Recycling of Materials for Sustainable Development and Circular Economy

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, titled "Recycling of Materials for Sustainable Development and Circular Economy", delves into the crucial role that recycling plays in sustainable development and the promotion of a circular economy. It covers a comprehensive range of topics, including the following:

• Resource recovery;
• Sustainable construction materials;
• Water and energy efficiency;
• Carbon-neutral processes;
• Zero waste initiatives;
• Life cycle and organizational life cycle assessments;
• The integration of smart grids and smart cities;
• Innovative recycling strategies and technologies;
• Case studies on recycling initiatives;
• The application of circular economy principles in emerging economies;
• Circular material flow.

This Special Issue aims to drive the adoption of sustainable recycling practices that minimize environmental impact, reduce our reliance on non-renewable resources, and enhance economic efficiency. By presenting innovative strategies, advanced technologies, and insightful case studies, it seeks to create a collaborative platform for researchers, industry practitioners, and policymakers, facilitating knowledge exchange and promoting advancements in sustainability.

This Special Issue seeks to bridge gaps in the existing literature on sustainability and circular economy by providing fresh insights and practical applications of recycling. While many studies focus on theoretical frameworks, this Special Issue emphasizes practical innovations and technological advancements, connecting theory with real-world implementation. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach, integrating perspectives from engineering, environmental science, and economics to develop comprehensive solutions to sustainability challenges. Real-world case studies highlight successful recycling initiatives, offering replicable models for policymakers and practitioners. Special emphasis is placed on applying circular economy principles in emerging economies, an often overlooked area in current research. The inclusion of organizational life cycle assessment deepens our understanding of the broader impacts and benefits of recycling on organizational sustainability. Furthermore, this Special Issue considers how smart cities and grids can facilitate recycling and circular economy for materials, and as a result, the sustainability of cities. The advancement of smart cities will create better opportunities to utilize and reuse materials and by doing so continue to loop materials back into the economy in a smarter way, rather than losing them to landfills or other potentially 'unintended' uses, such as data loss. This will reduce waste and improve resource efficiency, and it should be aligned with the principles of the circular economy. This Special Issue aims to benchmark and highlight the state of the art in the area, as well as indicate new research directions that are of interest to the community or findings that are intended to offer new potential solutions that can help drive a more sustainable and circular global economy.

Dr. Paolo Sospiro
Dr. Marta Rossi
Dr. Antonis A. Zorpas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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 2400 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.

• sustainable development
• circular economy
• recycling
• water efficiency
• energy efficiency
• carbon-neutral processes
• zero waste initiatives
• life cycle assessment (LCA)
• organizational life cycle assessment (OLCA)
• smart cities
• innovation in recycling