The circular economy can have oligarchic tendencies in socially-unequal countries: evidence from Chile.

The Sustainable Development Goals include both increasing recycling rates and reducing socioeconomic inequalities. However, existent research lacks attention to the link between advancing towards the circular economy and concentration of wealth and political power. This article analyzes the case of Chile, one of the most income-unequal countries in the world, which between 2014 and 2020 implemented a registry of polluters, an extended producer responsibility legislation, and called for elections to establish a Constitutional Convention to set a new rule of law for the country. The authors of this study innovate by analyzing both economic concentration and political linkages among waste valorization companies. The results show a tendency towards higher concentration in already concentrated waste markets, and a continuous rise in the share of the valorisation market by politically-linked companies. The coexistence of oligopoly, oligopsony and oligarchic tendencies should be considered when analyzing the circular economy in other countries.

Recent advances and prospects for industrial waste management and product recovery for environmental appliances

Any material when utilized for a required period of time and segment, the leftover residues of those materials are known as waste. Enormous waste is generated during such wear and tear process of materials depending on the usage and functions in a routine lifestyle. Those generated waste when overloaded beyond the capacity of natural recycling processes, would influence the environment and human health. Hence, the waste generated from used materials should be managed according to the environmental impact. Even though wastes are also sometimes rich in organic compounds, nutrients, and energy resources, they are not experimented and managed appropriately. Recently, different feasible techniques are invented and followed to recover and reuse the efficient resources that can create and support sustainable livelihood by creating green economy effects by reducing waste. In this chapter, the emphasis has been given to providing an overview of recent advancements on bio-based waste management and product recoveries such as microbes mediated approaches, biorefineries for waste valorization, and bioenergy from industrial waste.

LIGNOCELLULOSE WASTE VALORIZATION BY AN ENZYMATIC COCKTAIL OF P. ERYNGII AND P. PULMONARIUS

The present study aimed to characterize Pleurotus eryngii and P. pulmonarius ligninolytic enzymes and to determine their potential for polymer degradation in common agroforestry residues. The peak of laccase activity (36052.33 U L-1) was observed after P. pulmonarius cultivation on oak sawdust. The maximal Mn-dependent peroxidase activity was reached by P. eryngii (2511.36 U L-1), while the highest level of versatile peroxidase activity was noted in P. pulmonarius (3053.03 U L-1), after fermentation of corn stalks. The highest level of lignin loss (46.28%) was achieved after cultivation of P. pulmonarius on corn stalks, but the most selective degradation of lignocellulose polymers was observed after P. eryngii cultivation on wheat straw. The obtained results lead to the conclusion that the studied P. eryngii and P. pulmonarius strains are good producers of ligninolytic enzymes and effective and selective depolymerizers of agroforestry residues, and therefore their use would be beneficial in numerous environmentally friendly technologies.