Spatial Analysis of Dumpsites Volumes from Rural Territory. Case Study: Neamt County, Romania Mihai, Florin-Constantin; Lamasanu, Andreea
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www.ssoar.info Spatial analysis of dumpsites volumes from rural territory. Case study: Neamt County, Romania Mihai, Florin-Constantin; Lamasanu, Andreea Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Zeitschriftenartikel / journal article Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Mihai, F.-C., & Lamasanu, A. (2013). Spatial analysis of dumpsites volumes from rural territory. Case study: Neamt County, Romania. Forum geografic, 12(1), 59-66. https://doi.org/10.5775/fg.2067-4635.2013.063.i Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer CC BY-NC-ND Lizenz This document is made available under a CC BY-NC-ND Licence (Namensnennung-Nicht-kommerziell-Keine Bearbeitung) zur (Attribution-Non Comercial-NoDerivatives). For more Information Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu den CC-Lizenzen finden see: Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.de Diese Version ist zitierbar unter / This version is citable under: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-432802 Forum geografic. Studii și cercetări de geografie și protecția mediului Volume XII, Issue 1 (June 2013), pp. 59-66 (8) http://dx.doi.org/10.5775/fg.2067-4635.2013.063.i Spatial analysis of dumpsites volumes from rural territory. Case study: Neamţ County, Romania Florin – Constantin MIHAI1,*, Andreea LĂMĂȘANU1 1 Department of Geography, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, Carol I Avenue, No. 20 A, RO-700505, Iași, Romania * Corresponding author, [email protected] Received on <01-02-2012>, reviewed on <27-06-2012>, accepted on <26-03-2013> Abstract Rezumat. Analiza spațială a volumelor depozitelor de deșeuri din teritoriul rural. Studiu Open dumps was the main option of the local communities in household waste management, this practice being de caz: Județul Neamț, România banned after July 16, 2009. The paper examines the Depozitele de deșeuri neamenajate au reprezentat correlation between dumpsites volumes, population principala opțiune a comunităților locale privind density and local geographical conditions in the context gestionarea deșeurilor menajere, această practică fiind that in most rural administrative-territorial units of the interzisă după data de 16 iulie 2009. Lucrarea examinează county there were no facilities for waste collection. The corelația dintre volumele acestor depozite, densitatea geographical distribution of dumpsites volumes reflects the populației și condițiile geografice locale în contextul în care disparities between different areas of the county and on the în majoritatea unităților administrativ-teritoriale rurale other hand, it highlights the spaces exposed to pollution. din județ nu existau facilități pentru colectarea deșeurilor. Also, the comparative analysis between 2004 (pre- Distribuția geografică a volumelor acestor amplasamente accession) and 2009 (post-accession) reflects a reflectă disparități majore între spații ale județului și rudimentary waste management system in this period subliniază perimetrele expuse poluării. Totodată, analiza which favored the waste dumping. This paper analyses the comparativă între anii 2004 (pre-aderare) și 2009 (post- issues of rural waste management and its environmental aderare) reflectă o gestionare neconformă a deșeurilor din implications at local scale. Such approaches are necessary acest interval de timp, favorizând eliminarea necontrolată for a proper analysis of EU environmental policies a deșeurilor. Lucrarea analizează problemele gestionării implementation at regional and local level. deșeurilor menajere din teritoriul rural și implicațiile asupra stării mediului la scară locală. Astfel de abordări Keywords: dumpsites, spatial analysis, geographical sunt necesare pentru o analiză adecvată a implementării conditions, rural areas, Neamț county, Romania politicilor de mediu ale UE la nivel regional și local. Cuvinte-cheie: depozite de deșeuri, analiză spațială, condiții geografice, zone rurale, județul Neamț, România Introduction Poor solid waste management systems from the rural areas of developing countries lead to several environmental dysfunctions (Mamdouh et al. 2009; Abduli et al. 2008; Chen, 2010). Implementation of the acquis communautaire imposes quick changes on the traditional waste management systems from rural areas for new EU members. First, local authorities need to close and rehabilitate the rural dumpsites from rural areas and to limit the waste dumping (Athanassiou and Zabaniotou, 2007; Orosz and Fakezaz, 2008; Kulczycka and Zygmunt, 2008; Apostol and Mihai, 2011). Secondly, rural localities should provide their own sanitation services (Fig.1) or to sign contracts with private sanitation operators to collect and transport the waste generated. Fig.1: Population served by waste collection Local waste management can be a solution to services (Data source: APM Neamţ, 2010) improving the waste management infrastructure with lower costs (Jolanta and Piotr, 2005; This fact favored the illegal dumping of Massarutto, 2007; Bel and Mur, 2009). Waste household waste generated and uncollected management facilities are still lacking or rudimentary (Lămășanu and Mihai, 2012). Physical-geographical in Romania’s rural territory (Mihai et.al. 2012a). transition of Suceava, Neamț and Bacău counties is 59 forumgeografic.ro Spatial analysis of dumpsites volumes from rural territory. Case study: Neamţ County, Romania reflected in disparities concerning the distribution of Several technological systems are used by EU rural dumpsites within the same county, while in members (Pires et al., 2011) and implementation of eastern counties (Botoșani, Iași and Vaslui) this this policy across UE-27 is difficult due to major distribution is more uniform due to a more disparities reflected in municipal waste management homogeneous landscape (Mihai et al., 2012b). This systems (Mihai and Apostol, 2012a; Mengozzi,A.,2010 paper aims to analyses if the pattern of distribution ). In order to mitigate these disparities, European for dumpsites volumes within Neamt County is the directives on waste management are transposed into same. Alongside socio-economic and demographic national laws and each member develops national, features of communes which reflect the amounts of regional and local waste management plans generated waste, local landscape influence how the according to these regulations. Romania, as new waste is disposed of by local communities. member, has a transition period for implementing the Therefore, main parameters of a dumpsite (area, EU targets. Thus, the deadline for closure of rural volume) also depend on the local landscape in the dumpsites was 16th of July, 2009. Following this proximity of settlements. Thus, this approach cannot date, local authorities are obliged to provide waste be ignored particularly in rural waste management collection on their territory. Therefore, during 2004- studies. In time, the extension and improvement of 2009 period, the waste dumping on inappropriate waste facilities from rural areas will minimize this role. sites was a common practice because of poor waste management services, dumpsites volumes ranging Methods between communes. In the best cases, local authorities have chosen some sites where the waste Often rural dumpsites are small (<1ha) having a could be disposed. Sanitation services were not well short life (particularly in the proximity of rivers) with a organized and waste collection did not occur various distribution within county, being difficult to regularly. The paper aims to offer a proper follow in the field. In this context, a statistical interpretation of their distribution taking into account distribution of dumpsites volumes at local the population density and local landscape. Physical- administrative units is more proper using thematic geographical transition from west to east leads to the cartography. Firstly, a database regarding the uneven distribution of human settlements as well of dumpsites volumes (m3) for 2004 (pre-accession) and population density (Fig. 2 and Fig. 3). 2009 (post-accession) was achieved, calculating the total sum for every commune which reported such sites on their territory. Data are provided by National Environment Guard, County Commissariat, being more reliable for 2009 due to the implementation of EU acquis on rural dumpsites, consisting in the inventory, closure and rehabilitation of all these sites. The full procedure for Neamț county was analyzed by Apostol and Mihai (2012). Mapping these data was performed using range colours for rural population density (relative values-hab. /km2) and correlated with dumpsites volumes (absolute values– m3) using proportional circles. Also, the Jenks discretization method was used for population density (2005) to outline the disparities between communes concerning demographic pressure on the local environment. Field Fig.2 Distribution of human settlements observations during 2009-2011 (which covered more than half of the county from rural territory) The highest concentration of human settlements comparative analysis (2004 vs. 2009) and geographical (107.5 -339.8 hab./km2) is to be found on the terraces distribution of settlements across county contribute for of the Siret and Moldova rivers, in the Cracău – Bistrița a proper interpretation of results. The paper proposes Subcarpathian depression (the communes downstream a conceptual scheme (in situ - ex situ) for impact of Piatra Neamț town) and lower in the Moldavian assessment of a dumpsite on local environment. Plateau or Carpathian