Regionally Divergent Patterns in Factors Affecting Municipal Waste Production: The Polish Perspective

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The topic of the paper is interesting and highly topical. The article appropriately presents selected factors influencing the generation of municipal waste.

I would like to suggest to include some remarkts (for example: strategic documents, programs, government measures) that deal reduction waste in Poland.

Author Response

Dear Rewiever,

I appreciate Your decision and I would like to thank for the comment. I put some accompanying responses on it directly into the paper.

"I would like to suggest to include some remarks (for example: strategic documents, programs, government measures) that deal reduction waste in Poland."

By ratifying the Accession Treaty in 2003, Poland took on a number of commitments which, in the area of protection of human life and environment, include achieving strategic targets concerning waste management, such as reduction of landfill municipal waste and increase of recycling levels as well as preparing certain selected raw material waste fractions for reuse. I have put some comments on that the first paragraph of Introduction and in the second paragraph in the Preliminarny Data Analysis. Moreover, I have added examples of modern municipal waste treatments in Poland that are still being introduced with the new EU law. I also have supported those statements with the new reference which concerns Polish waste programme and strategies [11], [15]. [16].

[11] Pires, A.; Martinho, G.; Chang, N. Solid waste management in Europe countries: A review of systems analysis techniques. J Environ. Manag. 2011, 92, 2011, 1033–1050, doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.11.024.

[15] Act amending the Act on Maintaining Cleanliness and Order in Communes and certain other acts (the “Draft Act”) amending Act of 13 September 1996 on Maintaining Cleanliness and Order in Communes (consolidated text - Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1454), the Act on Waste of 14 December 2012 (consolidated text - Journal of Laws of 2018, item 992) and the Act of 20 February 2015 on Renewable Energy Sources (consolidated text Journal of Laws of 2018, item 2389).

[16] Przydatek, G. Assessment of changes in the municipal waste accumulation in Poland. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 2020, 27, 25766–25773. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1007/s11356-020-08943-6.

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear author,

I think that your paper merit publication. However, I believe that the paper can be considerably improved. In particular, I think that the paper is quite long and the structure of the text should be introduced according to the structure of a scientific article. You can find more details in the specific comments introduced below. 

L18-22 Please, be more specific and concise here. In addition, you should introduce the novel contribution of your research in comparison with other studies published in the scientific literature

Keywords are not appropriated. Please, revise (i.e. "municipal solid waste" and "Poland" are keywords, "municipal solid waste in Poland" is not a keyword)

I suggest merging the first three paragraphs of the introduction section in order to reduce in length the whole section.

L38 You should continue to use acronyms. Too many times, in the text, you do not use the form WM (see L57, L66, L89...).

L90 I suggest adding more examples and references for supporting and introducing your research. In particular, you should support the novelty of your research and the methods that you used for the research.

L98 I suggest changing paragraph

L111-116 This paragraph should be removed from here

L117 You should introduce the novelty, not only for Poland but for the international scientific literature.

I suggest introducing section 2 in the introduction section by the use of tables.

L127-141 and L142-156. You can present the results of these paragraphs within a Table. In this way, you can reduce the text in length.

L143 "amount". Do you mean waste generation?

L158 Collected or generated?

Section 3 should be restructured and introduced in the Methods section (or results section when required).

L168-169 You should better define the differences between LAU-1 and LAU-2

Figure 1. What do you mean with NUTS-2? What 2 stand for?

Figure 2. You can present the regression from 2005 to 2012 and from 2012 to 2018 in order to show graphically the increase in MW generation.

L187-189 This part is not clear. Please, can you explain better what LAU-2 stands for and the meaning of "large distortions", "significant territorial variation" and "coefficient of variation"?

Figure 4. I suggest representing the location of the urban areas.

Section 3.2 should be divided between the methods section and the results section.

L212-213 Remove "as mentioned in the introduction".

L225-227 This is a method. It should be clearly reported within the methods section.

L229 These are results. They should be reported in a specific section within the results section.

All figures lack Norths and scale.

L279-280 This information should be introduced in the methods section.

Section 4 can be introduced within the methods section with a different title: "statistical analysis"

I suggest introducing a separate discussion section since results are dense of information and data.

L349-352 It should be reported within the methods section

L364-368 It should be reported in the text

I suggest dividing section 5.2 into specific subsections that refers to the variables considered for the analysis

L412-421 In my opinion, these are the results related to urban development. The other parts that refer to urban development can be sum up in a discussion section. Please, take this as an example also for the other seven factors analyzed.

Maybe Figure 8-14 can be presented in a single figure (with the support of letters from a to g) that can be presented on a single page.

The conclusions section should be shortened. I suggest focusing your conclusions on the factors that influence the waste generation (as well as the methods and the statistical analysis implemented). In addition, I advise providing future developments and application of these results in order to improve and plan waste management systems at national and global levels (with specific indications). The objectives of your results should be the support to (1) safe collection and disposal, (2) selective collection and recycling, and (3) waste minimization toward a circular economy.

Author contributions, acknowledgments, and conflicts of interest should be completed. 

I hope that my suggestions can help you to improve the presentation of your research.

Regards

Author Response

Dear Rewiever,

I fundamentally corrected the paper according to all of Your remarks. Comments were highly insightful and enabled me to greatly improve the quality of the manuscript. Thank You for the careful reading of the paper and I appreciate Your opinion. Please, find below point-by-point responses to each of the suggestion as well as my own statements.

"L18-22 Please, be more specific and concise here. In addition, you should introduce the novel contribution of your research in comparison with other studies published in the scientific literature??"

Thank you for this remark. I have transformed the contribution and have added a new content.

"Keywords are not appropriated. Please, revise (i.e. "municipal solid waste" and "Poland" are keywords, "municipal solid waste in Poland" is not a keyword)"

I have corrected the key words. I have divided long statements and introduced  new one. Thank You.

"I suggest merging the first three paragraphs of the introduction section in order to reduce in length the whole section."

In accordance to Your valuable suggestion I have cut the Introduction and merged the paragraphs.

"L38 You should continue to use acronyms. Too many times, in the text, you do not use the form WM (see L57, L66, L89...)."

In all possible places used MW instead of municipal waste. Thank You.

"L90 I suggest adding more examples and references for supporting and introducing your research. In particular, you should support the novelty of your research and the methods that you used for the research.."

I agree with this remark. I have added some new references and transformed the contribution, e.g.

Mateu-Sbert, J.; Ricci-Cabello, I.; Villalonga-Olives, E.; Cabeza-Irigoyen, E. The impact of tourism on municipal solid waste generation: the case of Menorca Island (Spain). Waste Manag. 2013, 33 (12): 2589-2593, doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2013.08.007. PMID: 24001553.

Przydatek, G. Assessment of changes in the municipal waste accumulation in Poland. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 2020, 27, 25766–25773. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1007/s11356-020-08943-6.

Sung, H.-C.; Sheu, Y.-S.; Yang, B.-Y.; Ko, C.-H. Municipal Solid Waste and Utility Consumption in Taiwan. Sustainability 2020, 12, 3425.

"L98 I suggest changing paragraph.

L111-116 This paragraph should be removed from here.

L117 You should introduce the novelty, not only for Poland but for the international scientific literature."

In accordance with the Referee’s wishes, I have reconstructed the contribution.

"I suggest introducing section 2 in the introduction section by the use of tables.

"L127-141 and L142-156. You can present the results of these paragraphs within a Table. In this way, you can reduce the text in length."

I suggest introducing section 2 in the introduction section by the use of tables.

L127-141 and L142-156. You can present the results of these paragraphs within a Table. In this way, you can reduce the text in length."

I agree with the Referee, therefore, I have modified the Introduction, merging it with the second section. I haven't introduced the table, but I have eliminated some contents in the previous paragraphs to clarify the literature review and make it more reader-friendly.

"L143 "amount". Do you mean waste generation?"

L158 Collected or generated?"

Thank You Your caution. I have clarified and verified the meaning of the words.

"Section 3 should be restructured and introduced in the Methods section (or results section when required)."

Section 3.2 should be divided between the methods section and the results section.

L225-227 This is a method. It should be clearly reported within the methods section

L229 These are results. They should be reported in a specific section within the results section.

L279-280 This information should be introduced in the methods section.

Section 4 can be introduced within the methods section with a different title: "statistical analysis"

L349-352 It should be reported within the methods section"

I agree with those suggestions. I have modified the sections two and three. I have introduced new titles. Moreover, I have transformed the Method section - I have added a new content of Moran's I indices. In the section 4 (Results and Discussion) I have put the suggested results of autocorrelation and make a new sub-tiles.

"All figures lack Norths and scale."

I have added north arrows (the scale is confusing and changeable; it depends on the size of the maps).

"L168-169 You should better define the differences between LAU-1 and LAU-2"

I have explained the LAU-1 and LAU-2 in the first paragraph of the 2. Materials. Thank You.  

"Figure 2. You can present the regression from 2005 to 2012 and from 2012 to 2018 in order to show graphically the increase in MW generation."

I have presented the results of the regressions of waste dynamics for those two time periods under the figure. The data on Figure are still well-visible.

"Figure 1. What do you mean with NUTS-2? What 2 stand for?"

I have clarified the meaning of NUTS-2 under the Figure 1.

"Figure 2. You can present the regression from 2005 to 2012 and from 2012 to 2018 in order to show graphically the increase in MW generation."

I have presented the results of the regressions of waste dynamics for those two time periods under the figure. The data on Figure are still well-visible and the information is available for the reader.

"L187-189 This part is not clear. Please, can you explain better what LAU-2 stands for and the meaning of "large distortions", "significant territorial variation" and "coefficient of variation"?"

I agree with Your comments. Thank You. I have clarified the meaning of coefficient of variation, and transformed the whole paragraph.

"Figure 4. I suggest representing the location of the urban areas." -

I haven't changed this map, as the urban and rural areas were presented on the separate map in Figure 1.

L212-213 Remove "as mentioned in the introduction".

I have removed this statement

"I suggest dividing section 5.2 into specific subsections that refers to the variables considered for the analysis

L412-421 In my opinion, these are the results related to urban development. The other parts that refer to urban development can be sum up in a discussion section. Please, take this as an example also for the other seven factors analyzed".

Thank You for this suggestion. I have done separate sub-sections for the indicators of waste modelling. Now the results and discussion is understandable and clear.  

I suggest introducing a separate discussion section since results are dense of information and data.

Having divided the results section into sub-section I decided not to separate the Results and Discussion.  Thank You.

L364-368 It should be reported in the text

I stay with this as a note. I wanted to concentrate the readers' caution on the final results.

Maybe Figure 8-14 can be presented in a single figure (with the support of letters from a to g) that can be presented on a single page.

Yes. I have made up one Figure (8). Thank You for this suggestion.

The conclusions section should be shortened. I suggest focusing your conclusions on the factors that influence the waste generation (as well as the methods and the statistical analysis implemented). In addition, I advise providing future developments and application of these results in order to improve and plan waste management systems at national and global levels (with specific indications). The objectives of your results should be the support to (1) safe collection and disposal, (2) selective collection and recycling, and (3) waste minimization toward a circular economy.

I agree with these remarks. I have transformed the Conclusions section and added the suggestions directly into this paragraph.

Author contributions, acknowledgments, and conflicts of interest should be completed. 

I have added all information. Thank You.