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Life Cycle Thinking, Sustainability and Circular Economy: Practical Applications and...
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Life Cycle Thinking, Sustainability and Circular Economy: Practical Applications and Future Challenges

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 (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 38067

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

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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.

Keywords

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

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 1682 KiB  
Article
The Use of a Simplified Carbon Footprint Tool for Organic Waste Managers: Pros and Cons
by Eliana Mancini, Viviana Negro, Davide Mainero and Andrea Raggi
Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 1951; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14041951 - 9 Feb 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2708
Abstract
Given that the pressure of climate change action on companies is increasing, it is recommended to measure the improvement of mitigation activities in terms of GHG emissions. This paper aims to highlight the still-open aspects that characterise simplified GHG accounting tools, starting from [...] Read more.
Given that the pressure of climate change action on companies is increasing, it is recommended to measure the improvement of mitigation activities in terms of GHG emissions. This paper aims to highlight the still-open aspects that characterise simplified GHG accounting tools, starting from the outcomes of a case study. This study was performed using a simplified Italian software for the CO2 eq accounting of composting and anaerobic digestion, two mitigation activities that contribute an important share of global GHG emissions reduction. The tool is based on the life-cycle thinking approach. It has been applied to an Italian company that treats the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. The tool analysis has made it possible to stress several issues that are currently the object of debate in the literature, for example, the trade-off between the flexibility of the software and its user friendliness or the multifunctionality issues and their different interpretations. However, focusing on just one impact category, i.e., climate change, may lead to an incomplete picture of the overall environmental performance of the process analysed. Therefore, this tool could be improved by including other impact categories, such as eutrophication and acidification, which may be affected by the studied activities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Life Cycle Thinking, Sustainability and Circular Economy: Practical Applications and Future Challenges)
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17 pages, 641 KiB  
Article
The Environmental Impact of Organizations: A Pilot Test from the Packaging Industry Based on Organizational Life Cycle Assessment
by Michela Rimano, Alberto Simboli, Raffaella Taddeo, Michele Del Grosso and Andrea Raggi
Sustainability 2021, 13(20), 11402; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132011402 - 15 Oct 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1993 | Correction
Abstract
This article presents and discusses a pilot test concerning the environmental impacts assessment of organizations. The study was conducted in a production site of a world leading group in the plastic packaging industry. The purpose was to deepen the knowledge of the methodologies [...] Read more.
This article presents and discusses a pilot test concerning the environmental impacts assessment of organizations. The study was conducted in a production site of a world leading group in the plastic packaging industry. The purpose was to deepen the knowledge of the methodologies currently available and also of the benefits and the difficulties related to their practical implementation. The analysis was conducted in the period 2018–2019, in line with ISO 14044 and ISO/TS 14072 standards and therefore inspired by the organizational life cycle assessment (O-LCA) procedures and standards. The O-LCA test application has proved useful in detecting a number of environmental hotspots usually not detected by other life cycle based approaches, on which the organization should focus to undertake improvement actions, both internal and external (e.g., the category “employees commuting”). The experience gained in the production site under study also led to the replication of the assessment approach to other facilities around the world and for informing corporate sustainability reporting activities (e.g., Global Reporting Initiative and Carbon Disclosure Project reporting standards). Such results can provide methodological and practical insights to both scholars and practitioners in that field of activities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Life Cycle Thinking, Sustainability and Circular Economy: Practical Applications and Future Challenges)
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17 pages, 1772 KiB  
Article
The CirCo (Circular Coffee) Project: A Case Study on Valorization of Coffee Silverskin in the Context of Circular Economy in Italy
by Emily Overturf, Simon Pezzutto, Martina Boschiero, Nicoletta Ravasio and Achille Monegato
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9069; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169069 - 13 Aug 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4203
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
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Life Cycle Thinking, Sustainability and Circular Economy: Practical Applications and Future Challenges)
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23 pages, 5032 KiB  
Article
Digital Technologies for Urban Metabolism Efficiency: Lessons from Urban Agenda Partnership on Circular Economy
by Gaspare D’Amico, Roberta Arbolino, Lei Shi, Tan Yigitcanlar and Giuseppe Ioppolo
Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 6043; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116043 - 27 May 2021
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 6211
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
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Life Cycle Thinking, Sustainability and Circular Economy: Practical Applications and Future Challenges)
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Review

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11 pages, 287 KiB  
Review
Life Cycle-Based Sustainability and Circularity Indicators for the Tourism Industry: A Literature Review
by Ioannis Arzoumanidis, Anna M. Walker, Luigia Petti and Andrea Raggi
Sustainability 2021, 13(21), 11853; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132111853 - 27 Oct 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3931
Abstract
The tourism industry is one of the fastest growing sectors, even though in the last couple of years there has been a negative effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This growth has led to an increase in environmental, economic and social impacts. Furthermore, [...] Read more.
The tourism industry is one of the fastest growing sectors, even though in the last couple of years there has been a negative effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This growth has led to an increase in environmental, economic and social impacts. Furthermore, the transition towards a circular economy has become one of the priorities of the European Union given its orientation towards sustainable development. However, the concept of circular tourism has been poorly analysed until now. This paper aims at identifying a set of life cycle-based sustainability- and circularity-related indicators for the hospitality sector by means of a literature review and a content analysis. It presents an overview of the most relevant themes and indicators in the tourism sector, showing that carbon footprint and resource-related indicators are especially relevant. Given the complexity of the measurement of circularity and the fact that life cycle-based indicators have started to be considered in this field, the paper also proposes some criteria for indicator selection to make their application more feasible for hospitality actors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Life Cycle Thinking, Sustainability and Circular Economy: Practical Applications and Future Challenges)
21 pages, 1906 KiB  
Review
Towards Circular Economy in the Agri-Food Sector. A Systematic Literature Review
by Benedetta Esposito, Maria Rosaria Sessa, Daniela Sica and Ornella Malandrino
Sustainability 2020, 12(18), 7401; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187401 - 9 Sep 2020
Cited by 211 | Viewed by 16476
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
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Life Cycle Thinking, Sustainability and Circular Economy: Practical Applications and Future Challenges)
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Other

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2 pages, 162 KiB  
Correction
Correction: Rimano et al. The Environmental Impact of Organizations: A Pilot Test from the Packaging Industry Based on Organizational Life Cycle Assessment. Sustainability 2021, 13, 11402
by Michela Rimano, Alberto Simboli, Raffaella Taddeo, Michele Del Grosso and Andrea Raggi
Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2528; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032528 - 31 Jan 2023
Viewed by 800
Abstract
The authors would like to make the following corrections about the published paper [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Life Cycle Thinking, Sustainability and Circular Economy: Practical Applications and Future Challenges)
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