Toxic dyes must be removed from waste water coming from the textile and paint industries. Adsorption is one possible method of removing dyes under ‘soft’ conditions, without the generation of secondary hazardous materials. The present study used the carbonate-containing layered double hydroxides (LDH), Mg-Al and Mg-Zn-Al (with a M2+/M3+ ratio of 3), as adsorbents to remove two industrial colorants, Astrazon Remazol Brilliant Blue and Direct Red, present in low concentrations in aqueous solutions. The physicochemical properties of adsorbents at the surfaces of LDH, as well as the properties of the solutions containing the dyes control how the colorants are removed. Both fresh and calcined LDH were effective in the removal experiments, with effectiveness ranging from 50 to 100%. Analysis of kinetic data demonstrated that the adsorption process fitted the pseudo-second-order model better than the pseudo-first order model, information which is useful for system design in the treatment of wastes from the textile industry. Parameters such as pH of solutions and concentration of dye in solution influenced mainly the initial adsorption rate.

In the past decade, scholars of the here-and-now have (re)discovered the concept of enclosure, applying it with considerable zeal and in a bewildering variety of situations: from the securitisation of the Internet, and patenting genes, to attempts to privatise urban ‘public’ spaces, the English ‘enclosure story’ is presented as a given, a narrative that is set in stone. One critical aspect of this account is that enclosure was exported to Britain's overseas colonies in a one-way process. This paper shows, however, that from the early sixteenth century – and insistently so from the late eighteenth century – arguments for the enclosure of English commons and wastes were framed using techniques and discourses deployed overseas: the languages and practices of colonialism. Commons and wastes, so the paper argues, were not just increasingly seen as empty spaces, but the peoples that inhabited them were written as if they were uncivilised and unable to manage the land. Further, arguments for the enclosure of wastes were made as an alternative to Britain's overseas imperialism. The paper traces a variety of debates and proposals that collectively constitute a coherent body of ‘internal colonial’ thought.

In the last few decades, there has been growing interest in the use of agricultural wastes as feed ingredients in poultry diet to maximise their potential output. Many wastes of the agroindustry (e.g. citrus, grape, pomegranate and apple processing) have significant antioxidant properties, due to their bioactive compounds (polyphenols, flavonoids). It has been reported that citrus and grape wastes can be successfully included in broilers diets up to 3%, which increases carcass and meat yield and reduces abdominal fat (by 10% on average). Pomegranate can be included up to 2% supplementation and is associated with improved feed efficiency (by 12% in broilers). Apple by-products can be formulated up to 5% in diets for meat-type broilers and up to 10% in laying hens diet to reduce oxidative stress. Therefore, the application of these by-products in poultry diets could combine the positive effects of improving the qualitative characteristics of animal products as well as human health with reducing concerns related with their disposal into the environment. In this review, the findings on the effects of some agricultural wastes, from typically-cultivated products originating in Mediterranean and Middle East regions on poultry performance, carcass characteristics, immune response, plasma constitutes, intestinal microbiota and enzyme activity are reviewed and discussed.

Agroindustry wastes from tomato, olive, date and sunflower processing have valuable nutritional characteristics, and could be included in poultry rations to facilitate reducing feeding costs. By-products of tomato and olive processing can be supplemented in the diet of broilers and laying hens by up to 10% without detrimental effects on production, whilst improving the biochemical blood profile and enhancing the oxidative status of birds. Published research has shown that feeding sunflower and date wastes could be successfully added to diet at high inclusion levels (up to 30 and 40%, respectively) resulting in heavier broiler carcasses and increased number of eggs produced by laying hens. In this paper, applications of agricultural wastes and by-products in poultry feeding is reviewed, and the documented and novel findings related to their influence on poultry production, health and gut microbiota are discussed.

New Zealand fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri) forage mostly in open waters at night and spend parts of the day in coastal sheltered sites, where they may play, rest and eliminate wastes. We recorded the purple wrasse (Notolabrus fucicola) feeding on faeces and vomits of these pinnipeds at Fortescue Bay in the Tasman Peninsula, Australia. This behaviour allows the wrasse to get nutrients from open waters that otherwise would not be available. Thus, it is suggested that the fur seals have the role of transferring nutrients from open waters to inshore reefs and provide them as particulate food to fish. This functional role is apparently recorded for only one species of marine mammal so far, the spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris), in tropical oceanic waters.