Waste Is Information

Waste Is Information PDF Author: Dietmar Offenhuber
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262549964
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
The relationship between infrastructure governance and the ways we read and represent waste systems, examined through three waste tracking and participatory sensing projects. Waste is material information. Landfills are detailed records of everyday consumption and behavior; much of what we know about the distant past we know from discarded objects unearthed by archaeologists and interpreted by historians. And yet the systems and infrastructures that process our waste often remain opaque. In this book, Dietmar Offenhuber examines waste from the perspective of information, considering emerging practices and technologies for making waste systems legible and how the resulting datasets and visualizations shape infrastructure governance. He does so by looking at three waste tracking and participatory sensing projects in Seattle, São Paulo, and Boston. Offenhuber expands the notion of urban legibility—the idea that the city can be read like a text—to introduce the concept of infrastructure legibility. He argues that infrastructure governance is enacted through representations of the infrastructural system, and that these representations stem from the different stakeholders' interests, which drive their efforts to make the system legible. The Trash Track project in Seattle used sensor technology to map discarded items through the waste and recycling systems; the Forager project looked at the informal organization processes of waste pickers working for Brazilian recycling cooperatives; and mobile systems designed by the city of Boston allowed residents to report such infrastructure failures as potholes and garbage spills. Through these case studies, Offenhuber outlines an emerging paradigm of infrastructure governance based on a complex negotiation among users, technology, and the city.

Waste Is Information

Waste Is Information PDF Author: Dietmar Offenhuber
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262549964
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 281

Get Book Here

Book Description
The relationship between infrastructure governance and the ways we read and represent waste systems, examined through three waste tracking and participatory sensing projects. Waste is material information. Landfills are detailed records of everyday consumption and behavior; much of what we know about the distant past we know from discarded objects unearthed by archaeologists and interpreted by historians. And yet the systems and infrastructures that process our waste often remain opaque. In this book, Dietmar Offenhuber examines waste from the perspective of information, considering emerging practices and technologies for making waste systems legible and how the resulting datasets and visualizations shape infrastructure governance. He does so by looking at three waste tracking and participatory sensing projects in Seattle, São Paulo, and Boston. Offenhuber expands the notion of urban legibility—the idea that the city can be read like a text—to introduce the concept of infrastructure legibility. He argues that infrastructure governance is enacted through representations of the infrastructural system, and that these representations stem from the different stakeholders' interests, which drive their efforts to make the system legible. The Trash Track project in Seattle used sensor technology to map discarded items through the waste and recycling systems; the Forager project looked at the informal organization processes of waste pickers working for Brazilian recycling cooperatives; and mobile systems designed by the city of Boston allowed residents to report such infrastructure failures as potholes and garbage spills. Through these case studies, Offenhuber outlines an emerging paradigm of infrastructure governance based on a complex negotiation among users, technology, and the city.

Waste

Waste PDF Author: Kate O'Neill
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745687431
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
Waste is one of the planet’s last great resource frontiers. From furniture made from up-cycled wood to gold extracted from computer circuit boards, artisans and multinational corporations alike are finding ways to profit from waste while diverting materials from overcrowded landfills. Yet beyond these benefits, this “new” resource still poses serious risks to human health and the environment. In this unique book, Kate O’Neill traces the emergence of the global political economy of wastes over the past two decades. She explains how the emergence of waste governance initiatives and mechanisms can help us deal with both the risks and the opportunities associated with the hundreds of millions – possibly billions – of tons of waste we generate each year. Drawing on a range of fascinating case studies to develop her arguments, including China’s role as the primary recipient of recyclable plastics and scrap paper from the Western world, “Zero-Waste” initiatives, the emergence of transnational waste-pickers’ alliances, and alternatives for managing growing volumes of electronic and food wastes, O’Neill shows how waste can be a risk, a resource, and even a livelihood, with implications for governance at local, national, and global levels.

Waste

Waste PDF Author: Trevor Letcher
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0123814766
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 601

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Book Description
Waste: A Handbook for Management gives the broadest, most complete coverage of waste in our society. The book examines a wide range of waste streams, including: - Household waste (compostable material, paper, glass, textiles, household chemicals, plastic, water, and e-waste) - Industrial waste (metals, building materials, tires, medical, batteries, hazardous mining, and nuclear) - Societal waste (ocean, military, and space) - The future of landfills and incinerators Covering all the issues related to waste in one volume helps lead to comparisons, synergistic solutions, and a more informed society. In addition, the book offers the best ways of managing waste problems through recycling, incineration, landfill and other processes. - Co-author Daniel Vallero interviewed on NBC's Today show for a segment on recycling - Scientific and non-biased overviews will assist scientists, technicians, engineers, and government leaders - Covers all main types of waste, including household, industrial, and societal - Strong focus on management and recycling provides solutions

World Wide Waste: How Digital Is Killing Our Planet—and What We Can Do About It

World Wide Waste: How Digital Is Killing Our Planet—and What We Can Do About It PDF Author: Gerry McGovern
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1916444628
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
Speaking out when it's unpopular. Back in the day, Henry David Thoreau raged at the robber barons-the big shots of their age, despoiling the environment in the name of progress. Deep in the throes of the seemingly unstoppable growth of tech, a modern-day Thoreau has emerged in the guise of Gerry McGovern-decrying the massive, hidden negative impacts of tech on the environment. McGovern has thoroughly documented in World Wide Waste how tech damages the Earth-and what we should be doing about it. It is not just the acres of discarded computer hardware conveniently dumped in Third World countries. Every time an email is downloaded it contributes to global warming. Every tweet, search, check of a webpage creates pollution. Digital is physical. Those data centers are not in the Cloud. They're on land in massive physical buildings packed full of computers hungry for energy. It seems invisible. It seems cheap and free. It's not. Digital costs the Earth.

What a Waste 2.0

What a Waste 2.0 PDF Author: Silpa Kaza
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464813477
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
Solid waste management affects every person in the world. By 2050, the world is expected to increase waste generation by 70 percent, from 2.01 billion tonnes of waste in 2016 to 3.40 billion tonnes of waste annually. Individuals and governments make decisions about consumption and waste management that affect the daily health, productivity, and cleanliness of communities. Poorly managed waste is contaminating the world’s oceans, clogging drains and causing flooding, transmitting diseases, increasing respiratory problems, harming animals that consume waste unknowingly, and affecting economic development. Unmanaged and improperly managed waste from decades of economic growth requires urgent action at all levels of society.What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050 aggregates extensive solid aste data at the national and urban levels. It estimates and projects waste generation to 2030 and 2050. Beyond the core data metrics from waste generation to disposal, the report provides information on waste management costs, revenues, and tariffs; special wastes; regulations; public communication; administrative and operational models; and the informal sector.Solid waste management accounts for approximately 20 percent of municipal budgets in low-income countries and 10 percent of municipal budgets in middle-income countries, on average. Waste management is often under the jurisdiction of local authorities facing competing priorities and limited resources and capacities in planning, contract management, and operational monitoring. These factors make sustainable waste management a complicated proposition; most low- and middle-income countries, and their respective cities, are struggling to address these challenges.Waste management data are critical to creating policy and planning for local contexts. Understanding how much waste is generated—especially with rapid urbanization and population growth—as well as the types of waste generated helps local governments to select appropriate management methods and plan for future demand. It allows governments to design a system with a suitable number of vehicles, establish efficient routes, set targets for diversion of waste, track progress, and adapt as consumption patterns change. With accurate data, governments can realistically allocate resources, assess relevant technologies, and consider strategic partners for service provision, such as the private sector or nongovernmental organizations.What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050 provides the most up-to-date information available to empower citizens and governments around the world to effectively address the pressing global crisis of waste. Additional information is available at http://www.worldbank.org/what-a-waste.

Waste Siege

Waste Siege PDF Author: Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbins
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 150361090X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 405

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Book Description
Waste Siege offers an analysis unusual in the study of Palestine: it depicts the environmental, infrastructural, and aesthetic context in which Palestinians are obliged to forge their lives. To speak of waste siege is to describe a series of conditions, from smelling wastes to negotiating military infrastructures, from biopolitical forms of colonial rule to experiences of governmental abandonment, from obvious targets of resistance to confusion over responsibility for the burdensome objects of daily life. Within this rubble, debris, and infrastructural fallout, West Bank Palestinians create a life under settler colonial rule. Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbins focuses on waste as an experience of everyday life that is continuous with, but not a result only of, occupation. Tracing Palestinians' own experiences of wastes over the past decade, she considers how multiple authorities governing the West Bank—including municipalities, the Palestinian Authority, international aid organizations, NGOs, and Israel—rule by waste siege, whether intentionally or not. Her work challenges both common formulations of waste as "matter out of place" and as the ontological opposite of the environment, by suggesting instead that waste siege be understood as an ecology of "matter with no place to go." Waste siege thus not only describes a stateless Palestine, but also becomes a metaphor for our besieged planet.

From the Cult of Waste to the Trash Heap of History

From the Cult of Waste to the Trash Heap of History PDF Author: Zsuzsa Gille
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253116929
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
Zsuzsa Gille combines social history, cultural analysis, and environmental sociology to advance a long overdue social theory of waste in this study of waste management, Hungarian state socialism, and post--Cold War capitalism. From 1948 to the end of the Soviet period, Hungary developed a cult of waste that valued reuse and recycling. With privatization the old environmentally beneficial, though not flawless, waste regime was eliminated, and dumping and waste incineration were again promoted. Gille's analysis focuses on the struggle between a Budapest-based chemical company and the small rural village that became its toxic dump site.

Waste Management Techniques for Improved Environmental and Public Health: Emerging Research and Opportunities

Waste Management Techniques for Improved Environmental and Public Health: Emerging Research and Opportunities PDF Author: Tsai, Sang-Bing
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 179981968X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
A central concern that has remained relevant in recent years has been the management of waste and pollution. Improper disposal methods such as open-air burning and unsafe recycling have led to significant public and environmental health issues including respiratory disorders, resource depletion, and infant mortality. Adopting new waste management techniques is a necessity in order to preserve the health of the global community and ecosystem. Waste Management Techniques for Improved Environmental and Public Health: Emerging Research and Opportunities provides innovative insights into the advancing methods and technologies of reducing pollution and promoting sustainable development. The content within this publication examines ecological technologies, risk assessment, and green operation. It is designed for ecologists, biologists, researchers, enterprises, academicians, policymakers, scientists, environmental engineers, and students seeking current research on developing theories and techniques within waste moderation and environmental protection.

Zero Waste

Zero Waste PDF Author: Shia Su
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1510730826
Category : House & Home
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
Easy and Effective Strategies to Jumpstart a Sustainable, Waste-Free Lifestyle We have a worldwide trash epidemic. The average American disposes of 4.4 pounds of garbage per day, and our landfills hold 254 million tons of waste. What if there were a simple—and fun—way for you to make a difference? What if you could take charge of your own waste, reduce your carbon footprint, and make an individual impact on an already fragile environment? A zero waste lifestyle is the answer—and Shia Su is living it. Every single piece of unrecyclable garbage Shia has produced in one year fits into a mason jar—and if it seems overwhelming, it isn’t! In Zero Waste, Shia demystifies and simplifies the zero waste lifestyle for the beginner, sharing practical advice, quick solutions, and tips and tricks that will make trash-free living fun and meaningful. Learn how to: Build your own zero waste kit Prepare real food—the lazy way Make your own DIY household cleaners and toiletries Be zero waste even in the bathroom! And more! Be part of the solution! Implement these small changes at your own pace, and restructure your life to one of sustainable living for your community, your health, and the earth that sustains you.

What a Waste!

What a Waste! PDF Author: Claire Eamer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781554519187
Category : Refuse and refuse disposal
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Hold your nose while you read about the disgustingly fascinating world of garbage!