Circular Economy最新文献

With the prevalence of online take-out food, the increasingly generated single-use plastic packaging waste has aroused public concern in the context of combating plastic pollution globally. The majority of present studies have focused on product design and policy design to influence the corporate behaviors in packaging waste management. Few attentions have been concentrated on consumer perceptions, a neglected vital factor in commercial practices, which determines whether the proposed measures can be effectively applied. This study takes college students, the main consumer group of take-out who are most likely to receive new environmental protection concepts, as a case study and employs the contingent valuation method to investigate their perceptions and behaviors toward emerging plastic packaging reduction approaches and taxation mechanisms. It was found that packaging circulation was preferred mostly with a proportion of 73.20% of the respondents, while taxation mechanism was more favored by those who have higher daily expenditure on meals. Gender, living costs and ordering frequency could significantly influence the acceptance levels. Therefore, a circulation mechanism using cabinet near take-out food hot spots and third-party cleaning services could target students and officers as pioneers. Regarding the taxation approach, it was suggested that the payment that most of the respondents could accept is 1.5 CNY. This study serves as a reference for the reduction of plastic waste from take-out packaging on campus, and provides a possible model that could reduce the environmental impacts of take-out food packaging through both taxation and circulation measures. The findings are expected to bring primary insights for take-out food plastic packaging reduction in China. For future studies, the methodology of this study was also well-prepared to investigate a larger scale of consumers and develop a more universal policy.

The introduction of design for the circular economy (DfCE) in the electronics industry can strongly build on the earlier experiences in the field of applied ecodesign. Although the design methodology DfCE as such is identical compared to traditional ecodesign, DfCE needs different metrics because it includes apart from the environmental dimension also supply criticality and recyclability. Such metrics are proposed in the present paper. These will allow to come to prioritized action agendas for DfCE. Moreover, the numbers will allow to position the actions appropriately in the internal and external value chains. The basis for such metrics is to assign to each individual material in a product a weight based resource factor (RF). Such RFs include ‘factors’ for supply criticality, environmental load and recyclability. This allows to calculate ‘consolidated’ RFs for products as well. This approach will very effective in promoting circularity, because it starts from its core. That is: looking to how (and why) specific materials are applied and using a numerical method to put this into perspective. Primarily this is helpful to address the internal value chain. Also supply side issues and demand side issues (consumers) will get a lot of attention in this paper, both at the front side (design) and the back side (discarding behaviour of users). The combination of both aspects will allow to come to develop the best strategies for reuse for different product groups. For the informal sector application of the metrics is still premature, but in future there could be contributions as well. In the discussion section, issues are raised as regards possible contradictions between resource issues and emission issues and about conflicts of interest between DfCE and business interest in more general. Moreover, attention is paid to the way DfCE can contribute to enrich traditional ecodesign.

Population growth and increased food demand have increased global waste. Converting biowaste into biomaterials has been the subject of extensive research, and various strategies have been investigated. Microorganisms can ferment a large amount of useable carbon in biowaste from the food and agricultural industries to produce valuable goods. Those who advocate for a “circular bioeconomy” aim to establish a system that eliminates waste by recycling and reusing its components. Various novel biomaterials, such as collagen, chitosan, pullulan, hydroxyapatite, cellulose, gelatin, and carbon-based nanocomposites, can be derived from biowaste through bioprocessing. This paper demonstrates to what extent we have succeeded in transforming biowaste into biomaterials with commercial value. Furthermore, this article discusses the most recent developments in waste valorization and circular economy concepts and the promising future of transforming agro-industrial wastes into functional biomaterials and their applications.

This paper considers socioeconomic, environmental, institutional and demographic issues necessary for the circular economy (CE) transition, employing a sample of 27 European Union (EU) countries and the UK using panel data method. Environmental degradation, asymmetry and inequality in the recovery conditions from the COVID-19 pandemic, which have been particularly aggravated over the last three years (2019–2022), as well as the energy crisis in the Eurozone raise significant challenges for social cohesion and CE policies. This analysis aims to examine whether a change in the structure of the energy markets, densely populated areas, environmental performance, institutional quality, social protection and innovation affect the CE. The results reveal that circular activity is robustly and positively affected by factors such as institutional quality, resource productivity and entrepreneurship. As the level of social protection increases, the percentage of the population willing to adopt the CE principles increases, while EU countries consume more raw materials than they can actually recycle. An increase of 1% in the market share of the largest electricity production companies and the market share of companies supplying the largest volume of natural gas is linked to a reduction of 0.30% and 0.33%, respectively, in the circularity rate. This suggests that under imperfect competition in energy markets, there are signs of undermining the efforts of EU countries to collect waste for recovery.

With the rapid urbanization in the last decades, especially after the year 2000, several metropolitans were formed. e.g., Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, and Chongqing that locate at four world-class megalopolises across China. The generation and management of municipal solid waste (MSW) are important components for city development, both of which are spatiotemporally heterogeneous among these metropolitans, as a result of diverse socioeconomic statuses. This study attempts to sufficiently reveal the spatiotemporal heterogeneity by determining the MSW per capita, MSW composition, and proportion of each management strategy (landfilling, incineration, and compositing). Singapore is taken for comparison, for it is a Chinese community and well-known for its outstanding performance in environmental sanitation. Results show that MSW per capita is highly dependent on GDP per capita, and exerts an increasing tendency with time, but can be relieved with MSW reduction policy. For each metropolitan, the development of landfilling and incineration fits the Kuznets curve well, and government policy is a more determinant factor than GDP. MSW composition is also time- and location-dependent, and source sorting generally favors the subsequent resource utilization including the mainstream incineration. In addition to MSW generation and management, the action, goal, and experience in Singapore are expatiated, which are believed to be of referential significance for these metropolitans.

The energy sector is enduring a momentous transformation with new technological advancements and increasing demand leading to innovative pathways. Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a critical driver of the change, offering new ways to optimize energy systems operations, control, automation, etc. Developing a competitive policy framework aligned with circular economy practices to adapt to the trends of the rapid revolution is crucial, shaping the future of energy and leading the sector in a sustainable, equitable, and impartial direction. This study aims to propose an AI-driven policy framework that aligns with the circular economy business model to address the transformation trend in the development of energy policies through a multidisciplinary approach. The study identifies key trends, various approaches, and evaluates the potential of AI in addressing the challenges. The AI-driven policy paradigm outlines a comprehensive framework and roadmap to harness the potential of AI through a forward-looking policy framework that considers the rapidly changing landscape and the essence of the circular economy. The proposed novel framework provides a roadmap for researchers, governments, and other stakeholders to navigate the future of energy and unlock the potential of AI for a sustainable energy future.