Special Issue "Circular Economy and Sustainable Rural Development"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 April 2022.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Florin Constantin Mihai
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Environmental Research Center "CERNESIM" Department of Sciences Interdisciplinary Research Institute "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iasi, lasi, Romania
Interests: environmental geography; waste management; circular economy; sustainable development; environmental pollution
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rural communities are facing serious waste mismanagement practices around the world (e.g., open dumping, open burning, river dumping, plastic pollution, etc.) due to lack or poor access to formal waste management systems, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Linear economy models lead to natural resource depletion, massive pollution, socioeconomic inequalities, and marginalized societies. Rural lands are exposed to urbanization process and and other processes in agribusiness sectors that are detrimental to organic farming, natural landscapes, and local biodiversity. Rural communities are prone to natural hazards (floods, drought, erosion, etc.) under the climate change context in addition to socioeconomic threats (depopulation, poverty, poor infrastructure, etc). Therefore, this Special Issue aims to address both environmental and societal issues of rural communities under the linear economy (the “make–take–dispose” model). To achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of Agenda 2020, the transition towards circular economy approaches must be implemented in rural communities. This Special Issue aims to reveal sustainable development alternatives that could catalyze this transition toward circular rural societies around the globe. Sustainable rural development could be achieved by the intersection of circular economy approaches with other sustainable economic alternatives, such as bioeconomy, blue economy, sharing economy, and the digital economy. Such studies are needed to reduce the rural–urban gaps around the globe in their sustainable pathways towards Agenda 2030. Multi- and interdisciplinary research contributions concerning various geographical areas are encouraged.

Possible topics covered by this Special Issue include (but are not limited to):

Regional integrated waste management systems

Resource efficiency, sustainable construction, and land management

Food waste prevention and sustainable agriculture

Community composting, home composting, and organic farming

Zero-waste strategies in rural communities (best practices)

Renewable energy transition including from waste treatment (e.g., biogas)

Circular rural tourism and ecotourism

Circular mechanisms associated with bioeconomy, digital economy, sharing economy, and blue economy in rural communities

Circular economy and social equity

Social and rural entrepreneurship

This Special Issue addresses academics, researchers, students, and professionals from various fields (environmental science, engineering, geography, social sciences, agronomy, etc.) decision-makers, public institutions, and organizations involved in environmental protection and sustainable rural development.

Dr. Florin Constantin Mihai
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • waste management
  • environmental pollution
  • circular economy
  • compost
  • organic farming rural development
  • zero-waste strategies
  • clean energy
  • sustainable development goals (SDGs)
  • social equity
  • sustainable communities

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Development of a Novel Helical-Ribbon Mixer Dryer for Conversion of Rural Slaughterhouse Wastes to an Organic Fertilizer and Implications in the Rural Circular Economy
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9455; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169455 - 23 Aug 2021
Viewed by 339
Abstract
Organic wastes of rural slaughterhouses in developing countries comprise of blood and undigested rumen contents harboring infectious microbial pathogens and having impermissible BOD5 and COD values. Previously we demonstrated valorization of blood and rumen contents through drying and conversion to an efficacious [...] Read more.
Organic wastes of rural slaughterhouses in developing countries comprise of blood and undigested rumen contents harboring infectious microbial pathogens and having impermissible BOD5 and COD values. Previously we demonstrated valorization of blood and rumen contents through drying and conversion to an efficacious organic fertilizer which was free from infectious pathogens and heavy metals. Here we describe fabrication of a novel helical-ribbon mixer dryer for transition from the current small-scale household cooking to equipment-driven sustainable production. Blood and rumen digesta mixed in a 3:1 ratio, having initial moisture of 85%, were dried at 90–110 °C for 3–4 h to attain 15.6% final moisture-containing organic fertilizer. Energy consumption and moisture extraction rate were 49.4 MJ per batch and 18.9 kg h−1 respectively. Using this method, small abattoir owners could emerge as multi-product producers to enhance earnings while farmers could source the fertilizer locally for organic farming. The two activities can be complementary to each other and become a sustainable circular economy model. We applied a spreadsheet-based model for calculation of cash flow, breakeven point and conducted financial cost–benefit analysis on the projected operation of the dryer. Fertilizer production parallel with the meat trade should be profitable for slaughterhouse owners and farmers apart from generating local employment opportunities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Sustainable Rural Development)
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