A study was carried out in a strip of a river and in a nearby well in the rainy and dry seasons to assess the impact of tobacco waste disposal on the roadsides. There were significant seasonal variations in the concentration of nicotine being higher (p<0.05) in the dry season than in the wet season. Regardless of season however, nicotine was observed in highest amounts close to the dumpsite and none or just trace amounts were obtained upstream and in the well water. There were seasonal differences in the concentration of phosphate, sulphate and turbidity, being higher (p<0.05) in the dry season than in the rainy season. However, the concentration of sulphate followed an opposite seasonal trend to that of phosphate, being higher in the rainy season than in the dry season. In the rainy season, the concentrations varied significantly (p<0.05) across the sample points, being highest at point close to the dumpsite followed by the value upstream and the least was obtained downstream. The authorities must enforce the legislation of controlled tobacco waste disposal to avoid harmful environment effects.

This paper presents a statistical approach to estimating the effects of psychological factors on humans due to inappropriate waste disposal in the environment. Factorial experimental analysis is combined with the concepts of transition matrix and steady state conditions. An adequate understanding into the statistical quantification of the waste disposal concept would aid policy makers in effective decision making and the proper control of environment. The feasibility of developing statistical parameters for assessing the waste disposal concept is confirmed. The work shows the novelty of the approach.

Background: Biomedical waste generated from health and health-related activities can be grouped as general waste and hazardous waste. This remains true if and only if there is proper on-site handling, such as the segregation and separation of waste based on the type and nature of the source. Methods: A stratified random sampling design was used to provide representative results for Ethiopia, for various types of facility and management authorities, and for each of the 11 regions. Totally, 1327 health facilities were assessed using the World Health Organization (WHO) inventory tools. Results: Nationally, medical waste in 32. 6% of the studied health facilities was stored in covered containers, and in about 27% of them it was stored in another protected environment. About 40% of health facilities stored their medical waste in unprotected areas. Twenty-eight (2. 6%) and 420 (39. 3%) health facilities used 2-chamber industrial incinerators and 1-chamber drum incinerators, respectively. About 58% of health facilities used unsafe waste treatment methods. The proportion of using safe medical waste disposal method was high in referral hospitals (87. 9%). This shows the utilization of safe medical waste disposal methods is in decreasing order from higher to lower levels of organization in health facilities. Conclusion: The present study showed a preliminary finding on the waste disposal systems of health facilities at the national level. Dumping biomedical waste outside the health facility is common, and access to common waste facilities is limited. Therefore, a holistic approach to safe medical waste management practices, including the collection process (handling, sorting, and segregation), storage, treatment and final disposal is crucial in all types of health facilities, regardless of the level of organization, ownership, or geographic distribution.

This paper quantifies the cost involved due to the psychological effect of waste disposal. The major costs are quantified as management and personnel costs. Management costs refer to those associated with awareness, recovery and recycling, taskforce and experimental. On the other hand, personnel costs are related to tax and health. The approach utilized is the algebraic sum of these component costs, since dimensional consistency of the formulation is observed. The results obtained indicate that the framework presented could beneficially add to the tool kit of the environmental decision makers. This would make it possible to generate scenarios that would give the decision maker adequate information before decisions are made. The implication of this research is that intuitive decision-making on cost is replaced with scientific backed up decision making. The idea proposed in this work is new since it provides a unique way of measuring cost of the effects of waste disposal on the stakeholders in the system.