A glance at the world

Waste Management 51 (2016) I–III

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Waste Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman

A Glance at the World Edited by Francesca Girotto This column comprises notes and info not subjected to peer-review focusing on waste management issues in different corners of the world. Its aim is to open a window onto the solid waste management situation in any given country, major city or significant geographic area that may be of interest to the scientific and technical community. A study on the domestic drug usage pattern, disposal and environmental consequences among pharmaceutical manufacturing workers in Malaysia Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are found in every single pharmaceutical medicinal product manufactured. A total of 3,000 active APIs were currently approved in the worldwide market with an overall consumption of about 100,000 tons or more every year (Sadezky et al., 2008). Consumers obtain their pharmaceuticals from hospitals, pharmacies and healthcare stores. However, nonprescribed (over-the-counter – OTC) medicinal products are also purchased from pharmacies as self-medication without the advice of a doctor. A total of 100,000 OTC drugs with about 1,000 active ingredients are sold in the market. There is no surveillance on the disposal of these biologically potent drugs in Malaysia. Easy solutions such as rinsing the medicinal product down a sink, flushing them in a toilet, or throwing them into the rubbish bin and drain; are preferred measures taken by consumers. Pharmaceutical medical residues are excreted via urine and faeces after consumption. The release of these residues will eventually end up in rivers, streams, groundwater and ultimately in drinking water inflicting negative health impacts on the aquatic and terrestrial biota including humans. If wastewater will go through the wastewater treatment system (WWTS) the remaining percentage of drug residues depends on the WWTS and the technology implemented. For example, Ibuprofen is destroyed at the rate of 60–96 per cent, like Paracetamol and Codeine. Carbamazepine, on the other hand, is degraded at the rate of less than 10–30% and beta-blockers are still significantly present in wastewater outlets. Therefore, long-term exposure to even low levels of multiple medical residues could develop antibiotic resistance, illness, reproductive disorders and cancer. Therefore, a study has been conducted to: identify medicinal usage pattern, disposal behaviour and awareness level among pharmaceutical manufacturing workers; determine the influence of their medicinal usage pattern on disposal attitude; and assess the awareness of individuals on the potential impacts of pharmaceutical wastes on the environment. Two hundred and seventeen pharmaceutical manufacturing workers from a local company have been chosen for this cross-sectional study. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaire. A sample of 217 respondents (aged between 18 and 30 years old; 53.3% females and 46.5% males) was selected for this study. A random http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0956-053X(16)30153-2

sampling technique was used. Items on this questionnaire were adapted from a Study on the Medical Waste Management and these items were measured using a 3-points and 5-points Likert scale. The questionnaire was divided into four sections: (1) Demographic information, (2) Drug Usage Pattern, (3) Disposal Attitude and (4) Awareness on the impact of drug residues on Environment, Animal and Human Health. The questionnaires were created in order to understand the perception, attitudes and beliefs of the respondent on the consumed pharmaceutical medicinal product. The survey also determined the knowledge and awareness of the respondents on the effect of drug residues on the environment. The collected data were analysed using SPSS (version 22). Descriptive statistics was used to categorise respondentÕs habits, attitude and awareness. t-Test was applied to compare the differences of usage pattern and awareness level between male and female. ANOVA was adopted to evaluate the influence of different education levels on disposal. Correlation enabled to relate usage pattern, disposal attitude, and awareness. Almost all the respondents were willing to practice safe disposal method of medicines (4.1152, ±0.85016). More than half of respondents consumed all the medicines prescribed by a doctor/pharmacist (3.9309, ±0.87126) and they also agreed that unused or problematic medicines should be returned to the related pharmacies or recycling centres (3.7604, ±0.76841). In contrast, a minority of respondents agreed that remaining medicines were preferably thrown into the rubbish bin, sink, or even flushed into the toilet (2.6959, ±1.12613). Less than half of the respondents admitted that, if they are facing early recovery, the remaining medicines are thrown away (2.3548, ±1.05338). Majority of the respondents were not aware that pharmaceuticals entering our ecosystem will have a health effect on aquatic organisms and humans (1.4387, ±0.92635). More than half of the respondents were not aware that aquatic animals (1.0931, ±0.64636) and plants (1.3097, ±0.75372) could be affected by medicinal residues released into the environment, thus, becoming unsafe for human consumption (1.1576, ±0.76839). There is poor awareness also about the excretion through urine of extra dosage of pharmaceuticals (1.1945, ±0.73382) and on the unsafety of drinking water (1.1899, ±0.83471). In general, this study showed a good drug usage pattern (taking medicines only when prescribed by doctors and completing the prescribed dose) and disposal behaviour (safe disposal method at pharmacies or recycling centres) amongst factory workers. However, the 32.3% of respondents throw unused medicine into the rubbish bin, rinse them in the sink or flush them in the toilet. More efforts need

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A Glance at the World/Waste Management 51 (2016) I–III

to be taken in Malaysia to increase the awareness on drug waste disposal, through good education and training, awareness campaigns and new legislations need. Reference Sadezky, A., Löffler, D., Ternes, T., 2008. Proposal of an environmental indicator and classification system of pharmaceutical product residues for environmental management. In: Projet Européen KNAPPE European Commission, 6th Framework Program, Deliverable D12, p. 92 .

they are the only set of stakeholders observed to practice separation and recycle of waste which is a more environmentally friendly management option. The informal waste sector plays a vital role by providing waste services to areas that were not covered by the formal sector. This helps to minimise the indiscriminate dumping of refuse in these areas even though the informal sector players are poorly equipped mainly with manually operated tools and a handful of motor-drawn carts. References

S. Vijayasiri N. Kannan Faculty of Environmental Studies, University Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia

The formal and informal sectorsÕ contribution to solid waste management, a case of Sekondi–Takoradi Metropolis in Ghana The Authorities in the Sekondi–Takoradi Metropolis (formal sector) are tackling solid waste management issues but are still not able to fully contain the challenge given the overwhelming amount of filth generated in the metropolis. Groups of people or individuals (informal sector) are now providing solid waste management services to residences within the communities (Njiru, 2004). This article is based on a recent investigation about the contributions made by both the formal and informal sectors in the management of solid waste in the Sekondi–Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly in the Western Region of Ghana. The Assembly (formal sector) has the primary responsibility of managing all generated waste in the Metropolis (STMA, 2012). In most urban centres, including Sekondi–Takoradi, solid waste collection does not cover the whole population and the ratio of collection varies from one city to the other. Waste separation at the source is not practiced. The door-to-door services are provided but just to residents that can afford them since these services are priced higher than the fees charged at the communal dump sites where residents have to transport their own waste. The high income areas are served by the formal private contractors. Nevertheless, in most cities in developing countries, solid waste is managed to a larger extent by the informal sector with significant contributions to the society. The formal waste sector within the Metropolis comprises the local authorities and private companies that have been contracted by the local authorities to carry out activities within the solid waste management domain. Waste Management Departments were formed in 1985 in all major cities in Ghana. The actors are the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, and the Africa Institute of Sanitation and Waste Management. Within the informal waste sector in the Sekondi–Takoradi Metropolis the actors, unemployed and poor people, generally, sort, pick and recycle the waste, with little attention being given to safety measures or precautions. There is no training for them. Wheelbarrows and in some cases litter bins are used to convey solid waste and only a handful of individuals uses expensive motor drawn carts for solid waste collection. The informal solid waste sector within the Metropolis can be categorised into three main groups, namely, the scavengers or waste pickers, the itinerant waste buyer and the Ôwaste vendorsÕ. The informal waste sector is the only stakeholder engaged in solid waste separation and recycling in the Metropolis. In conclusion, both the formal and informal solid waste sectors in the Sekondi–Takoradi Metropolis complement each other with respect to service provision in the metropolis. The informal sector is instrumental in the management of solid waste in a sense that

Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA), 2012. Profile of Sekondi– Takoradi Metropolis . Njiru, C., 2004. Utility-small water enterprise partnerships: serving informal urban settlements in Africa. Water Policy 6, 443–452.

E.A. Nyampong M. Mulenga UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, The Netherlands

Suitability of MSW landfill siting by using Geographical Information System (GIS) in Nepal: Lekhanth Municipality case study Lekhnath Municipality is facing solid waste management problems because of the increase in urbanisation and economic development. The combination of GIS and Multi-criteria Evaluation (MCE) has been routinely adopted as an approach to assess the suitable location for the waste management facility sitting. The main objective of the study is to allocate a potential MSW landfill site. During the preliminary analysis the documentation of the criteria for the potential landfill site selection was done. Eight important cri-

Fig. 1. Final suitability map.

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A Glance at the World/Waste Management 51 (2016) I–III Table 1 External weight assigned through AHP method. Issues

Weight

Importance (%)

Investigated items

Importance (%)

Sanitation issue

0.414631

41.50

Distance from surface water Distance from river Distance from swamps

18.5 9.0 14.0

Environmental issue

0.297965

29.80

Distance from forest Distance from agriculture

14.9 14.9

Public issue

0.162468

16.20

Distance from settlement

16.20

Economical issue

0.124937

12.50

Distance from roads Slope

teria were identified for landfill siting: slope (less than 150), forest area (more than 300 m), swamps (more than 350 m), residential area (more than 500 m), surface water (less than 1000 m), access roads (less than 500 m), agricultural land (more than 200 m) and rivers (more than 300 m). The database system was developed based on the landfill selection criteria which was achieved after digitizing different data sets required for the study and it was supported by ArcGIS 9.3 software ÓESRI, 2008. Distance maps were prepared with Euclidean distance with reference to pre-defined criteria. Slope constraint map was prepared using 3D-Analyst tool through surface analysis. Furthermore each data layer was reclassified on a scale of 1–2, with Ô2Õ being the suitable areas for the landfill and Ô1Õ being unsuitable areas. During the multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) the reclassified raster maps were weighted according to the Boolean Approach (Nas et al., 2008). Each map layer was weighted by using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) as an external weighing system (Javaheri et al., 2006). Finally, doing the suitability analysis, the weightage raster maps were used to get a suitability map which was categorised into four levels of suitability: low (<2), moderate (2–4), high (4–6) and very high suitability (>6) (Fig. 1). After the application and satisfaction of the eight criteria, all the buffer maps were overlaid for the suitability analysis through Boolean approach, in which 69.68%, 16.09% and 14.23% were under

5.5 7.0

the low, moderate and high suitability respectively. According to the external weights generated by the AHP method on the basis of pairwise comparison, the maximum weight (0.414631) was placed on sanitation issue. The environmental issue had the second highest weight (0.297965) whilst the third and fourth significances were attributed to public issue (0.162468) and economical issue (0.124937) (Table 1). The combination of AHP method with GIS can be used as a guide, but the selection of a final landfill site requires further geotechnical and hydrogeological analyses. References Javaheri, H., Nasrabadi, T., Jafarian, M.H., Rowshan, G.R., Khoshnam, H., 2006. Site selection of municipal solid waste landfills using analytical hierarchy process method in a geographical information technology environment in Giroft. J. Environ. Health 3, 177–184. Nas, B., Cay, T., Iscan, F., Berktay, A., 2008. Selection of MSW landfill site for Konya, Turkey using GIS and multi-criteria evaluation. Environ. Monit. Assess. 160, 491–500.

B.R. Tiwari Department of Environmental Science, Tribhuvan University, Environmental Awarness and Research Centre (E-arc, Nepal), Kathmandu, Nepal