Circular Economy as a New Model for the Exploitation of the Agroindustrial Biomass

This paper focuses on a new concept of waste and by-products within the agricultural system, based upon the perspective of circular economy, which directs the agrifood chain and the life style towards a "zero waste" model. This new approach can be achieved through efficient small and industrial scale of bioenergy plants, biorefineries and environmentally friendly process for the production of biomolecules to be employed as active principles in agronomy, cosmetics, foods, feeds and pharmaceutical applications. In particular, the case study of this paper concerns the exploitation of Olea, Cynara and Chestnut tissues and byproducts as new source for energy and bioactive antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds (polyphenols) (PCT/IT/2009/09425529 Olea europaea L.; PCT/IT/2008/000135 Cynara scolymus L., MI2014A000177 Chestnut), which will also be assessed in different Italian district. The regional level has been chosen for this analysis because the local approach allows to avoid and/or reduce the economic and environmental cost of the waste transport. The polyphenols market is projected to reach 1 billion dollars by 2020 and 4,790 potential source plants are present in Europe. The recovery of chemicals and the production of energy, should be a continuous process of interaction between high technology and environmental and economic sustainability, making this kind of multifunctional platform highly innovative and consistent with the principles of the circular econom

The Environmental Performance of Glass and PET Mineral Water Bottles in Italy

Worldwide the environmental weight of the packaging has overtaken the threshold, both due to the waste and the emissions generated. This issue stimulated the European Union (EU) to provide for a stringent regulation to tackle this burden. Particularly, the consumption of mineral water packed is very significant, as regards the use of plastic bottles, especially in the small size, which stresses the need for a boosted management of packaging by the governments, industries, and consumers (Botto et al. in Environ Sci Policy 14:388–395, 2011). Over the years, the EU has shown increasing consumption of mineral water-packed, and Italy, with 222 L per capita is the first European consumer country and the third worldwide. This chapter investigated the glass and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) packaging to analyse their environmental impact and undertake a comparison among them (Vellini and Savioli in Energy 34:2137–2143, 2009). Particularly the research provides a twofold analysis. Firstly, it assesses the impacts of 1 kg of hollow glass through the Life Cycle Assessment methodology (Schmitz et al. in Energy Policy 39:142–155, 2011;Vinci et al. in Trends in beverage packaging 16:105–133, 2019;) and makes a comparison with a 1 kg of PET ( Marathe KV, Chavan K, Nakhate P (2017) Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Bottles—Indian Perspective. http://www.in-beverage.org/lca-pet/ICT Final Report on% 20LCA of PET Bottles_for P ACE_01_01_2018.pdf. Accessed 2 March 2021). Secondly, the Greenhouse gas emissions of still water bottled based on the current Italian consumption is evaluated using the Carbon Footprint methodology, to highlight which among the glass and PET mineral water bottles have the better environmental performance (Kouloumpis et al. in Sci Total Environ 727, 2020). Finally, according to the European 2030–2050 climate and energy framework, an improved eco-friendly performance scenario based on post-consumption options for both materials, was investigated regarding the Italian mineral water bottles consumption

SOSTENIBILITÀ DELLA RISORSA ACQUA: UN APPROCCIO APPLICATIVO PER LA REGIONE PUGLIA

Il benessere e la sostenibilità di una regione si raggiungono anche attraverso l’utilizzo corretto delle risorse naturali a disposizione, tra le quali quella idrica. Attualmente, l’agricoltura consuma il 70% delle risorse idriche mondiali. L'obiettivo generale del presente lavoro è fornire alcune indicazioni per la previsione di scenari razionali e sostenibili della risorsa idrica in agricoltura, partendo da un’applicazione per l’area regionale pugliese ed analizzando i consumi associati ad alcune colture tradizionali. Attraverso la metodologia della Water Footprint, teorizzata da Hoeckstra et al. nel 2011, è stato calcolato l’impatto idrico associato all’olivo, al pomodoro e all’uva. Successivamente, attraverso una mappatura della risorsa acqua, invece, è stata condotta una quantificazione delle disponibilità idriche e dei volumi erogati dai consorzi di bonifica responsabili dell’approvvigionamento del 30% delle aziende agricole pugliesi. Questo studio presenta alcuni spunti per la progettazione futura di modelli innovativi di utilizzo razionale della risorsa idrica, è replicabile e permette di fornire alcune indicazioni a supporto delle policy e delle azioni che i decisori pubblici e i differenti stakeholder della filiera agricola devono assumere al fine di condurre l’agricoltura pugliese verso una completa sostenibilità e circolarità

Sustainable options for paints through a life cycle assessment method

In recent years, the paint industry has addressed the development of products, technologies, and packaging to build conditions to improve environmental performance in accordance to the circular economy goals. For these reasons, a life cycle thinking approach allows for the understanding of the most important steps for pursuing closed-loop strategies and related goals. This paper provides a twofold analysis: first, a comparison of two paints, characterised by different chemical compositions, has been carried out according to the current production cycle (baseline scenario); second, for each product, two additional and alternative scenarios have been hypothesised. These scenarios focus on the use of waste paint blended with virgin paint, and the use of a high rate of recycled inputs of packaging materials. The aim is first to assess the environmental impacts of the life cycles of the paints and identify feasible measures to reduce these impacts. The second aim is to choose the better option between scenarios, according to a circular economy approach. The results highlight that the production and supply of raw materials have the greatest impact on both paints, for all impact indicators. Consequently the use of waste paint reduces environmental impacts by roughly 48%, on average. Furthermore, the packaging options allow us to determine that the use of 50% recycled polypropylene had a better environmental performance than 100% recycled aluminium, although the contribution of packaging is negligible in the total impact indicators. Confirming the results, the sensitivity analysis on the waste paint use has been undertaken

Limiti e Prospettive dell'Economia Circolare

La crisi del modello economico lineare –Il divario tra domanda e disponibilità di materie prime – La transizione verso un modello di economia circolare–Le strategie dell’U

Nuove produzioni da scarti agroalimentari: il caso del cacao

Cocoa production produces various types of interesting waste. Usually, the use of this waste as raw material for new products is very limited. However, a greater understanding of the composition of this waste could increase their value allowing the producer countries, which are often Developing Counties, to implement new production cycles. This could also provide positive benefits for local economies. In this paper, after a brief review of the cocoa market, an analysis has been prepared on the characteristics of the different types of waste from a chemical and commodity group perspective. Finally, potential uses of cocoa waste in food and non-food sectors were identified

Photovoltaic waste assessment in Italy

At present, photovoltaics is, after hydro and wind power, the third most important renewable energy source in terms of its capacity to be globally installed; furthermore, for two years in a row, it was the number one new source of electricity generation installed in the European Union. Italy became the second country in the European Union concerning the cumulative installed power of PV (in 2013, the Italian PV cumulative power reached over 17,620 MW), which was also the result of the very attractive support policy. In connection with this development, the issue has emerged about the treatment and disposal of photovoltaic waste when the operative time (approximately twenty-thirty years) of the photovoltaic systems ended. The European Union, to address this environmental impact, passed the Directive 2012/19/EU to increase the amount of waste of electrical and electronic equipment in the form of photovoltaic panels that have been appropriately collected and treated to reduce the volume that become disposed. This paper aims to provide an assessment of the potential waste arising in Italy from the use and end-of-life phases of these renewable energy systems in the coming years and their disposal and/or recycling. Based on the lifetime of 25 years of photovoltaic panels, the estimate has been referred to two periods of waste generation (2012–2038 and 2039–2050). The importance of managing this flow of waste to enhance the correct disposal of the hazardous substances as well as the importance of the recovery and recycling of valuable resources has also been underlined

PAYMENTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES: AMBITIOUS TOOLS FOR THE SUSTAINABLE USE OF NATURAL CAPITAL

The flows of natural resources, goods and services (air quality, soil fertility etc.) from ecosystems are the natural capital of the economies. Among these flows the ecosystem services are critic and in decline. It has been underlined the need for ecosystem accounting techniques to study the relationship between economic sectors and their dependence from ecosystem goods and services, as well as the impacts on the last ones. Many countries are being developed payment programmes for ecosystem services (PES). This paper analyses definitions, scope, schemes and the main actors of the PES as tool to protect the natural capital