This research project aimed to provide an environmentally friendly method for the decolorization and biosorption of synthetic dye by utilizing fungi as biosorbents. The study was carried out by first growing the fungi in solid medium and then using the fungi as biosorbent to absorb dye in aqueous solution. In the first stage, screening experiments were carried out among 5 different types of fungi, and Pleurotus ostreatus was determined to have the highest growth rate. The Pleurotus ostreatus was recultivated with Remazol Brilliant Blue R dye to determine its dye removal ability. Pleurotus ostreatus sp. exhibited vigorous dye decolorization in agar medium within 2 days. By carrying out batch analysis, 4 parameters were examined, which were the effect of pH, surfactant concentration (Tween 80), salinity concentration and dosage of biosorbent. The results showed that the maximum dye decolourization by Pleurotus ostreatus can be achieved through establishing an acidic condition of pH 2, addition of 0.1mL of Tween 80, 0mg/l of sodium chloride concentration, and dosage of 8 plugs. Lastly, the experimental data was found to fit the Jovanovic Isotherm the most. In conclusion, Pleurotus ostreatus is capable of decolourizing and adsorbing dye particles in the dye aqueous solution.

Rapid population growth resulting in industrial proliferation and urbanization has led to the rapid increase in pollution of the environment. Paint industries in urban areas mostly channel their wastewater into streams and on land, which results in the pollution of the receiving environment. This study aims to determine the impact of effluent discharges from paint industries on the soils’ physicochemical properties and the clean-up of the polluted soil through monitored natural attenuation. Composite samples of paint-effluents and soils were collected from paint industries. Their bioattenuation levels and changes in their physicochemical properties were monitored over a six-month period. Fungal isolates from the effluents include Saccharomyces cerevisiae (20%), Rhodotorula species (15%), Aspergillus niger (25%), Aspergillus flavus (15%), and Penicillum notatum (25%), while the bacterial isolates include Staphylococcus aureus (30%), Bacillus sp. (20%), Klebsiella sp.(15%), Escherichia coli (15%), Salmonella sp. (10%), and Staphylococcus species (10%). The effluents showed slightly alkaline pH values while the soils showed slightly acidic pH values. There were significant reductions in the heavy metal contents of the effluent polluted soils as remediation time increased, thus reducing the toxicity of such soil environments. Monitored natural-attenuation methods should be employed and improved as a means of reducing the toxicity of effluents on the environment since they are cheap and effective compared to other methods.

COVID-19 has resulted in an abrupt and significant increase in medical waste, albeit with improving air and water quality in certain regions. This paper aims to review the types, abundance, and impacts of COVID-19-related medical waste through examining the contents of 54 peer-reviewed scholarly papers. COVID-19-related medical waste compositions vary over time, with COVID-19 screening, diagnostic, and treatment wastes, as well as used personal protective equipment (PPE), constituting the majority of medical waste at the start, followed by vaccination waste during the peak of vaccination. COVID-19-related medical waste is expected to decrease and steady as more and more countries relax restrictions in an attempt to live with COVID-19. Geographically, the amount of COVID-19-related medical waste depends on population size, with highly-populated countries and cities such as China, Manila, Jakarta, and Bangkok seeing or expected to see a hike in the waste of between 210 tonnes/day and 280 tonnes/day during COVID-19. Packaging of the medical and PPE items forming the medical waste stream also contributes to a substantial amount of waste. As plastics are a major component of medical waste, the increase in COVID-19-related medical waste and its mismanagement have worsened environmental pollution caused by plastics. The surge of medical waste during COVID-19 strained the existing medical waste disposal systems, and incineration of the waste contributed to air pollution, which was often localized. Mismanagement of the waste could also raise public health concerns and cause visual repercussions.

Pyrene is a very resistant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) with four benzene rings that survives in the environment. This study was aimed at investigating the tolerance of earthworms in soil contaminated with pyrene. The studies were performed by employing earthworms gathered from shady regions adjacent to sewage ponds as pyrene degraders to eradicate pyrene from the soil. Numerous factors affecting pyrene degradation efficiency were explored, including the effects of contaminant concentration, earthworm and soil ration, and soil condition. The highest pyrene removal (31.2%) was shown by earthworms in the condition of soil mixed with cow dung. Pyrene decomposition was inhibited during soil sterilization due to the absence of soil microorganisms and indigenous pyrene-degrading bacteria. Nonetheless, earthworms are suitable for use as pyrene degraders in contaminated soil.

The high protein and lipid content of fish waste makes mono-digestion a difficult bioprocess for an anaerobic digestion (AD) system. On the other hand, the massive increase in fish and seafood consumption worldwide has led to an inevitable fish waste mono-AD. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of food-to-microorganisms (F/M) ratios and temperatures during the start-up period of fish waste mono-digestion. F/M ratios of 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 on a g-COD/g-VSS basis were operated at 35°C and 45°C, representing mesophilic and hyper-mesophilic conditions, respectively. The increase in F/M ratio improved the maximum methane (CH4) production rate at both temperatures. However, F/M ratio of 0.5 generated the highest CH4 yield in mesophilic and hyper-mesophilic conditions (0.23±0.00 L-CH4/g-CODinput). Further increase in F/M ratio decreased CH4 yield up to 21.74% and 39.13% when the reactors were operated at 35°C and 45°C, respectively. When reactors were supplied with FM ratios of 0.5, 1, and 2, hyper-mesophilic temperature improved methanogenesis by up to 2.61% and shortened the lag phase by 22.88%. Meanwhile, F/M ratio 3 at 45°C decreased cumulative CH4 production by up to 26.57% and prolonged the lag phase by 10.19%. The result of this study is beneficial to managing the input substrate of a batch-AD system that treats fish waste as a sole substrate.

The utilization of less expensive and more effective adsorbents derived from a variety of basic materials has been investigated. The research aimed to investigate the feasibility of employing waste paper as the adsorbent to remove the cresol red (CR) dye from wastewater through adsorption mechanism. Langmuir, Jovanovic, and Freundlich model were observed for isotherms models, while pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order were examined for kinetic models. The results indicated that increasing the adsorbent dose and contact time gave no significant effect to adsorption capacity while adsorption capacity increased with the increasing of pH until it reached a maximum at pH 8, and raising the starting dye concentration leads in a significant increase in adsorption capacity (16.7 mg/g). When the experimental adsorption isotherms and kinetic were fitted using the Freundlich models and pseudo-second-order model, it was discovered that those models were more accurately represented by the data, as indicated by a high correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.974 and 0.963.

Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for aquatic plants and animals. The acceptable range for phosphorus in water is from 0.01 to 0.03 mg/L. However, excessive phosphorus use can result in biodiversity loss and pollution and endanger aquatic creatures and human health because the pollutants are non-biodegradable and thus accumulate over time. This work investigated the removal of phosphorus from synthetic wastewater containing KH2PO4 via adsorption using calcined cockle shell waste. Phosphorus adsorption by calcined cockle shell waste of less than 75 μm particle size was investigated. Five different adsorbent dosages (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 g) mixed with 10 ppm phosphate were adsorbed for 60 min. The presence of calcined cockle shell waste was determined by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and a DR6000 UV–visible spectrophotometer. In brief, the highest dosage of 1.0 g removed 94.96% phosphorus from the synthetic wastewater, while the longest treatment time resulted in 95.74% phosphorus adsorption. The proposed method is low-cost and convenient.

This paper presents a study on household waste management and recycling awareness. Residential areas are the major sources of solid waste as that is where people live. The waste that is usually disposed of from residential areas includes food waste, plastic waste, paper, glass, tin, and others. The increasing trend in waste generated from homes has become a major concern. This study aimed to assess household waste management and recycling awareness in two residential areas located in Padang Terap District, Kuala Nerang, Kedah, Malaysia. Recently, Padang Terap district showed an increase in waste generated compared to another district, Kedah. An open-ended questionnaire was distributed to approximately 32 respondents, and an interview was conducted to study household waste management and recycling awareness in two residential areas—Taman Jati and Taman Pelangi. The research shows that household waste management to segregate the waste remains a problem, despite most respondents being aware of this issue through different media. Furthermore, the lack of household waste management and recycling programs and facilities by the local authorities caused residents to be reluctant to practice these activities.

The plant-based natural coagulant has the potential to substitute the chemical coagulant in the water treatment process. In this work, the potential of plant-based natural coagulants in the ability of turbidity removal was identified. The Moringa oleifera seed was selected for the batch analysis test such as pH, contact time, agitation, and dosage. The high alkaline water decreases the effectiveness of plant-based natural coagulants. The agitation and contact time show the importance of the coagulation process. The optimum turbidity removal rate in pH is 4, the contact time is 60 seconds and 3000 seconds for coagulation and flocculation, respectively, the agitation is 300 RPM and 30 RPM for coagulation and flocculation, and lastly, the dosage is 10 g of Moringa oleifera seed. Finally, the plant-based natural coagulants demonstrated the ability to remove turbidity and could be used in place of chemical coagulants.

In China, a common practice for construction waste management is to dispose of it in landfills. A 5% construction waste recycling rate and ongoing insufficient landfilling practice resulted in decreased environmental and socioeconomic well-being. Management hierarchy that starts with rethink, redesign, reduce, reuse, refurbish, recycle, incineration, and finally disposal is a probable strategy to facilitate construction waste minimization in China. The green building concept pursued by China also served as a promising tool in evaluating the performance of Chinese green buildings. Barriers include lack of standard operating procedure in waste minimization, immature recycling technology and an undeveloped recycling market, leading to poor performance in construction waste minimization. Several strategies are proposed to ameliorate the current condition in China's construction sector. Even though results reveal that China falls behind in the engagement of green building compared to developed countries, green materials are utilized in various building structures such as flooring, roofs, walls, and outdoor pavements. Lastly, the benefits and shortcomings of two green material technologies, in particular material selection and recycling, applied in China were reviewed.