Special Issue "Life Cycle Thinking, Sustainability and Circular Economy: Practical Applications and Future Challenges"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Ioannis Arzoumanidis
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economic Studies (DEc), University “G. d'Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, Pescara, Italy
Interests: sustainability; industrial ecology; life cycle assessment; life cycle costing; social life cycle assessment; sustainable tourism; circular tourism; agri-food
Prof. Alberto Simboli
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economic Studies (DEc), University “G. d'Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, Pescara, Italy
Interests: industrial ecology; industrial symbiosis; materials recovery and recycling; life cycle thinking; eco-innovation; urban metabolism; lean and green manufacturing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The United Nations have led the way towards a more sustainable future by setting their 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Moreover, the EU has indicated the transition to Circular Economy (CE) amongst its priorities, thus showing a clear view towards sustainability. This concept, the roots of which can be found in the principles of Industrial Ecology, aims at favouring the maintenance of the value of products as well as of materials and resources within the economy as long as possible along with the minimisation of waste.

Furthermore, the concept of life cycle thinking (LCT), which takes into consideration the entire life cycle of a good or a service, aims at promoting all pillars of sustainability via three methodologies: life cycle assessment (LCA) for the environmental pillar, life cycle costing (LCC) for the economic one and Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) for the social one. LCA and LCC are standardised methodologies (ISO 14040:2016 and ISO 14044:2016 for LCA; ISO 15663-1:2001, ISO 15663-2:2001 and ISO 15663-3:2001 for LCC), whilst S-LCA is still emerging, although already tackled by the 2009 UNEP/SETAC Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of products (the drafting of the new version of the Guidelines is in progress).

With the need to promote sustainability becoming ever more important and current in a milestone year such as 2020, many challenges may arise around how to find synergies among CE, LCT and sustainable development. This Special Issue aims at putting together the knowledge obtained so far on these issues by including case studies and literature reviews within various key economic sectors as well as at taking a glimpse of the future by identifying the key aspects and methodological challenges that such synergies may entail.

Prof. Ioannis Arzoumanidis
Prof. Alberto Simboli
Guest Editors

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

  • sustainability
  • industrial ecology
  • circular economy
  • life cycle thinking
  • life cycle assessment
  • life cycle costing
  • social life cycle assessment
  • case studies
  • methodological challenges

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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Article
The CirCo (Circular Coffee) Project: A Case Study on Valorization of Coffee Silverskin in the Context of Circular Economy in Italy
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9069; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169069 - 13 Aug 2021
Viewed by 379
Abstract
Coffee silverskin (CSS) is one of the main byproducts of coffee roasting and poses a potential risk to the environment if disposed of incorrectly. Each year in Italy, over 500,000 tonnes of green coffee are imported for roasting followed by consumption or export. [...] Read more.
Coffee silverskin (CSS) is one of the main byproducts of coffee roasting and poses a potential risk to the environment if disposed of incorrectly. Each year in Italy, over 500,000 tonnes of green coffee are imported for roasting followed by consumption or export. This results in over 7500 tonnes of CSS produced each year which is typically disposed of as solid waste. Silverskin contains lignocellulose and can be used as a substitute for other raw materials to produce paper pulp. Both Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) were performed to compare the impact and cost of CSS paper production to conventional paper production using only virgin pulp. It was shown that the addition of CSS reduces the environmental impact of paper production by 10% and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 13% compared to conventional production with no cost increase (0.01% reduction with addition of CSS) for the producer. The results of this case study show that the utilization of CSS for paper production at the national level in Italy represents a suitable example of circular economy (CE). Full article
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Article
Digital Technologies for Urban Metabolism Efficiency: Lessons from Urban Agenda Partnership on Circular Economy
Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 6043; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116043 - 27 May 2021
Viewed by 679
Abstract
Digital technologies engaged in urban metabolism for efficiency provide policymakers, urban managers, and planners with useful instruments to collect, monitor, analyze, and evaluate the circularity of environmental, social, and economic resources to improve their effectiveness and quality. At present, the digital technology-based approach [...] Read more.
Digital technologies engaged in urban metabolism for efficiency provide policymakers, urban managers, and planners with useful instruments to collect, monitor, analyze, and evaluate the circularity of environmental, social, and economic resources to improve their effectiveness and quality. At present, the digital technology-based approach is strategic for circular cities engaged in the development of smart and sustainable actions in the fields of mobility, energy, environment, waste, telecommunications, and security. Through the ‘Circular Resource Efficiency Management Framework’ developed by the European Commission, this paper generates insights into the digitalization practices of the circularity of urban metabolism by analyzing the initiatives implemented by the municipalities of Kaunas, Flanders region, Porto, Prato, The Hague, and Oslo, which constitute the Partnership on Circular Economy (PCE) of the Urban Agenda of the European Union. The results of the analysis provide a wide range of practices such as real-time monitoring stations for water and energy consumption, digital cameras for controlling vehicle flows, web platforms for sharing goods and services, and tracking sensors for public transport, which aim to optimize the efficiency of the circularity of urban metabolic flows. This study increases the understanding and awareness of digital technologies in this paradigm shift. Full article
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Review

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Review
Towards Circular Economy in the Agri-Food Sector. A Systematic Literature Review
Sustainability 2020, 12(18), 7401; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187401 - 09 Sep 2020
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 2289
Abstract
Over the last decade, the unsustainability of the current economic model, based on the so-called take-make-dispose paradigm, has emerged. In particular, the agro-food sector (AFS) has been severely affected by such problems as resource scarcity and food loss and waste generation along the [...] Read more.
Over the last decade, the unsustainability of the current economic model, based on the so-called take-make-dispose paradigm, has emerged. In particular, the agro-food sector (AFS) has been severely affected by such problems as resource scarcity and food loss and waste generation along the supply chain. In addition, climate change and biodiversity loss have helped to define an imperative paradigm shift towards a circular economy. Recently, with the publication of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the scientific research examining the adoption of circular economy (CE) models and tools has increased. In this context, the importance of shifting towards a circular economy has become urgent. In this paper, a systematic literature review (SLR) was performed to investigate the state-of-the-art research related to the adoption of circular economy models and tools along the agro-food supply chain. Furthermore, this review highlights that, due to the complexity of the agri-food supply chain, it is almost utopian to define a unique circular economy model for the whole sector. In addition, it emerges that future researches should be concentrated on the integration of different stages of the supply chain with circular economy models and tools in order to create a closed-loop agri-food system. Full article
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