Blockchain Papers

Gavina Baralla, Andrea Pinna, Roberto Tonelli, Michele Marchesi

No abstract is available for this record.

Deepak Verma, Manunya Okhawilai, Goutam Kumar Dalapati, Seeram Ramakrishna · 9 authors

Abstract From the environmental perspective, efficient plastic utilization and its recyclability become significant issues that need to be resolved for deploying urban and sustainable technologies. It is estimated that approximately 400 million tons of plastic are produced each year for different applications. This number will be doubled by 2050, which is a serious problem. The primary issue that arises in a recycling process is associated with optimum supply chain management. The comprehensive and transparent supply chain methodologies will help stockholders to make conclusive policies and precise strategies. Transparency in supply chain management assists in captivating planning, pricing, purchasing, and inventory management decisions. Environmental sustainability requires recycling, which should have innovative concepts like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Block‐chain Technology. Manual methods of sorting and segregating the waste have outdated and not much efficient. The inclusion of AI and Blockchain Technology brought a revolution by increasing the efficiency and accuracy of the recycling process. This critical review focused on recycling plastics and plastic waste using AI and Blockchain Technology. Various plastic regulation policies and AI utilization for plastic recycling are discussed. An overview of the blockchain and its classification for waste management or plastic recycling has been discussed. The utilization of Blockchain Technology for a plastic circular economy, its types, and critical benefits has also been systematically demonstrated.

Ahmad Musamih, Khaled Salah, Raja Jayaraman, Ibrar Yaqoob · 6 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Hai Trieu Le, Khoi Le Quoc, The Anh Nguyen, Khoa Tran Dang · 13 authors

To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2019 has seen unprecedented demand for medical equipment and supplies. However, the problem of waste treatment has not yet been given due attention, i.e., the traditional waste treatment process is done independently, and it is not easy to share the necessary information. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the interaction between parties is minimized to limit infections. To evaluate the current system at medical centers, we also refer to the traditional waste treatment processes of four hospitals in Can Tho and Ho Chi Minh cities (Vietnam). Almost all hospitals are handled independently, lacking any interaction between the stakeholders. In this article, we propose a decentralized blockchain-based system for automating waste treatment processes for medical equipment and supplies after usage among the relevant parties, named Medical-Waste Chain. It consists of four components: medical equipment and supplies, waste centers, recycling plants, and sorting factories. Medical-Waste Chain integrates blockchain-based Hyperledger Fabric technology with decentralized storage of medical equipment and supply information, and securely shares related data with stakeholders. We present the system design, along with the interactions among the stakeholders, to ensure the minimization of medical waste generation. We evaluate the performance of the proposed solution using system-wide timing and latency analysis based on the Hyperledger Caliper engine. Our system is developed based on the hybrid-blockchain system, so it is fully scalable for both on-chain and off-chain-based extensions. Moreover, the participants do not need to pay any fees to use and upgrade the system. To encourage future use of Medical-Waste Chain, we also share a proof-of-concept on our Github repository.

Krishnaswamy Sankaran

Click to launch & play an online audio visual presentation by Dr. Krishnaswamy Sankaran on Plastic pandemic: how distributed ledger technology and the internet of things can create a circular economy of plastics, part of a collection of multimedia lectures.

Kesaven Bhubalan, Arularasu Muthaliar Tamothran, Seng Hon Kee, Shin Ying Foong · 9 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Seyed Mojtaba Hosseini Bamakan, Pooria Malekinejad, Mehran Ziaeian

No abstract is available for this record.

Kamalakanta Muduli, Rakesh D. Raut, Balkrishna E. Narkhede, Himanshu Shee

The blockchain is expected to radically alter people’s real-time interactions and transactions, culminating in the birth of a new economy in a digital era [...]

Hui Wang, Longshuai Zheng, Qiuhong Xue, Xueqing Li

The Internet of Things (IoT) has brought unprecedented changes to the society and permeated our daily life. However, it has not been successfully applied in the area of medical waste regulation, where the recycling and disposal of medical waste have significant loopholes in the management of classification, transportation, disposal, supervision, and other links. The source, authenticity, and integrity of medical waste data lack guarantees, and there is a risk of data tampering and forgery. Although there are currently some medical waste supervision applications combined with IoT-based blockchain domestically and internationally to facilitate information sharing and transfer, no verifiable method is provided for the information privacy leakage of medical waste operators. To address this problem, we propose a blockchain-based medical waste supervision model, which connects participants involved in the process, introduces digital credentials to achieve the protection of operator information privacy, and ensures that the entire data process is authentic and credible. By building a decentralized system architecture and setting intelligent contracts, we integrate and record the medical waste disposal regulatory information in different phases on the blockchain to form the supervision of medical waste chain. In addition, we digitize the physical credentials and certificates using digital credentials to achieve cryptography security and privacy protection. The regulatory model designed in this paper can provide digital certificates of disposal tracking information to the health, environmental protection, and other administrative departments in China. It can provide authoritative evidence for the supervision and accountability of medical waste disposal and support the construction of a new generation of medical waste regulatory information systems in China.

Diana Hawashin, Khaled Salah, Raja Jayaraman, Ibrar Yaqoob · 5 authors

Billions of dollars lost has been recorded over the past decade due to the overproduction and underconsumption of medical supplies. The overproducation and underconsumption are usually due to the lack of accountability, transparency, traceability, audit, assessment, security, and trust features in the current healthcare supply chain systems. It is required to ensure that everyone is getting a fair share of medical supplies without unnecessary waste. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based solution that ensures the commitment and accountability of all participants to prevent them from producing any unnecessary waste. We introduce five phases, such as registration, commitment, production, delivery, and consumption, to perform the waste assessment accurately and fairly. We develop four smart contracts that ensure data provenance, transparency, security, and accountability while recording all actions on an immutable ledger automatically. We utilize offchain decentralized storage to deal with the large data problem. We present five algorithms and discuss each phase of the proposed solution, along with their full implementation, testing, and validation details. We conduct the security analysis to ensure that our smart contracts are secure enough and they do not have vulnerabilities and flaws. The smart contracts code is made publicly available on GitHub.

Katrien Steenmans, Phillip Taylor, Ine Steenmans

Blockchain technology is emerging as a plausible disruptor of waste management practices that influence the governance of plastics. The interest among the waste management community in the potential and fundamental changes to complex resource management associated with blockchain adoption parallels recent research in other sectors, such as finance, health, public administration, etc. During any comparable period characterized by a step-change in positive coverage of an early-stage technology, it can be challenging for actors to access a grounded, evidence-based oversight of the current state of practice and make informed decisions about whether or how to adopt blockchain technology. The current absence of such a systematic overview of recent experiences with blockchain initiatives disrupting waste practices not only limits the visibility of these experimental efforts, but also limits the learning that can be shared across waste plastics researcher and practitioner communities. This paper contributes with a current overview of blockchain technology adoption in the waste management sector, giving particular attention to implications for the governance of plastics. Our study draws on both primary interview data and secondary documentation data to map the landscape of current blockchain initiatives in the global waste sector. We identify four areas of blockchain use that are beginning to change waste management practices (payment, recycling and reuse rewards, monitoring and tracking of waste, and smart contracts). We conclude by outlining five areas of significant blockchain uses, implications, and influences of relevance to the development of circular plastic waste governance in both research and practice.

Authors unavailable

Blockchain technology facilitates trust and transparency in the decision-making process and enables the transaction's verifiability by reading immutable distributed ledgers. It has been innovatively applied this technology in the E-waste optimization for the recovery of precious metals using microwave heat treatment. This present paper presents the maximum recovery of precious and base metals from E-waste with a numerical technique called surface response methodology, and was compared with the actual experimental results. The main goal of this paper is to recover the precious metals like copper and gold with its adjacent metals from unwanted and discarded printed circuit boards, integrated circuits, and standards connectors, with the input variables of microwave power, maximum temperature, and aqua leaching ratio. The obtained empirical information of recovered metals was recorded in immutable distributed ledgers so that every member of the blockchain network can be read and verified through the stored records. These records were also utilized to minimize the error and maximize the precious metal outcomes. The result with blockchain network also shows that identical resemblance between the experimental and statistical predicted data obtained with surface methodology. Further, Smart Contracts has been created and deployed to store and retrieve empirical records in the Hyperledger Fabric Blockchain Platform and then measured the performance using Hyperledger Caliper Benchmark

Karishma Chaudhary, Prasanna Padmanabhan, Deepak Verma, Prashant Dev Yadav

In 2016, 44.7 million metric tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) was generated across the globe out of which only 20% was recycled through formal channels. India is the fifth largest generator of e-waste where 95% of e-waste is channelised to unorganised units. There are substantial environment and health risks associated with unsafe e-waste management practices. The study highlights various blockchain-based applications in the waste management domain. The study deals with the development of Ethereum-based smart contract blockchain architectural platform 'e-waste lens' for effective e-waste management in India. The specific novelty of the blockchain architectural framework lies in the real-time tracking and monitoring of e-waste movement by the concerned stakeholders in the e-waste management chain and thereby bringing out the non-compliance of the prevailing regulations for effective e-waste management.

Raja Wasim Ahmad, Khaled Salah, Raja Jayaraman, Ibrar Yaqoob · 6 authors

The year 2020 has witnessed unprecedented levels of demand for COVID-19 medical equipment and supplies. However, most of today's systems, methods, and technologies leveraged for handling the forward supply chain of COVID-19 medical equipment and the waste that results from them after usage are inefficient. They fall short in providing traceability, reliability, operational transparency, security, and trust features. Also, they are centralized that can cause a single point of failure problem. In this paper, we propose a decentralized blockchain-based solution to automate forward supply chain processes for the COVID-19 medical equipment and enable information exchange among all the stakeholders involved in their waste management in a manner that is fully secure, transparent, traceable, and trustworthy. We integrate the Ethereum blockchain with decentralized storage of interplanetary file systems (IPFS) to securely fetch, store, and share the data related to the forward supply chain of COVID-19 medical equipment and their waste management. We develop algorithms to define interaction rules regarding COVID-19 waste handling and penalties to be imposed on the stakeholders in case of violations. We present system design along with its full implementation details. We evaluate the performance of the proposed solution using cost analysis to show its affordability. We present the security analysis to verify the reliability of the smart contracts, and discuss our solution from the generalization and applicability point of view. Furthermore, we outline the limitations of our solution in form of open challenges that can act as future research directions. We make our smart contracts code publicly available on GitHub.

Raja Wasim Ahmad, Khaled Salah, Raja Jayaraman, Ibrar Yaqoob · 5 authors

Smart cities have the potential to overcome environmental problems caused by improper waste disposal by improving human health, protecting the aquatic ecosystem, and reducing air pollution. However, today’s systems, approaches, and technologies leveraged for waste management are manual and centralized. This fact makes them vulnerable to manipulation and the single point of failure problem. Also, a large portion of the existing waste management systems within smart cities fall short in providing operational transparency, traceability, audit, security, and trusted data provenance features. In this paper, we explore the key role of blockchain technology in managing waste within smart cities as it can offer traceability, immutability, transparency, and audit features in a decentralized, trusted, and secure manner. We discuss the opportunities brought about by blockchain technology in various waste management use cases and application scenarios, including real-time tracing and tracking of waste, reliable channelization and compliance with waste treatment laws, efficient waste resources management, protection of waste management documentation, and fleet management. We introduce a framework that leverages blockchain-based smart contracts to automate the key services in terms of waste management of smart cities. We compare the existing blockchain-based waste management solutions based on important parameters. Furthermore, we present insightful discussions on several ongoing blockchain-based research projects and case studies to highlight the practicability of blockchain in waste management. Finally, we present open challenges that act as future research directions.

Mary Abed Al Ahad, Ali Chalak, Souha Fares, Patil Mardigian · 5 authors

Rapid urbanization, closure of dumps, and insufficient infrastructure funding in Lebanon have resulted in improper municipal solid waste management (MSWM), creating a continuing trash crisis in recent years. In Beirut and Mount Lebanon, MSWM was carried out in centralized waste processing and disposal facilities operated by the government. The trash crisis and failure of the centralized system prompted several municipal authorities to decentralize MSWM by establishing local facilities, paid by the council taxes charged to beneficiary households. To study the feasibility of decentralized MSWM, a survey of 228 households in a rural village in Lebanon explored households' willingness to pay (WTP) for a local MSWM service. For data analysis, a multivariate Tobit model was used to examine the determinants of the WTP amount. Results showed that 79% of surveyed households in the studied village were willing to support local MSWM improvements by contributing an average yearly fee of US$48, representing a 30% increase in their current council taxes. Analysis showed a significant positive association between the WTP amount and the household monthly income level, the residents perceived needs for urgency to act on solid waste management, and the households' responsibility to be involved in MSWM. An interview with the municipality mayor later revealed that financial, technical, and land resources are lacking to enable consideration of a decentralized project for MSWM in the village. Municipalities in rural areas have limited resources and are unable to sustain a decentralized MSWM service unless adjacent towns join effort in supporting and financing MSWM initiatives.

Krishnaswamy Sankaran

What drives growth becomes cancerous when it goes beyond limits. Contrary to this common sense, today, consumerism drives our economies and feeds our appetite for ever-growing wants. As a result, we are damaging our ecosystems and risking our very existence on Earth. Though too late, various efforts are promoted by governments and driven by industries to rapidly decarbonize our energy systems and sustainably consume and recycle raw materials. We have discussed two ongoing projects in the domain of energy transition and circular economy. The first one transforms industrial carbon emissions into green fuels and the second one helps in efficient and sustainable segregation and recycling of plastic waste using multi-sensor-driven AI and blockchain tools. These examples demonstrate how circular economy and energy transitions complement each other in the battle against climate change and pollution.

Filipe Calvão, Victoria Gronwald

Distributed ledger technologies (DLT) enable the creation of digital databases stored across multiple locations. In the most-advanced design of DLTs, blockchains record and publish transactions through a peer-to-peer and tamper-proof block structure, and operate securely through a consensus-based algorithm. Increasingly, DLTs and blockchain-based initiatives are deployed in the mineral sector to address the problem of conflict minerals, ensure respect for due diligence standards, and improve supply chain management and traceability. The fast adoption of this technology for governing natural resources by creating immutable digital records of sourcing and geological information engenders new opportunities and risks for mining communities across Africa. These include the creation, ownership and access of digital data, the participatory role of upstream actors, and the effects of monitoring and traceability for informal miners and the future of sustainable development in mining communities.

Authors unavailable

Blockchain generation and the Internet of Things are two of the most famous technology these days. IoT is an interconnection of devices which have the usefulness to detect, degree, a strategy the country of natural markers just as themselves and incite dependent on the enter outfitted. It can help make astute arrangements which could enhance the best of ways of life of individuals. In like manner, blockchain is dispensed database structures that guarantee an extreme dimension of wellbeing and accessibility of actualities with least exchange overhead. In this proposal, we endeavor to convey together that two innovation to grow a Smart Waste Management System (SWMS). The SWMS is weight-based for example Clients need to pay for the utilization of administrations as indicated by the measure of waste they produce. Installments are made the use of a custom digital currency controlled by utilizing Smart Contracts and the total SWMS can be supported with the guide of a DAO through a totally computerized, observably secure strategy. Blockchain can help bring down the infiltration and supplier esteem which might be particularly valuable to developing countries in which governments are not exceptionally inventive. This paper tries to set up an evidence of concept thru size of performance and evaluation of the applicability of this type of device.

Gillian C. Dumencu, Yuxin Wang, Wilf G. Stefan

This paper presents two case studies for the delivery of wastewater servicing solutions: one in Ontario, Canada and the other in Gujarat State, India. In each case a decentralized small diameter gravity sewer wastewater collection and treatment system was implemented for servicing residential development—with some interesting differences and similarities. The first case is a small private mobile home park in Eastern Ontario under a Ministry of Environment Order to address failing on-site septic systems. The Municipality was obliged to take over operation of the on-site systems; however, there were not adequate funds available to rectify the failing systems. A group of local companies initiated the process to find and deliver a solution featuring a Design-Build-Operate-Finance model for a private communal sewage system showcasing advanced wastewater technology. The second case is a rural Indian village without wastewater servicing infrastructure, but with considerable political incentive to implement a new low-maintenance communal sewage system funded through a government-regulated corporate social responsibility program. The completion of the project will enable this village to be cited as the first open defecation free village in Gujarat State; however, success will ultimately be measured by long-term user buy-in. Each case study will discuss the project context; implementation of design, approvals and construction; financial and delivery model; and key success factors and lessons learned. Both case studies will highlight how using unconventional technology and innovative funding enabled the implementation of decentralized wastewater solutions in each situation

Kala Seetharam Sridhar

Solid waste, being a basic urban service, is invariably related to urbanization and economic development. In this article, we make an attempt to understand what explains solid waste management (SWM) coverage, a local public service problem, using cross-national data. Using regressions, we find that higher levels of income bring along with them the public awareness, institutional structure, and fiscal capacity to deliver better levels of public services not only in the city but also in the informal settlements. Hence, the objective should be to build awareness of the environmental and health consequences of poor SWM. Furthermore, we find that large cities and decentralized countries are in a better position to deliver SWM in the informal settlements because of the local nature of the service. We find that a major challenge foreseen in meeting the public service demands over the next decade, as it relates to SWM, is financing.