Special Issue "Green Design: A Nexus between Waste and Materials"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2022.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Rui Zhao
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China
Interests: waste management and disposal; environmental systems engineering
Dr. Tianxue Yang
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, China
Interests: waste treatment and disposal
Dr. Sebastiano Patti
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
University of Catania
Interests: waste management; environmental economics and policy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, “green” and “low-carbon” technology has been gradually entering into product lifecycle management, both as a measure against “climate change” and for sustainability. From the perspective of the “Hierarchy of Waste”, the most preferable strategy for encompassing sustainable development is to prevent or eliminate waste. Waste prevention has been demonstrated as the best model for pollution prevention, especially in the disposal phase, the best way to promote economic benefits, and the most effective way to implement sustainable development. For products, the strategy focuses on reduction of the entire lifecycle impact. However, many industries still primarily focus on profit as the main criterion of business success and generally do not consider the environmental impact of the full product lifecycle, especially when products enter the post-consuming stage.

In such a context, ‘green design’ or ‘environmental conscious design’ incorporates environmental objectives into traditional product attributes, such as cost, performance, manufacturability, safety, consumer appeal, etc. In addition, green design not only serves for waste prevention, but also better materials management, which coordinates product design with waste management.

This Special Issue (SI) welcomes high-quality papers that address the nexus between waste and materials by taking green design into account, to facilitate waste prevention and thus to enhance product’s sustainability. Papers can be related to fundamental and theoretical studies and/or applications. Papers that put emphasis on the environmental impact of waste materials, waste treatment and disposal, lifecycle assessment, and materials flow analysis are welcomed.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • Green design using lifecycle assessment;
  • Materials selection in context of green design;
  • Transformation between waste and materials;
  • Novel applications of waste materials;
  • Waste materials reuse or recycling;
  • Materials flow analysis or substance flow analysis;
  • Solid waste management;
  • Waste treatment and disposal;
  • Environmental impact assessment of waste materials.

Prof. Rui Zhao
Dr. Tianxue Yang
Dr. Sebastiano Patti
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

  • green design
  • environmental impact
  • waste management
  • waste materials
  • materials flow
  • lifecycle
  • waste treatment and disposal

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

Article
Material Selection in Green Design: A Method Combining DEA and TOPSIS
Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5497; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105497 - 14 May 2021
Viewed by 381
Abstract
In order to rationalize material selection in green design, this study presents an attempt to combine the methods of generalized Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). By establishing a green material index system, the [...] Read more.
In order to rationalize material selection in green design, this study presents an attempt to combine the methods of generalized Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). By establishing a green material index system, the G-CCR model of generalized DEA was first used to select effective materials from the candidate samples, and TOPSIS was then used to sort the effective suppliers. The combined DEA/TOPSIS model helps to rank the materials by quality, and then integrate both the merits ofG-CCR model and the key characteristics of TOPSIS. The results of this study showed that the combined DEA/TOPSIS model can screen and exclude materials with poor performance when selecting wood for the furniture industry. Therefore, the combined model that is presented in this study provides a more rational and evidentiary basis for material selection in green design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Design: A Nexus between Waste and Materials)
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Article
The Workability and Crack Resistance of Natural and Recycled Aggregate Mortar Based on Expansion Agent through an Environmental Study
Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 491; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020491 - 06 Jan 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 427
Abstract
Greenhouse gas emission has been a serious problem for decades. Due to the high energy consumption of traditional construction and building materials, recycled aggregate and other environmentally-friendly materials or recycled materials have been researched and applied. The treatment and reuse of construction and [...] Read more.
Greenhouse gas emission has been a serious problem for decades. Due to the high energy consumption of traditional construction and building materials, recycled aggregate and other environmentally-friendly materials or recycled materials have been researched and applied. The treatment and reuse of construction and demolition waste (CDW) is a good way to reasonably distribute the renewable resources in the urban city. The recycled aggregate can be used in road engineering, geotechnical engineering and structural engineering. The combined use of natural aggregate and recycled aggregate may possess better performance in real constructions. This paper investigates the mechanical performance, micro-mechanism and CO2 footprint assessment of NAM (natural aggregate mortar) and RAM (recycled aggregate mortar). Compressive strength test, flexural strength test, XRD and SEM, and CO2 emission evaluation were conducted and analyzed. The results indicate that NAM depicts better compressive strength performance and RAM has higher flexural strength. The XRD and SEM patterns illustrate that the ettringite and C-S-H are the most important role in shrinkage-compensating mechanism, which is more obvious in RAM specimens. The proportion of CaO and MgO hydrated into Ca(OH)2 and Mg(OH)2 is also a key point of the volume expansion through the curing period. Finally, the CO2 emission of NA is higher than RA per unit. This indicates that utilizing recycled aggregate over other conventional resources will reduce the energy consumption, and hit the mark to be environmental-friendly. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Design: A Nexus between Waste and Materials)
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Article
Modeling of Waste Flow in Industrial Symbiosis System at City-Region Level: A Case Study of Jinchang, China
Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 466; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020466 - 06 Jan 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 627
Abstract
Waste is increasingly used as a renewable resource. Industrial symbiosis is an innovative concept for more efficient use of waste streams within industrial complexes, with the aim of reducing the overall environmental impact of the complex. Industrial symbiosis plays a more important role [...] Read more.
Waste is increasingly used as a renewable resource. Industrial symbiosis is an innovative concept for more efficient use of waste streams within industrial complexes, with the aim of reducing the overall environmental impact of the complex. Industrial symbiosis plays a more important role in promoting green economic growth and building low-carbon cities. Based on the ecological theoretical framework, combined with Waste Flow Analysis (WFA), the material flow analysis (MFA) and production matrix methods were used as the core to construct the Industrial Symbiosis System Waste Flow Metabolism Analysis (ISSWFMA) model. In addition, taking the “Jinchang Model” as an example, a typical case selected by the National Development and Reform Commission of China’s regional circular economy development model, we conducted a refined quantitative study on the flow and metabolism of waste flow in the regional industrial symbiosis system at the City-Region level using the circulation degree index. The following conclusions were obtained from the study: The ISSWFMA model can better describe the flow and metabolism of waste streams in the industrial symbiosis system at the City-Region Level and can provide data and methods for storage management. As the internal industrial chain and the correlation between various departments continuously improved, the Circulation Index (CI) of solid waste, wastewater, and exhaust gas in the industrial symbiosis system of Jinchang City showed an overall increasing trend, the degree of recycling was continuously increasing, the industrial symbiosis ability was continuously enhanced, and the system structure was more complete. At the same time, based on the analysis of different wastes, the industrial symbiosis is developed at different stages; based on the analysis of solid wastes, the industrial symbiosis ability of Jinchang’s Industrial Symbiosis System has strengthened and accelerated the fastest from 2005 to 2010; based on the analysis of wastewater, the industrial symbiosis ability of the system strengthened slowly during the whole study period; and based on the analysis of exhaust gas, the industrial symbiosis ability of the system continued to strengthen rapidly during the whole study period. Finally, on the basis of further discussion on the selection of waste recycling paths, we proposed to give full play to the role of market mechanisms, and to build recycling areas and ecological areas by strengthening industrial symbiosis and its derived urban symbiosis to achieve the goals of natural resource conservation, ecological environment protection, and harmonious coexistence between human and nature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Design: A Nexus between Waste and Materials)
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Article
Evaluation of Zero-Valent Iron for Pb(II) Contaminated Soil Remediation: From the Analysis of Experimental Mechanism Hybird with Carbon Emission Assessment
Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 452; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020452 - 06 Jan 2021
Viewed by 518
Abstract
Carbon emission is one of the main causes of global climate change, thus it is necessary to choose a low-carbon method in the contaminated soil remediation. This paper studies the adsorption ability of ZVI on Pb(II) contaminated soils under different working conditions. The [...] Read more.
Carbon emission is one of the main causes of global climate change, thus it is necessary to choose a low-carbon method in the contaminated soil remediation. This paper studies the adsorption ability of ZVI on Pb(II) contaminated soils under different working conditions. The removal efficiency of Pb(II) was 98% because of the suitable ZVI dosage, log reaction time and low initial solution concentration. The whole balancing process was much fast according to the pseudo-second-order kinetic and Freundlich isothermal model. Moreover, sequential extraction procedure (SEP) showed Pb(II) was transformed from Fe/Mn oxides-bound form to residual form in Pb(II) contaminated soils. From scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method (BET) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results, it was confirmed that zero-valent iron (ZVI) stabilizes Pb(II) pollutants mostly through the combination of chemical adsorption and physical adsorption. The economic and carbon emission assessments were used to compare the cost and carbon emissions of different methods. The results show that ZVI adsorption has excellent economic benefits and low carbon emission. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Design: A Nexus between Waste and Materials)
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