The majority of cancer types occurred at, near, or below expected rates. No statistically significant association persisted over time. Within 1 mile of the landfill, all cancers combined occurred at rates comparable to the statewide average (SIR = 94, 95% CI: 69, 120) from 1997 to 2004, as did all individual cancer types analyzed. There were no unusual spatial patterns of cases in the area surrounding the landfill for the entire study period or four individual periods examined. The results do not support the hypothesis that residing near the investigated municipal landfill was associated with increased cancer risk.