Sustainable Development of Building Process Cycle on the Environment

Dear Colleagues,

We produce more and more new and better products. We use a variety of materials for their products, often without realizing that many of them may soon disappear from the earth. Customers buy these products, often because they want only to have the latest model, and after the use throw them away, without thinking about the consequences of such action. All this affects the state of the environment itself, but also the amount of the available resources. Many of these resources are not renewable, and others, despite the possibility of renewal, are unable to renew due to the speed of their use.

The problem of scarcity has been discussed for many years. It can be defined as the basic economic problem of people having limited resources with a simultaneous increase in demand for individual goods. This means that society does not have enough productive resources to meet all its needs (Begg et al., 2007; Ingaldi et al., 2016). It should be remembered that the problem of scarcity is not only about materials that we needed for production, but in many countries there is a shortage of basic materials needed to live such as water, food, medicines (Porkka et al., 2016).

To counteract the phenomenon of scarcity, various actions are carried out, various types of regulations are introduced. One example is sustainable development and under this concept Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as Global Goals. They are a set of 17 goals under a universal agreement to end poverty, protect everything that makes the planet habitable, and give everyone peace and prosperity in the future (Morton et al., 2017). They were set in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and intended to be achieved by the year 2030, are part of UN Resolution 70/1, the 2030 Agenda (Global Goals | Policy and advocacy). Their basis is not only an action plan for people, the planet and well-being, which aims to eliminate poverty and hunger, but also to combat inequalities within and between countries, build world peace, protect human rights and promote gender equality, empowerment of women, ensure the sustainability of our planet and its natural resources (Boto-Álvare and García-Fernández, 2020). The task of modern enterprises is Management of Manufacturing which is based on Sustainability Goals in their production processes.

Circular economy is an instrument that supports the sustainable development. It can be defined as economic system which replaces the concept of ‘end-of-life’ with reducing, alternatively reusing, recycling materials in production/distribution and consumption processes (Kirchherr et al., 2018). It allows for the rational use of resources and reduction of the negative environmental impact of manufactured products, which, like the materials used for their production, should remain in the economy as long as possible, and waste generation should be minimized as much as possible. In such cases semi-closed loop or closed loop production systems can be used (Huang et al., 2013).

The aim of this Special Issue is present, how management of manufacturing in modern enterprises that use the principles of Sustainability Goals and Circular Economy in their activities, should look like. The present Call for Papers encourages submissions (original research articles, case studies, reviews and critical perspectives) about various solutions used in enterprises, based on the presented assumptions. 

Dr. Manuela Ingaldi
Guest Editor

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• circular economy
• close-loop system
• management of manufacturing
• manufacturing engineering
• scarcity
• sustainability
• sustainability goals