Determinants of paper packaging waste: evidence across 28 EU countries

Zhang C., Hu M., van der Meide M., Di Maio F., Yang X., Gao X., Li K., Zhao H., Li C.

Meeting the current demand for concrete requires not only mining tons of gravel and sand, but also burning large amounts of fossil fuel resources in cement kilning. Consequently, concrete recycling is crucial to achieving a material-efficient society, especially with the application of various categories of concrete and the goal of phasing out fossil fuels. A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) is used to assess the engineering material footprint (EMF) and the fossil fuel material footprint (FMF) in closed-loop recycling of three types of concrete: siliceous concrete, limestone concrete, and lightweight aggregate concrete. This study aims to investigate the impact of (i) concrete categories, (ii) methods to model recycling, and (iii) using renewable energy sources on the material footprint in concrete recycling. The results highlight that the concrete recycling system can reduce 99% of the EMF and 66-93% of the FMF compared with the baseline system, in which concrete waste is landfilled. All three recycling modeling approaches indicate that concrete recycling can considerably reduce EMF and FMF compared with the baseline system, primarily resulting from the displacement of virgin raw materials. Using alternative diesels is more sensitive than adopting renewable electricity in reduction of the FMF in concrete recycling. Replacing diesel with electrolysis- and coal-based synthetic diesel for concrete recycling could even increase the FMF, while using biodiesel made from rapeseed and wood-based synthetic diesel can reduce 47-51% and 84-89% of the FMF, respectively, compared to the virgin diesel-based recycling system. Finally, we discussed the multifunctionality and rebound effects of recycling, and double-counting risk in material and energy accounting.

Hong Nham N.T., Ha L.T.

This paper answers the question of whether digitalization enables the circular economy or circularity promotes the digital transformation process. We use six diverse measures to reflect the circularity of European countries: municipal waste, the number of circularity patents, circular material usage, recycle waste rate, recycling biowaste rate, and recycling e-waste rate. In order to assess digital businesses, we use four measures of e-Commerce – online selling, e-Commerce sales, e-Commerce web sales, and e-Commerce turnover – and two measures of e-Business: customer relation management usage and cloud usage. We use user-centricity and key enablers to assess digital public services. Our estimation results reveal that the initial development of digitalization can enable European countries to transit to the circular economy. However, the overdevelopment of digitalization hinders this process. By contrast, we present a nonlinear relationship between digitalization and circularity, suggesting that digitalization can positively impact the circularity level after reaching a certain level. • Different measures are used to present circularity and digitalization. • Digitalization enables European countries to transit to the circular economy. • But overdevelopment of digitalization hinders this process. • A nonlinear relationship between digitalization and circularity.

Georgescu I., Kinnunen J., Androniceanu A.

Sustainable economic growth is desired to be achieved by governments targeting economic, social, and environmental benefits. The idea of circular economy model is to consider feedback effects from proper waste management instead of one-way effects typical with the classical linear model. Several sectors of society contribute to circular economy and its monetary and environmental outputs in a sustainable way. The aim of this paper is to analyze the dependencies and causalities of circular economy and economic developments in the EU. The research objectives include testing (i) whether research and development (R&D) expenditure, GDP per capita and generation of municipal waste per capita influence the recycling rate of municipal waste, and (ii) whether R&D expenditure, generation of municipal waste per capita and the recycling rate of municipal waste influence the GDP per capita. The relevant indicators are obtained from Eurostat. The research methods of fixed effects and Tobit approach are used to study the statistical relevance of the two models. The pairwise causality of variables is tested by Dumitrescu–Hurlin causality test. One result of the study is that technology development, by a decreasing life of products, leads to an increase of waste generation. Therefore, environmentally friendly technologies should be produced.

Mostert C., Sameer H., Glanz D., Bringezu S.

• Recycled concrete promotes the circular economy, but does not per se contribute to climate mitigation. • A case-specific analysis of RC-concrete production with a focus on transportation, concrete mixture and treatment technology is required. • A comparative assessment of product footprints provides reliable benchmarks for climate and resource efficiency in the construction sector. • The visualization of footprint results contributes to circularity and climate mitigation already in the architectural design phase of buildings. Climate mitigation and efficient use of resources in the building sector have become a central issue for sustainable development. Promoting a circular economy and reducing global warming at the same time is an increasingly important challenge for construction, demolition and recycling of buildings. This study assesses the greenhouse gas emissions in relation to the resource use of recycled concrete (RC-concrete) and transfers the results into a Building Information Modelling application for visualization of the footprints results. The town hall building in the German city of Korbach was selected as a case study, which was selectively demolished and rebuilt with RC-concrete using recycled aggregates from the old building. The production of RC-concrete is compared with conventional concrete made from natural aggregates. The analysis covers the end of life and the production phase of concrete within the life cycle assessment (LCA) boundaries. The environmental assessment is done based on product climate, energy, material and water footprints, as reliable benchmarks for climate and resource efficiency in the building sector. RC-concrete can decrease the material footprint by up to 50%, whereas the reduction potential for the climate footprint is limited and the water footprint can be up to ten times higher with wet processing of concrete waste. The visualization of footprint results using LCA and digital planning software will further enhance the low carbon architectural design and circularity in the building sector.

Kostakis I., Tsagarakis K.P.

The present empirical study sheds light on the role of socioeconomic characteristics toward circular economy, resulting in more sustainable production and consumption patterns. Using fixed-effects and instrumental variable fixed-effects panel approaches, we examine the role of social and economic determinants on materials recycling and circularity in the European Union (EU). Empirical results reveal that recycling and circularity rates are positively affected by factors such as economic wealth, fertility rate, the level of environmental taxes and R&D expenditures. Furthermore, urbanization also seems to have a positive, but nonlinear effect on recycling and circularity rates. Our results can be beneficial to decision makers and managers for implementing several policies aiming to increase recycling and circularity across the EU and beyond.

Androniceanu A., Kinnunen J., Georgescu I.

Soukiazis E., Proença S.

Waste management and recycling are fundamental issues for policy makers to protect the environment. Although these topics have been broadly studied at country-level, studies addressing sub-national units are still limited. This research aims to contribute to this field by analyzing the waste generation and recycling processes across the Portuguese municipalities during the period 2009-2018. The paper assesses the decoupling hypothesis consistent with the environmental Kuznets curve, advocating that a threshold of development is reached and, afterwards, environmental degradation declines through less waste production and higher recycling rates. To address this hypothesis the waste generation and recycling equations are estimated using as fundamentals the total production activity and by sector, the population age structure, and population density as proxy for the degree of urbanization. This study also assesses whether the development dichotomy between more and less developed municipalities affects waste and recycling performances, and to what extent the fiscal consolidation period (2011-2014) influenced these processes. Empirical evidence validates the inverted U-shaped relationship between municipal waste generation and overall production per head, the U-shaped relationship between recycling and waste generation, as well as between recycling and the share of the tertiary sector. The municipal production structure is shown to be important for explaining waste generation and recycling behavior, in contrast to population age structure that only differentiates recycling performance. It is also shown that the fiscal consolidation period affected positively the waste and recycling processes, while population density and the development dichotomy are not relevant factors for explaining differences in waste generation and recycling activities across the Portuguese municipalities.

Cerqueira P.A., Soukiazis E., Proença S.

The aim of this study is to analyze the circular interconnections between recycling, renewable energy and economic development. A multi-equation system is employed, where recycling and renewable energy (among other growth-inducing factors) are assumed to be important for promoting sustainable development (as provided by the Human Development Index), showing that both are mostly driven by technology and human capital skills. The system of simultaneous equations is estimated in static and dynamic form through 3sls, exploring panel data for a set of 28 OECD countries over the period 2000–2016, capturing in this way important linkages between the levels of economic development, renewable energy consumption and recycling rates. The empirical evidence shows that the circular process is characterized by cumulative linkages with feedback effects, where recycling and renewable energy are important policy factors for generating sustainable economic development with less climate deterioration. This result supports the idea of circular interconnections between economic development and green policies, through renewables and recycling, generating a self-sustained development without environmental deterioration.

Sverko Grdic Z., Krstinic Nizic M., Rudan E.

The need has arisen to implement a circular economic model that enables economic growth and prosperity in accordance with environmental protection and sustainable development because of the current unsustainable linear means of production in the economy. The aim of this paper is to determine the application of the circular economy concept in member countries of the European Union from 2008 to 2016. The purpose is to analyse whether economic development measured by GDP (gross domestic product) affects the analysed circular economy variables. Based on the hypotheses set, an econometric model was formed where GDP was identified as an independent variable, while the dependent variables were the production of municipal waste per capita, the recycling rate of municipal waste, the recycling rate of packaging waste by type of packaging, the recycling of bio-waste, and the recycling rate of e-waste. The first part of the statistical analysis conducted using the Stata software package shows the Pearson correlation between the abovestated variables, while the second part explores the univariate regression model. The results point towards the conclusion that the application of the circular economy concept can ensure economic growth and GDP growth while reducing the use of natural resources and ensuring greater environmental protection.

Ferrari F., Striani R., Minosi S., De Fazio R., Visconti P., Patrono L., Catarinucci L., Esposito Corcione C., Greco A.

This research paper is focused on the upscaling of previous studies of authors group about the stabilization, inertization and valorisation of the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW). The developed process first involves the development of an original process in order to transform the organic waste into an inert and sterilized material and, successive incorporation of the treated-OFMSW into a catalysed water soluble Urea Formaldehyde (UF) based resin. In particular, in this research work we report on the design and realization of a prototype platform able to produce inertized and valorised panels, starting from OFMSW. The platform is managed by Arduino-based electronic sections for controlling process parameters and integrated with user’s recognition and product traceability system based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Several panels were produced, by transforming different amounts and typology of OFMSW, in order to select the best composition, as a compromise between the production of panels with adequate mechanical properties and the usage of the lowest UF resin content. Mechanical and thermal characterization of the realized products was performed looking at potential applications of the panel. Finally, the RFID-based traceability system, managed by a properly developed software platform, allows to identify and store in the database the enabled users which give the OFMSW in the machinery and to track the produced panels or bricks, by using suitable wide-band low-cost passive UHF tags, thereby ensuring targeted and optimal management of the re-use or storage of the valorised products. In particular, the proposed system includes an innovative ICT part that uses UHF RFID technology, low-cost sensors and a Cloud platform capable to manage all collected data related to both disposed waste and bricks produced by transformation procedure.

Sharma G.D., Yadav A., Chopra R.

The paper provides an overview of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is applied in different government sectors. Our methodology is based on a systematic review of 74 papers retrieved from Web of Science and Scopus databases. We find that the extant literature is less focused on healthcare, ICT, education, social and cultural services, and fashion sector; while ignoring the practical implementation of AI in these sectors. We present an organizing framework stating different areas related to governance and throws light on research gaps in the extant literature that can be further worked upon for promoting the research in digital governance.

Valenzuela-Levi N.

One of the targets from the Sustainable Development Goals is by 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse. The indicators defined to measure progress are the recycling rate and Tons of material recycled. Paradoxically, very little is known about these indicators and the factors influencing them outside rich countries, where recycling has been long ago adopted. This study provides the first analysis of factors linked to separate collection rates and kilograms recycled per capita from actually existing municipal recycling services in a Latin American country. Thanks to primary data collection, it is possible to characterise and analyse the Chilean case. By 2018, barely above half of the 345 local governments had implemented recycling. Furthermore, even among municipalities that have been recycling for at least 5 years, separate collection is much lower than in any OECD country with available data. Econometric models are used to test nine different hypotheses about factors influencing municipal recycling. Existence of kerbside separate collection, duration of recycling programs and per capita spending on waste management are found to be positively and significantly linked to separate collection rates. Collection frequency of landfill waste is significant and negatively linked to higher separate collection rates within municipalities, but the same link is not significant between local governments. Four of the Chilean regions are found to be significantly lagging behind compared to the Santiago Metropolitan Region. Variables that are not significant are existence of organic recycling, population density, total population and poverty rate.

Gu W., Zhao X., Yan X., Wang C., Li Q.

Technical progress is usually considered to be an important way to effectively reduce carbon emissions. However, the advancement of energy technology may cause rebound effect which may lessen the emission reduction effect of technical progress. This suggests that the real impact of energy technological progress is worthy of further study. By taking the rebound effect into consideration, this study estimates the real effect of energy technological progress and energy consumption on carbon emissions in China, based on an interaction model, and using data from China's 30 provinces for the period 2005–2016. Key results include the following: (1) An inverted U-shaped relationship between energy technological progress and carbon emissions is detected. (2) Across technical progress, energy consumption has an inverted U-shaped effect on carbon emissions. (3) Turning points are found in both the direct effect and the technical effect of China's energy technological progress. This indicates that they initially increase carbon emissions, and then reduce them, although the rebound effect continues to have a positive impact on the increase of carbon emissions. (4) The largest differences between regions with different energy technology levels appear in the direct effect and the technical effect of energy technological progress on CO2 emissions, and there is almost no difference in rebound effect. Some relevant policy recommendations are proposed, based on the above findings.

Banacu C.S., Busu M., Ignat R., Trica C.L.

Based on recent findings of the economic literature on the implications of entrepreneurial innovation for recycling municipal waste, this paper aims to examine the main factors of recycling municipal waste at the European Union (EU) level. In this study, the authors developed a linear regression model to analyze the relationship between business expenditure on research and development (R&D), private investments, gross domestic product (GDP) expenditures on R&D, resource productivity, and environmental taxes on the recycling rate of municipal waste (RRMW). In our analyses, we used data from the Statistical Office of the European Union (EUROSTAT) and five statistical hypotheses were validated through a multiple regression model with panel data using the statistical software EViews 11. The study was conducted in 27 European Union countries between 2010 and 2017. Our results indicate that business expenditure on R&D, private investments, GDP expenditures on R&D, and resource productivity have a direct and significant impact on the RRMW, while environmental taxes have a significant and inverse impact on the RRMW. These findings underline that public policies should be focused on increasing the use of private and public investments on R&D for recycling municipal waste.

Didenko N., Klochkov Y., Skripnuk D.

In the present article, the main principles of the circular economy are outlined in contradistinction with the existing and traditional linear economic model. An econometric model describing the influence of the linear economy on the environment is presented. The environment is characterized by seven key processes: change in global temperature; emissions of greenhouse gases from industry to the environment; emissions of greenhouse gases from agriculture to the environment; CO2 emissions into the environment; depletion of fresh water supplies; reduction of forest cover; and economic damage from climatological disasters. The model describing the impact of the traditional linear economy on the environment consists of seven interdependent econometric equations, each comprising an autoregressive distributed lag (ADL)-model. The proposed econometric model is used to analyze the environmental effects of the present linear economy. Methodological provisions for a transformational transition of the traditional linear economic model to the closed-loop systems, which also permit the impact of the closed-loop systems on the environment to be analyzed, are set out. Seven ecological indicators are proposed as criteria for comparing the traditional linear economy and the closed-loop systems. The manuscript presents a new approach for the determination of ecological criteria for comparing linear and circular economies. The results of the study could be interesting to address circular processes, which can be used as a criterion to establish ecological management according to the status of natural resources.