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Sustainability
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Circular Economy and Sustainable Rural Development
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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: closed (20 October 2022) | Viewed by 82356

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 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 submissions that pass pre-check are 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 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.

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

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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5 pages, 196 KiB  
Editorial
Circular Economy and Sustainable Rural Development
by Florin-Constantin Mihai
Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2139; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032139 - 23 Jan 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3758
Abstract
Rural communities are facing serious waste mismanagement practices around the world (e [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Sustainable Rural Development)

Research

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17 pages, 23717 KiB  
Article
Spatial Characteristics of Suburban Villages Based on Spatial Syntax
by Ran Li and Liang Mao
Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 14195; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114195 - 31 Oct 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2114
Abstract
(1) Background: In the process of urbanization, current suburban village spaces are undergoing drastic changes. Many villages have lost their original rural appearances, and their unique rural cultures have been destroyed. (2) Methods: In this study, we used the Depthmap software to analyze [...] Read more.
(1) Background: In the process of urbanization, current suburban village spaces are undergoing drastic changes. Many villages have lost their original rural appearances, and their unique rural cultures have been destroyed. (2) Methods: In this study, we used the Depthmap software to analyze the integration and comprehensibility of the village spaces in the central suburbs of Jilin province. Based on spatial syntax theory, we quantitatively interpreted the suburban village spaces, and we analyzed the correlations between their spatial morphological characteristics and industrial structures. (3) Results: Fishbone and radial villages each have one spatial nucleus, while comprehensive villages have multiple spatial nuclei. The comprehensibility of the villages with industrial structures that are dominated by the secondary and tertiary industries expressed higher results, with the highest comprehensibility value for the village of Nianshan (0.874). (4) Conclusions: The spatial characteristics of the suburban villages in central Jilin province generally have a high correlation with their industrial structures. We can use the spatial syntax measurement index as a basis for the spatial-form adjustment and reconstruction of the villages, with the aim of providing a reference for the industrial selection of suburban villages with different landforms and industrial structures, as well as the sustainable development of rural cultural tourism, in order to contribute to the revitalization of the countryside in the new era. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Sustainable Rural Development)
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22 pages, 2116 KiB  
Article
An Agricultural Supply Chain Coordination Model: The Case of Trinity Comprehensive Cooperation Organization in China
by Jia Shi, Jiacheng Zhang, Naiyan Xie, Zhuodong Yang and Jianli Luo
Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8879; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148879 - 20 Jul 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3802
Abstract
Farmer cooperatives play a significant role in increasing farmers’ income, ensuring food security, and maintaining supply chain stability. While the number of cooperatives in China has increased rapidly in recent years, it is challenge for many small-scale cooperatives in China to achieve high [...] Read more.
Farmer cooperatives play a significant role in increasing farmers’ income, ensuring food security, and maintaining supply chain stability. While the number of cooperatives in China has increased rapidly in recent years, it is challenge for many small-scale cooperatives in China to achieve high performance due to resource and scale constraints. Taking Rui’an Meiyu’s Trinity Comprehensive Cooperation Organization as an example, this paper makes improvement to the original Trinity Comprehensive Cooperation Model and innovatively proposes a new practicable model called “three areas of cooperation with multiple bodies” for small-scale cooperatives to adopt. According to our research, the following features have been identified: first, the formation motivations of the new model include four different aspects, and the formation process of it includes three specific steps. Second, the resource integration mechanism of the new model is composed of production coordination optimization, supply and marketing platform restructuring, and credit capital guarantees. Third, the new cooperative model can increase economic benefits and simultaneously promote sustainable agricultural development. This study further complements the literature on the Trinity Comprehensive Cooperation Model and offers many managerial and academic implications for cooperative members and policy-makers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Sustainable Rural Development)
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32 pages, 6212 KiB  
Article
Sustainability in the Case of Small Vegetable Farmers: A Matrix Approach
by Ioan Sebastian Brumă, Simona-Roxana Ulman, Cristina Cautisanu, Lucian Tanasă and Gabriel Vasile Hoha
Sustainability 2021, 13(18), 10320; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810320 - 15 Sep 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4017
Abstract
Considering that sustainability is a relative concept, but also that this limitation could be avoided through continuous adaptation of the evaluation tools by taking into account the directions of change (such as time, space, application domain), the goal of the present study is [...] Read more.
Considering that sustainability is a relative concept, but also that this limitation could be avoided through continuous adaptation of the evaluation tools by taking into account the directions of change (such as time, space, application domain), the goal of the present study is to elaborate a matrix for measuring the level of sustainability for small vegetable farms. Thus, looking at what sustainability could represent under such circumstances, we divided its characteristics into four main dimensions (economic, social, environmental, cultural), while adding the private dimension. Inclusion of the private dimension may provide potential added value to this study, and thus enrich the general perspective of producers’ capacity to meet the sustainability goals in their entrepreneurial activity. To quantify these five dimensions of the sustainability matrix, a questionnaire was built up and used as support for face-to-face interviews conducted at the level of the North-East Development Region of Romania. Our results showed associations between diverse components of the dimensions considered, revealing their synergy in farm activity, along with the occurrence of some differences in the levels of sustainability dimensions and sub-dimensions, which differ as a function of the specific types of vegetable production (conventional, ecologic, natural, mixed). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Sustainable Rural Development)
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19 pages, 2453 KiB  
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
by Ankita Bhowmik, Shantanu Bhunia, Anupam Debsarkar, Rambilash Mallick, Malancha Roy and Joydeep Mukherjee
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9455; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169455 - 23 Aug 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3432
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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Review

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48 pages, 3324 KiB  
Review
Plastic Pollution, Waste Management Issues, and Circular Economy Opportunities in Rural Communities
by Florin-Constantin Mihai, Sedat Gündoğdu, Laura A. Markley, Arianna Olivelli, Farhan R. Khan, Claire Gwinnett, Jutta Gutberlet, Natalia Reyna-Bensusan, Paula Llanquileo-Melgarejo, Christia Meidiana, Sherien Elagroudy, Vitalii Ishchenko, Simon Penney, Zoe Lenkiewicz and Maria Molinos-Senante
Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010020 - 21 Dec 2021
Cited by 108 | Viewed by 61554
Abstract
Rural areas are exposed to severe environmental pollution issues fed by industrial and agricultural activities combined with poor waste and sanitation management practices, struggling to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in line with Agenda 2030. Rural communities are examined through [...] Read more.
Rural areas are exposed to severe environmental pollution issues fed by industrial and agricultural activities combined with poor waste and sanitation management practices, struggling to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in line with Agenda 2030. Rural communities are examined through a “dual approach” as both contributors and receivers of plastic pollution leakage into the natural environment (through the air–water–soil–biota nexus). Despite the emerging trend of plastic pollution research, in this paper, we identify few studies investigating rural communities. Therefore, proxy analysis of peer-reviewed literature is required to outline the significant gaps related to plastic pollution and plastic waste management issues in rural regions. This work focuses on key stages such as (i) plastic pollution effects on rural communities, (ii) plastic pollution generated by rural communities, (iii) the development of a rural waste management sector in low- and middle-income countries in line with the SDGs, and (iv) circular economy opportunities to reduce plastic pollution in rural areas. We conclude that rural communities must be involved in both future plastic pollution and circular economy research to help decision makers reduce environmental and public health threats, and to catalyze circular initiatives in rural areas around the world, including less developed communities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Sustainable Rural Development)
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