Management of Plastic Waste and a Circular Economy at the End of the Supply Chain: A Systematic Literature Review

Life Cycle Assessment Model of a Catering Product: Comparing Environmental Impacts for Different End-of-Life Scenarios

This paper assesses the primary energy and environmental impacts of a restaurant main course product’s lifecycle, especially focusing on end-of-life (EoL) stage. In the first step, a cradle-to-grave complex life cycle assessment (LCA) model of the product has been set up from the extraction of the required raw materials through the preparation, cooking and use phase to the end-of-life. In the second step, three scenarios (landfilling, incineration, and composting) were compared for the generated food waste in the end-of-life stage given that one of the biggest challenges in waste management is the optimal management of food waste. We calculated eleven environmental impact categories for the examined food product with the help of GaBi 9.0 software. During our research work, the primary energy was examined in each phase. In the third step, a comparison between the traditional and “sous vide” cooking technologies has been created to optimise of the cooking/frying life cycle phase. This paper basically answers three main questions: (1) How can the main environmental impacts and primary energy throughout the whole life cycle of the examined product be characterised? (2) What methods can optimise the different life cycle stages while reducing and recycling energy and material streams? and (3) what is the most optimal waste management scenario at the end-of-life stage? Based on the analysis, the highest environmental impact comes from the preparation phase and the end-of-life scenario for the traditional incineration caused almost twice the environmental load as the landfilling of the food waste. Composting has the lowest environmental impact, and the value of the primary energy for composting is very low. The sous vide cooking technique is advantageous, and the continuously controlled conditions result in a more reliable process. These research results can be used to design sustainable cooking and catering with lower environmental impacts and energy resources in catering units.

Diferentes tipos de projetos exigem diferentes conjuntos de competências de gerenciamento de projetos

O desempenho do profissional durante o ciclo de vida de um projeto está diretamente relacionado a aplicação das competências em gerenciamento de projetos. A descrição destas competências pode ser evidenciada em guias de gerenciamento de projetos providos por entidades de gerenciamento de projetos. As principais instituições que promovem a divulgação destes guias são: Project Management Institute (PMI), International Project Management Association (IPMA) e Association for Project Management (APM). Com base neste contexto, este comentário editorial traz à luz a reflexão quanto a usabilidade de tais guias, que são genéricos, prescritivos e que muitas vezes não apresentam uma base sólida de pesquisa. Ademais, uma discussão que deve ser fomentada é que as competências para gerenciamento de projetos podem ser diferentes em função do tipo de projeto, segmento do negócio, ou indústria. Cabe destacar que esta distinção ajuda a classificar os projetos quanto ao seu tipo. Assim, se faz necessário refletir sobre os impactos das diferentes competências para o profissional de projetos e sua aderência ao tipo de cada projeto.

Closing of Carbon Cycle by Waste Gasification for Circular Economy Implementation in Poland

Domestic coal and waste resources, which are valuable sources of carbon, can support efforts to transform a linear economy into a circular carbon economy. Their use, as an alternative to conventional, imported fossil resources (crude oil, natural gas) for chemical production, provides an opportunity for Poland to solve problems related to competitiveness, security of supply, and sustainable development in various industries. This is important for Poland because it can provide it with a long-term perspective of economic growth and development, taking into account global trends (e.g., the Paris Agreement) and EU legislation. The article presents a concept to support the transformation from linear toward a circular carbon economy under Polish conditions. The carried-out analyses showed that coal, RDF, and plastic waste fuels can be a valuable source of raw material for the development of the chemical industry in Poland. Due to the assumed availability of plastic waste and the loss of carbon in the production process, coal consumption is estimated at 10 million t/yr, both in the medium- and long-term. In case where coal consumption is reduced and an additional source of ‘green hydrogen’ is used, CO2 emissions could be reduced even by 98% by 2050. The presented results show the technical and economic feasibility of the proposed solution and could be the basis for development of the roadmap for transition of the linear to circular economy under Polish condition.