Carbon footprint and water footprint in China: Similarities and differences

Nutrient recovery from wastewater treatment by ultrafiltration membrane for water reuse in view of a circular economy perspective

The study aims to recover nitrogen from wastewater by employing ultrafiltration membrane in water reuse for agriculture purpose. To such aim, a new reclaimed water quality index (RWQI) is proposed and applied including an innovative protocol for its assessment. Specifically, the influence of filtration and backwashing times for an ultrafiltration system aimed to nutrient recovery has been analyzed. The final goal was to pin down the trade-off between operation costs and effluent quality. Results show that backwashing time play a crucial role in reducing the operation costs; indeed, low values (i.e., 0.5 min) lead to an increase in the number of required chemical cleanings and consequently operation costs (namely, up to 0.042 €/m³). The compromise among effluent quality and operation costs has been obtained for 7 min and 1 min, filtration and backwashing, respectively.

Global spatio-temporal change assessment in interregional water stress footprint in China by a high resolution MRIO model

Developing effective strategies to alleviate increasing water stress in China requires an understanding of how consumption and production drive water stress footprints (WSF) at a high resolution and multiple spatial and temporal scales. However, current Chinese multi-regional input-output (CMRIO) models have limited resolution. Here, we build a high-resolution international MRIO model covering 31 Chinese provinces, 163 sectors, to address this issue, and then analyze the impact of changes in China's interprovincial and international trade patterns on the WSF from 2012 to 2017. We find that China's water stress embodied in inter-provincial trade has increased year after year, to 5606 km³ H₂O-eq in 2017, exceeding 50 % of the total domestic footprint. Domestic water stress transfer is most apparent in the outsourcing of water stress from eastern coastal regions to Central and Western regions, with the top interregional supply chain paths mainly associated with the demand of processed rice and tobacco products. China has transformed into a net exporter of water stress in 2017, with water stress exports to developing countries accounting for 54 % of total exports, up from 51 % in 2012. With deepening globalization, trade between China and developing countries has boosted bilateral economic development, while also exacerbating water stress in China. In addition to agricultural cultivation, industrial products such as plastics and steel exported to meet international industries further contribute to water stress in Northern China. Further identify hotspots of water stress consumption is needed to prioritize actions to relieve regional water stress in a more effective manner, and our study can provide key information.

Sustainable Development Practices of Restaurants in Romania and Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sustainable development is a constant and a necessity of daily life in the restaurant industry. The restaurant industry has high consumptions of energy, water, detergents, and consumables, together with tremendous food waste. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted many acute sustainable development problems. In this context, this article analyzes the practices identified by restaurant managers that define their responsible behavior, and the significant changes made towards sustainability during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article presents the results obtained through qualitative research, carried out by semi-directive in-depth interviews, conducted with 56 restaurant managers from Romania. The answers obtained are based on five topics of discussion highlighting the managers’ growing interest in finding solutions to counteract negative effects on the environment, to ensure the wellbeing of customers and employees, and to increase the profitability of their company. The results obtained from the research reflect the thoughts and actions of restaurant managers in Romania, contributing to the body of knowledge in the understanding of sustainability practices in the foodservice sector.

Environmental technology and wastewater treatment: Strategies to achieve environmental sustainability

Water is the vital liquid for human subsistence and is used as a resource in various production processes. However, the degradation of the environment is being reflected in the water resources of the planet. One of the leading causes of water pollution is ineffective wastewater treatment, which results in greywater being returned to the environment without having gone through a decontamination process. Ideally, wastewater should have the lowest concentration of polluting materials to be reused and exploited in other activities, such as agriculture or the generation of renewable energy. However, in its various forms, technological progress plays a vital role in improving wastewater treatment processes, becoming a determining factor in improving greywater quality. This study examines how environmental technology contributes to wastewater improvement in 16 selected OECD countries during 2000-2019. Annualized information is used and collected from various official sources of information, subsequently processed with various econometric approaches. The results obtained show a heterogeneous behaviour in the quantiles of wastewater treatment, environmental technology and renewable energy are positively related to an increase in wastewater treatment between 0.09% - 0.20% and 3.5 e-12% - 5.74 e-12%, respectively. Based on the results obtained, the policy implications suggest promoting environmental technology to improve wastewater treatment.

Chinese environmentally extended input-output database for 2017 and 2018

Environmental footprint analyses for China have gained sustained attention in the literature, which rely on quality EEIO databases based on benchmark input-output (IO) tables. The Chinese environmentally extended input-output (CEEIO) database series provide publically available EEIO databases for China for 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012 with consistent and transparent data sources and database structure. Based on the latest benchmark IO tables for China for 2017 and 2018, here we develop the corresponding 2017 and 2018 CEEIO databases following the same method used to develop previous CEEIO databases. The 2017 and 2018 CEEIO databases cover 44 and 28 types of environmental pressures, respectively, and consider multiple sector classifications including ones consistent with previous CEEIO databases and ones following the 2017 China's national economy industry classification standard. A notable improvement in the 2017 and 2018 CEEIO databases is the comprehensive inclusion of CO2 emissions from additional industrial processes. This work provides a consistent update of the CEEIO database and enables a wide range of timely environmental footprint analyses related to China.

Changes occurring in consumption habits of people during COVID-19 pandemic and the water footprint

In this study, it has been aimed to determine the difference between water footprint values of individuals with different socio-economical levels, living in various cities, before and during COVID-19 pandemic period. For this purpose, a questionnaire study has been made and data obtained because of questionnaire have been processes in a water footprint calculation module. Data obtained from questionnaires have also been evaluated statistically in SPSS application. According to the findings obtained, while average water footprint before COVID-19 pandemic has been calculated as 4178.42 L/day, average water footprint during COVID-19 pandemic period has been calculated as 4606.18 L/day. It was determined that the percentage of participants whose water footprint increased during the COVID-19 pandemic period at all education levels was higher than other participants. When the water footprint values of the participants with an income level of 7000 TL and above were compared with the water footprint values of other income groups, it was observed that the water footprint values of the participants with an income of 7000 TL and above increased during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. When the water footprint values of individuals according to age groups are examined, it has been determined that the water footprint values of individuals tend to increase in all age groups (except for the 51-60 age range) during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been seen that in the monthly clothing expenses and car washing numbers of participants, there was a tendency to decrease and that in their monthly kitchen expenditures there was a tendency to increase. Because of statistical evaluations, it was seen that there was a meaningful correlation between change in water footprint values and weekly shower numbers, weekly laundry washing numbers, and monthly kitchen expenses. Despite the increase in water consumption with many daily activities, it can be said that the average water footprint value did not increase much due to the decrease in clothing expenditures of the participants during the pandemic process, the change in car washing frequencies, and the fact that red meat consumption did not increase in general despite the increase in kitchen expenses.

Unfolding the synergy and interaction of water-land-food nexus for sustainable resource management: A supernetwork analysis

Given the large amounts of water, land, and food embodied in the trade of goods and services, a key step in decoupling extensive resource consumption from the economic system is to understand the full impact of socioeconomic development on the water-land-food nexus. This study integrates input-output analysis, ecological network analysis, and Dempster-Shafer evidence theory into a supernetwork model to detect the water-land-food nexus among economic sectors with an aim to explore effective strategic paths for resource management and to facilitate the construction of a resource-saving society. Results show that most sectors of China are resource inefficient and that all resource systems are unsustainable as reflected in the low performance of their Finn's cycling index and system robustness. Meanwhile, results of flow networks analysis show an extremely uneven land resource allocation where more than 94% of the land used in China is classified as direct agricultural land. The water-land-food nexus can gain resource saving bonus via enhancing the robustness of economy. However, the co-benefits from the nexus are negligibly small for the resource utilization efficiency. The results also indicate that the relevant resource-saving policies on food and water are highly likely to gain resource co-benefits due to their similarities in sectoral importance. Correspondingly, a set of strategic measures, including adopting a tiered resource price, deepening industrial convergence of agriculture, enhancing agriculture-food nexus, and managing water or land use from the food consumer side, are designed to build a resource-saving society. The findings of this study can provide additional insights into the impacts of the economy on the water-land-food nexus, which is beneficial for achieving an efficient and coordinated management of resources.