We are in the midst of an ecological crisis which has been and continues to be provoked by human-led ‘environmental degradation’ (defined for purposes this editorial as any harm or adverse impact caused environment, including climate change, contamination land water through exposure dumping toxic hazardous substances wastes, air pollution, destruction ecosystems, depletion biodiversity) [...]

Electronic waste (e-waste) is an emerging health and environmental burden due to the toxic substances present within e-wastes. To address this burden, e-wastes contain various base, rare earth noble metals, which can be recovered from these substances, thus serving as secondary sources of metals. Pyrometallurgical hydrometallurgical processes have been developed extract metals e-waste. However,...

In 1989, 30 states levied taxes on the generation or management of hazardous waste. These taxes constitute one of the broadest applications of an emissions tax in U.S. environmental policy and provide a natural experiment for studying the effects of such taxes. This paper examines the impacts on chlorinated solvent waste from metal cleaning, using plant-level data from EPA's 1987-89 Toxic Relea...

Several photocatalytic nanoparticles are synthesized and studied for potential application for the degradation of organic and biological wastes. Although these materials degrade organic compounds by advance oxidation process, the exact mechanisms of microbial decontamination remains partially known. Understanding the real mechanisms of these materials for microbial cell death and growth inhibit...

This paper reviews documented environmental effects experience from the disposal of solid waste materials in the U.S. Selected case histories are discussed that illustrate waste migration and its actual or potential effects on human or environmental health. Principal conclusions resulting from this review were: solid waste materials do migrate beyond the geometric confines of the initial placem...

In the United States, many of the millions of tons of hazardous wastes that have been produced since World War II have accumulated in sites throughout the nation. Citizen concern about the extent of this problem led Congress to establish the Superfund Program in 1980 to locate, investigate, and clean up the worst sites nationwide. Most such waste exists as a complex mixture of many substances. ...

Heavy metals are introduced into aquatic ecosystems from industrial wastes, agricultural runoff and mining activities. The toxicity of heavy metal ions in solution to microalgae is well known. The essentiality and toxicity of heavy metals has been a subject of extensive research (Stokes 1983). From a biological point of view, heavy metals can be divided into two categories: essential and non-es...

Model compound studies which were previously done for impurities and environmental residues of chlorophenols and for wastes of chlorination processes were extended to the impurities and pyrolysis products of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Model compounds were commercial products or synthesized and their structures proven by spectroscopic methods. These models were used as analytical referenc...

Residential developments near former mining regions in southern California face potential environmental and health risks due to the weathering of arsenic-bearing deposits and mine wastes. Fine-grained particles possessing elevated concentrations of arsenic from these areas can be easily transported by water and dispersed by wind. Understanding the speciation of arsenic is essential to evaluatin...

Multidrug and toxic compound extrusion (MATE) proteins help maintain cellular homeostasis by secreting metabolic wastes. Flavins may occur as cellular waste products, with their production and secretion providing potential benefit for industrial applications related to biofuel cells. Here we find that MATE protein YeeO from Escherichia coli exports both flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and flavin ad...