Resources, Conservation and Recycling: X最新文献

In recent years, electrical and electronic products (e-products) have been central to the discussion of resource sustainability due to their growing demand, use of critical resources, and challenges in managing the resulting waste stream (e-waste). As such, the concept of circular economy, which seeks to ‘design out’ waste by better products, practices and business models, is deemed to be very relevant for e-products. The nature of circular systems mandates a collective effort of businesses, consumers, and governments. While the techno-economic sides of the circular economy have attracted large attention in recent years, the role of consumer behavior – a critical factor in defining the long-term success of ‘sustainable production and consumption’ initiatives – remains less explored. In this context, this paper explores the potential of integrating lessons from behavioral sciences to facilitate circular economy in e-waste management. It offers a review of prominent behavioral theories and their application in the context of sustainable consumption and pro-environmental behaviors. Finally, the paper identifies opportunities for behavioral interventions in improving e-waste management and in achieving a more circular economy.

Cascade use has been identified as a key concept towards the sustainable use of bio-based products aiming at the hierarchical utilization of biomass, first as materials; secondly recycled into new materials; and finally used energetically. This principle is plausible in theory. However, the quantification of economy-wide GHG savings due to the increased cascade use is scarce. Furthermore, another option to reduce GHG emissions – the extension of product lifetime – is not taken into consideration by this concept. This article aims at analyzing the potential of increasing the cascade use of wood products in Germany and contrasting the results with the extension of product lifetime. In doing so, we combine a disaggregated input–output model with a cumulative lifetime model. Results show that increased cascade use of wood products may reduce the current total GHG emissions in Germany at about 0.19% (1.68 ± 0.34 Mt CO₂eq.). Lifetime extension seems not to have such a high reduction potential at about 0.04% (0.35 ± 0.06 Mt CO₂eq.). Despite limited GHG reduction potentials of increased cascade use and lifetime extension, nevertheless, these concepts should be addressed by policy makers.

Packaging plays an important role in safely distributing products throughout today's society and supply chains. With a consumption of about 40% of plastics and 50% of paper in Europe, the packaging sector is a large user of materials. Packaging has a lot of environmental impacts, while it also represents a significant cost in the current supply system. Reusable packaging has been suggested as an option to significantly reduce environmental impacts. In this paper, we review the trends in reusable packaging and the literature on reusable packaging to generate insights into the current state-of-the-art knowledge and identify directions for research and development. This can help to better understand the key factors underlying the design and impacts of more sustainable packaging systems.

The market for solid-state lighting (SSL) systems has expanded 40-fold in installed lamps since 2001. At the same time, systems which preserve materials over time and promote material reuse are getting increasing attention in light of calls for reducing consumption of natural resources. As new lighting technology products are designed and brought to market, consideration must be given to how products will be managed throughout the life-cycle as well as their end-of-life (EOL) fate. Lighting-as-a-service (LaaS) business models have emerged as a potential strategy for preserving the materials embedded in lighting products. In this paper, we examine the cost and environmental implications of technology management decisions in the context of the street lighting industry, employing life-cycle assessment and a Markov Decision Process model. The goal of the research is to determine a policy that minimizes expected costs and emissions for the system over a fixed time horizon thus reducing uncertainty for managers. The model used in the paper evaluates the optimal replacement strategies for street lighting products and additionally connects the result to the optimal EOL product trajectory, taking both costs and carbon emissions into account. In doing so, we are able to more deeply understand the role that LaaS business models might play in enabling closed-loop systems within the street lighting industry.

Biomass is projected to play a key role in meeting global climate targets. To achieve a resource-efficient biomass use, European bioeconomy strategies increasingly consider the concept of a circular bioeconomy (CBE). We define the term CBE via a literature review and analyze the concept’s role in north-west European bioeconomy clusters through interviews. We identify strategies regarding the clusters’ feedstock and product focus, and investigate what role biorefineries, circular solutions, recycling and cascading play. Finally, we discuss gaps in CBE literature and the potential contributions of the CBE to sustainability. The analyzed bioeconomy clusters move towards a CBE by increasingly considering residues and wastes as a resource, developing integrated biorefineries and focusing more on material and high value applications of biomass. However, there is so far only little focus on the end-of-life of bio-based products, i.e. on circular product design, recycling and cascading. Key challenges for implementing circular strategies are policies and regulations, costs and the current small size of bio-based markets. Amongst the product sectors the interviewees identified as promising for the bioeconomy, plastics and construction & building materials have most recycling and cascading potential. While the CBE could contribute to improving the sustainability of the bioeconomy, the concept is not inherently sustainable and its potential trade-offs need to be addressed. Especially social aspects, cascading, circular product design, and aspects related to product use seem to be underrepresented in CBE literature, while the topics biorefinery, wastes and residues as well as waste management are significantly covered.

The sharply increasing solid waste generation has raised the environmental concerns worldwide which currently have been escalated to a worrying level. Intending to eliminate the negative environmental impacts of solid waste and meanwhile promote sustainability on the energy- and resource-intensive construction and building sector, considerable efforts have been devoted to recycling solid waste for the possible use in sustainable construction material products. This paper reviews the existing studies on recycling municipal and construction solid waste for the manufacture of geopolymer composites. Special attention is paid to the predominate performance of these geopolymer composite products. The principal findings of this work reveal that municipal and construction solid waste could be successfully incorporated into geopolymer composites in the forms of precursor, aggregate, additive, reinforcement fiber, or filling material. Additionally, the results indicate that although the inclusion of such waste might depress some of the attributes of geopolymer composites, proper proportion design and suitable treatment technique could alleviate these detrimental effects and further smooth the recycling progress. Finally, a brief discussion is provided to identify the important needs in the future research and development for promoting the utilization of solid waste materials in the forthcoming sustainable geopolymer industry. In summary, this work offers guidance for the better ecological choice to municipal and construction solid waste through developing waste materials into highly environmental-friendly construction materials.

Aluminum water treatment residuals (Al-WTR), a waste product created during drinking water treatment, is generated in large quantities globally and typically landfilled; alternative, uses are desperately required. Inorganic phosphorus (P) is proven to be quickly and irreversibly sorbed by Al-WTR, rendering P unavailable for subsequent environmental use.

However, little work has been done to characterize how Al-WTR interacts with organic P sources (e.g., wastewaters) to both sorb and later release P. Experiments characterized Al-WTR's ability sorb and subsequently desorb swine wastewater organic P, and to ascertain Al-WTR's potential for agricultural wastewater treatment and to return organic P to systems (e.g., soils) for beneficial use. Al-WTRs were shaken with swine wastewater (2.5:1;w/w) and solution total/inorganic/organic P were monitored over 21 days. The Al-WTR sorbed almost 100% (~ 16,500 mg kg⁻¹) of swine wastewater organic P within a 1-h timeframe. X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy showed that P was primarily sorbed by Ca phases present in Al-WTR during the initial 1-h sorption phase. In a subsequent study, the newly generated organic P-laden Al-WTR was shaken in 0.01M KCl along with an anion membrane-probe to capture desorbed P. Approximately 17% (~ 3000 mg kg⁻¹) of the organic P sorbed onto Al-WTR was desorbed. Findings suggest that Al-WTR can remove excessive organic P from agricultural waste streams, with the Al-WTR-organic P-containing material potentially having the ability to supplement agricultural soils with P for plant use. By following such an approach, this could provide municipalities with an alternative and beneficial utilization strategy as compared to landfilling.

Plastic debris is an ever-growing concern adversely affecting the coastal and marine ecosystem. Among marine plastic waste, a particularly troublesome waste fraction is Abandoned, Lost or Discarded Fishing Gears (ALDFG) that continues to trap marine life for years upon releaseand has significant adverse environmental effects on coastal and marine ecosystems. However, lack of scientific data on the estimated contribution of ALDFG to marine plastics and associated reasoning hinders the management of fishing gear resources across the globe. This study presents a system-wide analysis of the typical fishing gears used in Norway for commercial fishing, i.e. trawls, seines (Danish and Purse), longlines, gillnets, and traps. Based on data from gear producers, suppliers, fishers, collectors, authorities, and waste management facilities, we model the flows of plastics polymers, polypropylene, polyethylene, and Nylon, used as the building blocks of advanced gears. A static Material Flow Analysis (MFA) is used to understand life cycle processes and further monitor gear quantities in and between the processes in the system. Our findings indicate that commercial fishing in Norway contributes to around 380 t/yr. mass of plastics from lost fishing gears and parts. Gillnets, longlines, and traps are the main contributors to ALDFG in the ocean due to gear design, practice, and ground deployment. Additionally, around 4000 tons of plastic waste is collected in Norway annually from derelict fishing gears out of which 24% is landfilled, and 21% is incinerated for energy recovery. The MFA approach shows significant potential as a holistic decision support tool for industry and policy-makers in exercising sustainable fishing gear resource management. The study also generates key evidence on regional level plastic pollution from the fishing sector and highlights possible mechanisms that may aid in proposed improvements.

Renting instead of buying new products may be seen as the most efficient strategies of the circular economy. However, changes in the consumption inevitably liberates or binds scarce production or consumption factors such as raw materials, money and time which can potentially limit the potential to save resources. This phenomenon is known as environmental rebound effect and is currently under-researched in the context of resource sharing. This paper reviews the magnitude and tendency of environmental rebound effects of peer-to-peer boat sharing platform using a double-spending model (i.e. for lessors as well lessees). We found that environmental rebound effect was experienced by every lessee surveyed (n = 104) and in one-third of lessors (n = 29). 60 % of lessees experienced a rebound of over 20 %, losing one-fifth of the potential reductions in emissions through subsequent consumption behaviour enabled by the economic savings created by sharing resources. International air travel and increases in personal use of the boat were the biggest contributing factors towards environmental rebound effect. Users that increased consumption in these ways experienced a backfire effect in which their annual emissions actually increased. This backfire was experienced by 29 % of lessees with the worst scenario increasing emissions by a factor of over eight. We found statistically significant differences in the rebound of lessors and lessees. Greater awareness and non-economic mechanisms (such as symbolic rewards, information provision and nudging) tailored for lessors and lessees are needed to help prevent the likelihood of occurrence and the magnitude of environmental rebound effects from sharing resources.