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- Cardoso Chrispim, Mariana, Postdoktor, 1990-, et al.
(författare)
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Perception and awareness of circular economy within water-intensive and bio-based sectors : Understanding, benefits and barriers
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 464
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Perception and awareness can affect behaviour and decision-making, for example, how companies implement Circular Economy (CE) practices. However, there is limited empirical research about this topic. Thus, we investigated the perception and awareness of representatives from water-intensive and bio-based sectors regarding the CE concept based on interviews and a survey with 10 companies in Sweden. Our results indicate that CE is understood mainly as zero waste and its key principles are resource efficiency and ecodesign. Missing (or partially addressed) important elements of CE are consumption, social aspects, regenerative role of CE, collaboration, and Industrial Symbiosis. The main benefit from implementing circular strategies is economic, and the main barrier is the lack of financial resources. The bio-based companies have a broader understanding of CE and its benefits than the water-intensive companies. Overall, more clarification and standardisation of the CE concept is necessary to avoid misunderstanding with other concepts such as sustainability. © 2024 The Authors
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| 2. |
- Cardoso Chrispim, Mariana, Postdoktor, 1990-, et al.
(författare)
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The underrepresented key elements of Circular Economy : A critical review of assessment tools and a guide for action
- 2023
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Ingår i: Sustainable Production and Consumption. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 2352-5509. ; 35, s. 539-558
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The measurement of progress towards Circular Economy (CE) within a company is crucial for identifying opportunities and designing circular practices. However, most of the existing tools do not consider the systemic view and principles of CE. The aim of this paper is to assess the contributions and limitations of CE assessment tools regarding the key elements: social dimension, stakeholder engagement, R-imperatives and industrial symbiosis. Also, the aim is to offer guidance for improvements towards a CE transition. The methodology was an integrative literature review; then based on the critical assessment of tools a guide was created. Thirty-eight tools were thoroughly analysed and our results show that there is a limited number of multidisciplinary tools (only 10), that is including all CE key elements, and in some cases partly. Social dimension is not fully explored; only 6 tools have indicators related to society, local community, customers, and workers. Recommendations for future tools development include to offer training for possible users of the tools and to develop tools for the service sector. Finally, we conclude that all the key elements of CE are interconnected. The proposed guide-ACTION (Assessing Circular Transition In Organisations Now)- includes the key elements, databases, tools, and indicators, and is aligned with the CE principles to help the assessment. © 2022 The Author(s)
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| 3. |
- Hansson, Anna, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Biogas production in the industrial symbiosis context – facilitating collaboration through digitalization
- 2024
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Ingår i: 5THCESUST2024: 5TH SYMPOSIUM ON CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND SUSTAINABILITY.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Improving sustainability performance and adapting to circular economy principles in operational business strategies are becoming increasingly prioritized. In this pursuit, the concept of industrial symbiosis (IS) has become increasingly relevant. IS represents a collaborative approach where the interplay of material, residual waste, energy, and infrastructure exchanges aims to yield not only economic and environmental advantages for the participating companies but also substantial societal benefits by using resources more efficiently. Biogas production is such an example, it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions since it can produce heat and electricity, replace renewable fuel for vehicles, or be used as input material for industrial use. The digestate from biogas production can also be used as an effective agricultural fertilizer to replace chemical fertilizers which are produced using fossil energy.Digital tools and platforms in IS can be used to different extent depending on businesses levels of digital maturity (the extent to which businesses adapt to ongoing digital change and integrate digitalization). Digital tools and platforms hold a central role for developing various advantages in biogas-based IS, but since the digital maturity for IS focusing on biogas production is uncertain, the current efficiency obtained by tools and platforms is unknown. Therefore, through semi-structured interviews and study visits, this study assesses stakeholder collaboration and use of digital tools at five IS sites with biogas production in Sweden. It explores (i) current digital maturity and collaboration characteristics amongst established biogas-based IS, and (ii) needs amongst stakeholders for development of digital tools and platforms to promote digital maturity, monitoring, collaboration, and knowledge exchange in current and future IS structures.Preliminary results of the on-going study show that the use of digital tools varies depending on the character and size of resource flows that are included in the collaboration, and due to the internal digital maturity of the involved companies. In general, the use of digital tools for stakeholder interaction is on low or medium level, in which manual handling is required and little is automated. This complies with the sites being relatively small, and the number of stakeholders involved are relatively few. Moreover, the preliminary results show that the interest of future development of digital tools is found to be related to business development and expanded market opportunities through diversified raw material use, increased production, and new distribution channels. In addition, a demand of digital platforms for exchange of experience and competence supply has been identified.
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| 4. |
- Martens, Mireille, et al.
(författare)
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The greenhouse gas emission effects of rewetting drained peatlands and growing wetland plants for biogas fuel production
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Management. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 0301-4797 .- 1095-8630. ; 277
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are receiving increased attention among governmental and commercial actors. In recent years, the interest in paludiculture, i.e. the use of rewetted peatlands, has grown because of its potential to reduce GHG emissions by stopping soil decomposition. Moreover, cultivating wetland plants on rewetted peatlands for bioenergy production that replaces fossil fuels in the transport sector, can contribute to additional GHG emission reductions. In this study, an analysis of literature data was conducted to obtain data on GHG emissions (CO2 and CH4) and biomass production from rewetted peatlands cultivated with two different wetland plant species: Phragmites australis (Pa) and Typha latifolia (Tl). In addition, a biogas experiment was carried out to investigate the biomethane yield of Pa and Tl biomass, and the reduction of global warming potential (GWP) by using biomethane as vehicle fuel. The results show that peatland rewetting can be an important measure to mitigate the GWP as it reduces GHG emissions from the soil, particularly on a 100-year timescale but also to some extent on a 20-year timescale. More specifically, rewetting of 1 km2 of peatland can result in a GWP reduction corresponding to the emissions from ±2600 average sized petrol cars annually. Growing Pa on rewetted peatlands reduces soil GHG emissions more than growing Tl, but Pa and Tl produced similar amounts of biomass and biomethane per land area. Our study concludes that Pa, because of a more pronounced GWP reduction, is the most suitable wetland plant to cultivate after peatland rewetting. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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