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Abstract Some wastes are illegally dumped on public/private areas, causing several aesthetic, environmental, economic and social negative impacts and representing a public hazard. These sites need to be treated and managed and this task is often a responsibility of municipalities, representing high costs. However, there is a lack of strategies for the municipal management of these degraded areas that minimize costs, restore the ecological value of the area and eliminate the public hazard. This work proposes a conceptual model for the management of illegal dumping degraded areas by municipal services, based on a social life cycle assessment (SLCA). The model proposed is an open-participatory management tool which supplies the information needed for the waste management strategy for illegal waste deposit sites. Methods to evaluate and apply SLCA in this context are scarce. Therefore, SLCA is presented as a tool that can be applied to organisations in strategic analysis and structuring complex decision-making processes in order to identify optimisation potentials. It combines an environmental and a socio-economic assessment, contributing to the full assessment of products and services within the context of sustainable development. The framework intends to promote the improvement of social conditions and the socio-economic performance of a product throughout its life cycle for all the stakeholders involved within the context of sustainable development. Illegal deposits sites of Construction and Demolition Wastes (CDW) in municipalities are used as a case study for model implementation. The outputs of this model are: i) understanding the real situation of the illegally deposited wastes; ii) management practices comparing and integrating environmental, social, and economic objectives; iii) open-participatory management; iv) orientations to strategy definition; v) use of the life-cycle product principle contributing to a circular economy; and vi) assisting with municipalities performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract How to protect the Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (IAHS) has become a practical problem to be solved due to its number increasing rapidly. To promote the industrial integration development (IID) in IAHS sites was an essential measure regarded widely. This paper first reviewed IID theories, and then analyzed resources characteristics in IAHS sites and IAHS conservation requirements. Then based on these aspects, an IID theoretical framework was built for IAHS sites. In the theoretical framework, the definition and connotation and the principles that IID should abide by were proposed first, and then an implemented procedure of IID was built. The implemented procedure drew an IID route for IAHS sites, which describes the key indexes of assessment on the IID level, how to analyze resources characteristics, which resource types can be used, how to achieve industrial integration, how to organize operating entities of industries and how to balance benefits of stakeholders. The theory indicated the distinctiveness and key aspects of IID in IAHS sites and suggested how to promote the IID in IAHS sites and which themes are research priorities. Highlights • Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (IAHS) conservation is a crucial work for IAHS sites. • Promoting Industrial Integration Development (IID) in IAHS sites is an essential protective measure. • IID in IAHS sites is restrained by conservation conditions but also has many resources advantages. • This paper proposes a theoretic framework of IID in IAHS sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Product-Service System (PSS) approaches and resulting benefits have been viewed mainly from a business world standpoint and in terms of economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability. This paper seeks to extend the application of PSS for community social-economic transformation and links it with Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), especially the Customer-Actor-Transformation-Worldview-Owner-Environment (CATWOE) method, to propose a model for synergistically sustainable community development. This approach recognises the diverse views and transformation goals of multiple stakeholders, fosters value co-creation in achieving desirable outcomes and uncovers synergies between system entities and various PSS elements. By analysing two examples of disadvantaged regional communities, the paper indicates how systems thinking and PSS can facilitate service innovation and opportunities for synergistic sustainability by transforming the local economy and improving services and social livelihoods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Companies aiming to be ‘sustainability leaders’ in their sector and governments wanting to support their ambitions need a means to assess the changes required to make a significant difference in the impact of their whole sector. Previous work on scenario analysis/scenario planning demonstrates extensive developments and applications, but as yet few attempts to integrate the ‘triple bottom line’ concerns of sustainability into scenario planning exercises. This paper, therefore, presents a methodology for scenario analysis of large change to an entire sector. The approach includes calculation of a ‘triple bottom line graphic equaliser’ to allow exploration and evaluation of the trade-offs between economic, environmental and social impacts. The methodology is applied to the UK''s clothing and textiles sector, and results from the study of the sector are summarised. In reflecting on the specific study, some suggestions are made about future application of a similar methodology, including a template of candidate solutions that may lead to significant reduction in impacts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Eco-efficiency emerged in the 1990s as a measure of “the efficiency with which ecological resources are used to meet human needs.” Eco-efficiency indicators as tools for regional sustainability policy were demonstrated in a Life-Environment project, ECOREG, in the Finnish region of Kymenlaakso. A participatory approach was utilised to produce indicators that are relevant for regional decision-makers and that will actually be used. The approach established a system through which decision-makers are able to monitor changes using several economic-environmental ratio indicators, and at the same time obtain information on the social progress taking place in the region. In the future, there will be a need for an ongoing dialogue among the different actors in the region in order to ensure that the indicators are indeed used to promote sustainable development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]