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Waste management, control, recovery and reuse
on at all, an unfortunate omission in the case of the former, especially since their importance is stressed in the book’s introduction. The book consists of material from various sometimes contradictory sources, with little or no attempt being made to synthesise the information or to evaluate it. It was not always possible for the reviewer to identify the sources of the extracts because conventional references were often not given. Without access to the complete articles used, comment will be restricted to the book in general rather than to individual items in it. The first section of the book deals with the geography and geology of ferromanganese nodule deposits, and has largely been taken from the proceedings of a conference on nodules held at Columbia University early in 1972. The reviewer attended this meeting, which was primarily designed to focus attention on possibilities for new research on manganese nodules. Much of the material presented is now out of date, and more recent information is available in the literature. The second and largest section of the book deals with the technology of manganese nodule mining, and is based on information largely contained in patents. This section, more than most, would have benefited from synthesis and evaluation. The third section deals with various aspects of offshore mining, including the status at different points in time of the offshore mining industries of various nations including the UK and the USSR. This is followed by patents on dredging processes. Section four deals with the environmental effects of marine mining, including the results of nodule mining tests and plans for environmental evaluation and protection. Section five deals aspects of with the economic undersea mining and has been taken from a variety of sources. Lastly, the book deals with the legal aspects
58
of undersea mining, which is a subject of such complexity as to pose major problems of presentation. Nevertheless, basic considerations are well covered. of the limitations In spite discussed, the book is well produced and should be of use to persons unfamiliar with the field of undersea minerals and mining, and wishing to
WASTE MANAGEMENT,
become broadly acquainted with it. However, its value would have been greatly enhanced if the source references for all the material presented had been given in full. The reader would then have been able to evaluate the complete works of the authors cited, and not just those parts used in the book. D.S. Cronan
CONTROL, RECOVERY AND REUSE
edited by N.Y. Kirov 228~~.
f9.45,
John
Wiley
and Sons
Ltd,
Baffins
Lane,
Chichester,
Sussex,
UK
Surely it must be apparent by now that the real problem of waste management, control, recovery and reuse is not lzck of technology. Nor, despite hard times financially, is the problem fundamentally one of economics. Nor is it just the fault of a mindless populace, crazed silly by consumerism, hell-bent on burying itself in its own mire. The problem is governments and the baleful inertia of their bureaucratic machinery. democratic course Of governments must try to be all things to all men. But when they fail, as not infrequently they must, must they subside into procrastination and vascillation? And must they be aided and abetted by scientists who persist in the myth that truth is only an infinite collection of facts? Unfortunately that is not what this book is about, although it is the reaction that it provokes. The facts are that the book comprises 39 papers presented to the Australian Waste Management and Control Conference held in July 1974. It is apparently the second volume of its range contributors kind. Its worldwide but are predominantly from the southern hemisphere. Most of the usual faults of published conference *proceedings can be found. The print is small, there is no index and in so far as the
contents of the papers relate to the subjects of the sessions (sections) at all, they appear to do so more by accident than design. However, such things are merely tedious if the material is good. The best that can be said is that it is patchy. Kirov himself contributes to four papers of evident quality. They are: (7)
(10)
(27)
(32)
Effective Solid Towards Waste Management in the Legislative UK Developments. This is a concise, though uncritical, not to but review, up including the Control of Pollution Act 1974. The Cairns Regional Solid Waste Disposal Study. This describes the process of appraising alternative means of refuse disposal in a fairly large area of Australia. Performance Guarantees and Acceptance Testing of the Waverley-Woollahra Incinerator. This is a fine technical paper on how to find out if an incinerator matches up to its performance specification. The Control of Gaseous Wastes and Odours - a short but useful survey.
The few papers addressed directly to the question of resource recovery
RESOURCES
POLICY
March
1976
are either discouraging or feeble. ‘Collection and Sale of The from Recyclable Goods Households’ (34) concludes with an epitaph: ‘We operated the collection for 15 months until November 1972 when it was cancelled for the following reasons : -The trucks proved to be unsuitable . . . -The whole operation was labour-intensive and wages were rising.’ Shamefully, paper (28), ‘The Packaging Industry and Solid Waste Management’, ends with pure bromide: ‘THE SOLUTION. The Packaging Industry Environment Council considers that until answers to the questions I have postulated have been provided we are in no position to make firm decisions on the most suitable method of solid waste management . . .’ Curiously enough one of the questions posed at the head of the paper is, ‘Why PIEC?’ The remaining papers span a broad technical spectrum taking in pulverisation, pyrolysis, highdensity baling, tyre and automobile disposal and even the disposal of winery wastes, sawdust and coconut shells. Consequently, the book is awash with potentially useful facts which serves only to emphasise the shortcomings of the method of presentation. Without an index, any book must be troublesome to use as a work of reference, though this one has something to offer in that respect. But the real pity is that the facts are isolated and inconsequential, trotted out by the writers as evidence of their competence but not to add force to cogent arguments. An example will make the point. In paper (36) it is said that pyrolysis will produce, at some expense, 454.6 1 of oil from 1 tonne of (old) tyres. Paper (38) asserts that Australia disposes of some 218 087 tonnes of tyres annually. Meanwhile, according to paper (5),
RESOURCES
POLICY
March
1 363 800 1 of recoverable oil per year are being poured into the earth in one territory of Australia alone. Not a line is written on the reasons for and implications of this ‘factual’ conundrum. The authors appear unaware that it might be going on. What makes it so disturbing is that many of the contributors are employed by or connected with governments. By sheltering behind barricades of facts they appear to
betray that total lack of conviction about anything contentious that is the hallmark of the bureaucratic juggernaut. If facts are not used to sustain conviction and conviction, action, then collecting them can be no more than a hobby. Failure to comprehend that essential fact robs this book, and many like it, of any real impact on anyone but another fact-collector. J,A. Green
SOLID WASTES edited by C.L. Mantell 1107~~.
plus appendices
and index, f25.55,
comprehensive A really and cohesive book on solid wastes has yet to be written. The present imposing volume comprises eight parts with a total of 83 chapters, the work of one Canadian author and 45 from the USA; 44 chapters are anonymous but are, presumably, from the editorial pen. Wastes are considered under the headings of Origin; Disposal; Agricultural and Food; Animal Husbandry; Particulate Collection; Recycling; Process Industry Wastes and Mining and Metallurgical Wastes. These sections vary greatly in length, the first subject being dismissed in less than a quarter of the space alloted to the second topic. Individual chapters, too, show a marked variation in their penetration; while some are copiously documented, many others have no references at all. The amount of information collected here is impressive. The coverage of the book is immense and it abounds in statistics, classifications and specifications. This reviewer calls upon all authors to note the excellent appendices of abbreviations and units and to follow Mantell’s admirable example. There are good, concise and clear
1976
John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 1975
outlines of such esoteric businesses as automobile wrecking and of the trades in secondary ferrous and non-ferrous metals, long something of a mystery to the outsider. The work well be termed may encyclopaedic, including material on every conceivable type of solid waste. There are some surprisingly imprecise statements. Chapter VI. 1 refers to a lead molecule’s being ‘dispersed so thin we cannot collect it’, and the same chapter contains passages so ambiguous, eg, in reference to cemented copper, that one suspects an unfamiliarity with this long-established production process. The utility of the notes on metals is offset by the uselessness of some of the thumbnail sketches masquerading as figures, eg, in Chapter VI.3; further, they are occasionally incorrectly captioned. The very compass of the book is, in some ways, self-defeating. The broad coverage and detailed treatment has necessitated the cooperation of many authors, none of whom seems to have felt it his concern to deal with the more fundamental aspects of recycling. For example, the reclamation of aluminium is treated with only the
59
58
of undersea mining, which is a subject of such complexity as to pose major problems of presentation. Nevertheless, basic considerations are well covered. of the limitations In spite discussed, the book is well produced and should be of use to persons unfamiliar with the field of undersea minerals and mining, and wishing to
WASTE MANAGEMENT,
become broadly acquainted with it. However, its value would have been greatly enhanced if the source references for all the material presented had been given in full. The reader would then have been able to evaluate the complete works of the authors cited, and not just those parts used in the book. D.S. Cronan
CONTROL, RECOVERY AND REUSE
edited by N.Y. Kirov 228~~.
f9.45,
John
Wiley
and Sons
Ltd,
Baffins
Lane,
Chichester,
Sussex,
UK
Surely it must be apparent by now that the real problem of waste management, control, recovery and reuse is not lzck of technology. Nor, despite hard times financially, is the problem fundamentally one of economics. Nor is it just the fault of a mindless populace, crazed silly by consumerism, hell-bent on burying itself in its own mire. The problem is governments and the baleful inertia of their bureaucratic machinery. democratic course Of governments must try to be all things to all men. But when they fail, as not infrequently they must, must they subside into procrastination and vascillation? And must they be aided and abetted by scientists who persist in the myth that truth is only an infinite collection of facts? Unfortunately that is not what this book is about, although it is the reaction that it provokes. The facts are that the book comprises 39 papers presented to the Australian Waste Management and Control Conference held in July 1974. It is apparently the second volume of its range contributors kind. Its worldwide but are predominantly from the southern hemisphere. Most of the usual faults of published conference *proceedings can be found. The print is small, there is no index and in so far as the
contents of the papers relate to the subjects of the sessions (sections) at all, they appear to do so more by accident than design. However, such things are merely tedious if the material is good. The best that can be said is that it is patchy. Kirov himself contributes to four papers of evident quality. They are: (7)
(10)
(27)
(32)
Effective Solid Towards Waste Management in the Legislative UK Developments. This is a concise, though uncritical, not to but review, up including the Control of Pollution Act 1974. The Cairns Regional Solid Waste Disposal Study. This describes the process of appraising alternative means of refuse disposal in a fairly large area of Australia. Performance Guarantees and Acceptance Testing of the Waverley-Woollahra Incinerator. This is a fine technical paper on how to find out if an incinerator matches up to its performance specification. The Control of Gaseous Wastes and Odours - a short but useful survey.
The few papers addressed directly to the question of resource recovery
RESOURCES
POLICY
March
1976
are either discouraging or feeble. ‘Collection and Sale of The from Recyclable Goods Households’ (34) concludes with an epitaph: ‘We operated the collection for 15 months until November 1972 when it was cancelled for the following reasons : -The trucks proved to be unsuitable . . . -The whole operation was labour-intensive and wages were rising.’ Shamefully, paper (28), ‘The Packaging Industry and Solid Waste Management’, ends with pure bromide: ‘THE SOLUTION. The Packaging Industry Environment Council considers that until answers to the questions I have postulated have been provided we are in no position to make firm decisions on the most suitable method of solid waste management . . .’ Curiously enough one of the questions posed at the head of the paper is, ‘Why PIEC?’ The remaining papers span a broad technical spectrum taking in pulverisation, pyrolysis, highdensity baling, tyre and automobile disposal and even the disposal of winery wastes, sawdust and coconut shells. Consequently, the book is awash with potentially useful facts which serves only to emphasise the shortcomings of the method of presentation. Without an index, any book must be troublesome to use as a work of reference, though this one has something to offer in that respect. But the real pity is that the facts are isolated and inconsequential, trotted out by the writers as evidence of their competence but not to add force to cogent arguments. An example will make the point. In paper (36) it is said that pyrolysis will produce, at some expense, 454.6 1 of oil from 1 tonne of (old) tyres. Paper (38) asserts that Australia disposes of some 218 087 tonnes of tyres annually. Meanwhile, according to paper (5),
RESOURCES
POLICY
March
1 363 800 1 of recoverable oil per year are being poured into the earth in one territory of Australia alone. Not a line is written on the reasons for and implications of this ‘factual’ conundrum. The authors appear unaware that it might be going on. What makes it so disturbing is that many of the contributors are employed by or connected with governments. By sheltering behind barricades of facts they appear to
betray that total lack of conviction about anything contentious that is the hallmark of the bureaucratic juggernaut. If facts are not used to sustain conviction and conviction, action, then collecting them can be no more than a hobby. Failure to comprehend that essential fact robs this book, and many like it, of any real impact on anyone but another fact-collector. J,A. Green
SOLID WASTES edited by C.L. Mantell 1107~~.
plus appendices
and index, f25.55,
comprehensive A really and cohesive book on solid wastes has yet to be written. The present imposing volume comprises eight parts with a total of 83 chapters, the work of one Canadian author and 45 from the USA; 44 chapters are anonymous but are, presumably, from the editorial pen. Wastes are considered under the headings of Origin; Disposal; Agricultural and Food; Animal Husbandry; Particulate Collection; Recycling; Process Industry Wastes and Mining and Metallurgical Wastes. These sections vary greatly in length, the first subject being dismissed in less than a quarter of the space alloted to the second topic. Individual chapters, too, show a marked variation in their penetration; while some are copiously documented, many others have no references at all. The amount of information collected here is impressive. The coverage of the book is immense and it abounds in statistics, classifications and specifications. This reviewer calls upon all authors to note the excellent appendices of abbreviations and units and to follow Mantell’s admirable example. There are good, concise and clear
1976
John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 1975
outlines of such esoteric businesses as automobile wrecking and of the trades in secondary ferrous and non-ferrous metals, long something of a mystery to the outsider. The work well be termed may encyclopaedic, including material on every conceivable type of solid waste. There are some surprisingly imprecise statements. Chapter VI. 1 refers to a lead molecule’s being ‘dispersed so thin we cannot collect it’, and the same chapter contains passages so ambiguous, eg, in reference to cemented copper, that one suspects an unfamiliarity with this long-established production process. The utility of the notes on metals is offset by the uselessness of some of the thumbnail sketches masquerading as figures, eg, in Chapter VI.3; further, they are occasionally incorrectly captioned. The very compass of the book is, in some ways, self-defeating. The broad coverage and detailed treatment has necessitated the cooperation of many authors, none of whom seems to have felt it his concern to deal with the more fundamental aspects of recycling. For example, the reclamation of aluminium is treated with only the
59