Document Detail


Using plastic bag waste to assess the reliability of self-reported waste disposal data.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  18304795     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Direct waste analysis (DWA) and the material flows approach are the two standard methods to quantify aggregated waste streams and analyze waste composition. Yet, with the increasing application of producer responsibility measures, product-based waste data rather than aggregated waste data are becoming important. It is over this requirement that both approaches fail to some extent in delivering the type and quality of information that is needed. This study uses plastic bag waste as an illustration to show how self-reported questionnaire survey data may be used to assess disposal quantities of product-based waste types. The estimates from a large-scale questionnaire survey with over 4,100 completed cases were verified against DWA data of the same year in Hong Kong. It was found that self-reported data give systematically lower figures (on the order of 1.3-5 times) than those obtained from standard methods such as DWA for Hong Kong and the UK. However, it is demonstrated that self-reported data can be internally consistent. Also, the magnitude of underestimation may not be as considerable as it appears since the data from DWA are not themselves entirely accurate owing to the difficulties in obtaining a pure load of waste for field analysis and the variable moisture contents or contamination levels in waste material.
Authors:
Shan-Shan Chung
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't     Date:  2008-03-04
Journal Detail:
Title:  Waste management (New York, N.Y.)     Volume:  28     ISSN:  0956-053X     ISO Abbreviation:  Waste Manag     Publication Date:  2008 Dec 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2008-10-30     Completed Date:  2009-02-19     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9884362     Medline TA:  Waste Manag     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  2574-84     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Croucher Institute for Environmental Sciences, Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. sschung@hkbu.edu.hk
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Conservation of Natural Resources
Family Characteristics
Hong Kong
Humans
Plastics*
Questionnaires
Refuse Disposal / methods*
Reproducibility of Results
Waste Products*
Chemical
Reg. No./Substance:
0/Plastics; 0/Waste Products

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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