An Examination Of The Zero Waste Concept Environmental Sciences Essay

An Examination Of The Zero Waste Concept Environmental Sciences Essay The concept of zero waste was first conceived in the mid 1970s in a company named Zero Waste Systems Incorporation (ZWS), by a chemist Paul Palmer (PhD) in the city of Oakland, California. On discovering the enormous amount of reusable chemicals been discarded by the then developing electronics industry he was convinced that reworking and or reselling the chemicals was portrayed a potential money making venture hence the collection and recycling of these chemicals brought about the reality of zero waste [1]. Theoretically, zero waste promotes the redesign of resource life cycles in order to enhance the reuse of products. This concept minimizes any waste going to landfill or burning by incineration. In the past decade, intense focus has been on residential recycling has a solution to solid waste reduction. However, success derived from waste diverted from landfill is not enough for total waste elimination. Zero waste is a practical and imaginative goal designed to guide people to imitate sustainable natural cycles in which disposed materials are potential resource for other uses. Zero waste implies creating and managing installations, processes and products in order to minimize the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserving and recovery of resources avoiding any disposal to incineration or land filling. Executing zero waste will eradicate release into air, land or water which may pose harmful threats to the environment, plant or animal health [2]. Advocates for zero waste concepts across the USA, New Zealand, Australia, Scandinavia, Canada, UK and other European countries have called for the decarbonisation of economies and replacement with green jobs as the way out of the current economic downturn. Rick Anthony a lobbyist from Zero Waste International Alliance reiterated that carbon based economy is a wasteful economy which has reached its limit and if humans are going to sustain their existence, a systematic approach of natural cycles is needed to design an economy that produces no waste. He concluded waste is the product of a dysfunctional economy and as such should be modified in order to create greener jobs, reduced climate change and enhanced health and local sustainability. Likewise, UK coordinator for Zero Waste Europe, Maxine Narburgh, recommended to G20 governments concepts of waste hierarchy rather than investing in incinerators or landfills as this encourages a linear throw-away society [3]. The concept of zero waste eliminates the stereotyped ideology concerning waste and rebrands it as a valuable resource rather than material waiting to be disposed. This paper aims to evaluate the concept of Zero Waste in relation to municipal solid waste management. 2 METHODOLOGY Resources employed for this paper were taken majorly from internet sites that shed light on this topic. Also, information was gathered from class work. Text used was obtained from university library. 3 ZERO WASTE IN RELATION TO MUNICIPAL WASTES MANAGEMENT Implementing zero waste will have a diminishing effect on waste going to landfill or incineration as production and consumption loops are closed. Municipal waste catered for by waste collection authority (local authority) includes household waste, market waste and some commercial waste. They include biodegradable, recyclable, inert, composite and household hazardous wastes. Achieving zero waste within this sector requires responsible product design from manufacturers (source reduction and minimal negative environmental impacts), active municipal recycling and composting program. Materials going to waste should be considered for reuse, recycling, repair and composting as such maintaining 100% diversion of waste going to landfill or incineration. Canadian Ontario province produces about 9 million tonnes per year equivalent to one ton per person. Currently, there are no set provincial strategies for waste diversion though the ministry of environment produced a waste reduction in 1991 which is now moribund. However, various activities concerning waste reduction are carried out through voluntary initiatives and waste management options are now local responsibility requiring each municipality creating their own waste management policy. Ontarios Ministry of the Environment created Waste Diversion Organization (WDO) with authority to blue box recycling, organic waste composting, and household hazardous waste. Ontario legislated a Waste Diversion Act (WDA) which created Industry Funding Organization (IFO) paved way for Stewardship Ontario. The WDA requires all stewards (companies injecting packaging and printed paper into the Ontario consumer stream) to partake in funding 50% Ontario blue box and blue bag WDA program. Waste manageme nt responsibilities including recycling and disposal rest on Ontarios municipalities. Municipalities with more than 5000 residents are obliged by Ontarios 3R regulations to provide recycling and backyard composting facilities [7]. Target Zero Canada (TZC) a program of Earth Day Canada with a goal of total waste elimination. It integrates businesses, public sector and non-governmental organizations in its agenda to promote policies for government sectors and corporation emphasizing resource efficiency, reuse and recycling target. TZC focuses on key areas including producer responsibility, product take back and reuse, 3.1 ZERO WASTE IN SCOTLAND Scottish government created a programme known as zero waste Scotland in order to achieve its zero waste plan by helping individuals, business and local authorities to reduce waste, enhance recycling and efficiently utilize natural resources. Achieving zero waste in Scotland started with the launch of National Waste Plan in 2003 by SEPA and the Scottish executive, it was hinged on 4 key principles including the waste hierarchy (waste prevention, reuse and refurbishment, recycling and composting, energy recovery and disposal), proximity and self sufficiency, polluter pays and best practicable environmental option (BPEO) [4]. Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead in 2008 proposed new targets for the percentage of municipal waste (MW) to be recycled or composted in the years 2010,2013,2020 and 2025 to 40%,50%,60% and 70% respectively. Also, percentage of MW used for energy in the years 2010,2013,2020 and 2025 to 4%,14%,25% and 25% respectively while percentage of MW going to landfill in the years 2010,2013,2020 and 2025 to 56%,36%,15% and 5% respectively [5]. Organizations like WRAP Scotland, Envirowise in Scotland, NISP in Scotland, Remade Scotland and a host of others will be integrated to achieve the zero waste feat by 2010/11. To this end individuals of households are enjoined to support home composting, junk mail rejection, carrier bag reuse and avoiding food waste. Retailers of business are to reduce packaging, cooperate with government to reduce plastic bag use and persuade manufacturers to produce recyclable products. Moreover, the community recycling project which created public recycling sites and kerbside segregated collection. Municipal solid wastes collected are moved to transfer station (material reclamation facility) and then treatment station as seen in Scotland today is good step in the right direction. A good example of treatment facility is the William Tracey Recycling facility. Moreover, waste exchange schemes in Scotland has helped in promoting the zero waste plan as one mans poison proves to be anothers meat. The Scottish government pragmatic principles have produced encouraging results of 29.8% recycling/composting rate for municipal waste. Increase in zero waste funds from  £41.1 million in 2008/09,  £54.4 million in 2009/10 and  £58.7 million in 2010/11 is a dedicated attempt to deliver the zero waste reality. However, more needs to be done to properly utilize funds and and residential areas. 4 ANALYSIS Zero Waste is a philosophy and a goal. Only by closing the loop can we hope to develop a sustainable economy. The idea is to reduce consumption as much as possible by using design-for-environment in all products and their packaging, and to make all products and packaging recyclable. Achieving Zero Waste depends on designing products and industrial processes so that their components can be dismantled, repaired and/or recycled. Zero Waste means linking communities, businesses and industries so that ones waste becomes anothers feedstock. It means preventing pollution at its source. It means new local jobs in communities throughout British Columbia. The aim of zero waste is to maximise recycling, minimise waste and ensure that products are made to be reused, repaired or recycled back into nature or the marketplace. 5 CONCLUSION In the writers opinion, any product that can not undergo low energy recycling be banned from production. Enacting legislations in support of this however difficult it might pose will go a long way in diminishing waste generated from product use. Achieving zero waste requires Reduce our waste 2.   Make it less toxic 3.   Dispose of the residue safely Strengthen waste reduction targets and support programs Develop sector-specific targets Specific attention needs to be given to those areas where there is a strong potential for improvement, such as: a composter in every backyard recycling in all apartment buildings household hazardous waste collection (and reduction) Support environment-friendly disposal options Garbage is too valuable a resource to throw away.   Innovative technologies, such as the Canada Composting facility in Newmarket, should be the first resort for handling the residual waste

How successful is The Crucible as an allegory? Essay

In my coursework I will be discussing how successful the crucible is as an allegory. An allegory is defined as a story, poem, character in a story, or picture with a hidden connotation. The Crucible is a story set in Salem in the 1692 witch hunts. The play is based on the fear, suspicion, hysteria and paranoia which the people of Salem felt during the witch hunts. This is almost identical to what happened in America in the 1950s. Communism was at its all time peak and America was scared of Communism taking over their country, as it already had in Russia. The Americans panicked and they went fanatical with Hysteria. Everyone was accusing everyone. Almost everyone who was accused of being a communist was sentenced with a heavy punishment, usually a life sentence. No one felt safe; people were being accused for no good reason. This outbreak in paranoia is much like McCarthyism. McCarthyism was the situation in America during the 1950s. This could be why The Crucible is such an effective play. Salem was a very small religious town. It feared the unknown and anything that they found hard to explain. The community was very small and enclosed, scared of the world which was beyond theirs. This may be why the outbreak of paranoia occurred. Everyone seemed to know each other too well because in their society no-one seemed to mind their own business: The Salem folk believed that the virgin forest was the Devil’s last preserve, his home base and the citadel of his final stand. This shows how Salem was enclosed by the woods and therefore alone. The woods represent the fear surrounding Salem and it helps to show the danger from a different perspective. The most obvious allegory in the play is the link between 1950s America and McCarthyism. There are close similarities between Communism and witchcraft, in particularly how society was corrupted because of them. !692 in Salem and America during the 1950s are so alike in many ways. Miller based The Crucible directly on the situation in America. Both accusations of Communism and witch – craft tore apart the communities which they broke lose in. This is because they are the unexplained and you cannot prove that someone is a really a Communist or a witch. The reason people believed in witch craft was because there was so much which was still unexplained around the year 1692. They could not think up answers for things which were happening so they blamed everything on witchcraft. When Betty became sick, people started to talk and wander what was wrong with her. Suspicion over came Salem. When no one could explain what it was that was wrong with her, they realised that people holding a grudge could seek revenge by accusing others of being possessed or of being a witch. There were so many innocent people accused of practising witchcraft that it seemed the only way to get away with the accusation was to own up to being a witch, even though they weren’t. Sometimes the accusations went far. On page 47 of the crucible Reverend Hale and Parris begin to whip Tituba until she would own up to making contact with the devil, even though they have no solid evidence. This shows just how far they went through hysteria and suspicion of people practising witchcraft. A running theme throughout the play is people accusing each other and following others who establish themselves as a group leader, who to control the others. At the end of act one on pages 49 -50 you can see the link between McCarthyism and the Salem witch hunts. Here you can see how everyone is accusing everyone of being a witch. This is similar to the situation in America during the fear of the outbreak of Communism. Abigail: I saw Goody Hawkins with the Devil! Betty: I saw Goody Bibber with the Devil! Abigail: I saw Goody Booth with the Devil! The way that Abigail and Betty speak here makes the scene seem very dark and it really reflects what was happening in America during the outbreak of McCarthyism. People were accusing everyone and hysteria has broken lose. The way that the same phrase is repeated and said by different people a number of times is effective and helps to show that Salem is not the same and paranoia is setting in. Abigail is also shown as the leader of the girls and they all do as she tells them to. This is one of the first times this is clearly shown in the play. Miller uses many writing techniques in the play. He uses effective ways of showing hysteria and paranoia and the way he links McCarthyism is very well done. Miller introduces many characters into his stories, this makes it easier for him to show the effects of McCarthyism, it is easier for him to show how literally every one is accused at some point. During the play almost every character is accused and when you are accused it is hard to clear your name: Danforth: Mary Warren, how came you to this turnabout? Has Mr Proctor threatened you for this deposition?

Identify the statutory and voluntary agencies who may work together at the scene of an emergency incident Essay

P3 – identify the statutory and voluntary agencies who may work together at the scene of an emergency incident Statutory and voluntary agencies: Statutory agencies are services like the police, fire and ambulance. These will always join an emergency incident. However at some incidents they will be helped by voluntary agencies like: St John Ambulance – St John Ambulance is a charitable organisation staffed by trained volunteers. The organisation responds to hundreds of emergency incidents (including major incidents) such as floods, fires, road traffic collisions and train crashes. The service supports and assists those in need, and is an excellent resource in terms of trained staff, medical aid and emergency vehicles. It can also provide evacuation centres. The St John ambulance has helped the statutory agencies during the floodings 2007 in York. â€Å"Throughout June and July 2007 our volunteers worked tirelessly to help support communities hit by heavy flood waters. We have provided a 24-hour support with volunteers and vehicles in a bid to help people struck by the disaster and set up many rest centres for those evacuated from their homes†. As you can see St John Ambulance makes a huge difference when they help the other emergency services at a major incident as it says above ‘set up many rest centres for those evacuated from their home’. By them doing that they have helped out the police services which saved them plenty of time. British Red Cross – The British Red Cross is a voluntary organisation that provides all sorts of things for example: First Aid, Emergency Response, Heal and Social Care, finding missing family, preparing for disasters and last but not least refugees support. During an incident the organisation can provide emotional support, support with the care of children and pets use of  shower and toilet facilities, provision of toiletries, clothing, light refreshments, use of a telephone and last but not least first aid. â€Å"As a leading voluntary organisation for emergency response, the Red Cross has thousands of specially trained volunteers who provide a range of services to people in emergencies, including practical and emotional support and first aid services. The Red Cross also has well-equipped fire and emergency support service (FESS) vehicles which play a vital role in supporting local fire and ambulance services. Before the flooding began, we launched a co-ordinated response to help vulnerable people across areas threatened by flooding in the UK. Our response included: Evacuation, staffing rest centres, support to the statutory services, distribution of emergency provisions, support from across the organisation, supplies and information. The British Red Cross have done a huge favour not only to the public but to the statutory agencies by supporting them on first aid and evacuation ECT. In my opinion without the British Red Cross it would of been ten times harder to solve the major incident, not only that hundreds more of casualties would of died if it weren’t for the British Red cross. Mountain rescue – Mountain rescue, a voluntary service that is train to rescue people who may have an accident it the mountain or lake area where there is limited ways to contact anybody for help. The Mountain Rescue team has supported the statutory agencies during the Grayrigg train crash at 2007. â€Å"Mr Farron, MP for South Lakes, said: â€Å"It’s only fitting that Network Rail’s fine goes to help those who were first to provide assistance on the night. Sadly it is all too true that these wonderful volunteer services do have to hold out a hand for windfalls and without them they could not survive†. As you can see the mountain rescue team was a huge support. It been said above without them they could not survive that proves a point that mountain rescue team is a hard working and organised organisation. Bibliography Bourley, A. (2012, May 24 ). GIVE MOUNTAIN RESCUE TEAMS GRAYRIGG FINES CASH, SAYS CUMBRIAN MP. Retrieved october 8, 2013, from newsandstar: http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/give-mountain-rescue-teams-grayrigg-fines-cash-says-umbrian-mp-1.957516?referrerPath=# Dymond, H. (n.d.). Emergency response. Retrieved 10 8, 2013, from sja: http://www.sja.org.uk/sja/what-we-do/emergency-response.aspx Gray, D. (2010). oublic services level 3 btec nationals book 2. Society, T. B. (2007, august 2). How the UK floods crisis unfolded. Retrieved january 10, 2013, from redcross: http://www.redcross.org.uk/What-we-do/Emergency-response/Past-emergency-appeals/National-Floods-Appeal-2007/How-the-crisis-unfolded

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ( Ptsd ) - 1652 Words

When senior leaders in the United States Army get together with their subordinate soldiers and discuss potential and the importance of always being prepared for your mission, traditionally there is one soldier that is always brought up in the conversation. His name is Audie Murphy. He was a man so small that when he first attempted to enlist, the Marine Corps turned him away because he was too small. By the time he would finish his military career, he would be one of the most decorated war heroes in the history of the United States military, be battlefield promoted from enlisted to the officer ranks, be a tremendous spokesperson for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and his name would serve as the title of one of the most†¦show more content†¦Harvey 2 In his self entitled book, To Hell and Back, Audie Murphy shed a little light on how his leadership looked at him early on in his career at the beginning of the war: â€Å"My company commander, looking at my thin frame and cursed baby face, decides that the front is no place for me. He has me transferred to headquarters to serve as a runner. I should be grateful, but I am NOT. I am constantly sneaking off with patrols and scouting parties. The company commander finally calls me to the carpet. â€Å"I hear you can’t stay away from the front Murphy†. â€Å"Yes sir† I replied. â€Å"What’s wrong with you? You want to get killed?†. â€Å"No sir†. â€Å"Now I’m going to do myself a favor. I’m putting you back in the lines and you’ll stay there until you’re so sick of action you want to vomit†. (2) Audie Murphy, never one to back down from the challenge took his duties seriously and understood that the cost of unpreparedness would lead to certain death on the battlefield during the war and because he was so underestimated there was always a chip on his shoulder. After returning to the front line he became very ill and a major saw him on the side of the road puking. The major told him that he needed to go and see a medic. Audie Murphy told him that he would, but instead returned to his men and after a week he finally passed out and woke up in the aid station. By the time Audie Murphy was 19, he would be a second lieutenant on the front lines in France fighting off a company