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Environmental Challenges
Nell, C.M., Schenck, C.J., Joubert, J.W., Chitaka, T.Y. and de Wit, M.P.
This study aimed to describe the disposable diaper usage, disposal practices and quantity estimation in a specified rural setting within a developing, sub-Saharan country, South Africa. Quantitative and qualitative data collection methods were used to collect primary data, which included survey research, focus group discussions, participatory thematic mapping, illegal dumping mapping and member checking. Most diapers end up within the natural receiving environment due to a lack of formalised waste management service provision. Dumping hotspots are water courses and streams. On average, each infant generates 4.47 diapers per day, while an average of 158,154 and 34,493 total diapers are generated daily within Bushbuckridge and Maruleng, respectively. High unemployment and grant-dependency rates characterise the study area, and households often spend the majority of child support grants to purchase diapers. Residents were willing to use a diaper disposal point and are not opposed to incineration. This study forms a comprehensive baseline to determine the feasibility of disposable diaper beneficiation options in rural areas.
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
Chitaka, T.Y., Durant, A., Mignard, E., Etienne, G., Sonnemann, G. and Bobet, J-L.
Hydrogen has emerged as a promising future energy source, but efficient, eco-friendly production and storage remain challenging. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is crucial for evaluating environmental impacts and guiding eco-design strategies. Among emerging techniques, magnesium hydrolysis for hydrogen production has gained attention. The presented LCA of a patented Mg-alloy with carbon and nickel additives identified nickel as the primary environmental impact contributor. To mitigate this, using ternary phases with minimal nickel content is proposed. Moreover, leveraging magnesium waste presents an opportunity to give alloys a second life, while enhancing the recycling of the resulting product, Mg(OH)2. Although LCA results show that magnesium hy- drolysis has a lower environmental impact than steam reforming, further industrial-scale research is needed. This highlights the importance of ongoing investigation and refinement of magnesium hydrolysis as a green energy solution.
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.
Viere, T., Lehmann, J., Miao, Z., Harding, K., Strothmann, P., Weyand, S., Wright, L., Chitaka, T.Y. and Sonnemann, G.
Purpose
Globally, there is an increased demand for education on life cycle assessment (LCA). In response, there has been an increase in course availability, but also a lack of clarity on the comprehensiveness of these offerings and the resulting student competencies.
Methods
A global survey was conducted to obtain empirical evidence on teaching LCA. The survey explored the availability of LCA courses globally and the depth of the teaching, including expected core competencies and related teaching and learning workloads. A purposive sampling strategy was adopted wherein eligible participants were approached by the researchers.
Results and discussion
According to the survey, annually, over 10,000 students participate in more than 200 LCA courses. The results reflected the interdisciplinary nature of LCA with courses being taught across different disciplines, including engineering, chemical sciences, and economics. Estimated workload demands for achieving different competency levels were significantly lower than those estimated by an expert panel before. This may be attributed in part to respondents not accounting for the full workload beyond classroom interactions. Nonetheless, workload demands increased with competency levels.
Conclusions and recommendations
The results emphasize the need for a common understanding of LCA teaching with regard to content, literacy levels, and competencies to avoid false expectations of the labor and research markets in terms of available expertise. Therefore, LCA curriculum development and program planning remain significant challenges and essential tasks for the global LCA community.
Chitaka, T.Y. and Goga, T.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been progressively used as an tool to quantify and compare environmental impacts in the food and beverage industry. This paper reviews LCAs on single- use food and beverage plastic products from January 2000 to June 2022. Studies are also analysed in the context of marine plastic pollution which is a global concern. A total of 91 studies were reviewed with 44% conducted for the European region. Findings suggest that most studies follow the traditional approach and structure of LCA with some studies focusing on global warming potential and others incorporating aspects such as life cycle costs and mass-based indicators. A total of62% of reviewed studies had a cradle-to-grave scope. LCA studies can be influenced by public discourse, for example, the rising concern surrounding plastic marine pollution. From 2019, additional environmental indicators have been included in LCAs wherein the product is a major contributor to pollution. To date, six studies have proposed marine litter indicators. In future years, we can expect further development of life cycle impact assessment methods to reflect concerns in the public discourse. This includes methodologies for assessing circularity or plastic pollution. Furthermore, product foci will continue to follow popular trends.
Chitaka, T.Y. and Schenck, C.
A key principle in the circular bioeconomy is the cascading use of biomass in products that create the most value over its lifetime. For example, the production of fine chemicals or pharmaceuticals are considered high value processes in comparison to energy production or the production of bulk materials such as compost. However, such “low value” applications may be associated with greater environmental and socio-economic benefits depending on the context. This paper explores factors influencing a developing country’s transition to a circular bioeconomy. Through a review of the South African case, it was found that national priorities and strategies places emphasis on composting and anaerobic digestion as primary methods for organic waste diversion from landfill. This may in part be attributed to the fact that the technologies can theoretically process a wide variety of waste stocks and they are already commercially established in the country. In addition, the potential sustainability benefits associated with these methods have the potential to mitigate many challenges being faced by the country including job creation, food security, energy security and climate change mitigation. However, to increase circularity whilst adhering to the principle of cascading use, investment in biorefining of organic waste is necessary. Whilst research has been conducted into the biorefining of various waste types including agricultural and industrial waste, the investment cost remains prohibitive. Yet, in the long-term, investment in biorefineries may potentially result in greater socio-economic benefits for the country. Ultimately, to transition towards a sustainable circular bioeconomy, diversification of the industry is essential.
Schenck, C.J., Chitaka, T.Y., Tyrrell, H. and Couvert, A.
Single-use disposable diapers have a major impact on climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions from landfills, especially those that are unlined, and particularly when such diapers are not well-managed and dumped in water courses and open spaces or burnt. The aim of this study was to explore the current usage and disposal practices of disposable diaper users in Samora Machel, a township in Cape Town, South Africa. The findings were to be used to inform the design and implementation of a pilot diaper collection model to follow. This urban/peri-urban area comprises lower-income, high-density communities in formal basic housing, with many backyarders and informal shacks. The dumping of diapers in open spaces and sewage systems causes severe problems. Therefore, we employed a theoretical socio-ecological system approach to guide the understanding of these complex environmental issues; the data collection methodology entailed a community-based participatory study process. Four hundred and eight (408) questionnaires consisting of quantitative and qualitative answers were codeveloped with members of the community and completed by trained community-based fieldworkers. A community walkabout and two focus groups provided rich data. The results show that complex waste streams such as disposable diapers and the related environmental issues are testing the limits of current management approaches; managing disposable diapers in underserved low-income communities creates a major burden for these already fragile communities. Single solutions will not suffice for these complex problems, so innovative waste management systems need to be codesigned with communities and relevant stakeholders to ensure sustainability, equality, and social justice.
Farrelly, T. and Chitaka, T.Y.
The Basel Plastic Waste Amendments reflect growing global concern about the illegal plastic waste trade as waste colonialism. Comprehensive analyses of plastic waste material sources, pathways, and fates are needed for effective plastic waste trade policy. Plastics waste flows from Palmerston North, New Zealand to Malaysia highlight potential gaps in plastic waste trade policies. The authors recommend strengthening New Zealand’s national waste policy framework and the Basel Convention’s Plastics Amendments by basing policy responses on critical transboundary plastic waste material flow analyses, establishing harmonized definitions including “recyclable” and “environmentally sound recycling”; regulating contamination thresholds and container inspections; and waste trade traceability, transparency, compliance, enforcement, and remediation; reclassifying fluorinated polymers and thermosets as “hazardous”; and prioritizing principles of prevention, proximity and precaution over future investments in the management of plastic waste.
The Extractive Industries and Societies
Moyo, T., Chitaka, T.Y., Lotter, A., Schenck, C.J. and Petersen, J.
Electronic waste (e-waste) recycling and artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) are activities that are increasingly finding uptake as a means of providing livelihoods in the face of high unemployment, especially in the developing world. Informal e-waste recycling is typically practiced by individuals or groups of people who collect end-of-use and end-of-life electronic and electrical equipment which they can repair or refurbish and resell as well as break down to sell valuable components. E-waste recycling is a form of urban mining; thus, the intention of the paper is to draw parallels between this form of mining and artisanal gold mining. Artisanal miners extract virgin minerals while ‘urban miners’ reclaim metals from various waste streams. Both sectors are characterized by high levels of informality and their activities are largely practiced as a means of livelihood. We used the sustainable livelihoods framework (SLF) as a tool to draw this comparison based on available literature on the two sectors, complemented by anecdotal field data. It was found that the livelihood capitals are similar between the two sectors and that there are strong similarities in the vulnerability contexts, with a notable difference being that informal ASM, which has a more significant interaction with the natural environment, places higher demands on natural and physical capital such as land and water pollution and limited access to transport. Recommendations are made on how to strengthen the different capitals of sustainable livelihoods in the hope that these will inform policy decisions on informal sector activities.
Environmental Research Letters
Ryan, P.G. and Chitaka, T.Y.
We question whether the rapid growth in research on the impacts of environmental plastics over the last decade has substantially improved our understanding of these impacts. By the mid-1990s, the major environmental and economic impacts of plastics were sufficiently well known to conclude that they posed a significant environmental threat. Accordingly, the focus of the Third International Marine Debris Conference shifted from researching impacts to devising solutions. We should re-embrace this message, and study how best to change the inappropriate human behaviours that lie at the heart of the plastics crisis. The main role of natural scientists should be to provide robust monitoring data to assess the success of the various mitigation efforts.
Chitaka, T.Y., de Kock, L. and von Blottnitz, H.
An estimated 15,000–40,000 tons of plastic waste leaks into the oceans from South Africa annually. This has put the management of plastic products in the spotlight. In South Africa, life cycle management (LCM) is not a term that is commonly used however some companies have adopted LCM tools and concepts including cleaner production, sustainable procurement and design for recycling. Interviews with key value chain actors were conducted in 2017 and 2018–2019, on the influence of plastic leakage on plastic product life cycle management. In 2017, actors largely did not view themselves as responsible for plastic leakage, mostly putting blame on consumers. During the second interview period, a shift was observed wherein the actors recognized the role of product design in plastic leakage and started taking a more active role in its mitigation from the perspective of extended producer responsibility. The drivers for addressing marine pollution mirrored those for the adoption of LCM tools, including maintaining a competitive advantage and meeting investor and consumer expectations. In 2020, the South African Plastic Pact was developed and launched, which aims to create a circular economy for plastic packaging. As of October 2021, the majority of interviewed value chain actors are members. Ultimately the increasing concern surrounding plastic pollution has directly influenced value chain actors’ perspectives and actions.
South African Journal of Science.
Chitaka, T.Y., Moyo, T., Gihring, K. and Schenck, C.
Waste pickers are widely acknowledged as an integral part of the formal and informal economy, diverting waste into the secondary resource economy through urban mining. Urban mining in itself is considered to be a source of livelihoods. We investigated the livelihoods of e-waste pickers through 110 surveys in Cape Town, South Africa. Waste pickers often indicated that they were engaged in the sector not by choice but by necessity, expressing that earning money is the only enjoyable aspect of their job. The results from the study substantiate that it is unlikely that waste pickers could survive on e-waste picking alone as 83.3% of reported incomes were below minimum wage, with 22.9% below the food poverty line. Thus, the majority of waste pickers collected a wide array of recyclables. We also found that the waste pickers in Cape Town engage in multiple e-waste related activities, including collection, dismantling and processing to a lesser extent. They work long hours in arduous working conditions which present multiple hazards for their health and safety. Ultimately, e-waste pickers’ incomes cannot be considered commensurate with the nature of the work. Further, e-waste picking cannot be regarded as significantly contributing to livelihoods but is rather a survivalist strategy. The survivalist nature of the work does not allow waste pickers to move upwards in the waste value chain and benefit from greater income opportunities. Furthermore, their lack of skills prohibits waste pickers’ transition to formal employment. With a lack of options, it is necessary to ensure that the waste sector provides opportunities for decent work to enable workers to lift themselves out of poverty.
South African Journal of Science.
Chitaka, T.Y. and Schenck, C.
The transition towards a circular economy is becoming a priority in many countries globally. However, the circular bioeconomy has received relatively less attention. In South Africa, the valorisation of organic waste is a priority area as demonstrated by national goals to divert organic waste from landfill. To support the growth of the organic waste value chain it is important to gain an understanding of the different value chain actors and their activities. Through a series of semi-structured interviews across the industry, this paper unpacks the organic waste value chain including the roles of different actors and the interlinkages amongst them. Interviewed actors were those involved in the waste treatment sector, including consultants, composters and technology providers and installers. The value chain is characterised by a number of partnerships, including sub-contracting and outsourcing, which enable value chain actors to offer services that they do not necessarily have the in-house skills or capacity to deliver on their own. The majority of actors were not directly engaged in activities related to the treatment of waste, with many of them engaging in support activities to facilitate the treatment of waste. This finding may be attributed to the fact that support activities have relatively lower barriers to entry. This has the potential to create a bottleneck, in which there will be limited capacity for waste treatment as new entrants opt for engaging in support activities. Greater investment is needed from both private and public sources in the waste treatment sector, including support for new entrants. This investment will help enable the country to meet its goals for organic waste diversion whilst contributing to job creation.
South African Journal of Science.
Chitaka, T.Y. 2021
The increasing global concern surrounding plastic marine pollution has placed a spotlight on the key items identified as major contributors. The subsequent public outcry has forced key value-chain actors – such as brand owners, retailers and restaurateurs – to be seen to be responding to the issue. However, are their responses motivated by a true desire for environmentalism or are actors engaging in greenwashing? In this case study on plastic straws, the brand owners and retailers interviewed are driven by a desire to meet consumer expectations. This desire has led to the substitution of plastic straws with glass, paper, and polylactide alternatives. However, the broader environmental implications of the alternatives are rarely considered. This single-minded focus on marine pollution has the potential to result in inadvertent greenwashing as alternative products may result in more harm in other environmental compartments.
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.
Chitaka, T.Y., and von Blottnitz, H.
Purpose
The global agenda to address increasing accumulation of plastic in the marine environment is challenging key decision-makers to develop grounded responses. Current life cycle assessment approaches are unable to adequately quantify the environmental damage associated with accumulation in the natural environment, presenting a critical challenge for the life cycle management of plastic products. This paper investigates the feasibility and potential influence of using leakage rates as a proxy indicator to inform the life cycle management of plastic products.
Methods
A method is proposed for the quantification of leakage rates which utilises results from beach accumulation rate surveys coupled with sales data as a proxy for waste generation. It is demonstrated for the case of Cape Town, South Africa, for selected plastic products. Through interviews with key value-chain actors in South Africa, the potential influence of providing such specific knowledge on current approaches to plastic product life cycle management is investigated.
Results and discussion
The developed leakage rates demonstrate that vastly different leakage rates exist for different types of products. In particular, plastic products associated with food consumed on-the-go were found to be highly prone to leakage. In South Africa, value-chain actors are taking a more active role in plastic pollution mitigation primarily through widespread adoption of design for recycling in packaging strategies and investment in downstream recycling activities. However, the lack of reliable information regarding plastic flows is still a constraint, resulting in a multitude of approaches for strategy development particularly when it comes to the prioritisation of products for intervention. This has the potential to result in ineffective strategies due to the inadvertent prioritisation of products which are not major contributors to marine pollution.
Conclusions
The adoption of leakage rates as a proxy indicator for potential marine environmental impacts takes a step towards addressing a critical limitation of life cycle assessment, enabling the consideration of leakage into the marine environment during product life cycle management. Furthermore, product-specific leakage rates have the potential to provide guidance for the development of targeted strategies to address plastic pollution.
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Chitaka, T.Y., Russo, V., and von Blottnitz, H.
Purpose
The increasing global concern surrounding plastic pollution has resulted in a spotlight being placed on major contributors. Straws have been identified as a top contributor in this regard leading to a global outcry against plastic straws. This has resulted in the increasing popularity of plastic straw material alternatives. This study compares the environmental impacts associated with five straw material options available in South Africa.
Methods
The straw materials compared include disposable options (polypropylene, paper and polylactide) and reusable straws (glass and steel). Plastic straws were the only option which are locally produced from local materials, whereas glass and steel straws are manufactured from imported materials and paper and polylactide straws are imported. The functional unit was based on an annual straw consumption per capita, which equates to 36 disposable straws and 1 reusable straw. The impact assessment was conducted using the Recipe Midpoint (H) method, which took into consideration 18 impact categories. The potential marine pollution impacts were explored based on the leakage propensity of the material option coupled with its degradability.
Results and discussion
The paper straw was found to have lower climate change emissions than the plastic one, which was mainly caused by the performance of the material. In South Africa, coal is used as a primary feedstock for polypropylene production making it more carbon-intensive in comparison with polypropylene produced in Europe and the USA which is primarily from crude oil and/or natural gas feedstocks. Glass and steel straws would require 23–39 and 37–63 uses respectively to break even with climate change emissions associated with disposable options. Overall, material production was the major contributor to straw emissions. The relative contribution of transportation, including import, was more dependent on the transportation mode compared with distance. For reusable straws, the washing water temperature was found to notably influence emissions. At end-of-life, reusable straws were considered unlikely to enter the marine environments. Disposable straws were found to have a leakage rate of38%, with paper being the only marine degradable material.
Conclusions
Overall, paper straws had the least impacts in the majority of impact categories in comparison with other disposable options and glass was more favourable to steel. In terms of marine pollution, reusable straws were deemed to pose the least risk due to their unlikelihood to be polluted. Paper was associated with the least potential impacts of the disposal options, due to its degradability.
Chitaka, T.Y., and von Blottnitz, H.
Beach accumulation surveys can be used as a proxy to estimate litter flows into the marine environment. However, litter loads can be influenced by various factors including catchment area characteristics, weather conditions and ocean water movements. This complexity is evidenced by the results of five beach surveys conducted in Cape Town in 2017. Observed average litter accumulation rates across the beaches ranged from 36 to 2961 items·day−1·100 m−1. Item mass ranged from 0.01–367 g, with items weighing<1 g contributing 61–85% of count. Plastic items accounted for 94.5–98.9% of total count and this prevalence appears to have increased relative to older data (1989–1994). The top ten identifiable items accounted for 40–57% of plastic debris. Nine of these were associated with foods commonly consumed on-the-go, including polystyrene packa- ging, snack packets and straws. A mitigation approach focused on these items may address one third to one half of marine litter sources in Cape Town.
Sustainable Production and Consumption
Chitaka, T.Y., von Blottnitz, H., and Cohen, B.
Downstream mineral resource beneficiation has potential to promote socio-economic growth in resource-rich nations, which has resulted in it receiving growing prioritisation and promotion in a number of African nations. Decisions surrounding downstream mineral beneficiation are complex due to the multitude of factors to be con- sidered to ensure maximum sustainable benefits are realised. Decision support frameworks (DSFs) are recognised to be of value for strategic planning in the minerals sector. This paper explores DSF applicability by means of a case study of the South African iron and steel scrap industry, with a focus on the potential for increased local beneficiation of scrap in steel mills or foundries. The findings reinforce the value of the stakeholder consultation process that underpins DSFs in enabling the exploration of the underlying complexities and factors that contribute to any challenges an industry may be facing, as well as their effect on different stakeholders. In this case, a policy intervention was implemented in a bid to increase local beneficiation. However, there has been no indication of it achieving its objectives with stakeholders reporting it was not effectively tailored in the context of the sustainability issues being faced by the industry, due to insufficient meaningful stakeholder consultation. The structure of DSFs forced stakeholders who prioritised micro-economic issues to engage with sustainability issues beyond their purview. The results of the quantitative performance analysis demonstrate the complexity associated with sustainability performance assessments with no alternative definitely outperforming the others. Thus, in existing industries, DSFs can facilitate informed decision-making based on the current health of an industry as well as long-term potential sustainability benefits that could be realised. Ultimately, this may enable the development of well-informed targeted strategies and policies that take into consideration the realities of the industry as well as stakeholder perspectives, increasing the likelihood of their success. This is of particular importance in the context of African downstream mineral beneficiation, which in many cases has been bedevilled by a lack of grounded and targeted policies.