The unsustainable prevalence of plexiglass
Strict social distancing requirements and the need for physical barriers have led to an exponential increase in the use of plexiglass over the last few months. This fossil-based material is so widel...
The future of protein
Industrial production of meat from intensive farming is increasingly unsustainable, and faces heavy criticism for the conditions in which animals are raised and slaughtered, for the amount of water,...
Circular Professions: a new role for Geoscientists
The success of the energy transition - or, more generally, the progression to a more environmentally sustainable economic development model - is necessarily dependent on the availability of professi...
Can face masks be sustainable?
While Covid-19 was spreading across the world, hundreds of companies around the world converted part of their production lines to produce face masks. Similarly, many enterprises started focusing on ...
Oil and bicycle: in Siena the recovery starts from sustainability
The post-Covid recovery will have to start from the territories, from the communities and from sustainability. The initiative launched by Sienambiente for a green recovery of the Province of Siena h...
Amazon, Do not destroy
The first law in the world banning the destruction of returned or unsold products has been passed in France. This happened following the wave of indignation unleashed after the release of a document...
Regenerate, the tool that revolutionizes circular buildings
Embracing principles of the circular economy could bring a number of benefits to the built environment. Buildings are regularly stripped out and torn down, with new buildings frequently constructed ...
Reinventing the Fire. Again
It is a slow and beautiful drive up to Snowmass, Colorado. Cars drive at 20 miles per hour, due to icy roads. External temperature is -25°C, and everything looks pale white, like in the tale of the...
Reverse logistics, the circular economy weakest link
Reverse logistics is sometimes described as the logistics going in the “wrong direction”. Yet, by closing the loop of product lifecycles, it plays an important role to transitioning to a circula...
Cattlechain: bridging the gap between livestock farmers and consumers
Unless you are a vegetarian, pescatarian or vegan, chances are you would not let a juicy ribeye steak pass you by. Would you? Even though countries may have different meat preferences, livestock pro...
Oil Recycling: Italy is an excellence in Europe, thanks to CONOU
CONOU has a long and interesting history. As a consortium, it has been operating since 1984. Its mission is to collect and recycle hazardous waste materials ranging from waste oil that comes from ca...
A Forest
The expression “sustainability” is strictly correlated with forests. The word came into use in 1713 when the chief mining official Hans Carl von Carlowitz, from Freiberg, Saxony, published the ...
The Merchants of Doubt
Credit Kayana Szymczak 2020 will mark the tenth anniversary of the publication of Merchants of Doubt, a book that in Europe and the USA has had an impact due to its capacity to make us pond...
Biofuels: Aiming for a Greener and Cleaner India
With wind, solar and biomass gaining prominence and replacing age old sources such as coal, oil and even nuclear energy, there is space for virtuous companies to enter new markets in India’s clean...
How GPP Works in Lombardy
With the approval of the new Public Contracts Code in 2016, Italy is the only European country that has made Green Public Procurement mandatory. This means that all public authorities have to employ...
Rethinking the Chinese Economy
When was the circular economy idea first introduced in China? “As far as I know the idea of circular economy (CE) was first introduced in China in the late 1990s, by researchers and...
The Circular Republic of China
In Shanghai, the city’s administration excels in its commitment to electronic waste recycling, an ongoing ordeal that emerged from China’s digital boom. Urban mining potential is boosted by a co...
The Great Trade Challenge
A shock with worldwide repercussions: China’s ban on plastic waste imports, introduced at the beginning of 2018, has left the global recycling market reeling. The loss of the largest importer ...
How Green is Your Mine?
Western public opinion currently perceives China as a country whose prodigious economic growth has come at the price of unsustainable levels of environmental pollution. Although this idea does hold ...
Palm Oil Bioeconomy
Malaysia has an abundance of natural resources – especially, and controversially, of palm oil – and a public sector that favours innovation and attracts investments. These are the countr...