Comparative life-cycle sustainability assessment of centralized and decentralized remediation strategies at the city level.

Remediation of contaminated soil at industrial sites has become a challenge and an opportunity for sustainable urban land use, considering the substantial secondary impacts resulting from remediation activities. The design of soil remediation strategies for multi-site remediation from a regional perspective is of great significance for cities with a large number of brownfields. Centralized and decentralized facilities have been studied in different environmental fields, yet limited research has focused on centralized soil remediation, specifically the treatment of contaminated soil from different sites through the construction of shared soil treatment facilities. This study proposes a framework for comparing centralized and decentralized strategies for contaminated soil remediation based on the integration of life-cycle sustainability assessment and multi-objective optimization. With Zhuzhou, an industrial city in China, serving as an example, results show that after optimization, the centralized scenario can reduce total environmental impacts by 25 %-41 %. In addition, the centralized scenario can reduce economic costs by 27 %-39 %, saving up to 176 million USD. The advantages of the centralized soil remediation strategy include: (1) increased use of soil washing, (2) reduced use of off-site disposal, and (3) reduced construction and efficient utilization of soil treatment facilities. In conclusion, the centralized strategy is relatively suitable for cities or areas with a large number of medium or small-sized contaminated sites. The built framework can quantitatively evaluate multiple sites soil remediation at both the city and individual site level, allowing for a straightforward and objective comparison with the optimal remediation design.

Nettle, a Long-Known Fiber Plant with New Perspectives.

The stinging nettle Urticadioica L. is a perennial crop with low fertilizer and pesticide requirements, well adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions. It has been successfully grown in most European climatic zones while also promoting local flora and fauna diversity. The cultivation of nettle could help meet the strong increase in demand for raw materials based on plant fibers as a substitute for artificial fibers in sectors as diverse as the textile and automotive industries. In the present review, we present a historical perspective of selection, harvest, and fiber processing features where the state of the art of nettle varietal selection is detailed. A synthesis of the general knowledge about its biology, adaptability, and genetics constituents, highlighting gaps in our current knowledge on interactions with other organisms, is provided. We further addressed cultivation and processing features, putting a special emphasis on harvesting systems and fiber extraction processes to improve fiber yield and quality. Various uses in industrial processes and notably for the restoration of marginal lands and avenues of future research on this high-value multi-use plant for the global fiber market are described.

Using a conceptual site model for assessing the sustainability of brownfield regeneration for a soft reuse: A case study of Port Sunlight River Park (U.K.).

Brownfield regeneration to soft reuse such as recreation and amenity has become increasingly common due to the demand for the potential environmental, social and economic benefits that it can deliver. This has led in turn to an increased demand for improved tools to support decision-making for this style of regeneration: tools which are simple to use, based on robust scientific principles and preferably which can ultimately link to quantitative or semi-quantitative cost-benefit analyses. This work presents an approach to assessing and comparing different scenarios for brownfield regeneration to soft reuse and other end-points. A "sustainability linkages" approach, based on sustainability assessment criteria produced by the UK Sustainable Remediation Forum (SuRF-UK), is developed and used in a refined qualitative sustainability assessment, and applied to develop a conceptual site model of sustainability, for a specific case study site (Port Sunlight River Park, U.K., a public leisure park established and maintained on a capped and managed former landfill site). Ranking, on an ex post basis, highlighted the clear sustainability advantages that the establishment of the Port Sunlight River Park has compared with a hypothetical non-development scenario. The conceptual site model provides a clearer basis for understanding cause and effect for benefits and disbenefits and a rationale for grouping individual effects based on their ease of valuation, providing a road map for cost-benefit assessments by (1) being able to match specific linkages to the most appropriate means of valuation, and (2) transparently connecting the sustainability assessment and cost benefit assessment processes.

Market potential of nanoremediation in Europe - Market drivers and interventions identified in a deliberative scenario approach.

A deliberate expert-based scenario approach is applied to better understand the likely determinants of the evolution of the market for nanoparticles use in remediation in Europe until 2025. An initial set of factors had been obtained from a literature review and was complemented by a workshop and key-informant interviews. In further expert engaging formats - focus groups, workshops, conferences, surveys - this initial set of factors was condensed and engaged experts scored the factors regarding their importance for being likely to influence the market development. An interaction matrix was obtained identifying the factors being most active in shaping the market development in Europe by 2025, namely "Science-Policy-Interface" and "Validated information on nanoparticle application potential". Based on these, potential scenarios were determined and development of factors discussed. Conclusions are offered on achievable interventions to enhance nanoremediation deployment.

Contaminated land in Colombia: A critical review of current status and future approach for the management of contaminated sites.

Environmental contaminants can have negative effects on human health and land, air and water resources. Consequently, there have been significant advances in regulation for protecting the environment in developed countries including the development of remediation frameworks and guidelines. On the other hand, fewer studies have been reported on the risks and health effects of contaminants in developing regions and there is scarce information regarding contaminated land assessment and environmental remediation. Colombia is an important emerging economy and has started to take the first steps towards the development of a framework for the management of contaminated sites and there are opportunities for the country to learn from countries with well-established frameworks such as the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) and for international collaboration with organisations such as CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CARE). We review main pollution issues, current status of contaminated land management in Colombia to identify the gaps in policy and regulation. We also review the UK and US contaminated land policies and regulations to identify the elements of those experiences that could support progress in the country. Finally, we propose recommendations (e.g. risk based approach, soil screening criteria, clean-up funding, liability) for Colombia that could support further development and implementation of a more effective contaminated land management framework.

Comparison of international approaches to sustainable remediation.

Since mid-to-late 2000s growing interest for sustainable remediation has emerged in initiatives from several international and national organisations as well as other initiatives from networks and forums. This reflects a realisation that risk-management activities can about bring environmental, social, and economic impacts (positive or negative) in addition to achieving risk-based remediation goals. These ideas have begun to develop as a new discipline of "sustainable remediation". The various initiatives have now published a number of frameworks, standards, white papers, road maps and operative guidelines. The similarities and differences in the approaches by these outputs and general trends have been identified. The comparison is based on a set of criteria developed in discussion with members of these various initiatives, and identifies a range of similarities between their publications. Overall the comparison demonstrates a high level of consensus across definitions and principles, which leads to the conclusion that there is a shared understanding of what sustainable remediation is both across countries and stakeholder groups. Publications do differ in points of detail, in particular about the operational aspects of sustainable remediation assessment. These differences likely result from differences in context and legal framework. As this analysis was carried out its findings were debated with members of the various international initiatives, many of whom have been included as authors. Hence the outcomes described in this paper can be seen as the result of a sort of multi-level debate among international experts (authors) and so can offer a starting point to new sustainable remediation initiatives (for example in other countries) that aim to start developing their own documents.

China's soil and groundwater management challenges: Lessons from the UK's experience and opportunities for China.

There are a number of specific opportunities for UK and China to work together on contaminated land management issues as China lacks comprehensive and systematic planning for sustainable risk based land management, encompassing both contaminated soil and groundwater and recycling and reuse of soil. It also lacks comprehensive risk assessment systems, structures to support risk management decision making, processes for verification of remediation outcome, systems for record keeping and preservation and integration of contamination issues into land use planning, along with procedures for ensuring effective health and safety considerations during remediation projects, and effective evaluation of costs versus benefits and overall sustainability. A consequence of the absence of these overarching frameworks has been that remediation takes place on an ad hoc basis. At a specific site management level, China lacks capabilities in site investigation and consequent risk assessment systems, in particular related to conceptual modelling and risk evaluation. There is also a lack of shared experience of practical deployment of remediation technologies in China, analogous to the situation before the establishment of the independent, non-profit organisation CL:AIRE (Contaminated Land: Applications In Real Environments) in 1999 in the UK. Many local technology developments are at lab-scale or pilot-scale stage without being widely put into use. Therefore, a shared endeavour is needed to promote the development of technically and scientifically sound land management as well as soil and human health protection to improve the sustainability of the rapid urbanisation in China.

Integration of the subsurface and the surface sectors for a more holistic approach for sustainable redevelopment of urban brownfields.

This paper presents a holistic approach to sustainable urban brownfield redevelopment where specific focus is put on the integration of a multitude of subsurface qualities in the early phases of the urban redevelopment process, i.e. in the initiative and plan phases. Achieving sustainability in brownfield redevelopment projects may be constrained by a failure of engagement between two key expert constituencies: urban planners/designers and subsurface engineers, leading to missed opportunities and unintended outcomes in the plan realisation phase. A more integrated approach delivers greater benefits. Three case studies in the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden were used to test different sustainability assessment instruments in terms of the possibility for knowledge exchange between the subsurface and the surface sectors and in terms of cooperative learning among experts and stakeholders. Based on the lessons learned from the case studies, a generic decision process framework is suggested that supports holistic decision making. The suggested framework focuses on stakeholder involvement, communication, knowledge exchange and learning and provides an inventory of instruments that can support these processes.