Tesis (AFET) para optar al grado de Magíster en Derecho Ambiental / Actividad Formativa Equivalente a Tesis (AFET)

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore suitable end-of-life strategies for fashion retailers of custom-made products after they have been returned by the customer, by analysing and evaluating these strategies, and how to implement and conclude the viability of these. Method: The study follows an abductive explorative case study method. The exploratory design is structured as follows; a literature review is carried out, followed by interviews for collecting empirical data, which is analysed with the help of a conceptual framework. Thereafter, secondary data is collected to create an overview of the real-world context in the form of end-of-life strategies implemented by fashion retailers. Finally, the case was tested within a new proposed framework. Findings: The findings demonstrate the importance of the core values of the companies and inherent to that, the product characteristics and design in the decision-making of a suitable end-of-life strategy. For that reason, a second phase of data collection based on secondary data was implemented and juxtaposed the first finding from the interviews. The main insight this paper shows is that resell “as it is”, which is a common end-of-life strategy for regular fashion retailers, is a conflicting strategy for retailers of custom-made clothing. Introducing an adapted version of the Sustainable Value Analysis Tool as a conceptual framework gave a better insight in how to approach and analyse suitable end-of-life strategies and shows the relation between these parameters. Originality: It is difficult according to the findings of this study to conclude a generalisable, one-size-fits-all end-of-life strategy for returned custom-made products. However, the introduction of an adapted version of the Sustainable Value Analysis Tool can serve a purpose for all fashion retailers in this transformation process and which is not limited to fashion retailers of mass customised clothing.

Jordens resurser används flitigt av människan och bidrar bland annat till samhällsutvecklingar. Men användandet bidrar också till utsläpp av växthusgaser, global uppvärmning och vattenanvändning. För att minska det ekologiska fotavtrycket och resursanvändningen har städer och aktörer börjat utveckla industriell symbios som är ett samarbete där en restprodukt från ett företag blir en resurs till ett annat företag. Den här samhällsutveckling påvisar en samhällsövergång för att utveckla och sammanföra ekonomin, miljön och samhället. Studien undersöker om transition management som styrningsstrategi kan appliceras i etableringen av industriell symbios i Malmö hamnområde. För att svara på frågan behövdes en delfrågeställning som löd: Hur har processen av projektet, delad energi är dubbel energi, gått till i Malmö stad hamnområde? Delad energi är dubbel energi är ett projekt som utvecklat industriell symbios i Malmö stad. Projektet påbörjades 2015 och avslutades under 2019 där 12 aktörer varit delaktiga. Fyra intervjuer genomfördes med personer delaktiga i projektet på ett eller annat sätt. I analysen sammanställdes information från informanterna och på delad energi är dubbel energis hemsida, utifrån transition management-modellen. Vi delade upp analysen i fyra komponenter från modellen som är ​transition-arena​, transition-agenda,​​transition-actiono​ch​transition-adaption​.Idethärarbetetbehandlarvi transition-​processensomövergångentillcirkulärekonomigenomindustriellsymbios. Transition management-modellens syfte är att genom en ​transition gå från ett jämviktsläge till ett annat. / The earth's resources contribute, among other things, to societal developments. But it also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, global warming and water use. To reduce the ecological footprint and resource use, cities and actors have begun to develop industrial symbiosis, which is a collaboration where a residual product from one company becomes a resource for another company. This societal development demonstrates a societal transition to develop and bring together economy, the environment and society. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether transition management as a management strategy could have been applicable in the establishment process of industrial symbiosis in the Malmö port area. The main question was whether it would have been possible for the City of Malmö to use the transition management model during the establishment process of industrial symbiosis in the port area. To answer that question, a sub-question was needed: How did the process of the project, ​delad energi är dubbel energi, tok place in the port area of ​​Malmö? ​Delad energi är dubbel energi is the project that has developed industrial symbiosis in the city of Malmö, where we have, among other things, taken part in the project process. The project began in 2015 and ended in 2019 where 12 actors were involved at the beginning. To answer our questions, four interviews were conducted with people who have all been involved in the project in one way or another. The analysis compiled the information we received from the informants and what we found on shared energy is a dual energy website, based on the transition management model. We divided the analysis into four components from the model, which are transition arena, transition agenda, transition action and transition adaptation. In this work, we treat the transition process as the transition to a circular economy through industrial symbiosis. The purpose of the transition management model is to use the specified transition to go from one equilibrium position to another.

Circular economy addresses the environmental crisis and its urge to adapt and reshape economic models towards more sustainability. Recent literature has provided rich knowledge on the concept and important conceptual research. Moreover, consequent existing research about drivers to engage in circular economy focuses on consumers and businesses but it is almost always limited to a commercial context. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore motivational factors to involve in a non-commercial context in circular economy. Through a qualitative approach, the single case study of a leisure bank network was conducted in Sweden. The concept of leisure bank is to lend sport and leisure equipment like a library would lend books for free. The findings show that some motivational factors previously identified in a commercial circular economy context also apply to a non-commercial circular economy context. However, this study contributes with the improvement of welfare as one additional driver for non-commercial circular economy engagement. Additionally, the findings revealed unexpectedly positive effects regarding commercial actors who are substantively affected by the network.    In line with this, circular economy has gained widespread interest among scholars and practitioners. This initiative to improve upon business models to cater the contemporary challenging social, economic, and environmental paradigm. Following a lead to expand research in this discipline, an empirical case study of a circular economy network is undertaken. A network based on exchange is identified as an important basis for the case and the study was undertaken following qualitative research in the form of interviews to those involved in the network. By gathering and analysing their insight, the importance of a network structure based on the exchange of resources was identified, finding that the interaction between the participants as a process which creates value in forms that contribute to an increase of welfare.

Die Kreislaufwirtschaft wird von den verschiedensten Seiten als wichtige Strategie für eine nachhaltige Zukunft gefordert und gefördert. Schon seit einiger Zeit setzt sich die Erkenntnis durch, dass eine Bewegung weg von Geschäftsmodellen, die auf Produktverkäufen basieren, hin zum Angebot von Produkt-Dienstleistungssystemen das Implementieren von Kreislaufwirtschaft unterstützen kann. Diese These wurde erneut in der Arbeit der Circular Economy Initiative Deutschland (CEID) diskutiert und in Berichten dieser Initiative dokumentiert. Die Autorin, die auch Mitglied der Circular Economy Initiative war, beleuchtet in diesem Text den Zusammenhang und beschreibt anhand von Ergebnissen aus früheren Forschungs- und Beratungstätigkeiten, wie Produkt-Dienstleistungssysteme (Product-Service Systems, PSS) die Circular Economy unterstützen können und wie diese PSS gestaltet werden können, damit das möglichst nachhaltig, also ökologisch, sozial und ökonomisch vorteilhaft, wirkt. Prozesse, Methoden und Tools für PSS Design und Evaluierung werden vorgestellt und durch Fallbeispiele illustriert.

No description available.

Background: The building industry is slowly but progressively shifting from the ‘take-make-dispose’principle of the linear economy towards a circular economy (CE), where waste is minimized and reintroduced to the loop of production. In this way, the loop of materials, energy and waste flows is closed; all for the hopes of saving the environment. Nonetheless, studies show that this is not the main incentivefor which architects and engineers implement CE principles into their projects and businesses but rather because they are interested in the innovative aspect of CE (Alhawari, et al., 2021). Previous research has also shown that there is a positive correlation between this innovation incentive and the growth thata company has experienced over the years (Horbach & Rammer, 2020). Innovation as such allows companies to attain competitiveness and make their presence stronger in the market (Raghuvanshi & Agrawal, 2020). Objectives: The objective is to extend previous studies about innovation being the main incentivedriving the implementation of CE principles in the building industry. Furthermore, the relationship between company growth and the strength of the innovation incentive is studied, as well as the relationship between company growth and the number of CE projects a company has worked on over the last years.  Methodology: The study is based on a quantitative approach for data collection and data analysis. The data comes from 70 architectural and engineering companies operating in various countries of the European Union and is analyzed with the help of descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney U tests through STATA software.  Results: Innovation is proved to be the main incentive, driving the transition towards CE in the building industry; it is also clearly proven that there is a positive correlation between the innovation incentiveand the company growth. Diving deeper into the subject, no correlation was found between the numberof CE projects and the company growth. However, categorizing the companies based on their size and discipline, a positive correlation was found between the number of CE projects and the growth of big architecture companies. All the observations of positive correlation are in line with previous literature. Conclusions: Saving the planet, which is the reason that initiated the CE concept, is not the main incentive. Architects and engineers are innovative by their nature and always aim to follow trends thatallow them to think outside the box to help their business grow and have their name heard. The effect of innovation on the success of a company should be taken into consideration when developing newbusiness models and setting goals, as well as when recruiting new employees. Recommendations for future research: Future research could broaden the geographical area and try to find if there are different outcomes for other parts of the world. Additionally, an understanding of why only big architectural companies showed a correlation between their growth and their number of CE projects could be achieved by studying a larger sample and defining growth by using other factors.

This diploma thesis deals with application optimization method in circular economy branch. The introduction is focused on explaining main features of the issue and its benefits for economy and environment. Afterwards are mentioned some obstacles, which are preventing transition from current waste management. Mathematical apparatus, which is used in practical section, is described in the thesis. Core of the thesis is mathematical optimization model, which is implemented in the GAMS software, and generator of input data is made in VBA. The model includes all of significant waste management options with respect to economic and enviromental aspect, including transport. Functionality is then demostrated on a small task. Key thesis result is application of the model on real data concerning Czech Republic. In conclusion an analysis of computation difficulty, given the scale of the task, is accomplished.

SMEs are an integral part of the Kenyan economy, and SMEs working with a circular economy (CE)can play a crucial role in contributing to sustainable growth and the nation’s sustainable development goals, Vision 2030. However, these SMEs face several challenges. This study aims to contribute to the body of research on CE and SMEs in developing countries, an area that is under-researched. Through the study, the researchers explore and bring to the fore the barriers and enablers experienced by SMEs practising CE in emerging economies. This study further examines whether SMEs can apply organisational learning to overcome and harness the barriers and enablers. This research is a qualitative study of an exploratory nature. Primary data was collected from SMEs across different sectors through semi-structured interviews. The main findings indicate that the SMEs face barriers with resources, collaborations, infrastructure, regulations and policies, culture, awareness, and the internal and external environment. However, these categories were also found to act as enablers in addition to adaptive spaces and knowledge management. The research further establishes that the present conditions in the external environment attached to weak policies and regulations are a barrier to progression and learning in CE. This study invites further research of circular economy in developing countries and practical solutions for a way forward.

The aim of the the thesis is to study the development of arch effect depending on the change of the various parameters such as grid of columns, height of embankments, material of embankment fill and material of columns. The first phase of work summarizes theoretical knowledges of stone columns and arch effect. The next phase deals with analysis of the effect of arch using numerical modeling. In the next part of the second phase circular tank based on stone columns will be modeled, where deformations and stress on columns will be monitored in changing constitutive model and applying substitute characteristics. Obtained results will be evaluated in conclusion.