Search

Policymakers are embracing the circular economy (CE) as a means of harmonizing environmental and economic interactions, including at the urban level. Whilst numerous studies cover CE practices, few papers cover how it is being implemented and how cities (hotspots of material consumption, waste generation and disconnected pollution) are transitioning from linear-like processing of materials to a cyclical form. This paper addresses (a) how is the CE being applied and driven at the city level, and (b) what are the emerging transitional barriers and limits of such strategies? It compares the case studies of Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague, especially as the Netherlands is considered a CE frontrunner. Utilising document analysis of key national and city level strategies and 67 interviews, we show that the key municipal instruments include public procurement, zoning laws, capacity building and knowledge exchange and these can mostly be applied to municipal purchases and the construction sector. Practitioners perceived the initial barriers as knowledge of suitable technologies and deployment opportunities, the low quality of waste streams in comparison to the low costs of high-quality virgin inputs, the difficulty in addressing these issues at the urban scale, and the linear mindset of relevant actors. We argue that core limitations for these strategies and city level circular transitions include the instrumental scope and capacity to influence value chains and businesses, in addition to an overt focus on end-of-pipe actions as opposed to reducing and reusing resources. This research suggests that multi-level policy integration is needed to alter value chains to enable a greater reduction in material inputs and changes in actor behaviour.

Accurate, detailed, and up-to-date information on energy costs is crucial for energy management in manufacturing companies. Yet, to what extent is such energy costs information actually available and used? This study reviews empirical information provided in papers published in research journals about the availability and use of energy costs information in manufacturing companies. The study aims to focus both on energy-intensive companies as well as non-energy-intensive companies, and also to distinguish between the practices of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) vs. large companies. The literature review covers 23 journals in the fields of business, accounting, energy, and engineering, leading to the final sample that includes 51 papers for the analysis. Most studies in this sample concern energy-intensive and large companies. The most striking result is that with only few exceptions, almost no studies provide a nuanced description of how measuring and allocating energy costs is being done. For example, almost no studies investigate specific cost allocation bases, the accuracy of cost allocations, or differentiation between first-stage allocation and second-stage allocation. Nevertheless, the overall impression is that many manufacturing companies resort to imprecise methods for measuring and allocating energy costs. They seem to lack much of the cost information necessary for energy management, such as information needed for improving energy efficiency, evaluating energy efficiency improvement investments, and holding managers accountable for energy efficiency.

This paper seeks to ascertain why the role of end-user (consumer) within sustainable innovation remains largely overlooked by policymakers in spite of their significant potential in driving socio-technical transitions. Drawing on 25 in-depth interviews with policymakers, the paper finds that conceptual vagueness and a lack of clear definitions within the field have led to a myriad of terms being used to refer to the engagement of end-users in the sustainable innovation process. This lack of clarity has generated a confused policy narrative when discussing the role of end-user in sustainable innovation, making it difficult for insights to be shared with and drawn from others and resulting in a fragmented policy toolset. In addition to this ambiguity, the interviews revealed that policymakers often take a traditional view of innovation and its main actors, wherein end-users are seen as playing the role of ‘the informed consumer’ who drives the demand side but does not contribute to supply. Thus, despite significant evidence to the contrary, policymakers remain apprehensive about the potential of end-users driving sustainable innovation. The paper concludes that existing policy concerns are less about whether end-users innovate or not than whether this form of innovation can actually translate into public goods. The key takeaway for proponents of sustainable end-user innovation is that, from a policy perspective, the larger impact and business case has yet to be made.

This paper explores the role of business cases as a tool for supporting decision-making processes regarding water management. Based on an analysis of survey and interview data from 300+ organisations within the European food sector, it is concluded that the relative emphasis on business cases and payback times influences the average level of water management engagement. However, the findings from the analysis also indicate that use of business cases are not set in stone but can be adapted and changed through ongoing dialogue and negotiations. The paper contributes to the existing academic literature by moving beyond generic discussions of the business case for corporate sustainability to exploring the concrete use of business cases as a decision-making tool for managers.

The expectation that management education institutions should be leading thought and action on issues related to corporate responsibility and sustainability has been reinforced in the light of their association with business leaders' failings, including corporate corruption, the financial crisis and various ecological system crises. The United Nations supported Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative is an important catalyst for the transformation of management education and a global initiative to change and reform management education in order to meet the increasing societal demands for responsible business. This paper introduces the initiative and illustrates progress made by PRME signatories drawing upon analysis of their self-presentations in their Sharing Information on Progress (SIP) reports. The paper synthesizes the studies' findings and concludes with some thoughts on current and future directions and prospects of the initiative.

Life cycle thinking is emphasised in EU policies and legislation. All products have environmental impacts during their production, use and disposal. It is important to ensure that environmental impacts are considered throughout the life-cycle and it will be more and more important for the industry to understand the meaning of the life cycle thinking and to adopt it. The environmental impacts of an industrial disposable cup concept were studied with help of life-cycle assessment method. The objective of the study was to create new knowledge about the life cycle effects of the carton based cup concept. The scope of the study was to compare the effects of material choices and different end-of-life scenarios. The paper focuses on the global warming potential of the cup concept. The carton based products were covered either with polyethene or polylactide. In addition, the environmental impacts of the carton-based cups were compared to the estimated environmental impacts of polymer-based cups. The polymer based cups were made of polyethylene terephthalate. The paper shows that significant improvements can be achieved with help of the choice of materials and optimal end of life.

The formation of detrimental pitch deposits can cause various problems at pulp and paper mills, as they can contribute to unscheduled shutdowns and even paralyze the operation of the entire mills. To understand, avoid and control of pitch deposits formation in pulp mills, we investigated the overall chemical composition of 16 pitch deposit samples collected from the fiber line of a softwood kraft pulp mill. Sodium salts were tentatively speculated as the dominant fractions of the pitch deposits in addition to the minor fractions of the extractives and carbohydrates. Low molar mass extractives from dichloromethane, acetone and water extracts were analysed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The extractable fraction is chemically heterogeneous, representing the degradation products of carbohydrates, lignin, and woody extractives. Furthermore, new chlorinated stilbenes (monochloropinosylvin, dichloropinosylvin, trichloropinosylvin dimethyl ether, and dichlorinated pinosylvin monomethyl ether) and other chlorinated components (chloro-manoyl/epimanoyl oxide, 12- and 14-chlorodehydroabietic acids) were for the first time identified as part of pitch deposits in the fiber line. Moreover, significant amount of 3-hydroxy fatty acids was found from the drying stage, also representing novel pulp mill deposit compounds. Pinostilbene and pterostilbene are rarely identified from the industrial woody chips of Scotch pine. Overall, the investigation of extractive profile from pitch deposits may provide us with a new perspective to understand the formation mechanism of pitch deposits and study the binding behavior between the extractive and surfaces of the process equipment. The new findings may provide guidance for the pulp mills to design optimal strategies to avoid and control pitch deposits.

In recent years, several scholarly attempts have been made to conceptually outline the contours of the sharing economy. However, there is still limited consensus on fundamental characteristics of sharing models, the markets they create, and the controversies surrounding them. Based on an assessment of existing typologies of the sharing economy, this paper outlines a new theory-driven framework for describing and analyzing business-to-consumer and peer-to-peer sharing models that draws on the nascent literature of partial organization. Emphasizing the core organizational characteristics of sharing models (membership, rules, monitoring, sanctioning, and hierarchy), this new framework moves beyond existing definitions and scales used to map and analyze the fast-growing sharing economy field.

Business experimentation has been recognized as an important means for accelerating transitions towards a circular economy (CE). This paper aims to develop a new understanding of how learning from business experiments at the front end of innovation may help develop ideas and concepts that can advance a CE. The study adopts a case study approach and investigates four experiments conducted by a single organization in the context of recycling. The learning outcomes of these experiments are examined by using the lens of learning loops. Single loop learning refers to detecting and correcting errors in existing policies. In double loop learning underlying assumptions are questioned and new policies are formulated. In triple loop learning, entirely new processes and methodologies for problem solving are devised. We conclude that incremental ideas associated with single loop learning may be insufficient for a CE. While radical ideas associated with double loop learning may be critical for a CE, double loop learning may require designing the experiments to address CE innovation challenges. We propose that focusing on triple loop learning may be the answer, and by examining the relationships between the different forms of learning and CE innovation challenges, we determine which type of learning was best suited to overcoming these challenges. Further, this study elaborates the concept of learning loops in the context of front end of CE innovation by identifying 11 forms of learning from experiments. For managers, the study offers insights on how the experimentation process should be developed to overcome the barriers to CE innovation.

There are many different types of manufacturing distributions, ranging from subsistence do-it-yourself (DIY) to centralized industrial production. In this paper, a taxonomy is introduced of alternative manufacturing distributions for sustainable production. First, different types of manufacturing distributions are explained. Second, the importance of location-specific considerations is illustrated through a case study of Turkish car production. Third, comparative sustainability analysis for different manufacturing distributions is provided. This includes economic, ecological, social and institutional sustainability. Fourth, factors affecting the sustainability of all manufacturing distributions are explained. Fifth, the taxonomy is introduced, together with an example of comparative sustainability analysis for two alternative types of manufacturing distributions. Overall, it is argued that different manufacturing distributions have different strengths and weaknesses depending on multiple factors. Moreover, in some situations, centralized manufacturing can have higher potential for sustainable production than other distributions of manufacturing. Hence, the taxonomy is introduced to facilitate increased specificity and balance in debate concerning alternative manufacturing distributions for sustainable production.

Biocementation technology has recently become a new soil improvement method. In majority of the biocementation processes, the formation of calcium carbonate occurs as the consequence of enzymatic urea hydrolysis, producing carbonate-ions and alkaline pH (ranging between 8.5–9.5). The problem of conventional biocementation method at alkaline conditions is the release of ammonium ions (that pollute water) and gaseous ammonia (that pollutes atmosphere). In this paper, a new biocementation method is proposed, which involves calcium phosphate precipitation driven by enzymatic hydrolysis of urea. The bone meal, one of the potential and low-cost sources of calcium phosphate, was acid-dissolved and injected into the sand altogether with urea and acid urease. Due to the enzymatic hydrolysis of urea, the pH of the reaction medium increased, hence the calcium phosphate was tended to precipitate within the pores and bind the soil particles. The content of urea was varied in biocement solution to control the increase of pH during reaction, thus the biocementation was in different pH ranges. The precipitated calcium phosphate compound was found to be brushite, but its morphology highly varied depending on the pH conditions. Molar calcium/urea ratio of 1.5 in calcium phosphate biocementation solution resulted in preferrable formation of plate-like crystals within the sand matrix and increased unconfined compressive strength up to 1.5 MPa. Meanwhile, the conventional biocementation is performed at molar calcium/urea ratio from 0.66 to 1.0. The calcium phosphate biocementation at pH changing from 3.4 to 7.5 indicated the potential decrease of ammonium ions release to environment by about 50% and the emission of toxic gaseous ammonia by approximately 90% in comparison with conventional biocementation.

International audience; Stakeholders are increasingly demanding transparency on food value chain sustainability performance. Today there is no standard framework to meet this demand and support defining indicators to be used to conduct an overall sustainable performance assessment. This paper mobilizes existing frameworks and indicators to build new sustainable performance metrics for actors willing to work together for their value chain sustainability. Popular methods or tools for assessing dimensions of agrifood products or activities are selected and analyzed to determine how they could contribute to this metric. The analysis aims to distinguish the sustainable development pillars addressed (economic, environmental and/or social), the frames concerned (life cycle thinking or not; multi-actor or not), and the focus of performance measured (drivers, pressures, states, impacts, responses). This categorization is then used to develop a proposal for specifications adapted to food value chain sustainability performance assessment. The applicability of the framework is demonstrated through a case study in a pork agrifood value chain.

This paper addresses the efficiently reuse of the recycled construction waste cementitious materials (RCWCM). The RCWCM is firstly collected, and then subjected to crushing, grinding and thermal treatments, respectively. After that, the obtained powder material is named dehydrated cement paste (DCP) in this study. Due to the fact that the DCP has relatively high pH value and high activity, two specific attempts are tried to efficiently reuse the obtained DCP. The results show that it is possible to produce a prefabricated building material with an industry by-product (fly ash) and a recycled waste material (DCP). The compressive strength of the produced prefabricated building material can be higher than 60 MPa. Additionally, after being further dispersed, the DCP could be utilized as a high performance cement additive, which can significantly promote the hydration and microstructure development of cement.

Landfilling has been the major method for municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal during recent decades. Recently utilization of deposited materials, commonly referred to as landfill mining, has been increasingly considered due to increasing raw material costs and environmental reasons. When mining municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills, finding suitable treatment and utilization routes for different types of materials is essential because of the economic aspects and to minimize the re-landfilled fraction of the waste. This paper describes a case study to sample, characterize and process wastes of a potential landfill mining site. The study combines manual sorting with full-scale mechanical treatment to better assess the treatability of the landfilled wastes. The approach also aimed at complying with the challenges of the heterogenous nature of the landfilled MSW. An approximately 30 m high and 10-year-old Finnish landfill was sampled in connection with the drilling of three gas collections wells, producing samples from two layers of waste of slightly different ages (ca. 5-10 years). Manual sieving and sorting into seven waste fractions as well as full-scale mechanical processing was performed. Further characterization included the fuel properties of the calorific fractions and the leaching properties of the fine materials. Manual sorting of the materials yielded 40-45% (w/w) of the possible fuel fraction in the landfilled waste with a net calorific value of approximately 20 MJ/kg dry matter. The metal fractions recovered in the manual sorting amounted to 3-4% (w/w). The landfilled waste was also processable by full-scale mechanical processes, including shredding, magnetic separation, screens and a wind sieve, despite the moisture and impurities in the landfilled waste. Results from the mechanical process showed that approximately 30% (w/w) of the material could be recovered as solid recovered fuel with similar calorific values to the fuel fraction from the manual sorting. Approximately 1% (w/w) could be recovered as magnetic metals in the mechanical process. The yields of fuel and metal fractions are site-specific but could likely be improved by optimizing the mechanical process for landfill mining purposes, as is indicated by the results from the manual sorting of the materials. The amount of fine materials (

Industrial symbiosis (IS) studies the physical flows of materials and energy in local industrial systems using a systems approach. In this study the total fuel and energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions are calculated for an ‘industrial park’ operating in the same manner as an IS. Moreover the relevance of industrial symbiosis, particularly one centred on pulp and paper manufacturing, in moving towards more sustainable fuel consumption and reduced greenhouse gas emissions is discussed. The system is compared to hypothetical stand-alone production. Moreover, possibilities to reduce the energy use and total greenhouse gas emissions of the park are identified.