In the past few years, the subject of climate change has frequently garnered headlines due to the usual political controversy surrounding it. However, setting aside the argument as to whether climate change is a man-made effect or not, we cannot deny the fact that humanity has been discharging carbon increasingly into the atmosphere for centuries. Likewise, similar reports on the growing Great Pacific Garbage Patch - and the general accumulation of plastics everywhere - are alarming. Moreover, it has also been recently demonstrated that microplastics are finally entering the food webs which include the human consumer. Air, soil, and water pollution are increasing; in some ways forcing certain countries and governments to modify their politics, while also creating new opportunities and opening new niches for the marketing of products, such as air and water filters.

With current techniques, it is not possible to completely eliminate all toxic and hazardous waste, which means that security deposits are necessary. Security deposits are storage areas prepared for certain toxic and dangerous industrial waste, so that its harmful properties cannot affect the natural environment and human health - at least, in any case, for a very long time. Due to their geomorphological composition, topography, and hydrographic conditions, there are sites that can be used as waste deposits, given their natural isolation and projected stability for hundreds of years. Thus, they become security deposits. In addition, every day new materials and construction techniques are developed that allow for a total isolation of the waste. A relatively new view in the material life cycle is the reuse of the generated waste as new resources. This helps to mitigate the cost increases in raw materials, energy, and regulations regarding waste disposal, which have caused the industry to rethink its production methods, leading to a better use of raw materials and energy. Clean technologies are those used by the industry to reduce the need for treatment or disposal of waste and to reduce the demand for raw materials, energy, and water. For the proper implementation of clean technologies, industries and municipalities must develop a deep understanding of their own processes and activities, and must analyze the characteristics of their equipment and make any possible modifications. An environmental evaluation of the situation provides suitable information on the efficiency of each component and its integration in the whole process, on the proportion of waste, on energy consumption, and on how to reorganize or modify to improve cost-efficiency in economic and environmental terms, which in a middle term view results in synergistic goals.

With this concise introduction to the world of waste and pollutant treatment technologies, the editors believe it is clear that the solutions are to be developed on a case-by-case basis; because the larger the number of mixed pollutants, the more complex and intimated the process will be. This book presents a series of selected approaches that can be used to approach different cases, also depending upon budget and viability of a sustainable approach. This book serves as a source of information, triggers ideas, and fosters interaction between all the players taking action in sustainable development initiatives.

Maximiliano Cledon's profile page

Satinder Kaur Brar's profile page

Rosa Galvez's profile page

Vinka Oyanedel-Craver's profile page

Dr. Maximiliano Cledon is a full researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina (CONICET). He has authored over 60 scientific publications on the pollution effects on aquatic biota, nanoparticle effects, aquatic ecotoxicology, detection methods, environmental technologies, bioremediation, and related topics. After completing his Ph.D. in aquatic ecology at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremen University, Germany, he joined the CONICET to continue his work leading a team of Ph.D. students at the Institute for Marine and Coastal Research, Argentina. In 2013 he joined the INRS-ETE as a visiting researcher and later as an adjunct professor. Since then, he has also become a member of the Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization. From there, he started working on the pathways and effects of engineered nanoparticles in the environment and waste valorization. Given this international and interdisciplinary experience, his research interests have focused on the development of environmentally friendly technology and remediation. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal Nanotechnology for Environmental Engineering. Currently affiliated with the Center for Applied Research and Technology Transfer CIMAS-CONICET of Argentina, he continues his work on developing solutions for environmental problems and his international collaboration with Dr. Galvez from Laval University and Dr. Brar from INRS, among others.

Dr. Satinder Kaur Brar is a professor at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (Eau, Terre et Environnement, INRS-ETE), Quebec, Canada. She is leading the research group on the Bioprocessing and Nano-Enzyme Formulation Facility (BANEFF) at INRS-ETE. Her research interests lie in the development of finished products (formulations) of wastewater and wastewater sludge-based value-added bioproducts, such as enzymes, organic acids, platform chemicals, biocontrol agents, biopesticides, butanol, and biohydrogen. She is also interested in the fate of endocrine disrupter compounds, pharmaceuticals, nanoparticles, and other toxic organic compounds during value-addition of wastewater and wastewater sludge, in turn, finding suitable biological detoxification technologies. Dr. Brar is a recipient of the ASCE State-of-the-Art of Civil Engineering Award (2007 and 2017) for her research. She has also received the Rudolf Hering Medal (2008) for the originality of her work. She and her team are recipients of the Grand Prize in University Research (2017), conferred by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. In 2014, she was elected as a member of The College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada in recognition as part of the emerging generation of Canadian intellectual leadership and for her outstanding performance in the field of environmental biotechnology. She was recently named for the YWCA women in science" excellence award. She is on the editorial board of Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology and associate editor of the Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste (ASCE). She recently launched the new journal Nanotechnology for Environmental Engineering (Springer) as Editor-in-Chief. She has more than 350 research publications and 4 registered patents related to environmental technology.

Dr. Rosa Galvez's background is in environmental engineering. She obtained both her master's degree (1989) and doctorate (1994) in environmental engineering from McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Since 1994, Dr. Galvez is has served as a full professor at the Department of Civil and Water Engineer of Laval University in Quebec City. Her fields of expertise include Water and Wastewater Treatment Process, Integrated Watershed Management, Municipal and Hazardous Waste Management, Soil Remediation and Treatment, Environmental Impacts Assessment, Risk Analysis, and Aid Decision Methods. Dr. Galvez is an internationally recognized researcher, and the author of hundreds of scientific articles and technical documents. More than 100 students have graduated under her supervision. She has acted as an expert and consultant for several national and international agencies, particularly in Europe and Latin America. Prof. Galvez has also received many distinguished national and international awards, including the 2018 Meritorious Service Award for Professional Services from Engineers Canada.

Dr. Vinka Oyanedel-Craver is associate professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Rhode Island. Prior to her tenured position at the University of Rhode Island, she held a postdoctoral position at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Virginia. Her current research interests are in the areas of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater treatment. Recently, she has focused on environmental nanotechnology, specifically on the behavior of nanoparticles in different environmental compartments and their use as antimicrobial compounds in point-of-use water treatment in rural, developing communities. She has authored more than 35 peer review publications. Dr. Oyanedel-Craver's research has been funded by several federal, state, and nonprofit agencies, including NSF, USAID, and DOI. She has received several awards, including the ASCE Rudolph Hering Medal and the NSF CAREER award for young investigators. Her work has appeared in various media sources; she has been recently featured in the FOSS publication, Water and Climate, which is to be used nationwide as part of the third-grade science curriculum. She is currently chairing the International Women-Water-Nexus Committee at the ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute, and is serving as a Board of Director of the Ixtatan Foundation, as well as secretary of the Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization.