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Topic Review
Polyethylene Terephthalate Recycling Techniques
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a widely used thermoplastic with excellent properties, making it a popular choice for various packaging and single-use plastic products. Its exceptional tensile strength, processability, transparency, thermal stability, barrier properties, toughness-to-weight ratio, and chemical resistance have contributed to its widespread use. However, the significant consumption of PET has led to a substantial amount of PET waste, especially in the form of single-use packaging. This has raised concerns about the environmental impact of plastic waste, such as marine pollution and landfill accumulation.
  • 716
  • 14 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Air Mercury Monitoring
The GMOS (Global Mercury Observation System) project has the overall goal to develop a coordinated observing system to monitor mercury on a global scale. We present the long-term (2011 – 2020) air mercury monitoring data obtained at the Listvyanka station located at a shore of Lake Baikal, Siberia. The long-term monitoring shows obvious seasonal variation of the background mercury concentration in air, which increases in the cold and decreases in the warm season. The short-term anomalies are associated with the wind carrying the air from the industrial areas where several big coal-fired power plants are located. A positive correlation between the mercury, SO2 and NO2 concentrations is observed both in the short-term variations and in the monthly average concentrations. The analysis of forward and backward trajectories obtained with the HYSPLIT model demonstrates revealing of the mercury emissions sources. During the cruise of 2018, the continuous air mercury survey over Lake Baikal covered 1800 km. The average mercury concentration over Baikal is notably less in comparison with the average value obtained at the onshore Listvyanka station during the same days of cruise. That can lead to the conclusion that Baikal is a significant sink of the atmospheric mercury.
  • 715
  • 15 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Climate Change and Invasive Species
Human-caused climate change and the rise in invasive species are directly linked through changing of ecosystems. This relationship is notable because climate change and invasive species are also considered by the USDA to be two of the top four causes of global biodiversity loss.
  • 715
  • 17 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Blockchain Technology in Waste Management
Implementing blockchain technology in waste management is a novel approach to environmental sustainability and accountability challenges in our modern world. Blockchain, a technology that enables decentralized and immutable ledgers, is being re-imagined as a tool to revolutionize waste management. This innovative approach aims to improve waste management transparency, traceability, and efficiency, resulting in significant environmental and economic benefits.
  • 713
  • 11 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Sustainable Waste Management Innovations
The problem of e-waste persists given the absence of sustainable waste management innovations and policies.  We advocate for the engineering of policies that create conditions for doing more with less resources, eliminating waste, and recycling as crucial steps in creating sustainable waste management innovations.
  • 712
  • 30 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Removal of Dyestuffs from Effluents onto Biochar
Processing significant amounts of dye effluent discharges into receiving waters can supply major benefits to countries that are affected by the water crisis and anticipated future stress in many areas in the world. When compared to most conventional adsorbents, biochars can provide an economically attractive solution. In comparison to many other textile effluent treatment processes, adsorption technology provides an economical, easily managed, and highly effective treatment option.
  • 712
  • 20 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Effects of Extracellular Polymeric Substances on Sludge Properties
Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) represent the complex high-molecular-weight mixture of polymers excreted by microorganisms generated from cell lysis as well as adsorbed inorganic and organic matter from wastewater. EPS exhibit a three-dimensional, gel-like, highly hydrated matrix that facilitates microbial attachment, embedding, and immobilization. EPS play multiple roles in containments removal, and the main components of EPS crucially influence the properties of microbial aggregates, such as adsorption ability, stability, and formation capacity. Moreover, EPS are important to sludge bioflocculation, settleability, and dewatering properties and could be used as carbon and energy sources in wastewater treatment. 
  • 712
  • 11 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Landfills, Waste and Climate Change
Landfills have been considered the most convenient approach for dealing with waste from time immemorial, even though some have led to disasters of catastrophic proportions. Moreover, recent findings by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggest that the decomposing fraction of landfill waste that generates greenhouse gases (GHGs) may not be adequately accounted for and could become a critical issue in our effort to restrict atmospheric temperature increases to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. (According to the IPCC, the maximum atmospheric temperature rise is a factor of cumulative net CO2 emissions as well as net non-CO2 radiative forcing.
  • 711
  • 05 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Hyperspectral Imaging Applied to Sediment Core Analysis
The color analysis of sediment in the laboratory has followed important technological developments in closely related fields, such as the analysis of soils and sedimentary rocks, as well as in more distant fields, such as remote sensing. This has led to the development of sensors allowing the analysis of color and, more generally, of the electromagnetic spectrum of light to answer problems of rapidity, high resolution, automation, and increasing the amount of interesting information remotely without affecting the sample. The hyperspectral imaging sensor will be the focus of this practical guide. 
  • 710
  • 23 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Bast Fiber Plants
Heavy metal pollution in the environment is a major concern for humans as it is non-biodegradable and can have a lot of effects on the environment, humans as well as plants. A solution to this problem is suggested in terms of a new, innovative and eco-friendly technology known as phytoremediation. Bast fiber plants are typically non-edible crops that have a short life cycle. It is one of the significant crops that has attracted interest for many industrial uses because of its constant fiber supply and ease of maintenance. Due to its low maintenance requirements with minimum economic investment, bast fiber plants have been widely used in phytoremediation.
  • 708
  • 04 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Reuse of Water Contaminated by Microplastics
Water treatment generally does not specifically address the removal of microplastics (MPs). Nevertheless, treatment plants process water effectively, and the number of synthetic microparticles in effluents is usually very low. Still, discharge volumes from water-treatment plants are often elevated (reaching around 10^8 L/day), leading to the daily discharge of a substantial number of MPs and microfibers. Furthermore, MPs accumulate in the primary and secondary sludge, which in the end results in another environmental problem as they are currently used to amend soils, both for cultivation and forestry, leading to their dispersion. Something similar occurs with the treatment of water intended for human consumption, which has a much lower but still significant number of MPs. 
  • 706
  • 18 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Temperature Record of the Past 1000 Years
The temperature record of the past 1,000 years or longer is reconstructed using data from climate proxy records in conjunction with the modern instrumental temperature record which only covers the last 170 years at a global scale. Large-scale reconstructions covering part or all of the 1st millennium and 2nd millennium have shown that recent temperatures are exceptional: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report of 2007 concluded that "Average Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the second half of the 20th century were very likely higher than during any other 50-year period in the last 500 years and likely the highest in at least the past 1,300 years." The curve shown in graphs of these reconstructions is widely known as the hockey stick graph because of the sharp increase in temperatures during the last century. As of 2010 this broad pattern was supported by more than two dozen reconstructions, using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records, with variations in how flat the pre-20th-century "shaft" appears. Sparseness of proxy records results in considerable uncertainty for earlier periods. Individual proxy records, such as tree ring widths and densities used in dendroclimatology, are calibrated against the instrumental record for the period of overlap. Networks of such records are used to reconstruct past temperatures for regions: tree ring proxies have been used to reconstruct Northern Hemisphere extratropical temperatures (within the tropics trees do not form rings) but are confined to land areas and are scarce in the Southern Hemisphere which is largely ocean. Wider coverage is provided by multiproxy reconstructions, incorporating proxies such as lake sediments, ice cores and corals which are found in different regions, and using statistical methods to relate these sparser proxies to the greater numbers of tree ring records. The "Composite Plus Scaling" (CPS) method is widely used for large-scale multiproxy reconstructions of hemispheric or global average temperatures; this is complemented by Climate Field Reconstruction (CFR) methods which show how climate patterns have developed over large spatial areas, making the reconstruction useful for investigating natural variability and long-term oscillations as well as for comparisons with patterns produced by climate models. During the 1,900 years before the 20th century, it is likely that the next warmest period was from 950 to 1100, with peaks at different times in different regions. This has been called the Medieval Warm Period, and some evidence suggests widespread cooler conditions during a period around the 17th century known as the Little Ice Age. In the hockey stick controversy, contrarians have asserted that the Medieval Warm Period was warmer than at present, and have disputed the data and methods of climate reconstructions.
  • 706
  • 29 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Circular Economy and Financial Aspects
The barriers faced by companies adopting the circular economy in relation to financial performance are defined by (i) the size of the business and the initial investment cost, (ii) difficulties for micro and small companies, (iii) to a more complex structuring of the business, and (iv) greater exposure to risk, as the circular economy is a new concept and is and not as representative as a linear standard system. Thus, there is a need for accounting control of process costs, since resources for different products can have different life cycles. Therefore, factors like financial incentives, subsidies for the projects, and the awareness of nations, companies and consumers are of great importance for the evolution of the circular economy.
  • 705
  • 23 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Cyanophage–Host Relationships
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are naturally occurring phenomena, and cyanobacteria are the most commonly occurring HABs in freshwater systems. Cyanobacteria HABs (cyanoHABs) negatively affect ecosystems and drinking water resources through the production of potent toxins.
  • 704
  • 20 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Stream Ecological Integrity
Streams and rivers provide important services to humans, and therefore, their ecological integrity should be a societal goal. Although ecological integrity encompasses structural and functional integrity, stream bioassessment rarely considers ecosystem functioning. Organic matter decomposition and ecosystem metabolism are prime candidate indicators of stream functional integrity.
  • 703
  • 11 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Construction Waste Recycling
Construction waste is an issue that has attracted increasing worldwide attention recently. With the rapid development of socioeconomic and urbanization in China, the building industry has emerged as a pillar of the national economy. In particular, a large number of raw materials are used and massive construction waste is generated along a gradient of increasing urbanization, resulting in environmental pollution and scarcity of nature resource. At present, construction waste recycling has been proven to be the most effective method of managing construction trash. 
  • 703
  • 28 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Regulation Promoting the New Circular Economy
Over the past few decades, the production and consumption of clothing has increased exponentially, leading to a dramatic increase in the negative environmental consequences produced by the fashion industry. Given the rising pace of global warming and the rising concern about the fashion industry’s contribution to the climate crisis and its exploitative social dimensions, decision makers, politicians and government officials have begun to promote sustainable fashion through public policy. This article reviews the main barriers facing a circular economy in general and the fashion industry in particular. It considers nascent regulations emerging throughout the world in the field of sustainable fashion, applying circular economic principles to the fashion industry.
  • 702
  • 06 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Challenges to Promote Sustainability in Urban Agriculture Models
Urban agriculture (UA) can be used as an action to promote sustainability in cities and inform public health policies for urban populations. Despite this growing recognition, its implementation still presents challenges in countries in the Global North and Global South. 
  • 702
  • 13 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples
Climate change disproportionately impacts indigenous people around the world, especially in terms of their health, environments, and communities. Indigenous people found in Africa, the Arctic, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Latin America, North America and the Pacific have strategies and traditional knowledge to adapt to climate change. These knowledge systems can be beneficial for their own adaptation to climate change as well as applicable to non-indigenous people.   The majority of the world’s biological, ecological, and cultural diversity is located within Indigenous territories. There are over 370 million indigenous peoples found across 90+ countries. Approximately 22% of the planet's land is comprised of indigenous territories, varying slightly depending on how indigeneity and land usage is determined. Indigenous people have the important role of the main knowledge keepers within their communities, including knowledge relating to the maintenance of social-ecological systems. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People recognizes that Indigenous people have specific knowledge, traditional practices, and cultural customs that can contribute to the proper and sustainable management of ecological resources. Indigenous Peoples have a myriad of experiences with the effects of climate change because of the varying geographical areas they inhabit across the globe and because of the differences in cultures and livelihoods. Indigenous Peoples have a wide variety of experiences that Western science is beginning to include in its research of climate change and its potential solutions. The concepts of ancestral knowledge and traditional practices are increasingly respected and considered in Western scientific research.
  • 697
  • 09 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Health Effects of PM2.5
Particulate matter (PM) is a widespread air pollutant, consisting of a mixture of solid and liquid particles suspended in the air, covering a wide range of sizes and chemical compositions. Among ambient air pollutants most commonly investigated are PM with diameters < 10 μm and <2.5 μm (PM2.5, PM10).
  • 697
  • 17 Apr 2023
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