Food waste in the supply chain is a big issue because it causes an unnecessary environmental impact, costs to the sector and consumers, as well as costs for waste treatment. Besides, it is a missed opportunity to feed people suffering from hunger. Calculations show that approximately 30% of all world food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted at some stage of the food supply chain, with the retail sector being responsible for approximately 5% of losses in developed countries. Several studies on food waste and losses have been performed in the international and national perspectives. These studies mostly give an overall food chain perspective and do not provide detailed information about food waste in specific stages or locations. The retail sector is one of the actors of the supply chain where there is still a gap in data and information regarding the state of the problem of food waste, especially in the Central and Eastern European region. The number of currently conducted studies regarding amounts of retail food waste, its types, causes and methods of waste minimization is limited or hindered by poor data resolution, because most retailers do not publicize the information about the quantities of wastes and their treatment. Therefore, a better understanding of food wastage within retail stores is necessary in order to assess the actual scale of the problem and to determine efficient waste prevention measures.This work aims at food losses assessment in the Lithuanian retail sector, as well as discussion and comparison of the root causes of food waste generation with the neighbouring countries in North Europe, in order to facilitate food waste prevention measures. Semi-structured questionnaire survey was chosen as a data collection method as it allowed for collection of comprehensive and comparable information on food losses in a relatively short time. The data were collected at 21 retail stores, which belong to 3 biggest retail chains in Lithuania. For the comparative study, available literature on food waste assessment and prevention practices in Nordic countries was analyzed.

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A chemical and ecotoxicological assessment of treatment of wastewater that had been polluted with petroleum products using only Activated Sludge (AS) and four biologically activated sorbents (BASs), consisting of activated sludge plus: coal-based activated carbon (-C1), coconut shell-based activated carbon (-C2), zeolite (-Z), and anthracite (-A) were conducted. The efficiency and robustness of the four wastewater treatment systems were evaluated by calculating the reduced total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contents and the acute ecotoxicity of the effluents. The chemical analysis showed that the combined treatment systems were very effective for reducing the total petroleum hydrocarbon and readily bioavailable PAH contents. The most efficient systems were the BAS-C1 and -C2, which removed 60-88% and 99.5-99.6% of TPH and PAH, respectively. The activated sludge-only treatment was the least effective for purifying the wastewater. Chemical oxygen demand was reduced by >90% by all carbon-based BASs (BAS-C1, BAS-C2 and BAS-A). Shifts in the relative composition of the individual PAHs were identified in samples taken before and after treatment. Algal and bacterial bioassays showed that the toxicities of effluents following treatment by all four systems (except AS for algae) were reduced by more than 80% and 90%, respectively. However, crustacean tests indicated that the carbon-based BASs reduced the toxicity [V tox(50) ] only by 19-67%. Our results indicated that the combination of sorption and biodegradation processes have great potential in the treatment of petroleum products polluted wastewater and is less sensitive for inhibitors of the biological process than treatments in which activated sludge alone is used. The assessment of chemical and ecotoxicological endpoints provided valuable information, but contrasting results for one of the assays indicates that further analysis on the capacity of the different treatment systems is warranted.

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The decarbonization of the mobility and energy sector is one of the major necessary trends for achieving targets set for the European Union (EU) in the 2020 and 2030 climate and energy frameworks. Two key technologies which offer great potential for climate change mitigation are electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energies (REs). Thus, there is the need for innovative and stable policies in order to favor these technologies. The purpose of the study is to identify and compare features of policies for the integration of EVs, REs, and information and communication technology (ICT). This study uses an integrated Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT), and Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal (PESTEL) qualitative methodology in order to show different policies and initiatives, related to e-mobility, RE and ICT, collected from five European regions. This research provides discernments to the EVs and RE challenges, such as the lack of capacity to deal with high energy demands or limited EV-charging infrastructure. On the contrary, a high percentage of REs share, raising climate change awareness, and decreasing EV prices which are great opportunities for the whole EU. Such insights encourage policymakers and other groups of interest to improve their RE and mobility policies, which could lead to effective sustainable mobility systems in urban areas.Sustainability 2020, 12, 2935 2 of 21 vehicles (EVs) and renewable energies (REs). Therefore, it is important to co-develop a framework of experiences and policies where energy and mobility will work together and not act as different entities. For this reason, the INTERREG EUROPE EV ENERGY (Electric Vehicles for City Renewable Energy Supply) project consortium was created. The partners from five European regions (Italy, Lithuania, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands) have identified a need for a common framework and repository of interrelated and analyzed policies and initiatives to lay the basis for systematic interregional dissemination. The majority of the partners have gained experience in analyzing opportunities and developing actions and policies. This research provides insight into the EV and RE challenges and opportunities within the European Region project partners.Registrations of new electric cars in 2017 reached over 1 million sales worldwide; as a result, the global stock exceeded 3 million electric cars in 2017 [4]. That notwithstanding, EVs will be even more advantageous if electricity is generated by RE sources [5,6]. The implementation growth of support schemes for RE technology and decreasing costs of RE systems made a positive impact in the consumption of RE [7]. The share of RE in gross final energy consumption reached 18.9% in 2018 (from 8.5% in 2004). Moreover, the transport sector increased the share of RE to 8.3% in 2018RE to 8.3% in , compared to 3.1% in 2007. Smart charging applications could also boost the share of RE used to charge the EVs; in particular, wind and solar energy is becoming an importan...

Electric mobility is promoted as a future transport option that has environmental and economic benefits and encourages sustainable urban transportation. The aim of this study is to reveal the changes in environmental and economic performance if we switched from internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) to battery electric (BEV) or hybrid electric (HEV) vehicles. Therefore, this research presents a comparative environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) from the Cradle-to-Grave perspective of the vehicles and a Well-to-Wheel analysis of their fuel supply. Moreover, an LCA of a BEV was performed under diverse electricity mix scenarios, which are forecasted for 2015–2050 in Lithuania. From an economic point of view, a life cycle costing was conducted for the same vehicles to estimate the economic impacts over the vehicle life cycles under Lithuanian conditions. The results show that ICEV-petrol contributes the major environmental damage in all damage categories. BEVs with the electricity mix of 2020–2050 scenarios, which are composed mainly of renewable energy sources, provide the least environmental impact. The economic results reveal that BEV and ICEV-diesel are the most cost-efficient vehicles, with the total consumer life cycle costs of approximately 5% and 15% less than ICEV-petrol and HEV, respectively.

A considerable amount of food waste ends up in centralized treatment plants due to the lack of preventive measures, resulting in significant environmental impacts. Hospitality food waste management is even more resource-intensive because of animal by-products regulation. According to this regulation, companies must store and then consign waste to specific waste managers. The extensive need for transportation of high-moisture-content materials is the leading cause of the impact. Moreover, the management of category III animal by-products is costly for companies. A previous study has shown the economic benefits of decentralized animal by-product treatment by intensive composting in catering companies. Although the produced compost was characterized by exceptional quality parameters, it was phytotoxic. The investigation of hospitality waste management is scarcely discussed among scholars, and waste management on a regional scale is nearly absent. This study examines the regional management of hospitality food waste by exploiting the municipal waste management infrastructure and intensive composting at the source. The co-maturation experiment with animal by-products and municipal green waste primary composts showed that the phytotoxicity parameters of the cured compost were in the optimal range or below the thresholds (conductivity (1.1 mS cm−1), dissolved organic carbon (82 mg kg−1), and NH4+/NO3− ratio (0.0027)). Additionally, the amounts of total nitrogen, water-soluble nitrogen, and water-soluble phosphorus in the compost were rated as very high. Finally, inventory and environmental impact analysis of the current and planned management approaches showed a reduction in 12 of 18 impact categories.

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