The Role of the Circular Economy in Road Transport to Mitigate Climate Change and Reduce Resource Depletion

Engineering and application of polysaccharides and proteins-based nanobiocatalysts in the recovery of toxic metals, phosphorous, and ammonia from wastewater: A review

Global waste production is anticipated reach to 2.59 billion tons in 2030, thus accentuating issues of environmental pollution and health security. 37 % of waste is landfilled, 33 % is discharged or burned in open areas, and only 13.5 % is recycled, which makes waste management poorly efficient in the context of the circular economy. There is therefore a need for methods to recycle waste into valuable materials through resource recovery process. Progress in the field of recycling is strongly dependent on the development of efficient, stable, and reusable, yet inexpensive catalysts. In this case, a growing attention has been paid to development and application of nanobiocatalysts with promising features. The main purpose of this review paper is to: (i) introduce nanobiomaterials and describe their effective role in the preparation of functional nanobiocatalysts for the recourse recovery aims; (ii) provide production methods and the efficiency improvement of nanobaiocatalysts; (iii) give comprehensive description of valued resource recovery for reducing toxic chemicals from the contaminated environment; (iv) describe various technologies for the valued resource recovery; (v) state the limitation of the valued resource recovery; (vi) and finally economic importance and current scenario of nanobiocatalysts strategies applicable for the resource recovery processes.

Spatial effect of transportation infrastructure on regional circular economy: evidence from Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

Compared with the linear economy, the circular economy can solve the contradiction between social development and resource utilization, which has attracted wide attention. Although the relationship between transportation infrastructure and economic development has changed from traditional mode to spatial mode, the spatial effect of transportation infrastructure on regional circular economy is still unclear. By combining the policy changes for developing the circular economy in China, this study constructs a comprehensive index of circular economy development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). Based on the time and space development of the circular economy in GBA, we analyze the spatial effect of transportation infrastructure on it. The results show that the regional circular economy in GBA has developed, but has not been decoupled from economic development. The development of the regional circular economy presents a positive spatial spillover effect, which is beneficial to the building of the regional recycling market. The improvement of transportation infrastructure has a positive impact on the circular economy of neighboring cities, but it may have the risk of inhibiting the development of the local circular economy. These findings provide policy recommendations for urban planners to coordinate the development of transportation infrastructure and circular economy.