Limits to circular bioeconomy in the transition towards decentralized biowaste management systems

Angouria-Tsorochidou, Elisavet; Teigiserova, Dominika Alexa; Thomsen, Marianne

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105207

Cited by 41 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…In a Canadian case study [132], interestingly, the authors have argued in favour of smaller and numerous biomass depots in a denser network. Decentralisation of biowaste management (valorisation) systems is the recommendation of [347]; the authors consider it to be 'a coherent supporting mechanism for achieving long-term climate goals in a circular bioeconomy'. These differences in viewpoints are testimony to the need for optimisation on a case-by-case basis, instead of generalising.…”

Section: Municipal and Industrial Solid Waste And Sewage Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circular Bio-economy—Paradigm for the Future: Systematic Review of Scientific Journal Publications from 2015 to 2021

Govindarajan

2021

Circ.Econ.Sust.

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While ‘renewable’ is the keyword in a bioeconomy and resource conservation is the motivation behind a circular economy, a circular bioeconomy is one in which waste streams from renewable bio-resources are looped back into the technosphere—open-loop or closed-loop recycling or conversion from matter to energy. This systematic review brings together 385 publications from 2015 to 2021, originating from 50 countries and appearing in 150 journals, into a coherent account of the status quo of published research on circular bioeconomy. The numbers bear testimony to the growing interest in this field of research. Germany is the leading contributor to the scientific literature base (10%), while the Journal of Cleaner Production (9%) tops the list of journals in the fray. The methodology adopted has been clearly explained, and the discussion has been segmented into sub-sections and sub-sub-sections to do justice to the diversity of the nature of the publications. A little flexibility in organisation of the flow of the text has been availed of, to improve readability. The circular bioeconomy can be visualised as a set of ‘many through many to many’ relationships, enabling both economies of scale and scope in the longer run. This calls for extensive collaboration and cooperation among the numerous stakeholders involved. Several barriers will have to be overcome. Technology impact assessments and sustainability risk appraisals need to be carried out in order to ensure and convince stakeholders that they are on the right path. But as one knows and will appreciate, challenges lurk where there exist opportunities to be availed of, to replace the take-make-use-dispose paradigm of a linear economy to the grow-make-use-restore alternative. Graphical abstract

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Section: Municipal and Industrial Solid Waste And Sewage Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circular Bio-economy—Paradigm for the Future: Systematic Review of Scientific Journal Publications from 2015 to 2021

Govindarajan

2021

Circ.Econ.Sust.

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“…All these outputs may potentially mitigate several urban circularity challenges, as detailed by . However, all stakeholders shall be involved in the project design and implementation for ensuring the success of decentralized urban organic waste treatment and valorization [115]. Finally, a method to design decentralized and micro-scale anaerobic digestion efficient networks in urban areas is still needed [116].…”

Section: Contribution Of This Nbs Unit To the Mitigation Of Urban Circularity Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nature-Based Units as Building Blocks for Resource Recovery Systems in Cities

Hullebusch

Bani

Carvalho³

et al. 2021

Water

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Cities are producers of high quantities of secondary liquid and solid streams that are still poorly utilized within urban systems. In order to tackle this issue, there has been an ever-growing push for more efficient resource management and waste prevention in urban areas, following the concept of a circular economy. This review paper provides a characterization of urban solid and liquid resource flows (including water, nutrients, metals, potential energy, and organics), which pass through selected nature-based solutions (NBS) and supporting units (SU), expanding on that characterization through the study of existing cases. In particular, this paper presents the currently implemented NBS units for resource recovery, the applicable solid and liquid urban waste streams and the SU dedicated to increasing the quality and minimizing hazards of specific streams at the source level (e.g., concentrated fertilizers, disinfected recovered products). The recovery efficiency of systems, where NBS and SU are combined, operated at a micro- or meso-scale and applied at technology readiness levels higher than 5, is reviewed. The importance of collection and transport infrastructure, treatment and recovery technology, and (urban) agricultural or urban green reuse on the quantity and quality of input and output materials are discussed, also regarding the current main circularity and application challenges.

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“…MSW collection and transport require up to 40% of municipal revenues for cities in developing countries [40]. In this context, decentralized systems are an alternative to shape waste management systems, and have attracted interest by practitioners, policy makers, and the scientific community [41].…”

Section: Centralized and Decentralized Approaches For Integrated Biowaste Management Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Their analysis focused on techno-economic aspects of decentralized options and did not investigate system level planning. Through an interviewbased stakeholder analysis, the authors of [41] identified institutional drivers and barriers towards the implementation of decentralized biowaste management systems. However, to the authors' knowledge, there was currently no systematic and comprehensive review to provide an overview of decentralized AD at the system level addressing questions such as: What is the current scientific knowledge on key planning aspects for decentralized AD at system level?…”

Section: Centralized and Decentralized Approaches For Integrated Biowaste Management Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Potential Contribution of Decentralized Anaerobic Digestion towards Urban Biowaste Recovery Systems: A Scoping Review

2021

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The potential contribution of decentralized approaches in implementing biowaste recovery systems has attracted interest in urban policy making and scientific research. Although the scientific literature on the topic is rapidly increasing, it is still limited and scattered. A comprehensive overview of current scientific knowledge is thus needed to support future research on decentralized options for biowaste recovery systems. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a mature biowaste treatment technology that recovers energy and nutrients, and can close urban resource loops. Through a scoping literature review, this paper investigated decentralized AD and its potential contribution in implementing urban biowaste recovery systems. We identified opportunities and challenges for planning of decentralized AD, and concluded that these mainly concern: (a) digestate management; (b) the potential for local circularity with product valorization in outlets such as urban agriculture; and (c) the development and application of decision support tools. The findings highlighted the need to enhance scientific evidence on the impact of decentralized AD in different urban contexts. Results from published studies were highly context-specific, making it difficult to draw general conclusions. This study can support the transition to integrated planning of AD and wider urban biowaste recovery systems. Such planning must include a comprehensive analysis of configuration approaches.

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Limits to circular bioeconomy in the transition towards decentralized biowaste management systems

Cited by 41 publications

References 23 publications

Circular Bio-economy—Paradigm for the Future: Systematic Review of Scientific Journal Publications from 2015 to 2021

Circular Bio-economy—Paradigm for the Future: Systematic Review of Scientific Journal Publications from 2015 to 2021

Nature-Based Units as Building Blocks for Resource Recovery Systems in Cities

The Potential Contribution of Decentralized Anaerobic Digestion towards Urban Biowaste Recovery Systems: A Scoping Review

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