The Circular Economy and retail: using Deep Learning to predict business survival

Background The Circular Economy system can improve the product cycle and changes the system and mentality, both for production and the consumer and has become a significant alternative to the classic economic model. The retail sector has also started to advance along these lines. Following an analysis of the state of the art of the Circular Economy and retailing, using bibliometric techniques, our research focuses on understanding if the relationship between circularity and retailing can help us determine a business’ survivability and resilience. To this end, data pertaining to 658 commercial premises from four cities were studied over a period of 11 years. A Deep Learning technique is applied using Long Short-Term Memory to determine if there is a relationship between the resistance of the selected commercial premises, their status in previous periods of time, the type of business activity, and their classification in the Circular Economy plane. Results The system predicts, on the set of tests, with a 93.17% accuracy, the survival of a commercial premises based on the activity, and circularity information before 2012. The results of the training also show very significant precision values of the order of 94.15% with data from the post-depression period. Conclusions The results show that businesses with activities related to the Circular Economy are more likely to survive over extended periods of time.

Measuring efficiency of a recycling production system with imprecise data

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>Resources scarcity and environmental degradation have made sustainable resource utilization and environmental protection worldwide. A circular economy system considers economic production activities as closed-loop feedback cycles in which resources are used sustainably and cyclically. Improving the eco-efficiency of the circular economy system has both theoretical value and practical meaning. In this work, the efficiency measurement model of the circular economy system with imprecise data based on network data envelopment analysis is proposed. The two-level mathematical programming approach is employed for measuring the system and process efficiencies. The lower and upper bounds of the efficiencies scores are calculated by transformed conventional one-level linear programs so that the existing solution methods can be applied. The proposed method is applied to assess the circular economy system of EU countries. Our results show that most countries have large difference among fuzzy efficiencies between the production efficiency and recycling efficiency stages, which reveals the source that causes the low efficiency of the circular economy system.</p>

CURRENT DEVELOPMENT OF SORBENTS DERIVED FROM PLANT AND ANIMAL WASTE AS GREEN SOLUTION FOR TREATING POLLUTED AQUEOUS MEDIA

In this review article, the recent development of organic sorbents derived from plant and animal waste for treating polluted aqueous media is presented. The application of biomass has been recognized reliable to adsorb hazardous pollutants contained in wastewater generated by emerging industries. This paper also discusses other existing technologies for removing pollutants including heavy metals, dyes, oil and grease, antibiotic and phenolic compounds from polluted aqueous media. Furthermore, several prominent examples of plant and animal wastes such as eucalyptus bark, pine bark, rice husk, various fruit peels, and animal bones are also properly reviewed. The effects of modification techniques on sorbent performance such as carbonization, pyrolysis, and chemical impregnation using acid or alkaline chemicals are considerably included. Some gaps in current literature are also discussed including the tendency of certain targeted pollutants, the use of simulated aqueous media, the scale of research projects, and the prominent modification procedures. Eventually, based on the relevant literature, clear conclusion has been drawn that these natural disposals have great potentiality as environmentally friendly sorbent alternative to other commercial expensive sorbents, and their reuse has been part of green solutions supporting a circular economy system.

Re-Commerce to Ensure Circular Economy from Consumer Perspective

Responsible consumption practice is crucial to minimizing waste as part of sustainable development (SDG 12). This can be achieved by extending product life in a cradle-to-cradle system as part of a circular economy. However, are consumers willing to extend product life by reusing materials? The phenomenon of re-commerce, where consumers sell products to each other (C2C), takes place in physical as well as web-based markets. This project focuses on enabling factors for re-commerce practices on Facebook among consumers in Bangladesh. A review of existing literature provided grounds for an empirical focus group study of Bangladeshi consumers. Using a social practice theory perspective in a thematic analysis shows that enabling factors in terms of technical competence, context-bound conditions influencing meanings such as socially accepted procedures, and practical practices relating to materials such as payment forms and logistics support, all serve as enabling or hindering factors. The study contributes to the understanding of conditions for re-commerce practices as part of a circular economy system where consumers are encouraged to engage in responsible consumption by extending product life cycles.

Tackling the Circular Economy Challenges—Composites Recycling: Used Tyres, Wind Turbine Blades, and Solar Panels

Transformation of waste into resources is an important part of the circular economy. Nowadays, the recovery of materials in the most effective way is crucial for sustainable development. Composite materials offer great opportunities for product development and high performance in use, but their position in a circular economy system remains challenging, especially in terms of material recovery. Currently, the methods applied for recycling composites are not always effective. The aim of the article is to analyse the most important methods of material recovery from multilateral composites. The manuscript presents three case studies related to the recycling of products manufactured from composites: used tyres, wind turbine blades, and solar panels. It shows the advantages and disadvantages of currently applied methods for multilateral composite utilisation and presents further trends in composite recycling. The results show that increasing volumes of end-of-life composites have led to increased attention from government, industry, and academia.

Circular procurement management in the circular economy system

The article is devoted to the analysis of the possibilities of using the instruments of the circular economy. The article describes the theoretical and practical aspects of the circular economy. The article highlights the classical approaches to resource management in the system of a circular economy. Methods for managing the cyclicity of production and consumption are analyzed. Provides extensive explanations on how to manage production and consumption cycles. The main reasons that lead to the occurrence of resource losses are considered. The analysis of the basic tools and methods that can be applied in the implementation of the circular economy is carried out. The possibilities of obtaining benefits from the introduction of a circular economy are considered. The role of circular purchases in the system of circular economy is considered. The main directions of improvement in the circular procurement management system are determined. Critical aspects in the procurement management system have been identified. The analysis of the state of waste management in Ukraine has been carried out. The possibilities of using modern methods of circular procurement management have been analyzed. These are the classic circular procurement models. The main advantages of using circular procurement methods are proposed. Provided recommendations for further research in circular procurement management.

FiberEUse: Large-Scale Demonstration of New Circular Economy Value Chains Based on the Reuse of End-of-Life Fiber-Reinforced Composites—A Circular It Platform to Manage Innovative Design and Circular Entities

The new Circular Economy System requires an innovative approach to the management of information. The FiberEUse IT platform is a solution that enables the exchange of information among stakeholders that works into and across the glass and carbon fibers value chains, from the design to the end of the circle of life. The IT solution supports companies in scouting new potential market applications and search information about companies, manufacturing processes, and objects. Those objects had been defined “circular entities” and can be products, materials, semi-manufactured objects, wastes, among others. The information available for each circular entity is the one which the company itself wants to share and can propose: description, informative details, technical details, processes adopted to create it, consultancy services used, etc. To obtain this necessary variety, the data model had been structured in a polymorphic way; being able to serve different product histories without the ambition to create a common and classic entity relationship schema but thinking by high level object-oriented design.

Shortcomings of Transforming a Local Circular Economy System through Industrial Symbiosis: A Case Study in Spanish SMEs

Defining the circular economy (CE) as a material and energy model coincides with the definition given by multiple authors in which Industrial Symbiosis (IS) has been deemed as a foundational strategy to support the implementation of the CE. The consumption of secondary materials is essential to achieve a successful transformation from a linear economy to a CE focused on IS practices. In this scenario, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a major role as stakeholders in developing CE systems as it is not possible to create this model with each company working in isolation. However, there is a lack of empirical studies on the role played by relevant local stakeholders such as individual firms interacting in the development of a local CE system. This study aimed to study the challenges that SMEs face in developing a CE system. A case study is selected as a research strategy using a mixed-method approach: a sequential quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (semi-structured interviews) data collection techniques were employed for this research. It was observed that an absence of inter-organisational collaboration and a misunderstanding of the roles played by SMEs may impede the implementation of a local CE system level.

Science and Sustainability in Food

In this project we studied the aquaponics system that allows the simultaneous production of some species of vegetables and fish. In this way, it allows the identification of the circular economy system, present in this production circuit. When feeding fish in an aquarium, the excrement produced by them is rich in nutrients that feed the plants that, in turn, filter the water for the fish. With a water pump, that keeps the water in circulation, a continuous closed circuit is achieved. We concluded that, with water and energy savings, without using phytopharmaceuticals, and with naturally occurring processes, an economy of means and the food quality is guaranteed: plants and fish. In studying this, we looked for ways to obtain the material, we do the installation and maintenance of the system, performed daily tasks and monitor the growth of plants and animals, managing to use aromatic herbs for the school bar and also divulge it.