Maximilian Haas

Bio: Maximilian Haas is an academic researcher from CERN. The author has contributed to research in topics: Aesthetics & Structural basin. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 3 publications receiving 8 citations.

Waste or valuable resource – a critical European review on re-using and managing tunnel excavation material

Abstract: Re-use of excavated rock and soil from subsurface tunnelling has become an essential legal and technical factor in underground construction projects. European Union initiatives have caused an emergence of legal documents and technical guidelines for re-using excavated material. An improving situation towards a homogeneous European legislation is missing and site-specific re-use solutions are still favoured within the framework of national legislation. In this paper, we present a detailed review of legislation and technical concepts within the scope of re-using excavated rock and soil across Europe focusing on the Alpine countries. Austria, Switzerland and France prove to be role models in re-using excavating material whereas Italy is providing a limited amount of national solutions. Excavated rock and soil are still considered waste, which hampers legislation procedures and efficient technical re-use as a potential resource. National guidelines and recommendations bear huge potential to serve as a basis for a homogenisation of European legislation. Technical limitations imply physical and chemical characterisation of excavated rock and soil as well as their positioning in relation to inert waste thresholds, which requires a sophisticated material flow analysis. We introduce a material flow analysis concept installed on a tunnel boring machine managing on-line analyses, conditioning, separation and transport to consumers of excavated material resource-efficiently within a mutual European legal framework. A dedicated European authority is suggested to undertake responsibility for the material management and governing a technical database obliged to aim for maximum, efficient re-use and public awareness.

Environmental performance (aesthetics, discourse, operations)

Abstract: While eco-aesthetics and ecocritical discourse have been reflected in (recent) performance studies, their relation to operational ecology and sustainable modes of production needs to be further developed terminologically and methodologically. The paper discusses the intersection of aesthetic, discursive, and operational approaches of the performative arts to ongoing environmental and climate destruction. It positions itself vis-à-vis their diverse forms of knowledge and action and proposes ways of their transformative interweaving. Rather than continuing to pit artistic and administrative interests against each other, thereby reaffirming or even deepening the Great Divide between aesthetics and operations, the paper argues for connecting these fields in theory and practice in such a way that they can respond to each other conceptually, question their respective assumptions, and experiment with transformative potentials that approximate the radicality, magnitude, and complexity of current and future environmental challenges.

Perspectivizing Burning Futures

Abstract: Since 2019, the lecture and discussion series Burning Futures: On Ecologies of Existence at Berlin’s HAU Hebbel am Ufer has been exploring the significance of environmental and climate destruction in the context of contemporary theatre. Combining positions of eco-Marxism and -feminism, black studies, and new materialism, panels examine political and cultural dimensions of the apocalyptic discourses that accompany current ecocatastrophes as well as possible ways out of the socioecological mess.

The Health and Environmental Impact of Plastic Waste Disposal in South African Townships: A Review

Abstract: Twenty-first century human behaviour continues to escalate activities that result in environmental damage. This calls for environmentally friendly solutions, such as waste recycling and handling, to deal with the increased amount of waste, especially plastics. The plastic materials manufacturing sector is booming, particularly packaging; while only a fraction of its waste is recycled, another fraction is destroyed, and the larger part continues to pollute the environment. In addition to other waste disposal activities, destroying plastic or incineration (which could be for energy recovery) is usually subjected to strict legal requirements because of its effect on the environment. However plastic is destroyed or disposed of, it poses a serious challenge in both the short term and the long term to humans and their natural environment if the process is not efficiently managed. This article describes how a growing amount of plastic waste is disposed of haphazardly in South African townships, while most of the inhabitants are not aware or do not care about the adverse environmental and health effects of these actions. This article examines the environmental and health effects of poor plastic disposal in South African townships as it is in other developing countries to sensitise the citizens to the significance of reducing plastic waste quantities, which will downplay their impact on human health and the environment.

Barriers and Challenges to Waste Management Hindering the Circular Economy in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract: More and more, waste generated in most parts of the Western world has been recycled and transformed into new circularity products. However, managing waste within Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), such as in Ghana, has become a challenge due to the continued practice of the old traditional linear waste economy, that is, the taking, making and disposing methods of management, representing a threat to global environmental sustainability. Despite the need to revise current linear waste management (WM) in order to turn to the circular economy (CE) model, which consists of the concept of renew, remake and share, to advance sustainable development, a number of factors restrict the CE realization in practice, specifically in developing countries. An integrative methodology was used in this article to identify some of the challenges that hinder the achievement of CE in SSA countries. The results revealed the absence of educational programs and public awareness of waste management activities. The findings also highlight the lack of political will, funding and national policies on WM as some of the most significant issues. The study contributes to further encouraging policymakers and policy implementers, entrepreneurs and relevant interested groups to commit resources to sustainable WM services aiming to advancing CE in SSA countries.