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The toxicity of a chemical substance in a workplace depends on both its physical and
chemical properties, the level of concentration in the breathing air, as well as, the duration of
the exposure. In order to ensure healthy conditions at workplace, international organizations,
such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO),
have instituted upper limits of concentration for several chemicals that could provoke serious
problems or disturbances on human health.
The aim of the present paper is the estimation of the concentrations of ethanol, ethyl acetate
and chloroform, which are widespread solvents used during routine analyses in a toxicological
laboratory.
The monitoring of the solvents at the laboratory was carried out during the summer period of
two successive years. The monitoring was focused on the estimation of: a) the meteorological
parameters (temperature and air humidity), b) both inhalation and dermal exposure
concentrations by using personal air sampling systems, c) the concentrations in the
environmental air of the laboratory and d) the concentration in urine samples of the
employees. The above-mentioned activities have been achieved through the use of
appropriate air samplers which employees were carrying both on the height of inhalation zone
and their arms. For the qualitative and quantitative estimation of the concentrations, chemical
substances were extracted with the use of carbon sulphide and then by the use of gas
chromatographic technique equipped with flame ionization detector. Urine analyses were
done by colorimetric techniques.
The results of the monitoring showed concentrations of ethanol, ethyl acetate and chloroform
over those instituted for workplaces. In this paper, results of the monitoring are discussed and
proposals for ensuring air quality at workplace are suggested.

In a municipal solid waste management system, decreasing collection/hauling costs, which
consist of 85 % of total disposal expenditure, can be carried out by a route optimization. Thus,
a huge amount of economical benefits is getting furnished. If route optimization is performed
in solid waste collection/hauling process, due to reductions in “empty miles” negativity, total
expenditures will be decreased.
Trabzon City located in the northeast side of Turkey has about 185 thousand inhabitants
according to Census 2000. The city shares just about 1% of the Gross Domestic Income in
Turkey. In other words, that means that Trabzon City livings have moderate revenue.
The objectives of this study are to optimize for the route of collection/hauling in Trabzon City
by taking consideration of data about road net, demographics and solid waste production.
In order to analyse the solid waste collection/hauling process in the city, the processes were
recorded by a Sony DCR-TRV145E brand video camera. To use route optimization process,
data related in present spending, truck type and capacity, solid waste production, number of
inhabitants and Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver data for each route were collected
and all the data were analyzed with each other.
For 39 districts in the city, a shortest path model was used in order to optimize solid waste
collection/hauling processes, as minimum cost was aimed. The Route View ProTM software as
an optimization tool was used for that purpose. Geographic Information System (GIS)
elements such as numerical pathways, demographic distribution, container distribution and
solid waste production amount were integrated to the software. To give an idea, thematic
container layer has 777 container location points for the entire city.
After performing routes by the software, the optimized routes were compared with the present
routes. Success by the optimization process was around 4-59 % for distance and 14-65 % for
time. Consequently, a route optimization process on the street stationary container collection
system will contribute a benefit by 24 % in total cost.

The restrictions in availability of forest-based raw materials along with favourable
environmental policies towards alternative sources of raw materials have forced corrugated
packaging industry to shift towards recycled paper and other fibre sources such as non-wood
and agro-residues. The variability in raw pulp materials with increasing percentages of
recycled fibres is a very common technical problem for the corrugated packaging industry
worldwide. Corrugating packaging production is facing the challenge to ensure a satisfactory
strength of packages despite the increase of recycled paper as the main fibrous component.
Sustainable manufacturing of papers of consistent and acceptable quality requests
comprehensive characterization of the fibrous components, which are becoming more
heterogeneous. Understanding the influence that heterogeneous recycled raw materials have
on packaging grade paper properties offers great potential value to the corrugated board and
packaging industry.
57 linerboards and corrugating medium were selected to represent all the variety of paper
grades available on the market at the moment for the production of corrugated board in
Spain. The papers were analyzed for their fibre morphology (fibre length, fibre width, lumen
diameter, cell wall width and flexibility) and fibre composition (softwood to hardwood and nonwood
fibre count and weight) and their strength (compression, bursting and crushing
resistance) was evaluated. All the determinations were in accordance with the relevant TAPPI
Test Methods. The significant differences found in most of the anatomical characteristics,
fibre composition and strength properties among the paper grades reflected the diverse raw
materials used for their production as well as their qualitative differences. By means of simple
correlation the influence of fibre characteristics and composition on the strength of the papers
was determined under two different conditions, at 23 oC and 50% RH and at 20 oC and 90%
RH.
The results demonstrate that besides the physical-mechanical characterization of packaging
grade papers, fibre anatomy and composition can be used successfully as a complementary
practical test to predict the performance of papers. The application of the predicting
correlations is proposed for the evaluation of the fibre supplies for the packaging industry. An
enormous potential for cost reduction can be created by the selection of the most appropriate
and inexpensive combination of grade papers for a specific packaging use.

Green waste (leaves, grass and shredded twigs) was composted for 5.5 months in a wooden
composting bioreactor, of 1 m3 capacity, using both passive convective aeration, facilitated by
the design of the bioreactor, and manual turning. Temperature was measured daily, while
samples were analysed for moisture content, volatile solids, pH value and electrical
conductivity, all of which showed a typical variation for the type of composted material and
process.
For the assessment of compost stability, a simple automated respirometric technique was
applied (SOUR test), which utilised a dissolved oxygen probe to measure changes in the
oxygen concentration in an aqueous compost suspension, under conditions ensuring
optimum microbial activity and maximum reaction rates. Results were compared with other
stability tests, such as the dehydrogenase activity and the germination index (GI) of cress
seeds and correlated with the changes in population size of different microbial groups (total
aerobic and spore forming heterotrophs, ammonium- and nitrite- oxidising bacteria,
actinomycetes, filamentous fungi, yeasts and cellulolytic bacteria).
Both the SOUR test and the GI indicated increasing compost stability with processing time
and gave significant correlation with compost age and with each other. SOUR reached a
value of 4 mg O2 g-1VS hr-1 at the end of the active composting phase (after 3 weeks) and
declined gradually to below 1 mg O2 g-1VS hr-1, a value indicative of stable composts, after
about 3 months of processing. GI increased from 30% for the raw material, a value indicating
high phytotoxicity, to about 80% at the end of the active phase and fluctuated around this
value thereafter. Dehydrogenase activity fluctuated during the process, with the highest
values being measured during the active composting phase. However, high values were also
recorded towards the end of the maturation phase, following a long period of stabilisation at
low values. The parameter did not correlate with compost age or SOUR and GI and thus did
not seem suitable for monitoring green waste compost stability.
Although at lower levels compared to other substrates, such as manures and biowaste, the
population size of different microbial groups did not seem to be a limiting factor in green
waste composting. The numbers of most microbial groups increased after the end of the
active composting phase, indicating that microorganisms multiplied rapidly as temperatures
felled, although for some groups population counts declined again towards the end of the
maturation period, possibly indicating the exhaustion of specific substrates.