Product-service Systems and Sustainability: Opportunities for Sustainable Solutions

Given that the concept of PSS is beginning to 'catch on' and gain attention, it is time for UNEP to contribute to, and influence the progress of PSS, to ensure that in concept and application it incorporates the idea of sustainability. In this context its potential is not generally understood by the public and private sectors or civil society. This booklet is intended to contribute to the dissemination and the discussion of the PSS concept as a promising approach to sustainability. The ultimate goal must be to achieve Sustainable Product-Service Systems. This UNEP publication is targeted at industry and government, academia and civil society to explain PSS – their potential benefits and limitations – in the sustainability context – using real company examples. To prepare this booklet, UNEP has drawn on the knowledge and experience of PSS experts to flesh out the concept of a sustainable PSS, to collect case studies of PSS in practice, to begin to document both its benefits and the hurdles which need to be overcome in its application, and to suggest ways forward in its development

Emerging work patterns and different territorial contexts: trends for the coworking sector in pandemic recovery

Objectives: The paper aims to explore and unpack the complexity of coworking's users and supply (i.e. coworking spaces), based on the recent trends caused by Covid19. It is discussed whether and how coworking's environment increases its diversification in terms of users and the spatial and policy implications linked to this shift. Methodology: The study embraces a qualitative approach exploring the existing literature on the emerging dynamics in the field of work, moving from an overview of recent trends across Europe based on existing international surveys. Results: New possible scenarios may be based on different forms of proximity, not just in the dense metropolitan cores, but also in other types of territories, where the population may decide to selectively re-distribute, and the question will be how to supply all these areas with effective, efficient and equal opportunities in terms of jobs and services. The study highlights the diffusion of shared workspaces in different forms: traditional coworking spaces catering for freelancers and knowledge workers, but also workspaces in which employees from large organisations (public and private) will spend part of their working week, hybrid spaces based on peculiar combinations of locally required services (related to both jobs and care), third-spaces based on some form of everyday recreational activities, and many others. Limits and implications: The pandemic is still ongoing and, since the paper focuses on the review of existing literature and surveys in a changing context, its main limitation is the ability to collect verifiable and up-to-date data. Originality: The paper's uniqueness lies in the prefiguration of a range of development directions concerning the relationship between work practices and collaborative spaces in different territories, exploring how local and diffused dynamics might be the opportunity for a potential transformation of work patterns

Cation immobilization in pyrolyzed simulated spent ion exchange resins

Significant quantities of spent ion exchange resins that are contaminated by an assortment of radioactive elements are produced by the nuclear industry each year. The baseline technology for the conditioning of these spent resins is encapsulation in ordinary Portland cement which has various shortcomings none the least of which is the relatively low loading of resin in the cement and the poor immobilization of highly mobile elements such as cesium. The present study was conducted with cationic resin samples (Lewatit S100) loaded with Cs +, Sr 2+, Co 2+, Ni 2+ in roughly equimolar proportions at levels at or below 30% of the total cation exchange capacity. Low temperature thermal treatment of the resins was conducted in inert (Ar), or reducing (CH 4) gas atmospheres, or supercritical ethanol to convert the hydrated polymeric resin beads into carbonaceous materials that contained no water. This pyrolytic treatment resulted in at least a 50% volume reduction to give mechanically robust spherical materials. Scanning electron microscope investigations of cross-sections of the beads combined with energy dispersive analysis showed that initially all elements were uniformly distributed through the resin matrix but that at higher temperatures the distribution of Cs became inhomogeneous. Although Cs was found in the entire cross-section, a significant proportion of the Cs occurred within internal rings while a proportion migrated toward the outer surfaces to form a crustal deposit. Leaching experiments conducted in water at 25°C showed that the divalent contaminant elements were very difficult to leach from the beads heated in inert atmospheres in the range 200-600°C. Cumulative fractional loses of the order of 0.001 were observed for these divalent elements for temperatures below 500°C. Regardless of the processing temperature, the cumulative fractional loss of Cs in water at 25°C reached a plateau or steady-state within the first 24 h increasing only marginally up 120 h. For unheated beads, a steady-state was reached at a cumulative fractional Cs loss of about 0.0045 while for beads heated to 400°C the steady-state was reached at a value of 0.1. Under comparable conditions leaching of Sr, Co and Ni were close to the detection limits. It is concluded that the fraction of the Cs inventory that was more readily leached derived mainly from Cs phases in the crustal deposit.Fil: Luca, Vittorio. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; ArgentinaFil: Bianchi, Hugo Luis. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Seguridad Nuclear y Ambiente. Gerencia de Química (CAC); Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín; ArgentinaFil: Manzini, Alberto C.. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentin

Environmental impacts of reusable transport items: A case study of pallet pooling in a retailer supply chain

Manufacturing, storage, and transportation processes are typically facilitated by pallets, containers, and other reusable transport items (RTIs) designed to guarantee many cycles along a lifespan of several years. As a consequence, both supply and reverse transportation of RTIs need to be managed to avoid stockout along the supply chain and the unsustainable production of new tools from virgin materials. This paper focuses on the business of pallet management by analyzing the transport operations of a pallet pooling network serving a large-scale nationwide retailer. The pooler is responsible for supplying, collecting, and refurbishing pallets. The combination of the pooler's management strategies with different retailer network configurations results in different pooling scenarios, which are assessed and compared in this paper through a what-if analysis. The logistical and environmental impacts generated by the pallet distribution activities are quantified per each scenario through a tailored software incorporating Geographic Information System (GIS) and routing functionalities. Findings from this analysis suggest how to reduce vehicle distance traveled (vehicles-km) by 65% and pollutant emissions by 60% by combining network infrastructures and pooling management strategies-identifying an empirical best practice for managers of pallet businesses

Inclusivity in TAS research:An example of EDI as RRI

Responsible research and innovation (RRI) aims to achieve the goal of making research activities responsible and ethical. To those ends, it is vital for researchers to actively engage with equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) which, if not attended to, may detrimentally affect both potential research participants and the research itself. Our paper offers an account of our ongoing discussions surrounding the importance of EDI when designing our research, how we employed EDI to intentionally make our recruitment process more inclusive, and our ongoing planning to make all our research activities as inclusive, diverse, and accessible as possible. There is no one-size-fits-all approach for adopting EDI principles in RRI, however, we posit that their consideration is essential for research communities who wish their work to represent the perspectives of those who will be affected by future novel technologies

Environmental impacts of reusable transport items: A case study of pallet pooling in a retailer supply chain

Manufacturing, storage, and transportation processes are typically facilitated by pallets, containers, and other reusable transport items (RTIs) designed to guarantee many cycles along a lifespan of several years. As a consequence, both supply and reverse transportation of RTIs need to be managed to avoid stockout along the supply chain and the unsustainable production of new tools from virgin materials. This paper focuses on the business of pallet management by analyzing the transport operations of a pallet pooling network serving a large-scale nationwide retailer. The pooler is responsible for supplying, collecting, and refurbishing pallets. The combination of the pooler's management strategies with different retailer network configurations results in different pooling scenarios, which are assessed and compared in this paper through a what-if analysis. The logistical and environmental impacts generated by the pallet distribution activities are quantified per each scenario through a tailored software incorporating Geographic Information System (GIS) and routing functionalities. Findings from this analysis suggest how to reduce vehicle distance traveled (vehicles-km) by 65% and pollutant emissions by 60% by combining network infrastructures and pooling management strategies-identifying an empirical best practice for managers of pallet businesses

Community Plan William Dunbar and William Saville Houses. South Kilburn Estate

The aim of this document is to provide a community vision that informs South Kilburn SPD 2017. The document provides a proposal for refurbishment of the existing 147 homes, infill densification with 47 additional homes, which makes a total of 194 homes, nine new community with 366 m2 of floor space, 6 new retail units with 250 m2 of floor space, and a total of 24 car park spaces for residents. As this document explains, the proposed scheme follows the general principles of the 2016 Masterplan Review and the South Kilburn SPD 2017, as well as many of the specific proposals for the WDWS site (except demolishing the buildings and continuing Denmark Road). Since it follows many of the principles of Brent Council’s Masterplan, it can be considered as a community vision that can inform the regeneration of the WDWS site. This document is an independent study carried out by UCL researchers. WDWS Tenants and Residents Association can, if they consider it appropriate, present it to Brent Council to show a community vision for the regeneration of the WDWS site

Co-Producing a Social Impact Assessment with Affected Communities: Evaluating the Social Sustainability of Redevelopment Schemes

This paper explores the role of social impact assessment (SIA) as a tool to evaluate the social sustainability of council estate redevelopment or regeneration. The paper first revises the evolution of the concept of SIA in recent years, arguing that it should be included as a core part of the planning approval process to enhance community-centred planning decision-making practices, as claimed by the Just Space network in London. To contribute to this argument, the paper explores how to co-produce an SIA with those communities that are potentially affected by the scheme. We use as a case study William Dunbar and William Saville houses, two housing blocks located in South Kilburn Estate, London Borough of Brent, which are planned to be demolished as part of a large estate redevelopment scheme. The paper uses a diversity of participatory action research methods to co-produce an SIA with residents from the two housing blocks. From the experience of co-producing an SIA with residents, the paper comes out with three sets of findings and contributions. Firstly, the paper provides findings on the impact that demolishing the homes and re-housing residents would have on residents. Secondly, from these findings, the paper contributes to the argument that SIA should be incorporated into the planning system, but they should be co-produced with residents and carefully applied rather than becoming another box-ticking exercise. Thirdly, the paper provides very relevant methodological contributions on how to co-produce the SIA with those potentially affected

Diagnostics of the tropical tropopause layer from in-situ observations and CCM data

A suite of diagnostics is applied to in-situ aircraft measurements and one Chemistry-Climate Model (CCM) data to characterize the vertical structure of the Tropical Tropopause Layer (TTL). The diagnostics are based on vertical tracer profiles and relative vertical tracer gradients, using tropopause-referenced coordinates, and tracer-tracer relationships in the tropical Upper Troposphere/Lower Stratosphere (UT/LS). Observations were obtained during four tropical campaigns performed from 1999 to 2006 with the research aircraft Geophysica and have been compared to the output of the ECHAM5/MESSy CCM. The model vertical resolution in the TTL (~500 m) allows for appropriate comparison with high-resolution aircraft observations and the diagnostics used highlight common TTL features between the model and the observational data. The analysis of the vertical profiles of water vapour, ozone, and nitrous oxide, in both the observations and the model, shows that concentration mixing ratios exhibit a strong gradient change across the tropical tropopause, due to the role of this latter as a transport barrier and that transition between the tropospheric and stratospheric regimes occurs within a finite layer. The use of relative vertical ozone and carbon monoxide gradients, in addition to the vertical profiles, helps to highlight the region where this transition occurs and allows to give an estimate of its thickness. The analysis of the CO-O3 and H2O-O3 scatter plots and of the Probability Distribution Function (PDF) of the H2O-O3 pair completes this picture as it allows to better distinguish tropospheric and stratospheric regimes that can be identified by their different chemical composition. The joint analysis and comparison of observed and modelled data allows to state that the model can represent the background TTL structure and its seasonal variability rather accurately. The model estimate of the thickness of the interface region between tropospheric and stratospheric regimes agrees well with average values inferred from observations. On the other hand, the measurements can be influenced by regional scale variability, local transport processes as well as deep convection, that can not be captured by the model

Constitutive expression of E- and P-selectin cognate ligands in human endothelial cells.

On human endothelial cells from umbilical cord (HUVEC) are present, in addition to E- and P-selectins, their cognate ligands. Differently from selectins, the ligand expression is constitutive and not modulated by interleukin-1beta. Such ligands appear to be different from the ones present in promyelocytic cells in order to promote cell adhesion to immobilized selectins. The expression of selectin-ligands on HUVEC cells suggest that selectins can participate in endothelial signalling besides their role as adhesion molecules for circulating blood cells. However, despite their role in chemotaxis, selectins do not contribute to HUVEC tube formation in Matrigel