Geoenvironment Management and Sustainability - Sustainable Practices in Geoenvironmental Engineering - page 27

Unacceptable
geoenvironment
impact

Compacted for
land disposal

Coal burning for energy
generation (heat and
electricity)

Sluiced disposal
into sea

4Rs and beyond—contributing to reduction in
use of geologic building materials whilst
fulfilling 4R objectives

Coal fly ash

Slurry mixture
with cement

Grout material for
construction and
sealing work

Additive to mortar and
concrete mixes to improve
fluidity

Fill material for lightweight
structural fills and walls,
underwater fills, and floating
islands

FIGURE 1.14
Example of application of principles of sustainability for waste product obtained in use of a nonrenewable
resource for generation of heat and electricity.

also contributes to the reduction in use of the nonrenewable geoenvironmental natural
resource, i.e., geological material. Other examples of 4Rs and beyond can be found, for
example, in the use of paper sludge ash as backill slurry (Horiuchi et al ., 2002; Asada et
al ., 2003).

1.6 Concluding Remarks
The impacts of natural and catastrophic events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes
and typhoons, and associated loods and landslides are not discussed in this chapter (and
not in this topic). This does not mean that these are minor events or impacts—in compari-
son to the impacts on the geoenvironment generated by human activities. It is recognized
that these natural catastrophic events can and do result in considerable loss of life and
physical facilities. The problems and impacts generated by these natural disasters on the
geoenvironment deserve proper recognition and discussion in a textbook or treatise spe-
ciically devoted to such subjects.
Proper management of the geoenvironment is essential if the platform for almost all
the life-support systems is to be protected for future generations. The principles of sus-
tainability require us to recognize a fundamental fact that geoenvironmental natural and
cultivated resources are renewable and nonrenewable . Chapter 11 addresses this issue and
the situations where renewable natural resources can become nonrenewable and hence