Displays

The COST Action Circular City (CA17133; "Implementing nature-based solutions for creating a resourceful circular city") aims to establish a network testing the hypothesis that a circular flow system that implements nature-based solutions (NBS) for managing nutrients and resources within the urban biosphere will lead to a resilient, sustainable and healthy urban environment. To date, most NBS are implemented serving only one single purpose. Adopting the concept of circular economy by combining different types of services and returning resources to the city, would increase the benefits gained for urban areas.

The Action's main output will be a guideline on combined NBS and circular economy possibilities within the urban environment. The work to achieve this will be carried out in five working groups (WGs):

• WG1 "Built environment" investigates the NBS - circular economy aspect on building and settlement level with the main focus on vegetated building materials and resources to be obtained from the corresponding NBS.
• WG2 "Sustainable urban water utilization" considers the implementation of a save and functional water cycle within the urban biosphere, defines available resources within the water flow, performs risk assessment on urban water and evaluates NBS for storm water management and waste water treatment.
• WG3 "Resource recovery" aims to transform implemented NBS for mitigation or treatment purposes to sources for a variety of resources to be harvested, used, reused and recycled.
• WG4 "Urban Farming" facilitates the implementation of urban farming with main purpose of food production within a city, but additionally paying close attention to other resources available from urban farming, usually considered waste.
• Last but not least, WG5 "Transformation tools" coordinates and leads the interdisciplinary activities between the WGs with the main aim to facilitate implementation of NBS in circular cities by 1) investigate performance-based assessment tools, 2) developing simplified tools and information for stakeholders, and 3) establish public relations strategies and approaches.

The contribution will present the results already achieved by the WGs by summarizing main results from the review papers each WG has produced.

How to cite: Langergraber, G. and Atanasova, N.: Potential of nature-based solutions for creating resourceful circular cities, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-12854, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-12854, 2020.

The concept of the circular city (CC) can be employed to mitigate the impact of the Food-Water-Energy Nexus on the environment at the local as well as the global level. The CC is based on circular economy (CE) ideas, where one of the key elements is coupling: unused and/or waste output of CE-entities can be used as input to other CE-entities. Due to the nature of some CE-entities, they need to be located in the proximity of other suitable CE-entities within the build environment.

Policies and strategies on the level of the EU, city, or district deliver an orientation; zoning law and building codes sets the legal frame when integrating a CE undertaking into the urban fabric. Based on the requirements of a planned CE-entity with a known configuration at a given location, comprehensive information is needed (1) on the infrastructure available, (2) where other usable CE-entities are situated, and (3) which qualities and respective quantities they offer. This may be, to name few, separate sewerage equipped buildings able to deliver grey water or facilities with excess heat on the output side; or entities which accept organic waste as input, e.g. biogas plants.

A site resource inventory using different data would unveil urban sources available on a given site to support business location decisions. One data source for a site resource inventory is the geodata infrastructure maintained by the authorities, e.g. the Berlin Geodata Portal. Information is centrally collected and published; but that comes with some restrictions: a rather fixed information structure, low update rate, and no means for user conducted error corrections. A further data source is volunteered geographic information as provided by OpenSteetMap (OSM), where every user can add and change content. OSM relies heavily on tags which describe specific features of map elements, but the standard tags of OSM are of only little use for the CC. Recently an ongoing project on OSM improve the semantic granularity by the introduction of specific CE-tags. This CE-project puts the main focus on locations. But there is further need for extending the range of the tags to enable CC siting by supporting attributes of CE-entities with regard to their material flows. 

The CC food sector and likewise urban agriculture (UA) bears potential towards sustainability if resource efficient food production technologies are used as CE-entities such as aquaponics, the coupled production of fish and vegetables.

Agriculture In the rural environment often uses single-story buildings which are inappropriate in urban contexts where low land consumption is required. On the next level, the roofs, there is much unused space available but competing claims are made, such as green roofs, recreation, housing, thermal and photovoltaic solar use as well as UA solutions like greenhouses. Urban aquaponics as a CE-entity is used exemplarily to propose OSM tags which can evolve to a CE tagging system - thus manifesting a new geodata management approach for a circular city.

How to cite: Baganz, G., Baganz, D., Staaks, G., and Kloas, W.: A missing link - site resource inventories for the circular city, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-9171, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-9171, 2020.

The present-day urban system is characterised by a one-directional flow of resources from the rural environment into cities. Cities are centres of human and economic activity, but also of resource use and waste. Therefore, they play both a critical and promising role to support the transition to a circular economy, by keeping incoming products, materials and resources in use. This requires a redesign of biological and technical material cycles in a way that their value can be maintained at the highest possible level for as long as possible, while at the same time natural systems are restored. How can we rethink urban infrastructures to transform cities from resource sinks into circular resource transformation hubs? And how can nature-inspired systems help us to create circular cities?

alchemia-nova is developing integrated, regenerative systems to close water, nutrient, material and energy cycles in cities, centred around buildings as multifunctional service providers. They include building-integrated nature-based solutions for small-scale on-site wastewater treatment, combined with organic solids management to platform chemicals, biogas and nutrients. This approach can enable the efficient valorisation of the high resource potential of urban nutrient flows, with near zero-energy and chemical input. This way, they provide a more efficient, robust and resilient alternative to the predominant chemical and energy-intensive end-of-pipe approaches to circular cities. Water and nutrients can be safely reused in urban and peri-urban agriculture, renewable energy produced on site, biomass and other solid waste further processed to secondary materials, while also gaining the multifunctional benefits of urban greening. These systems are being demonstrated through the EU H2020 HOUSEFUL project in Austria and Spain, complimented by demonstration sites in Greece (EU H2020 HYDROUSA project), thus ensuring their applicability in highly industrialised infrastructure and temperate climatic conditions, as well as in less developed communal infrastructure and Mediterranean arid climatic conditions. HOUSEFUL’s integrated management approach includes circular materials management along the entire housing value chain, e.g. to enable local sourcing of building materials. Together, the robust, low-maintenance technologies and circular materials management contribute to the creation of distributed resource transformation hubs across cities, where value is maintained, and secondary resources captured and recirculated where they occur, creating more efficient and more resilient circular cities, and a wider circular economy.

The research conducted in preparation of this presentation as well as the participation at NGU 2020 is funded by the EU-funded HOUSEFUL project (Grant Agreement number 776708).

HOUSEFUL online: http://houseful.eu/solutions/searching-local-building-material/

How to cite: Wirth, M. and Kisser, J.: Closing urban resource cycles through nature-inspired systems, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-1834, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1834, 2020.

Nowadays the global ecological crisis continues aggravating. The environmental issues are on agenda, getting increased public attention (e.g. protests caused by waste problems and climate change all around the world). Depleting resources, trash mountains, garbage islands, toxic emissions etc. require change of economy model from linear (resource extraction-production-usage-throwing away) to the circular one (recycled resource-production-usage-recycling). More than that, multiple waste use as well as resources reuse may bring to business and economy billions of dollars.

The very idea of recycle is practiced in the world since long ago. However, it has been done by few resources (collection of waste paper, scrub metal, glass bottles etc.) without shaping an economic system as a whole.

Another problematic issue is that the recycling does not always means to be ecological. The mode of recycling in countries with low eco-standards results in heavy pollution (e.g. e-waste “recycling” by fire at open air in Africa, India leads to emission of toxins; ship recycling in Bangladesh leads to polluted beaches and water). Methods of recycling in developing countries often are primitive and may be dangerous. Sometimes, entrepreneurs from developed countries are responsible for such state of affairs. They send legally or illegally part of wastes for that primitive recycling in developing countries. It is important to have awareness of the fact that everything is interdependent. If one part of the Earth is full of toxins and harmful fumes, its other part is inevitably affected over time. It is necessary to carry out recycling in all countries establishing strict environmental laws worldwide, and to make it based on smart technologies.

Circular economy in its narrowest sense is an economy that simply processes waste.
A serious change in business models, public mentality and government policies is necessary to get to environmentally friendly economy. It aims at lengthening the use cycle of goods (e.g. clothes, mobile phones) and minimizing the personal waste of every citizen. The EU household’s food waste was estimated to be 47 million tons (EU FUSIONS, 2016). “More than 30% of clothes in Europeans’ wardrobes have not been used for at least a year. Once discarded, over half the garments are not recycled but end up in mixed household waste and are sent to incinerators or landfill” (EPRS, 2019). YouGov Omnibus research: a third (34%) of respondents of Singapore have thrown away an item of clothing after wearing it just once. (YouGov, 2017).

Thus, effective circular economy is not just about re-processing and saving resources but, first, emphasizes its focus on greening environment and reducing waste as it is, becoming an eco-circular economy. Secondly, it calls forth measures at not only national or regional level, but also proceeding from “Earth is our common home”, worldwide.

How to cite: Șișcan, S.: Towards Eco-circular economy worldwide, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-787, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-787, 2020.

Abstract. The new opportunities offered by technologies have caused societies to break through towards the fourth industrial transformation. It will change the whole society and its structures alongside the business and the transition process is still speeding. The world is also facing big megatrends like global warming, urbanization, digitalization, new revolutionary technologies.

Like the industrial revolutions before, the whole paradigm of society is changing, and it will happen also in the fourth industrial revolution, so there is a need to think how we should take a step towards to the new paradigm, so that we could be able to response to future challenges on sustainable way.

The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies like sensor, IoT-platforms, artificial intelligence etc., give new possibilities to develop new, more efficient, more sustainable and more customer driven supply chain, prolong the lifetime of products and create new services and business models and this way reduce the use of materials of energy. There is also an argument to rethink the source of raw material, and in which extent the cities itself could be seen the source of needed materials and energy, by using new technology.

The move towards new ICT based technologies will happen unexpected fast, including exponential growth of data. That is the reason, why it is essential to understand the challenges of change and have a strategic view, identify the key elements and see the new opportunities in all levels of society development.

Circular Economy has been very much a hot topic in many discussions, but there has been quite little discussion about reengineering the value chains and production based on circular economy principles by using the new opportunities on 4IR technologies not only in production but also in creating service, which change the need/thinking of ownership and build new business models. In addition to this, the elements to improve business environment by local or national authorities and legislators.

Finland has is as a goal to develop to one of the leading countries in circular economy, In Finland, Forssa region is considered to be one of the most advanced region in bio-based circular economy.

In this article has been described the development of regional industrial symbiosis in order to have competitive of business and future development.

How to cite: Ruohomaa, H., Salminen, V., and Pöykkä, T.: Rethinking the production and consumption on the transition, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-3855, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-3855, 2020.

Klaus Wagner, Sigrid Egartner, Heidelinde Grüneis, Karin Heinschink, Julia Niedermayr

Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics, Rural and Mountain Research

Dietrichgasse 27, 1030 Vienna, Austria

Tel: +43 1 71100 637426, Contact: klaus.wagner@bab.gv.at, www.bab.gv.at

“Living Lab Research Concept in Rural Areas” (LIVERUR) is an EU-H2020 programme funded project, running from 2018 to 2021. The LIVERUR consortium consists of 23 partners from 13 countries, coordinated by Universida Catolica de Murcia (Spain), see https://liverur.eu.

The project aims at modernising small and medium rural businesses in the EU and its neighbouring countries by introducing the Rural Living Lab research methodology. It will identify, analyse and test various specific rural business model approaches. It drafts a new Regional Circular Living Lab Business Model Concept (RAIN) - integrating living lab-, circular economy- and multi-actor approaches as well as open innovation, ecologic, economic and social sustainability with support of innovative ICT solutions. The RAIN concept helps enterprises and organisations to design their sustainable, innovative and contemporary business models.

Based on theoretical and empirical analyses the RAIN concept is structured according to three different layers:

• The Core Elements describe the business model with respect to the topics vision/business idea, people, resources, implementation/development, management/organization, financial aspects, product/service/process, research/innovation, marketing/distribution;
• In order to enrich the business model the so called RAIN Principles (Ecologic, economic and social sustainability, circular economy, open innovation, stakeholder involvement, openness, ICT) should be taken into consideration in each Core Element;
• Last but not least, external influences on the project or activity – the Real Life Setting – has to be reflected and included in the business model (environment and climate, economic and societal context, legal and institutional framework, technical and social infrastructure, food security and safety).

In LIVERUR 20 projects in 13 pilot regions will be developed based on the RAIN concept. The topics are widespread but all are of high importance in rural regions, e.g. regional food sovereignty, utilization of organic waste, local online-marketing, agriculture-tourism cooperation, sustainable milk-production, energy-production.

The contribution will focus on the development and description of the RAIN concept and its steps of application.

LIVERUR has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement 773757

How to cite: Wagner, K.: RAIN - A Living Lab Concept for Circular Economy, Cooperation and Innovation in Rural Regions, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-1297, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1297, 2020.

Research is ever deepening its knowledge in a multitude of fields. Such research contributes in great depth to identifying and understanding problems (e.g. in the field of climate change). However, when it comes to societal implementation, it may ultimately lead to zero knowledge at infinite depth, as it has been ironically put. To tackle sustainability, respectively to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) set by the UN, science has to come together and work in transdisciplinary teams. Scientists are poorly prepared for such an exercise and standard procedures of scientific work, sharing and publication of results in specialised conferences and journals do not help.

In view of this problem, the Austrian Alliance of Sustainable Universities and research centres has created a project, UniNEtZ (Universities and Sustainable Development Goals), to jointly address the issues raised by the SDGs and develop suggestions for policies in a multidisciplinary approach. In order to facilitate this for the scientists involved, UniNEtZ is preparing collaborative measures and methods to address the issue of cooperation between disciplines to guarantee that all important interactions among SDGs are considered and addressed in equal detail. It is expected that changes in the way science and scientists are used to work together are necessary to achieve that. The developed concepts will be published in a handbook for UniNEtZ,

In a next step, the  handbook also hints at the need for municipal, regional, and national administrations to transition towards a kind of governance, that enables implementation of policies towards the SDGs. Current hierarchically organised structures don’t seem ideal for the kind of transsectoral cooperation that will be needed to implement the expected measures.

The contribution presents the findings of this work on cooperative research and governance structures.

Keywords: SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals, transdisciplinary research, transsectoral implementation

How to cite: Regelsberger, M., Allesch, A., Becsi, B., Germann, V., Gratzer, G., Gühnemann, A., Hundscheid, L., Körfgen, A., Kozina, C., Kreiner, H., Lindenthal, T., Manderscheid, M., Rammler, S.-M., Scherz, M., Schwarzl, I., Toth, W., and Vacik, H.: Transdisciplinary research towards transsectoral implementation, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-20788, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-20788, 2020.

Green spaces are known to provide a number of benefits to urban areas. In order to make green spaces more accessible to people in urban regions, the EU has launched some important initiatives that place green infrastructure (GI) development as a top priority in urban planning, contributing to the paradigm of making more sustainable and smarter cities for everyone.  However, some GI development might bring unexpected impacts that are observable only with a systemic analysis. For instance, an increased surface of green rooftops might serve as a source of local food production and reduce the need of the buildings’ air conditioning at the expense of increased water and fertilizer use. Despite this shift of focus in urban planning priorities, few studies assess tradeoffs between water, energy and food metabolism of different GI alternatives. An important reason for this gap is that current methods for the analysis of the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus in the urban metabolism lack a transdisciplinary approach.

To fill that gap, we propose using two system analysis methods: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Multi-Scale Integrated Assessment of SocioEcosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM), to assess the WEF nexus in an urban region in the context of GI. Furthermore, the WEF flows are georeferenced to understand their impact on the urban landscape.  Based on this georeferenced analysis of land use and land use change, we 1) complete an inventory of functions associated to different land uses with their related inputs and outputs, 2) study function-related environmental pressures with LCA, and 3) assess the systemic impacts of relevant functions over domestic and alien ecosystems and WEF supply systems.

We develop this innovative approach using the municipality of Sant Climent de Llobregat, in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB), as a case study. Sant Climent covers 1.6% of the AMB surface and is currently undergoing a GI restructuring process focused on recovering formal agricultural land (currently lost to forest)  for highly profitable cherry production. We provide a systemic study that informs about the resource demand and environmental impacts these changes may imply. Data is compiled in collaboration with regional research centers, from local utility companies, planning offices of different towns, statistical yearbooks for Catalonia and Spain, and LCA databases. The work is an on-going collaboration with the AMB government as it develops the Urban Development Plant (PDU) that will set the land use related urbanism policy guidelines from 2021 on. We present a diagnose of the current state of the WEF metabolism in Sant Climent. We identify geographically explicit hotspots, where competition of the resources and unexpected domestic or alien environmental impacts arise.  These hotspots are compared against land to be transformed to highlight the best and worst areas for transformation. We expect that in a later stage, these results will feed a scenario assessment of the systemic impacts of the proposed actions of the new PDU.

This work is part of the research developed in the ERC Project URBAG: Integrated System Analysis of Urban Vegetation and Agriculture.

How to cite: Madrid-Lopez, C., Mendoza-Beltran, A., Padro Caminal, R., Serrano Tovar, T., Marull, J., and Villalba, G.: Transdisciplinary assessments for circular city design: identifying systemic water-energy-food nexus hotspots in metropolitan Barcelona, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-6097, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-6097, 2020.

The focus of this research is how a multi-scale approach in geospatial information and mapping can contribute to the planning and design of more connected, inclusive, healthy, climate-friendly, and multi-functional circular urban environments. The research addresses the relation between socio-ecological and economic aspects of city development on different spatial levels as a key challenge of European cities. This requires a multidisciplinary and integrative approach to produce effective strategic scenarios of urban development. This methodology is focused on multi-scale analyzes of environmental relationships and provides a flexible framework for improvement of the planning and design of circular cities. Through these advantages, the applied methodology can allow for more flexible identification and improvement of nexus between urban and natural.

One of the basic problems for achieving circularity in urban development is the discontinuous and unplanned urbanization. Such developmental characteristics of cities, as well as the increasing need for nature and biodiversity in cities, necessitated the search for new ecological approaches and principles for their implementation in the process of spatial planning and urban design.  The central research question in the context of sustainable spatial development has become how to ensure multiple balances in-between social, cultural and economic versus ecological systems.

In order to improve the existing circularity and built-natural relations, it is necessary to develop a more complex mapping system which involves planning systems of smaller-scale natural-ecological units integrated into the existing urban structure and connecting them with linear natural-ecological elements. In this sense, the multi-scale methodology is not only reflected in the evaluation of the current situation but also can be used as a tool for testing the variant development opportunities toward circular cities.

The applicability of the developed methodology has been tested within the spatial framework of Belgrade, while the result is a series of critical maps illustrating the nexus between urban and natural in the city.

Acknowledgment: This research was realized as a part of the project “Research and systematization of housing development in Serbia in the context of globalization and European integrations for the purpose of improving housing quality and standards” (TR36034) financed by the Ministry of Education and financed by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia and COST Action CA17133 - Implementing nature-based solutions for creating a resourceful circular city.

How to cite: Ristic Trajkovic, J., Krstic, V., and Milovanovic, A.: The Role of Multi-scale Approach in Planning and Design of Circular Cities: Mapping the Nexus Between Urban and Natural, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-17956, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-17956, 2020.

IMPROVING THE MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF NEMOCÓN (COLOMBIA)

CAMILO-ANDRÉS VARGAS-TERRANOVA⁽¹⁾ and JAVIER RODRIGO-ILARRI⁽²⁾

⁽¹⁾Universidad de La Salle, Bogotá, Colombia (cvterranova@unisalle.edu.co)

⁽²⁾Instituto de Ingeniería del Agua y del Medio Ambiente (IIAMA), Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain (jrodrigo@upv.es)

ABSTRACT

The municipality of Nemocón (Colombia) located 45 km from Bogotá generates 810.3 t/year of municipal solid waste (MSW). Despite the Colombian national legal requirements, Nemocón Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP) shows important deficiencies in the waste management system, especially concerning the final destination of waste.

During 2019 a set of activities have been performed in the town as an initial response to these needs with the participation of the community and local authorities. First, the design of the waste collection routes was analyzed and improved. Two routes were designed, supported by compacting vehicles with an average time of 3 hours (80 km per route) and 3 routes per week each. Besides, two shorter routes were designed for the collection of recyclable waste, supported by hand-drawn vehicles, with operating times of 6 hours (8-10 km per route) and daily routes.

With the support of students from the University of La Salle and the donation of an abandoned building, a Classification and Use Station (CUS) was implemented to strengthen the management of such recyclable waste. The CUS was provided with personal protection elements to improve their condition as managers of minor routes and the preliminary treatment of waste in the CUS, for later sale to wholesalers external managers.

Finally, a tax system was designed to finance the operation of the CUS (2500-2800 Euros/month) and promote greater separation volumes in the midterm, based on an adjustment to the normal payment made by the users for the service of waste collection and management. This system took into account the different types of users (commercial, industrial, residential and official), local socioeconomic scale and national economic variables. The increased rate varies between 1 and 1.5% for all users in the first year of increase.

How to cite: Vargas Terranova, C. A. and Rodrigo Ilarri, J.: Improving The Municipal Solid Waste Management Plan Of The Municipality Of Nemocón (Colombia), EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-10290, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10290, 2020.

Pronosticar la generación de residuos sólidos se ha convertido en un tema fundamental para dimensionar los elementos técnicos (generación, recolección, transporte, transferencia, uso y disposición final) y políticos (legislación, grupos de interés, sostenibilidad financiera) con respecto a la gestión integral de residuos sólidos en megaciudades. Para poder hacer este tipo de predicciones, es necesario diseñar modelos matemáticos que permitan el análisis de cada variable asociada con esta gestión, teniendo en cuenta las particularidades y necesidades locales de gestión de residuos.

Se pueden incluir varios modelos en cada etapa de la gestión integral de residuos sólidos urbanos. Actualmente, existen modelos que utilizan inteligencia artificial para pronosticar la generación de residuos sólidos urbanos, diseñar rutas de recolección y seleccionar el tipo de disposición final. Sin embargo, es necesario integrar estos modelos que respondan al contexto de cada población. Para lograr esto, es necesario conocer las características de cada ciudad, así como las diferentes variables implícitas dentro del proceso para desarrollar metodologías concretas, que se convierten en herramientas útiles para las administraciones municipales. Sin embargo, las metodologías existentes no incluyen un análisis de los impactos asociados con cada etapa del proceso de gestión de residuos, como criterio para seleccionar las mejores estrategias de gestión. 

Therefore, this methodological proposal includes a stage to evaluate the possible impacts caused by the selected alternative, for which a life cycle analysis is proposed as a tool to determine possible environmental, economic and social impacts. This analysis will be carried out by gathering the corresponding information, as well as using specific software to obtain the data that feeds the model for subsequent decision-making.

Esta propuesta introduce diferentes tipos de modelos en cada etapa del proceso para obtener resultados integrales y más precisos con respecto a las necesidades de una megaciudad. La propuesta se basa en variables y datos reales de acuerdo con las particularidades de las ciudades, para minimizar los posibles errores en la toma de decisiones. Al introducir herramientas cuantitativas para analizar la gestión de residuos sólidos urbanos, la metodología propuesta omite posibles evaluaciones cualitativas o basadas en la percepción, lo que lleva a que los resultados obtenidos sean cada vez más realistas, ya que tienen en cuenta las necesidades reales de cada población.

How to cite: Solano, J., Orjuela Yepes, D., and Rodrigo-Ilarri, J.: Methodological analysis for decision-making regarding solid waste management in megacities, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-10745, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10745, 2020.

Coal thermal power plants (TPP) actively generate numerous solid combustion by-products, including fly ash and bottom ash. These TPP by-products have already found use in a variety of civil engineering applications, such as a substitute for sand and gravel in structures, as well as a binding component in certain types of cement (generally, concrete and masonry). Furthermore, such by-products have become a subject of increasing interest in environmental engineering as a low-cost and effective adsorbent for the removal of organic pollutants and heavy metals from wastewaters.

In order to minimize the impact of material cost, novel solutions for the development of a high capacity and long-term adsorbent have provided a high performance adsorbent for practical applications. This study is focused on the use of modified fly ash (MFA) activated by lime (Ca(OH)₂) as an effective and low-cost adsorbent for the removal of As(V) ions. The adsorption capacity of the MFA adsorbent was found to be 35.40 mg g^-1, while the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters indicated a spontaneous and endothermic process. Due to the low desorption potential of the exhausted adsorbent (MFA/As(V), their effective further material reuse was established to be feasible. The reuse of the exhausted adsorbent was obtained through pozzolanic MFA particles and Ca(OH)_2, thereby formulating a construction material of a cementitious calcium-silicate hydrate. The toxicity leaching test (TCLP) and mechanical properties of the new construction material containing exhausted MFA (CM-MFA/As(V)) confirm its safe use in the laboratory as well as its semi-industrial application.

The specific objectives of this study have been: (i) to improve the adsorption performance of the MFA; (ii) to evaluate the material’s equilibrium, as well as the process’ kinetic and thermodynamic aspects, including  estimating its limiting step; and (iii) to investigate the possible reuse of the exhausted adsorbent in the production of construction materials. The kinetic data were successfully fitted by a pseudo-second-order equation and the Weber-Morris model. The metal-desorption experiments performed on the exhausted FA and MFA indicate a low recovery of the selected pollutants.

The major outcome of this study, indicates that double-valorization of fly ash opens new directions for waste management toward reuse in effective practical applications; i.e., for actual water –purification systems, as well as in the production of construction material.

How to cite: Karanac, M., Đolić, M., Pavićević, V., and Marinković, A.: The removal of As(V) ions by lime-modified fly ash and reuse of the exhausted adsorbent as an additive for construction material, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-10191, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10191, 2020.

Sustainable development and the circular economy are becoming the new imperative of industrial growth, as the world faces the depletion of natural resources and consequences of climate change. The utilization of waste streams through the concept of ‘new added value’ gives life to the production of materials and their environmental application. Therefore, the development of novel, eco-friendly, nature-based adsorbents that possess high degradable and recyclable potential is on the forefront of research. The modifications of wood derivates, such as cellulose and lignin, are widely applied as natural polymers due to their economic feasibility, ecological similarity and adsorption capabilities.

The subject of this study is the adsorption of nickel(II) and cadmium(II) ions from aqueous solutions using 5.0 mass % of alginate lignin microspheres (A-LMS). Due to their toxicity, persistence, high solubility and mobility, such heavy metals are widely dispersed throughout environmental media (chiefly, aquatic bodies), leading to ecological and public health problems. The raw lignin used as a source material in the study originates from the waste stream of the lumber industry. The porous microspheres are of a radius of 50 to 950 microns and a surface area of 36.9 m² g^-1 were synthesized via inverse suspension copolymerization of the kraft lignin with a poly(ethylene imine) grafting-agent and an epichlorohydrin cross-linker. The structural and surface characteristics were confirmed via Fourier transform-infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The textural properties of the synthesized A-LMS were determined according to the Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) method of analyzing nitrogen adsorption. The adsorption batch and column testing were carried out by varying the reaction time, temperature, adsorbent mass, at predefined pH values of the initial solutions. The maximum adsorption capacity of the A-LMS for nickel (II) ions was 89.286 mg g^-1 at a temperature of 318 K, while for the adsorption of cadmium(II) ions it was 96.154 mg g^-1 at a temperature of 308 K. The kinetic data followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, while the Weber-Morris model indicated intra-particle diffusion as a rate limiting step. The thermodynamic parameters for the A-LMS further confirm that the adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic.

The study indicates the high potential of by-products or waste products from heavy industry to be repurposed for environmental engineering applications by which they may serve a benefit as opposed to being a detrimental risk. Such is the case here with lignin-natural polymers taken from the lumber industry, which themselves may be reutilized for the removal of heavy metals from wastewater.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (project no. 172007). The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by COST-European Cooperation in Science and Technology, to the Cost Action CA17133: Circular City.

How to cite: Stanišić, T., Popović, A., Rusmirović, J., Đolić, M., Ristić, M., Perić-Grujić, A., and Marinković, A.: Lignin microspheres as a nature-based material for effective nickel(II) and cadmium(II) ions removal, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-493, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-493, 2020.

As an alternative to the traditional linear economy, the circular economy could help tackle the climate emergency, decrease resource scarcity and increase business sustainability. Implementing it successfully, maintaining sustainability and facilitating real systemic change means an effective coordination among all stakeholders is needed.

Meaningful engagement of stakeholders will help achieve a shared understanding of the concept, the new approaches and their implementation at all levels. Mobilizing different stakeholders is always a challenge and requires careful planning in order to demonstrate that the stakeholders’ input and engagement is valued, and participatory processes are in place.

The presentation will provide insights into the different stakeholder groups, their interests and methods that could be employed to reach effective engagement. It will also outline approaches, actions and tools that should help circular economy drivers develop a plan for stakeholder engagement based on clear understanding of stakeholders’ needs.

Apart from the general insights on the role of stakeholders in circular economy projects, the presentation will also provide practical knowledge on mapping and profiling stakeholders, stakeholder engagement strategy development, engagement tools and evaluation methods. Specific needs for improvement of stakeholder engagement practices into Circular economy projects will be tackled and discussed as well.

How to cite: Majercakova, G. and Bokal, S.: How to meaningfully engage key stakeholders in smart circular economy , EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-4223, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-4223, 2020.

The welfare of the Republic of Moldova much depends on the use of its natural resources. However, the pace at which the natural resources are exploited exceeds the ability of the environment to regenerate them. Land resources are the main natural wealth of the country. The conservation and increase of effective fertility of the soils becomes the basic task of the owners of agricultural lands. The methods of the conventional agriculture do not work anymore to make the sector competitive at regional and global markets. New concepts and technologies of Green and Circular economy are of more perspective. They also are more effective under the continuous unbalanced extraction of natural resources which causes environmental damage.

The case of Moldova reflects the global trends. Some international studies have shown that the global consumption of materials per capita has doubled, while the consumption of primary energy has tripled in the last hundred years. In other words, each of us consumes three times as much energy and twice as much material as our predecessors consumed in 1900. Moreover, nowadays there are 7.2 billion consumers compared to 1.6 billion in 1900.

At the same time, the requirements for quality standards in Green economy are very high and rigid as well as  “the annual financing demand to green the global economy has been estimated to be in range 1.05 USD to 2.59 USD trillion” (UNEP, 2011). That is why the Circular ecological economy is seen as more viable solution for world, regional and national economies. ”Ecological economy” generally refers to an economy in which all the choices regarding production and consumption are made taking into account the welfare of the society and the global health of the environment. ”Circular economy” implies a system of production and consumption that generates as little loss as possible.

The EU Circular economy Package and CE Stakeholder Platform are a good start for regional economy as well as that of Republic of Moldova as its Associate Member. The beneficial solution for improving the environment of the country consists in redesigning products, production and consumption processes by minimizing waste and transforming that unused part into a resource.

How to cite: Cojocaru, O. and Siscan, Z.: The circular ecological economy - a beneficial environment in light of the use of natural resources in the Republic of Moldova, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-58, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-58, 2020.

Circular economy solutions reuse and upcycle waste streams in order to minimize the use of resources and mitigate the creation of waste and emissions. Accordingly, circular economy solutions are an essential tool to tackle the imminent challenges of depleting resources and the emerging environmental crisis. In this presentation, we explore the circular solutions for resource recovery in waste streams in a country with one of the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Human Development Index (HDI) in Europe, Iceland. The economy of Iceland is mainly based on renewable energy, fishery, farming, metallurgy, and tourism. To assess the benefits of circular economy solutions we examine four relevant case studies from the following industrial sectors in Iceland: i) a geothermal energy plant, ii) fisheries, iii) domestic waste processing and iv) aluminium production. By describing the processes, the opportunities and the market potential of the circular economy solutions in the four case studies we identify the superiority of circular recovery of resources in a modern society. The results reveal that the recovery of resources reduces the environmental impacts, increases the economic output and enhances the resilience of the local economy. While our results are based on the examples in Iceland the described processes of resource recovery can be applied in any other country with similar resources. We conclude that the presented circular solutions could lead to a more sustainable world while preserving vital resources for the next generations.

How to cite: Finger, D. C., Svavarsson, H. G., Björnsdóttir, B., Sævarsdóttir, G. A., and Lea Böhme, L.: The superiority of circular economy solutions in the main sectors of an innovative and prospering economy – a case study from Iceland, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-18282, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-18282, 2020.

Emission of primary microplastics in mainland China: Invisible but not Negligible

Teng Wang ^1,3, Baojie Li ^2,3* , Xinqing Zou^3*

¹ College of Oceanography, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098

² School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044

³ School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023

Abstract:

Primary microplastics are mostly produced as part of the daily plastic product use. The emission process is often invisible but poses potential ecological hazards. Thus, primary microplastics deserve public attention. Due to China's huge population base and its rapid economic development, primary microplastics emissions are of both regional and global significance. This study is the first to establish the emission inventory of primary microplastics in mainland China. It was estimated that the primary microplastic waste from mainland China amounts to 737.29 Gg, and one-sixth of this amount entered the aquatic environment in 2015. The highest proportion of this waste was attributable to tire dust and synthetic fiber, accounting for 53.91% and 28.77% of the total respectively, in mainland China. The primary microplastics emissions mainly depend on the population, followed by the level of economic development. It was roughly estimated that 538 g of microplastics is produced by each person in China. At the grid scale, the spatial difference in the total primary microplastics emissions in mainland China primarily depends on the population density distribution and transportation network. We studied the entire life cycle of several sources of microplastics, from production to discharge into the aquatic environment. We suggested different control measures under different nodes. Increasing microplastics treatment in sewage treatment plants should be a short-term viable way to achieve some measure of reduction in their entry to the environment in mainland China. Our research can not only raise public awareness about primary microplastics, but can also guide the development of environmental policies to reduce plastic pollution.

Keywords: Primary microplastics; Emission inventory; Mainland China; Sewage treatment plants

How to cite: Wang, T., Li, B., and Zou, X.: Emission of primary microplastics in mainland China: Invisible but not Negligible, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-1816, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1816, 2020.