scholarly journals Special Issue: Valorization of Material Waste for Environmental, Energetic, and Biomedical Applications

Eng ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-26
Author(s):  
Antonio Gil

Waste management and its recovery to provide it with added value are increasingly important lines of research that fall within the concept of a Circular Economy [...]

Resources ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
Carlo Ingrao ◽  
Claudia Arcidiacono ◽  
Valentina Siracusa ◽  
Monia Niero ◽  
Marzia Traverso

The generation and management of waste are gaining increasing attention worldwide as two main focuses of the environmental strategies and policies developed to date at the European level [...]


Author(s):  
Maryana Ruda ◽  
◽  
Tetiana Yaremchuk ◽  
Maryana Bortnikova ◽  
◽  
...  

The article examines the development of the circular economy in Ukraine, as well as the prospects of implementation of the experience of leading EU countries in the field of circular economy in Ukraine. The relevance of the study is that for now in Ukraine very few steps have been taken towards a circular economy, although everyone understands its importance. First of all, the meaning of the circular economy is revealed and the main advantages of its implementation in Ukraine are determined. The advantages of the transition to a circular economy are as follows: significant material savings, sustainable use of resources, stimulating innovations, the ability to meet the needs of the ever-growing population of the Earth, economic growth, and income. The circular or closed-loop economy involves the recovery, reuse, and rational use of resources and, through services and smart solutions, leads to added value. The state of resource management in Ukraine and the EU, in particular waste management, is analyzed. It is established that in the field of waste management Ukraine lags far behind developed European countries. Today, huge amounts of waste have accumulated in Ukraine, and currently, there is no developed infrastructure to decide this problem, and landfills themselves have become sources of great environmental danger. The new EU policy and the policy of Ukraine in the field of circular economy are analyzed. Taking into account the best European practices, recommendations are given to Ukraine on the transition from a traditional, linear economy to a circular economy. The main ones are as follows: it is necessary to change the structure of public procurement and focus on environmentally friendly types of production; it is necessary to accelerate the transition of Ukraine from the traditional model of public procurement to the concept of “green” procurement; it is necessary to develop an effective legislative and regulatory framework for the functioning of the circular economy; it is necessary to move to more efficient business models (such as ecodesign, repair, reuse, recovery and exchange of products and maximum prevention of waste generation) and stimulate the development of environmentally friendly technologies; it is expedient to develop programs of financing of projects in the field of circular economy; it is necessary to promote better awareness of consumers about the concept of “circular” economy, environmental “footprint” of goods and services, as well as sustainable consumption; it is necessary to change the method of production and consumption of goods from short-term to long-term, as well as to encourage the economy, businesses and consumers to maximize waste recycling. It is also established that in general, Ukraine’s policy in the field of circular economy should be formed and implemented at all three levels: national, regional, and global. However, each of us can begin to change in the direction of a circular economy (for example, through conscious consumption and resource conservation). It is also important to realize the importance of sorting garbage because its removal to landfills and finding new ones is not the best solution. Garbage needs to be recycled, and this can only be done if it is sorted.


Coatings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 423
Author(s):  
Hsien-Yeh Chen ◽  
Peng-Yuan Wang

The success of recent material science and applications in biotechnologies should be credited to developments of malleable surface properties, as well as the adaptation of conjugation reactions to the material surface [...]


Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Franklin Chamorro ◽  
María Carpena ◽  
Bernabé Nuñez-Estevez ◽  
Miguel A. Prieto ◽  
Jesus Simal-Gandara

Currently, agricultural production generates large amounts of organic waste, both from the maintenance of farms and crops, and from the industrialization of the product. Generally, these wastes are accumulated in landfills or burned, sometimes causing environmental problems. However, many scientific studies suggest that these residues are rich in bioactive compounds, so these matrices could be revalued for their use in food, cosmetic, or pharmaceutical industries. In this way, the circular and sustainable economy is favored, while obtaining products with high added value. In this case, this approach is applied to the residues generated from kiwi production, since numerous studies have shown the high content of kiwi in bioactive compounds of interest, such as phenolic compounds, vitamins, and carotenoids. These compounds have been reported for their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities, among other beneficial properties for health such as its use as prebiotic. Therefore, this article reviews the potential of residues derived from industrial processing and agricultural maintenance of kiwi as promising matrices for the development of new nutraceutical, cosmetic, or pharmacological products, obtaining, at the same time, economic returns and a reduction of the environmental impact of this industry, attaching it to the perspective of the circular economy.


Marine Drugs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Daniela Coppola ◽  
Chiara Lauritano ◽  
Fortunato Palma Esposito ◽  
Gennaro Riccio ◽  
Carmen Rizzo ◽  
...  

Following the growth of the global population and the subsequent rapid increase in urbanization and industrialization, the fisheries and aquaculture production has seen a massive increase driven mainly by the development of fishing technologies. Accordingly, a remarkable increase in the amount of fish waste has been produced around the world; it has been estimated that about two-thirds of the total amount of fish is discarded as waste, creating huge economic and environmental concerns. For this reason, the disposal and recycling of these wastes has become a key issue to be resolved. With the growing attention of the circular economy, the exploitation of underused or discarded marine material can represent a sustainable strategy for the realization of a circular bioeconomy, with the production of materials with high added value. In this study, we underline the enormous role that fish waste can have in the socio-economic sector. This review presents the different compounds with high commercial value obtained by fish byproducts, including collagen, enzymes, and bioactive peptides, and lists their possible applications in different fields.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3816
Author(s):  
Javier Rodrigo-Ilarri ◽  
Camilo-A. Vargas-Terranova ◽  
María-Elena Rodrigo-Clavero ◽  
Paula-A. Bustos-Castro

For the first time in the scientific literature, this research shows an analysis of the implementation of circular economy techniques under sustainable development framework in six municipalities with a depressed economy in Colombia. The analysis is based on solid waste data production at a local scale, the valuation of the waste for subsequent recycling, and the identification and quantification of the variables associated with the treatment and final disposal of waste, in accordance with the Colombian regulatory framework. Waste generation data are obtained considering three different scenarios, in which a comparison between the simulated values and those established in the management plans are compared. Important differences have been identified between the waste management programs of each municipality, specifically regarding the components of waste collection, transportation and disposal, participation of environmental reclaimers, and potential use of materials. These differences are fundamentally associated with the different administrative processes considered for each individual municipality. This research is a good starting point for the development of waste management models based on circular economy techniques, through the subsequent implementation of an office tool in depressed regions such as those studied.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4394
Author(s):  
Margarita Ignatyeva ◽  
Vera Yurak ◽  
Alexey Dushin ◽  
Vladimir Strovsky ◽  
Sergey Zavyalov ◽  
...  

Nowadays, circular economy (CE) is on the agenda, however, this concept of closed supply chains originated in the 1960s. The current growing quantity of studies in this area accounts for different discourses except the holistic one, which mixes both approaches—contextual and operating (contextual approach utilizes the thorough examination of the CE theory, stricture of the policy, etc.; the operating one uses any kind of statistical data)—to assess the capacity of circular economy regulatory policy packages (CERPP) in operating raw materials and industrial wastes. This article demonstrates new guidelines for assessing the degree level of capacity (DLC) of CERPPs in the operation of raw materials and industrial wastes by utilizing the apparatus of the fuzzy set theory. It scrupulously surveys current CERPPs in three regions: the EU overall, Finland and Russia; and assesses for eight regions—the EU overall, Finland, Russia, China, Greece, France, the Netherlands and South Korea—the DLC of CERPPs in operating raw materials and industrial wastes. The results show that EU is the best in CE policy and its CERPP is 3R. The following are South Korea and China with the same type of CERPP. Finland, France and the Netherlands have worse results than EU with the type of CERPP called “integrated waste management” because of the absence of a waste hierarchy (reduce, recover, recycle). Russia closes the list with the type of CERPP “basic waste management”.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Hoehn ◽  
Jara Laso ◽  
María Margallo ◽  
Israel Ruiz-Salmón ◽  
Francisco José Amo-Setién ◽  
...  

There is a growing debate surrounding the contradiction between an unremitting increase in the use of resources and the search for environmental sustainability. Therefore, the concept of sustainable degrowth is emerging aiming to introduce in our societies new social values and new policies, capable of satisfying human requirements whilst reducing environmental impacts and consumption of resources. In this framework, circular economy strategies for food production and food loss and waste management systems, following the Sustainable Development Goals agenda, are being developed based on a search for circularity, but without setting limits to the continual increase in environmental impacts and resource use. This work presents a methodology for determining the percentage of degrowth needed in any food supply chain, by analyzing four scenarios in a life cycle assessment approach over time between 2020 and 2040. Results for the Spanish case study suggested a degrowth need of 26.8% in 2015 and 58.9% in 2040 in order to achieve compliance with the Paris Agreement targets, highlighting the reduction of meat and fish and seafood consumption as the most useful path.


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