Recycling of Communal Waste: Current State and Future Potential for Sustainable Development in the EU

The Impact of Green Marketing on Consumer Behavior in the Market of Palm Oil Products

The aim of the article is to examine the impact of green marketing on consumer behavior in the market for products containing palm oil. The first chapter addresses the theoretical approach—the impact of green marketing on consumer behavior. We considered a questionnaire survey to be the most appropriate method to conduct our research. In order to test our hypotheses, we applied Crosstab and Pearson’s chi-square test. The strength of the relationship between the variables was measured using Cramer’s V. The third chapter presents the research results based on the processed information of 527 obtained datasheets from the respondents. The data were collected from Slovak consumers in the summer of 2021. Hypotheses H1 (There is a significant relationship between the opinion of the consumer regarding purchasing products containing palm oil and the knowledge that the product does contain palm oil.) and H2 (There is a relationship between the consumer willingness to refuse the purchase of certain products if it has negative impact on the environment and the generational group the consumer belongs to.) were approved, however the relationship proved to be weak in both cases. The research makes it clear that the majority of consumers do not spend time reading descriptions on product packaging. It might be helpful for companies to make it clear and visible on the packaging that their product does not contain palm oil, informing the consumer and influencing them with the negative emotional message of the advert. The obtained research results are useful both for the producers and the customers.

Tracing Relationship between Cluster’s Performance and Transition to the Circular Economy

Clusters are defined as geographically close groups of organizations that work together to gain a competitive advantage. Clusters’ shared activities involve knowledge sharing, a common pool of resources, innovations, and cooperation. From a more advanced perspective, clusters can work in industrial symbiosis sharing resources, energy, water, and other products. Tendencies of recent research indicate the growing interest in shifting to an efficient use of resources and sustainable development through the circular economy (CE). Clusters can work as enablers of CE to achieve a competitive advantage. The purpose of this study is to trace the relationships between cluster performance and shifting to the CE indicators. Correlation analysis was used as a method to indicate the relationships between pairs of clusters’ performance and shifting to the CE indicators. The limitations of the research refer to the selection of the indicators as both concepts gain insights, although still debatable. The results show that 16 out of 25 cluster performance indicators were identified that have strong or moderate relationships among pairs while shifting to the CE indicators. These indicators are recommended to be included in observation, benchmarking, or evaluation of the clusters’ activities. They can be significant in monitoring the development of shifting to the CE or in combinations with other research areas.

The Efficiency of Circular Economies: A Comparison of Visegrád Group Countries

Efficiency of circular economies is one of the most important areas of the improvement of economic growth in a circular way, that is, improving worldwide GDP. The issue of circular economies, namely their efficiency, is a current topic of evidence of many literary sources in the literature. This issue is solved in the conditions of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. The goal of the study is to compare the circular efficiency within the Visegrád Group and efficiency of Visegrád Group countries to the European Union 28 average. Data envelopment analysis slack-based models are implemented to evaluate the output efficiencies of the selected subjects. Truncated regression is used to measure the impact of selected indicators on circular efficiency. The Visegrád Group countries are not among the most advanced in terms of recycling and the use of the circular economy, which was confirmed by this research. However, developments suggest significant improvements. The significance of this research lies in several benefits. One of the benefits is the perception of regional differences and the setting of EU cluster policies at the regional level. The idea of changing inputs is very significant since the outputs are oriented to the recycling rates of materials and waste. This research has shown that a higher level of GDP does not necessarily mean a higher level of efficiency of the circular economy.

Circular Economy in Poland: Profitability Analysis for Two Methods of Waste Processing in Small Municipalities

The problem of diminishing resources on our plant is now getting due attention from the governments as well as scientists around the world. The transition from a linear economy to a circular economy (CE) is now among the top priorities. This article discusses the implementation of the circular economy paradigm in Poland through the analysis of the existing and planned mechanisms, and actions taken by the Polish government which can be replicated by other young European countries. Further, the article discusses the direction of change and projected measures planned by the Polish government to improve the quality of municipal solid waste management. In this context, profitability analysis is carried out for two methods of waste processing (incineration and torrefaction) intended for small municipalities and settlements in which district heating and trading of generated electricity are not feasible. The results of the analysis shows that torrefaction is clearly a more desirable waste processing option as a step towards the implementation of CE for civic society in the urban context, as well as profitability, in comparison to incineration. The analysis accounts for several scenarios before the lockdown caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic and after it was lifted.

Circular Economy and Economic Development in the European Union: A Review and Bibliometric Analysis

Increased changes in the climate and ecosystems call for a sustainable economic development, where economic growth should be compatible with the environment goals. In order to do this, it is urgent to find new ways of life and new production systems that make our ecological footprint compatible with global sustainability. The concept of the circular economy has brought relevant contributions to this problem. The central objective of the study presented here is to highlight the main insights presented through scientific literature about the concept of the circular economy within the European Union. In practice, the intention is to show what has already been done about this topic and what can/should be implemented in the future. To achieve these objectives, 144 articles were considered from the Web of Science (Core Collection) for the topics “circular economy” and “European Union”. These documents were, firstly, analysed through a proper literature review and later explored through bibliometric analysis, considering bibliographic data and the VOSviewer software. As the main findings have revealed, the increased importance of this concept within the European Union is recognized. However, this paper also identifies several challenges in the literature, namely the concentration of the identified publications in certain countries, organizations, and authors.

An Integrated Measurement of the Efficiency of China’s Industrial Circular Economy and Associated Influencing Factors

Since the 1990s, the notion of a circular economy has been developing globally; countries all over the world have been considering the development of a circular economy as an important means of achieving sustainable development. As the development of an industrial circular economy can help promote the efficient recycling of resources, it is an important starting point for industrial transformation and upgrading, and represents a key factor that will lead to the development of a circular economy in China. China’s varying provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) have successively implemented circular economy practices in the industrial field. The research object of the present study is 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the control of central government (Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Tibet were not included owing to lack of data). Through the integration of geographic information systems (GIS) technology and the spatial analysis model, data envelopment analysis (DEA) model, and Tobit regression model, a measure model and index system are constructed, in order to carry out a multi-angle comprehensive study integrating the efficiency evaluation, spatial analysis, and influencing factors analysis of China’s industrial circular economy. It is an important innovation, and an important contribution to the existing research system. The conclusions are as follows: (1) In general, the overall level of China’s industrial circular economy’s efficiency was not high, and there was still a lot of room for improvement. The integrated efficiency of the industrial circular economy in the eastern region was relatively high, followed by that in the western region, and the lowest level in the middle region. (2) The efficiency of China’s industrial circular economy displayed obvious spatial aggregation characteristics at the provincial level, including clear spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity. High-value aggregation areas were mainly distributed in the eastern coastal areas, and low-value aggregation areas were concentrated and contiguously distributed in the middle and western inland areas. (3) The four elements of economic level, openness to the outside, government regulation, and industrialization aggregation each impose a significant positive impact on the efficiency of China’s industrial circular economy, which can promote its efficiency. The level of industrialization exerts a significant negative impact on the efficiency of the industrial circular economy, which hampers its improvement. The impact of technological innovation on the efficiency of the industrial circular economy is not statistically significant.

Risk and Opportunity of Using Plastics from Waste Collected in a Yellow Bag

The article presents the results of research aimed at analysing the share of fractions suitable for recycling and pollutants in waste collected in a yellow bag. The research was carried out in an area inhabited by 200,000 people. The amount of waste collected in the communes in yellow containers in 2016-2019 increased systematically in communes: rural by 75.8, urban-rural by 44.9 and urban by 17.8%. The collection efficiency expressed in the degree of collection was the highest and grew fastest in rural areas (from 25.1 to 35.5%). In cities, it practically did not change (14.4-15.8%). The weight of recyclable components represented on average 39.9% of the weight of yellow bag waste. Plastic bottles (PET) packaging prevailed, the share of which changed from 19.6 to 14.8%, including the share of colourless PET decreasing from 7.9 to 5.8%. At present, revenue from the sale of secondary raw materials obtained from waste collected separately to yellow bags covers only 26% of the costs related to the recycling and recovery of waste delivered to the installation. Support for separate collection of plastics through recovery organisations, i.e., entrepreneurs who are obliged to recover and recycle waste, is symbolic.

Financial Analysis of the Use of Two Horizontal Drain Water Heat Recovery Units

The growing interest in the use of unconventional energy sources is a stimulus for the development of dedicated devices and technologies. Drain water heat recovery (DWHR) units can be an example of such devices. They allow the recovery of part of the heat energy deposited in grey water. This paper describes the results of research on the assessment of the financial profitability of the use of two horizontal heat exchanger solutions, taking into account the actual distribution of cold water temperature during the operating year in the plumbing and two operating regimes of the premises as the residential and service facilities. The analysis showed that the use of a horizontal heat exchanger with increased efficiency in a dwelling in a 15-year life cycle allowed for achieving more than twice as much savings (reaching up to EUR 1427) compared to a classic horizontal heat exchanger. At the same time, it was shown that the installation of this type of equipment was more profitable the greater the water consumption of the premises. The article also notes the impact of cold water temperature in the installation on the results of the analysis. It was featured that taking temperature on the basis of installation design recommendations led to significant distortions in the financial analysis. On the other hand, comparing the method of averaging the cold water temperature (daily, monthly and yearly), it was determined that averaging the temperature over the annual cycle was an acceptable simplification of the model. The research results presented in the paper have a practical aspect and may constitute guidelines for designers and potential investors. In addition, they can be an incentive to continue research on heat exchangers by other scientific centers, which on a global scale will increase the universality of their use.

Analysis of Municipal Waste Development and Management in Self-Governing Regions of Slovakia

In the European Union, basic strategy results from the need to provide intelligent, sustainable, and inclusive growth, along with respect to social and economic impacts of waste treatment. The paper focuses on municipal waste and its separation. Generally, within global waste management initiatives, the main goal is to minimize the negative effects of waste on the environment, as well as to increase and optimize the sources’ efficiency in the waste economy. Research on municipal waste development and its separation was done in individual regions of Slovakia to find if socially weaker regions have worse waste treatment. The results were compared according to the waste development per inhabitant and per household, as well as through rate indexes, which are connected to relationships between waste, social, and economic indexes. The results confirmed research results from other countries that show that the volume of municipal waste is increasing due to increased living standards of inhabitants. However, on the other hand, waste separation rates also increased—mainly based on the legislative support.

Establishing a Sustainable Waste Management System in a Transitional Economic Context: Analysis of the Socio-Economic Dynamics

Establishing a sustainable waste management system concerns multiple aspects of the prospected geo-locations. Among them, the dynamics of the socio-economy play a crucial role. Based on the idea of circular economy (CE), the amount of waste, in general, should be reduced and the process of social involvement is embedded. This study aims to examine the social willingness towards a sustainable waste management system at a local level in Georgia. The research study was conducted with waste management analyses in Marneuli city in the South-Eastern Georgian district of Kvemo Kartli, as well as a survey in 510 households in Marneuli. A descriptive statistical analysis and a narrative analysis were used to evaluate the results of the survey. In Georgia, as a transitional country, local participation is still not well developed. However, this research study shows that the potentiality and the social request for the environmental actions at a local level exist. The key results of this study are that the robust connection with the locals is a fundamental factor in implementing a sustainable waste management plan at a local level.