Papers by Travis P Wagner
Resource Recycling, 2023
This article describes how to improve public space recycling by understanding the application of ... more This article describes how to improve public space recycling by understanding the application of the one-second rule by users of public space containers.
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Only when the waters from last year's flooding along the Mississippi River fully recede will ... more Only when the waters from last year's flooding along the Mississippi River fully recede will the extent of the damage be known. However, property losses are only the most obvious effects; floods also pose less visible threats by spreading contaminated water and sediment over wide areas. Factories, oil-tank farms, bulk-chemical storage facilities and sewage treatment plants historically have been located along water-ways and within floodplains. Such facilities are built to withstand some flooding; however, a major flood can destroy barriers, rupture storage tanks, and wash out material from hazardous and solid waste landfills, and surface impoundments. Water infiltration can lead to increased leachate production, contaminating groundwater and adjacent surface water. The long-term effects from hazardous materials and waste entering floodwaters during the 1993 flood are significant and difficult to mitigate. Regulations and policies should be evaluated, and practical changes instit...
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Resource Recycling, 2023
This article uses the 20-60-20 framework to improve understanding of behavior and motivations in ... more This article uses the 20-60-20 framework to improve understanding of behavior and motivations in residential recycling. The article provides insights on optimizing education and outreach programs and to improving the design of incentive- and convenience-based regulations and policies. The article also discusses implications for extended producer responsibility.
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Maine Policy Review
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Maine Policy Review
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Energy Efficiency, 2019
Abstract In this chapter, we provide descriptions of electricity generation and delivery, includi... more Abstract In this chapter, we provide descriptions of electricity generation and delivery, including concepts and calculations related to customer demand profiles, and efficiencies of conversion and electrical transmission.
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Waste Management and the Environment V, Jun 28, 2010
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Energy Efficiency, 2019
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Detritus, 2018
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Waste Management, 2017
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Waste management (New York, N.Y.), Jan 13, 2016
This study examined the generation of litter, defined as spillage and uncollected residue, from a... more This study examined the generation of litter, defined as spillage and uncollected residue, from a curbside collection system for residential recycling. The primary recycling containers used in the study were 18-gal (68L), open-top bins. The study, conducted over a seven-week period, was comprised of both an urban and suburban area. Six litter characterizations were conducted in which all new litter larger than 1in.(2) was collected, segregated, counted, and weighed. We found that each week the open-top recycling bins contributed approximately 20,590 pieces of litter over 1in. in size per every 1000 households, which resulted in the generation of 3.74 tons of litter per 1000 households per year. In addition to the bins having no top, the primary root causes of the litter were constantly overflowing recycling bins, the method of collection, and material scavenging. Based on an estimated cost of litter cleanup ranging from $0.17 to $0.79 per piece of litter, the direct economic costs f...
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Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2015
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Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2011
In the US, household electronic waste collected for recycling is primarily by voluntary drop-off ... more In the US, household electronic waste collected for recycling is primarily by voluntary drop-off at designated collection facilities. This study examines the influence of specific collection facility attributes (recycling fees charged, number of days open, and driving distance) on the household collection rate of e-waste in the US state of Maine. Data were collected for household computer monitor and television
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Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2013
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Journal of Environmental Management, 2013
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Canadian Public Policy, 2007
A series of powerful focusing events established solid waste as a national problem in Canada and ... more A series of powerful focusing events established solid waste as a national problem in Canada and a provincial and local problem in Nova Scotia. The traditional approach, expanding and improving disposal options, was rejected at the provincial and local levels. Instead, both levels simultaneously developed and implemented policies that focused on maximizing the recovery of solid waste. In both cases, crucial to policy adoption was the reframing of solid waste from a useless by-product to a valuable economic resource. This reframing was the result of the intervention of powerful policy actors, environmental justice concerns, media attention, and the sustained presence of the issue on the agenda. This case study provides important lessons to governments interested in developing an alternative policy for solid waste other than the traditional disposal-reliance paradigm.
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Volume 09 - March 2020, 2020
There is global recognition that waste plastic is a ubiquitous pollutant in the built and natural... more There is global recognition that waste plastic is a ubiquitous pollutant in the built and natural environments. A component of plastic litter and debris is single-use, expanded polystyrene (EPS) food service ware. Reducing the consumption of EPS food service ware is challenging because reuse is not feasible, recycling is not economically viable, and composting is not possible. In the absence of national action to reduce EPS in the USA, local governments have taken the lead on enacting ordinances to eliminate or reduce EPS food service ware. This paper examined the variety of policy instruments that can or have been used by local governments in the USA to reduce EPS food service ware. Because of the inabilities to reuse, recycle, and/or compost EPS, the most frequently used policy instrument has been a ban. As of December 2019, there were 249 local bans in the USA covering 12.85% of the nation’s population: of these bans, 9.6% were partial bans restricting distribution only on govern...
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Detritus, 2020
There is global recognition that waste plastic is a ubiquitous pollutant in the built and natural... more There is global recognition that waste plastic is a ubiquitous pollutant in the built and natural environments. A component of plastic litter and debris is single-use, expanded polystyrene (EPS) food service ware. Reducing the consumption of EPS food service ware is challenging because reuse is not feasible, recycling is not economically viable, and composting is not possible. In the absence of national action to reduce EPS in the USA, local governments have taken the lead on enacting ordinances to eliminate or reduce EPS food service ware. This paper examined the variety of policy instruments that can or have been used by local governments in the USA to reduce EPS food service ware. Because of the inabilities to reuse, recycle, and/or compost EPS, the most frequently used policy instrument has been a ban. As of December 2019, there were 249 local bans in the USA covering 12.85% of the nation’s population: of these bans, 9.6% were partial bans restricting distribution only on government and public property, 65.9% were narrow bans that ban distribution by restaurants and food providers, 8.8% were full bans that include the narrow ban and also ban using EPS food packaging by grocery stores, and 15.7% adopted an expanded ban that includes the full ban and also baned other single-use plastic food ware related items including the selling or distributing of EPS coolers and single-use plastic utensils, straws, stirrers, lids, cups, plates, and containers.
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Papers by Travis P Wagner