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Abstract: This study features a comprehensive analysis of the status of the circular economy (CE) in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) and focuses on the CE composite indicator and its specific sub-indicators. The results reveal overall improvements in the implementation of the CE in the period of 2012–2021, although there are significant variations between member countries. Germany is the current leader regarding the use of CE practices, followed by Italy, France, and Belgium. However, there are also notable gaps in critical areas, such as waste management, competitiveness, innovation, and overall sustainability. The study also identifies key factors that influence the implementation of the CE, such as by-product exports, investment in research and development, and waste-management policies. The cluster analysis groups countries into four categories to provide a more detailed view of regional disparities. These findings underline the need for coordinated action at the national and European levels to address remaining challenges and to move towards a more circular and sustainable economy across Europe.
Abstract: Plastics are ubiquitous in our economy. In Western Europe, the consumption of plastics averages around 140 kg per capita each year, with economic growth remaining coupled to waste generation (Mazzanti and Montini, 2011). Globally, plastics consumption is increasing at a rate of approximately 5% annually (European Environment Agency, 2021). This high volume of consumption and its rapid growth pose a range of challenges, spanning from the production of plastics using fossil fuels to their end-of-life treatment. Examples of these challenges include air pollution, environmental pollution—such as marine litter—and subsequent biodiversity loss.
Abstract: Plastic waste treatment is one of the key challenges faced by many countries. Recycling of the municipal plastic waste for energy recovery is one of the key movements in reduction of plastic waste accumulation. Production of pyrolytic oil and gas products from the plastic waste massive helps to reduce the dependency of fossil fuel. In this review, the exposure of the plastic consumption has been covered. Further, energy recovery methods using the various pyrolysis reactors has been discussed in details. The motive of this review to understand the conversion of plastic waste into value added products such as bio-oil and gas and its consequences in the formation of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during the handling of municipal plastic waste and e-waste. Besides the impact of PAHs contamination on human health effects also reviewed. Different techniques in converting the plastic waste to energy are discussed in details. Among various pyrolysis methods, microwave assisted pyrolysis possess greater advantage over other process. By varying the type of the feedstock, particle size and temperatures of the reactor, the yield rates can be increased. In addition, by optimizing the reactor temperature their possibility of harmful gaseous products from the plastic waste can be redistricted. Burning of the plastic waste and thermal degradation process releases sixteen types of PAHs compounds to the environment. Inhaling of the PAHs compounds leads to human health effects such as cancer, respiratory diseases and childhood obesity. Thus, an attempt has been made to address the risk of PAHs in the environmental due to the plastic waste handling and its respective human health effects.
Abstract: Plastic waste management has received significant attention in recent decades due to the urgent global environmental crisis caused by plastic pollution. The versatile and durable nature of plastic has led to its widespread usage across various sectors. However, its nonbiodegradable nature contributes to unsustainable production practices, leading to extensive landfill usage and posing threats to marine ecosystems and the food chain. To address these environmental concerns, numerous challenges have been recently addressed through investigating alternative approaches for disposing of plastic waste, with the construction sector emerging as a promising option. Incorporating plastic waste materials into concrete not only offers economic benefits but also provides a valid alternative to conventional disposal methods. This paper presents the results of different experimental studies, some of them available in the literature and others new, discussing the feasibility of integrating plastic waste into concrete and its impact on mechanical properties. The influence of different sizes, natures, treatments, and percentages of plastic waste in the concrete mixtures is dealt with in order to provide further data for helping to understand the nonunivocal results in the literature, under the conviction that only further observations can help to understand the mechanics of concrete with plastic aggregates. The experimental investigation highlighted that one parameter that is better than others and can be considered to compare different experimental investigations is the variation in weight (due to the effective volume of plastics in the mix), determining a sort of increasing of porosity that degrades the mechanical characteristics. However, this seems inconsistent in some cases. Therefore, the need for further research is highlighted to refine production methods and optimize mix designs.
Abstract: Moving from a linear to a circular economy is crucial to reduce environmental pressure. This transition is particularly relevant in the Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) industry, given that EEE has one of the fastest-growing waste streams. Recycling is one solution for dealing with the growing amounts of this e-waste. Therefore, this paper analyses the drivers and barriers to e-waste recycling, taking into account the role of economic, social, institutional, and behavioural factors. Yearly data from 2010 to 2018 for 20 European Union countries were analysed employing an Arellano-Bond Generalised Method of Moments. The main findings were that, while environmental taxes and education boost the rate of e-recycling, economic growth and R&D appear to reduce it, and certain age groups are less likely to recycle e-waste. Recycling policies should prioritize education, environmental taxes, and addressing reluctance among the young and elderly to recycle.
Abstract: E-waste generation has been exponential due to technological advancements, urbanisation and modern lifestyles, reduced replacement intervals of consumer electronics, lack of design-for-environment components in electrical and electronic equipment, lack of repairs and high costs of repairs. 62 million tonnes of e-waste was generated in 2022, equivalent to 7.8 kg of e-waste per person per year. E-waste management has also been challenging, and a significant fraction ends up in landfills despite the presence of precious, base and critical metals. In addition, another substantial fraction is processed by the informal sector employing sub-standard methods without considering approved environmental, health and safety aspects. Since only 22.3 % of e-waste has been collected and properly recycled, extensive e-waste recycling frameworks, including niche methods, are needed. E-waste co-processing with ore minerals, including mine waste, and metal concentrates and other waste materials in smelters, is thus identified as a promising area to address the e-waste management and value recovery challenge. This is supported by the availability of low-grade ores to produce critical metals and copper and mine tailing management requirements. Integrated pyro-hydrometallurgical facilities in developed countries already process some e-waste with metal concentrates and other waste materials. However, niche e-waste co-processing techniques utilising heap leaching, tank leaching and acid-generating mine tailings are needed since the best available techniques depend on local socio-techno-economic considerations. This study on e-waste co-processing with natural resources and their products could be beneficial to developing the relatively unexplored research area with future studies.
Abstract: Electronic waste (e-waste) presents a significant opportunity for recovering valuable precious metals (PMs) while mitigating environmental impacts. This study introduces a novel approach to e-waste recycling by utilizing electrochemical exfoliation (ECE) to produce graphene oxide (GO) from discarded dry cells, composed of graphite core, followed by its reduction to reduced graphene oxide (rGO). Since GO and rGO have dynamic physicochemical properties making them suitable candidates for the adsorption and extraction process. The ECE method is both environmentally friendly and cost-effective, offering a green alternative to traditional synthesis methods that involve hazardous chemicals and lengthy processes. GO and rGO were employed as adsorbents to extract gold (Au) and silver (Ag) from the central processing units (CPUs) of old laptops. Characterizations such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV–visible spectroscopy, Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), Cyclic voltammetry (CV), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Field emission scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (FESEM-EDS) confirmed the structural and morphological properties of the graphene derivatives. Batch adsorption experiments demonstrated that GO and rGO effectively adsorbed PMs, while former showed superior efficiency due to abundant oxygen-containing functional groups and dispersion stability. The promising potential of adsorbents was demonstrated with exceptionally high extraction efficiency and selectivity for PMs rather than heavy metals (Cu). Post-adsorption samples were analyzed using Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), FTIR, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, and FESEM-EDS mapping, and the mechanism was proposed. This method supports the circular economy by turning e-waste into valuable resources, contributing to more sustainable e-waste management practices.
Abstract: In today's world, the utilization of electronic devices, particularly mobile phones, has seen a remarkable surge and they are a valuable source of recovery of precious metals. The current study reports on the physical and chemical processing of mobile phone waste into leachate, followed by recovery of precious metals, using ionic liquid functionalized activated carbon (ACF). The recovery process was explored both in batch and column study. The presence of base metals in the final leachate was minimized by employing multi-stage chemical leaching, leading to a more efficient purification process. Moreover, adjustment of HCl concentration in the leachate leads to decreased in other metals interference during adsorption. Following the batch adsorption results, a favorable interaction between IL and metal complexes leads to a quantitative adsorption of the precious metals. In addition, ACF also gave an excellent performance in the column adsorption process with the high bed depth and low flow rate of the leachate as the influential parameter. An increase in the bed depth and a decrease in leachate flow rate proportionally increases the values of kTh (rate constant), qe (adsorption capacity), and KYN (rate constant) and positively increases the 50% breakthrough time (τ). Moreover, the final purification of the adsorbed metals was performed selectively through sequential desorption, employing Na2S2O3, NH4SCN, and HNO3 solutions. Finally, the adsorption capability of ACF shown a negligible change after five repetitive adsorption-desorption cycles. Thus, the current study presents a method to process mobile phone waste and selectively recover the precious metals from the leachate.
Abstract: Broad field of technologies is related to the countries’ green hydrogen goals, with renewable energy technology (RE) being a significant part. RE’s ability to support green hydrogen industry is now being hindered by the waste issue. By 2050, the world will have accumulated up to 60–70 million tons of waste photovoltaic (PV) modules, 43.4 million tons of wind turbine blades and up to 1 million tons of lithium batteries. Existing technologies and recycling capacities are not capable of recycling these volumes, since the readiness levels of most of the applicable technologies is assessed as TRL3 - TRL8 and their economic efficiency is below the profitability level. The purpose of this work is to substantiate the need and calculate the amount of state support for the development of RE waste recycling technologies. It has been determined that the sum of economic losses in the absence of recycling by 2050 will amount to up to 215 billion dollars, including in the RE leading regions: in China 81 billion dollars, in the EU 42 billion dollars, in the USA 26 billion dollars. The regional distribution of waste volume is presented, grouped by energy price level: 30% of waste in countries with the highest energy tariffs, mainly in Europe, 20% in regions with an average price, including all of North America, 50% in regions with the lowest price - most Asian countries. The dynamics of the increase in the number of patents for the selected IPCs for the period 2000–2024 was obtained, and the leading countries were identified. It is shown that the effect of state support for recycling will be obtained in three industries: firstly, a cost-effective industry for recycling renewable energy waste will be formed, secondly, the availability of scarce materials for renewable energy producers will increase, and thirdly, unconstrained RE deployment will back the green hydrogen development. The timeframe of the countries’ hydrogen goals and the RE waste accumulation trends jointly indicate the urgency of the waste issue, when the analysis proves the reasonable request for the state involvement.
Abstract: This study proposes the novel concept of waste upcycling-driven zero energy building (W-ZEB). W-ZEB aims to accelerate the development of zero-energy buildings by incorporating waste upcycling processes (e.g., waste-to-energy (WtE), insulation material recovery, and biochar used in green roofs), ultimately advancing towards plus-energy building. W-ZEB includes three approaches: (1) generating additional energy through WtE, (2) enhancing building energy efficiency by utilizing advanced building materials recovered from waste, and (3) maintaining all elements and assets of W-ZEB using earnings obtained or saved from waste upcycling and management. To implement W-ZEB effectively, a building energy and waste management system (BEWMS) is suggested to coordinate and optimize energy demand, waste generation, and utilization, contributing to a net zero energy status and zero solid waste to landfills throughout building life cycle. Practical insights and research directions for unlocking the untapped potential of waste upcycling strategies to achieve zero-energy buildings are also provided.
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