Represent 'waste recycling'

This is a priority term to defined in the SDGIO.

Note that this term shows up in the Search prompt in the current portal http://uneplive.org/portal#.VqHxWJp96ij however, it says it is not in the ontology.

Is there an error with the imports from ENVO?

Is 'waste recycling' the UNEP preferred term?

We are now importing 'recycling process' from ENVO, although it is not reflected in current build. Is defined as "A process in which has inputs which bear waste roles and outputs which bear resource roles."

@pdez90 Will the ENVO term recycling process work for UNEP needs? See definition above.

If so, we can add 'waste recycling' as an alternative label, "UNEP preferred label"?

@mark-jensen @pdez90 I think this class will work in most cases, but, on the downside, it doesn't differentiate between reuse, recycling, or upcycling. Not sure if the users need the other classes.

'Recycling' is used in 3 targets and 1 indicator, copied below. They mention 'reuse' separately from 'recycling', but not in the indicator, which refers to 'recycling rate' and 'recycled material'. My guess is that there is UN documentation somewhere re indicator 12.5.1 that operationalizes the criteria for 'recycling rate' and 'material recycled'. Access to that would help us decide if what we have is acceptable or needs refinement. @pdez90 Any recommendations where to search for that?

6.3 By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally

6.a By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies

12.5 By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse

12.5.1 National recycling rate, tonnes of material recycled

Hi,

The Basel convention contains definitions of wastes, management of waste in Article 2 of the document:

http://www.basel.int/portals/4/basel%20convention/docs/text/baselconventiontext-e.pdf

Do let me know if this is useful!

Thanks a lot

On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 4:52 AM, Mark Jensen notifications@github.com wrote:

'Recycling' is used in 3 targets and 1 indicator, copied below. They mention 'reuse' separately from 'recycling', but not in the indicator, which refers to 'recycling rate' and 'recycled material'. My guess is that there is UN documentation somewhere re indicator 12.5.1 that operationalizes the criteria for 'recycling rate' and 'material recycled'. Access to that would help us decide if what we have is acceptable or needs refinement. @pdez90 https://github.com/pdez90 Any recommendations where to search for that?

6.3 By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally

6.a By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies

12.5 By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse

12.5.1 National recycling rate, tonnes of material recycled

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/SDG-InterfaceOntology/sdgio/issues/77#issuecomment-182164683 .

Yours Sincerely, Priyanka deSouza

@pbuttigieg you mention "reuse, recycling, or upcycling"

Is it useful to think of the wider lifecycle of products, not just the end-of-life part?

When I look at this image:

(from http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/climate-change-waste/life-cycle-diagram.html )

This may be overmodeling, but I can't help but think of cell and organism cycles. We have some standard design patterns for modeling these, including temporal relations in RO derived from the Allen Interval Algebra.

@cmungall @mark-jensen I think we should try to reuse as much as possible from cell and organism cycles, generalising as needed. Each phase is likely to be valuable to SDGIO as they are all connected with (and through) the sustainable production and consumption domain. We can include classes like extraction, manufacturing, distribution, and usage processes in ENVO as (anthropogenic) ecosystem processes. The management classes would probably be divided between ENVO (for the actual handling of materials) and SDGIO (to describe the management practices and plans).

@pdez90 Thanks for the link to the Basel Convention. However, I couldn't find any clear position or definition of recycling therein.

@mark-jensen Interesting reference for general defs. There's a mix of participation in process, specification in a planned process, or inclusion in a policy or legal specification which defines whether something is or is not a waste product. This would be an SDGIO class that could reference a more general ENVO class, as ENVO would not handle legality or policy dimensions.

For the purposes of this Convention:

“Wastes” are substances or objects which are disposed of or are intended to be disposed of or are required to be disposed of by the provisions of national law;

“Management” means the collection, transport and disposal of hazardous wastes or other wastes, including after-care of disposal sites;

“Transboundary movement” means any movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes from an area under the national jurisdiction of one State to or through an area under the national jurisdiction of another State or to or through an area not under the national jurisdiction of any State, provided at least two States are involved in the movement;

“Disposal” means any operation specified in Annex IV to this Convention;

“Approved site or facility” means a site or facility for the disposal of hazardous wastes or other wastes which is authorized or permitted to operate for this purpose by a relevant authority of the State where the site or facility is located;

“Competent authority” means one governmental authority designated by a Party to be responsible, within such geographical areas as the Party may think fit, for receiving the notification of a transboundary movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes, and any information related to it, and for responding to such a notification, as provided in Article 6;

“Focal point” means the entity of a Party referred to in Article 5 responsible for receiving and submitting information as provided for in Articles 13 and 16;

“Environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes or other wastes” means taking all practicable steps to ensure that hazardous wastes or other wastes are managed in a manner which will protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects which may result from such wastes;

“Area under the national jurisdiction of a State” means any land, marine area or airspace within which a State exercises administrative and regulatory responsibility in accordance with international law in regard to the protection of human health or the environment;

“State of export” means a Party from which a transboundary movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes is planned to be initiated or is initiated;

“State of import” means a Party to which a transboundary movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes is planned or takes place for the purpose of disposal therein or for the purpose of loading prior to disposal in an area not under the national jurisdiction of any State;

“State of transit” means any State, other than the State of export or import, through which a movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes is planned or takes place;

“States concerned” means Parties which are States of export or import, or transit States, whether or not Parties;

“Person” means any natural or legal person;

“Exporter” means any person under the jurisdiction of the State of export who arranges for hazardous wastes or other wastes to be exported;

“Importer” means any person under the jurisdiction of the State of import who arranges for hazardous wastes or other wastes to be imported;

“Carrier” means any person who carries out the transport of hazardous wastes or other wastes;

“Generator” means any person whose activity produces hazardous wastes or other wastes or, if that person is not known, the person who is in possession and/or control of those wastes;

“Disposer” means any person to whom hazardous wastes or other wastes are shipped and who carries out the disposal of such wastes;

“Political and/or economic integration organization” means an organization constituted by sovereign States to which its member States have transferred competence in respect of matters governed by this Convention and which has been duly authorized, in accordance with its internal procedures, to sign, ratify, accept, approve, formally confirm or accede to it;

“Illegal traffic” means any transboundary movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes as specified in Article 9.

@cmungall Annex IV of the Basel document notes some processes which could very well fall into the cell model.

This I find interesting - relating national definitions to SDGIO's content will be quite a task, but also a valuable aspect of the ontology.

ARTICLE 3 NATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF HAZARDOUS WASTES

Each Party shall, within six months of becoming a Party to this Convention, inform the Secretariat of the Convention of the wastes, other than those listed in Annexes I and II, considered or defined as hazardous under its national legislation and of any requirements concerning transboundary movement procedures applicable to such wastes.

Each Party shall subsequently inform the Secretariat of any significant changes to the information it has provided pursuant to paragraph 1.

The Secretariat shall forthwith inform all Parties of the information it has received pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2.

Parties shall be responsible for making the information transmitted to them by the Secretariat under paragraph 3 available to their exporte

@mark-jensen

This would be an SDGIO class that could reference a more general ENVO class, as ENVO would not handle legality or policy dimensions.

That being said, ENVO is already doing something like this by handling important site. Perhaps such classes should be in SDGIO, and all the necessary ENVO classes to specify them imported. Initially it won't matter too much, but once the policy representations start, it may be more practical for ENVO to surrender the classes to SDGIO.

This document contains a definition of recycling at the bottom: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/environment/wastetreatment.htm

The OECD glossary also has a definition: https://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=2260

On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 4:18 PM, Pier Luigi Buttigieg < notifications@github.com> wrote:

@pdez90 https://github.com/pdez90 Thanks for the link to the Basel Convention http://www.basel.int/portals/4/basel%20convention/docs/text/baselconventiontext-e.pdf. However, I couldn't find any clear position or definition of recycling therein.

@mark-jensen https://github.com/mark-jensen Interesting reference for general defs. There's a mix of participation in process, specification in a planned process, or inclusion in a policy or legal specification which defines whether something is or is not a waste product. This would be an SDGIO class that could reference a more general ENVO class, as ENVO would not handle legality or policy dimensions.

For the purposes of this Convention:

“Wastes” are substances or objects which are disposed of or are intended to be disposed of or are required to be disposed of by the provisions of national law;

“Management” means the collection, transport and disposal of hazardous wastes or other wastes, including after-care of disposal sites;

“Transboundary movement” means any movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes from an area under the national jurisdiction of one State to or through an area under the national jurisdiction of another State or to or through an area not under the national jurisdiction of any State, provided at least two States are involved in the movement;

“Disposal” means any operation specified in Annex IV to this Convention;

“Approved site or facility” means a site or facility for the disposal of hazardous wastes or other wastes which is authorized or permitted to operate for this purpose by a relevant authority of the State where the site or facility is located;

“Competent authority” means one governmental authority designated by a Party to be responsible, within such geographical areas as the Party may think fit, for receiving the notification of a transboundary movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes, and any information related to it, and for responding to such a notification, as provided in Article 6;

“Focal point” means the entity of a Party referred to in Article 5 responsible for receiving and submitting information as provided for in Articles 13 and 16;

“Environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes or other wastes” means taking all practicable steps to ensure that hazardous wastes or other wastes are managed in a manner which will protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects which may result from such wastes;

“Area under the national jurisdiction of a State” means any land, marine area or airspace within which a State exercises administrative and regulatory responsibility in accordance with international law in regard to the protection of human health or the environment;

“State of export” means a Party from which a transboundary movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes is planned to be initiated or is initiated;

“State of import” means a Party to which a transboundary movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes is planned or takes place for the purpose of disposal therein or for the purpose of loading prior to disposal in an area not under the national jurisdiction of any State;

“State of transit” means any State, other than the State of export or import, through which a movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes is planned or takes place;

“States concerned” means Parties which are States of export or import, or transit States, whether or not Parties;

“Person” means any natural or legal person;

“Exporter” means any person under the jurisdiction of the State of export who arranges for hazardous wastes or other wastes to be exported;

“Importer” means any person under the jurisdiction of the State of import who arranges for hazardous wastes or other wastes to be imported;

“Carrier” means any person who carries out the transport of hazardous wastes or other wastes;

“Generator” means any person whose activity produces hazardous wastes or other wastes or, if that person is not known, the person who is in possession and/or control of those wastes;

“Disposer” means any person to whom hazardous wastes or other wastes are shipped and who carries out the disposal of such wastes;

“Political and/or economic integration organization” means an organization constituted by sovereign States to which its member States have transferred competence in respect of matters governed by this Convention and which has been duly authorized, in accordance with its internal procedures, to sign, ratify, accept, approve, formally confirm or accede to it;

“Illegal traffic” means any transboundary movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes as specified in Article 9.

@cmungall https://github.com/cmungall Annex IV of the Basel document notes some processes which could very well fall into the cell model.

This I find interesting - relating national definitions to SDGIO's content will be quite a task, but also a valuable aspect of the ontology.

ARTICLE 3 NATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF HAZARDOUS WASTES

Each Party shall, within six months of becoming a Party to this Convention, inform the Secretariat of the Convention of the wastes, other than those listed in Annexes I and II, considered or defined as hazardous under its national legislation and of any requirements concerning transboundary movement procedures applicable to such wastes.

Each Party shall subsequently inform the Secretariat of any significant changes to the information it has provided pursuant to paragraph 1.

The Secretariat shall forthwith inform all Parties of the information it has received pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2.

Parties shall be responsible for making the information transmitted to them by the Secretariat under paragraph 3 available to their exporte

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/SDG-InterfaceOntology/sdgio/issues/77#issuecomment-182369516 .

Yours Sincerely, Priyanka deSouza

@pdez90 Many thanks!

This document contains a definition of recycling at the bottom: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/environment/wastetreatment.htm

I've added all defs below as these can be quite useful in the representation of the whole context. @mark-jensen As noted above, many of these definitions rely on some process and reference that process' inputs or outputs. We can create many in ENVO, import them to SDGIO, and then represent definitions in the form of those below:

Definitions & Technical notes:

Municipal waste, collected by or on behalf of municipalities, by public or private enterprises, includes waste originating from: households, commerce and trade, small businesses, office buildings and institutions (schools, hospitals, government buildings). It also includes bulky waste (e.g., white goods, old furniture, mattresses) and waste from selected municipal services, e.g., waste from park and garden maintenance, waste from street cleaning services (street sweepings, the content of litter containers, market cleansing waste), if managed as waste. The definition excludes waste from municipal sewage network and treatment, municipal construction and demolition waste.

Municipal waste collected refers to waste collected by or on behalf of municipalities, as well as municipal waste collected by the private sector. It includes mixed waste, and fractions collected separately for recovery operations (through door-to-door collection and/or through voluntary deposits).

Landfilling is final placement of waste into or onto the land in a controlled or uncontrolled way. The definition covers both landfilling in internal sites (i.e., where a generator of waste is carrying out its own waste disposal at the place of generation) and in external sites.

Municipal waste landfilled includes all amounts going to landfill, either directly, or after sorting and/or treatment, as well as residues from recovery and disposal operations going to landfill. The definition covers both landfill in internal sites (i.e. where a generator of waste is carrying out its own waste disposal at the place of generation) and in external sites.

Incineration is the controlled combustion of waste with or without energy recovery.

Recycling is defined as any reprocessing of waste material in a production process that diverts it from the waste stream, except reuse as fuel. Both reprocessing as the same type of product, and for different purposes should be included. Recycling within industrial plants i.e. at the place of generation should be excluded.

Composting is a biological process that submits biodegradable waste to anaerobic or aerobic decomposition, and that results in a product that is recovered and can be used to increase soil fertility.

The sum of the different types of waste disposal may be greater than the total amount of municipal waste collected, as these facilities may be used for other types of waste, or because of double counting due to the landfilling of the residues of incineration, or to the incineration of residues from composting.

From @pdez90

The OECD glossary also has a definition: https://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=2260

Here it is:

Recycling is the processing and use of wastes in production and consumption processes, for example, melting of scrap iron so that it can be converted into new iron products.

@pdez90 Thanks for the links!

@pbuttigieg

That being said, ENVO is already doing something like this by handling important site. Perhaps such classes should be in SDGIO, and all the necessary ENVO classes to specify them imported. Initially it won't matter too much, but once the policy representations start, it may be more practical for ENVO to surrender the classes to SDGIO.

Agree that SDGIO would make a better home for these kind of "policy-driven" representations. Perhaps not an immediate priority, but it would be worth our time to work out a model for a class such as important site using EVNO natives and SDGIO classes for the directive stuff--policies. That pattern will end up being repeated as the ontology develops.

I posted an issue on ENVO https://github.com/EnvironmentOntology/envo/issues/294 re the def for recycling process. We may want to subclass it for use in SDGIO, since I think the application here is specific to planned processes with the objective to convert waste to a resource, noting the mentioned exceptions.

Or axiomatize the ENVO class using an objective specification so it's inferred to be a type of OBI 'material processing'.

Or axiomatize the ENVO class using an objective specification so it's inferred to be a type of OBI 'material processing'.

This would be a planned recycling process - many are not planned or can be natural recycling processes (ENVO's current class is very high level). I think it's best to import OBI classes into ENVO and deal with it there (rather than having an alternative hierarchy in SDGIO). This will also allow ways to differentiate anthropogenic processes (by the presence of a plan).

For the moment, the current recycling class works, I think. The edits would be a refinement.

SDG-InterfaceOntology / sdgio

Represent 'waste recycling' #77