The Determinants of the Growth of the European Bioplastics Sector—A Fuzzy Cognitive Maps Approach
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- Strengthen and scale up the bio-based sectors and unlock investments and markets,
- Deploy local bioeconomies rapidly across the whole of Europe,
- Understand the ecological boundaries of the bioeconomy.
2. Methodological Approach
2.1. Introduction to Fuzzy Cognitive Maps
- -
- they are easy to understand by the stakeholders,
- -
- they are easy to teach (to all the participants),
- -
- have a high level of integration (needed for the complex issues),
- -
- are not costly or time-consuming,
- -
- give a system description.
2.2. FCMs’ Structural Analysis
2.3. Construction of Collective FCMs
2.4. Dynamic Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Survey Design
3.2. Static Analysis of the FCMs
3.3. Dynamic Analysis of the Collective FCM
4. Discussion and Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
Disclaimer
Appendix A
Components | Variable |
---|---|
C1 | Acceptance |
C2 | Applications |
C3 | Availability of feedstocks |
C4 | Availability of raw materials |
C5 | Availability of the new product |
C6 | Awareness of the end user |
C7 | Awareness of the society |
C8 | Biodegradability |
C9 | Bioplastics sector |
C10 | Biotechnology |
C11 | Certification |
C12 | CO2 emissions |
C13 | Communication of environmental problems related to plastic waste |
C14 | Comparability to conventional plastics |
C15 | Competitors-Conventional plastics industry |
C16 | Consumption |
C17 | Control of MW |
C18 | Conventional industry |
C19 | Cost |
C20 | Cost of Production |
C21 | Cost of the final product |
C22 | Difficulties in management of plastic wastes |
C23 | Eco-friendly |
C24 | Economics |
C25 | Education |
C26 | Education of the public |
C27 | Environmental awareness |
C28 | Environmental impact |
C29 | Environmental Sustainability |
C30 | Ethics |
C31 | EU |
C32 | EU legislation |
C33 | EU Policy |
C34 | European Union policy |
C35 | Financial incentives for industry |
C36 | GHG |
C37 | Government |
C38 | Government Policy |
C39 | High Cost of Raw Material |
C40 | Incentives for production |
C41 | Income |
C42 | Industrial Processes |
C43 | Industrial production |
C44 | Industrial technology |
C45 | International framework |
C46 | Investment opportunities |
C47 | Legislation |
C48 | Long term performance |
C49 | Market |
C50 | Marketing |
C51 | Media |
C52 | Monomers purity and quantity |
C53 | National Legislation |
C54 | New industries |
C55 | NGOs |
C56 | Old industry (fossil) |
C57 | Petrochemical Industries |
C58 | Policy framework |
C59 | Political framework |
C60 | Political Parties |
C61 | Polymer Science and Technology |
C62 | Price |
C63 | Price of crude oil |
C64 | Price of the new product |
C65 | Priority of application depending on the product |
C66 | Production cost |
C67 | Production technology |
C68 | Productivity |
C69 | Properties |
C70 | Properties of the new product |
C71 | Properties of the product |
C72 | Public acceptance |
C73 | Purity |
C74 | R&D |
C75 | Range of use |
C76 | Raw Material |
C77 | Recycle |
C78 | Recycling potential |
C79 | Reduction of environmental impact |
C80 | Research & Development |
C81 | Science and Technology |
C82 | Seasonality raw material supply |
C83 | Similar properties to conventional products |
C84 | Society |
C85 | Tailor-made products |
C86 | Technological development for the production |
C87 | Technology |
C88 | Willingness to pay |
Components | Variable | Variables Clustered |
---|---|---|
C1 | Applications | Applications, Range of use, tailor-made products |
C2 | Availability of raw materials | Availability of feedstocks, availability of raw materials, raw materials, seasonality of raw material supply |
C3 | Availability of the new product | Availability of the new product |
C4 | Biodegradability | Biodegradability |
C5 | Bioplastics sector | Bioplastics sector |
C6 | Certification | Certification |
C7 | Communication of environmental problems related to plastic waste | Communication of environmental problems related to plastic waste |
C8 | Consumption | Consumption |
C9 | Control of MW | Control of MW |
C10 | Cost of the final product | Cost, cost of the final product, price, price of the new product |
C11 | Difficulties in management of plastic wastes | Difficulties in management of plastic wastes |
C12 | Eco-friendly | Eco-friendly, environmental impact, environmental sustainability, reduction of environmental impact |
C13 | Education | Education, Education of the public |
C14 | Environmental awareness | Awareness of the end user, awareness of the society, environmental awareness |
C15 | EU Legislation | EU, EU legislation, EU policy, European Union policy |
C16 | GHG emissions | CO2 emissions, GHG |
C17 | Incentives for production | Financial incentives for industry, incentives for production |
C18 | Income | Income |
C19 | Industrial production | Industrial production |
C20 | International framework | International framework |
C21 | Investment opportunities | Investment opportunities |
C22 | Market | Market |
C23 | Marketing | Marketing |
C24 | Media | Media |
C25 | Monomers purity | Purity, Monomers purity and quantity |
C26 | National Legislation | Government, government policy, legislation, national legislation, policy framework, political framework |
C27 | New industries | New industries |
C28 | NGOs | NGOs |
C29 | Petrochemical industry | Competitors-Conventional plastics industry, Conventional Industry, old industry (fossil), petrochemical industries |
C30 | Price of crude oil | Price of crude oil |
C31 | Production cost | Cost of production, high cost of raw materials, production cost |
C32 | Productivity | Productivity |
C33 | Properties of the product | Comparability to conventional plastics, properties, properties of the new product, similar properties to conventional products, long term performance |
C34 | Public acceptance | Acceptance, public acceptance, society |
C35 | Recycling potential | Recycle, recycling potential |
C36 | Research & Development | Biotechnology, polymer science and technology, R&D, research and development, science and technology |
C37 | Technology | Industrial Processes, industrial technology, production technology, technological development for production, technology |
C38 | Willingness to pay | Willingness to pay |
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Expert | Total Components | Total Connections | Density | Connections per Component | Number of Driver Components | Number of Receiver Components | Number of Ordinary Components | Complexity Score | Hierarchy Index |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 12 | 32 | 0.242 | 2.7 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 0.026 |
2 | 15 | 46 | 0.219 | 3.1 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 0.5 | 0.027 |
3 | 14 | 35 | 0.192 | 2.5 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 0.333 | 0.138 |
4 | 12 | 29 | 0.220 | 2.4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 0.018 |
5 | 8 | 12 | 0.214 | 1.5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0.007 |
6 | 17 | 48 | 0.176 | 2.8 | 0 | 1 | 16 | - | 0.000 |
7 | 11 | 30 | 0.273 | 2.7 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 0.081 |
8 | 13 | 19 | 0.122 | 1.5 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 0.167 | 0.002 |
9 | 16 | 28 | 0.117 | 1.8 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 0.143 | 0.015 |
Average | 13.1 | 31 | 0.197 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 9.4 | 0.6428 | 0.035 |
Total Components | Total Connections | Density | Connections per Component | Number of Driver Components | Number of Receiver Components | Number of Ordinary Components | Complexity Score | Hierarchy Index |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
38 | 155 | 0.110 | 4.079 | 4 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 0.001 |
Component | Indegree | Outdegree | Centrality |
---|---|---|---|
Bioplastics sector | 7.10 | 0.02 | 7.12 |
EU Legislation | 0.42 | 1.74 | 2.16 |
Monomers purity | 0.11 | 1.84 | 1.96 |
Properties of the product | 0.92 | 0.66 | 1.57 |
Recycling potential | 0.16 | 1.40 | 1.56 |
Research & Development | 0.49 | 0.93 | 1.43 |
National Legislation | 0.98 | 0.30 | 1.28 |
Production cost | 0.46 | 0.73 | 1.19 |
Environmental awareness | 0.75 | 0.43 | 1.18 |
Eco-friendly | 0.49 | 0.68 | 1.17 |
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Konti, A.; Mamma, D.; Scarlat, N.; Damigos, D. The Determinants of the Growth of the European Bioplastics Sector—A Fuzzy Cognitive Maps Approach. Sustainability 2022, 14, 6035. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14106035
Konti A, Mamma D, Scarlat N, Damigos D. The Determinants of the Growth of the European Bioplastics Sector—A Fuzzy Cognitive Maps Approach. Sustainability. 2022; 14(10):6035. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14106035
Chicago/Turabian StyleKonti, Aikaterini, Diomi Mamma, Nicolae Scarlat, and Dimitris Damigos. 2022. "The Determinants of the Growth of the European Bioplastics Sector—A Fuzzy Cognitive Maps Approach" Sustainability 14, no. 10: 6035. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14106035