Studien började med en observation i att det fanns utmaningar för detkommunala bostadsbolaget att få boende att sortera sitt avfall rätt.Dettaleder till mer jobb ökade kostnader för avfallshanteringen och avfalletspotential att återvinnas nyttjas inte vilket är en miljöbelastning. Genom attminska avfallet och öka återvinngen kan avfallet få ta större plats i ett merhållbart och resurseffektivt samhälle. Med en vilja att undersöka vilkaförutsättningar de boende får till att sortera rätt kombinerat med frågan omen förändring av avfallsplatsen kan bidra till att den blir mer inbjudandetill att sortera rätt började denna studie. Det genomfördes en iterativ studiei ett bostadsområde som fått ett nytt avfallssystem. Studien innehöllplatsbesök, intervjuer och analyserande av avfallet i kombination medlitteraturstudier kopplat till avfall och miljövetenskap. Att avfallshanteringoch återvinning har utmaningar framkom när resultatet pekade påavsaknad av statistik vilket gör det svårt att effektivisera och förbättraarbetet. Kommunerna har en utmaning i att planera för en effektivinsamling av återvinning när de tar över detta ansvar. Studiens slutsats äratt det saknas tillförlitlig statistik för uppföljning och därför är det svårt attdra en slutsats om sorteringen av avfallet påverkats avunderjordsbehållarna. Studien visade även att det är för tidigt för att sägaom underjordsbehållarna bidragit till en bättre sorteringsgrad men detfinns ett långsiktigt perspektiv och en tro på att det nya avfallssystemetkommer ge effekt. / The study began with an observation that there were challenges for themunicipal housing company to get residents to sort their waste correctly.This leads to more work, increased costs for waste management and thewaste's potential to be recycled is not used, which is an environmentalburden. By reducing waste and increase recycling, waste can take a biggerplace in a more sustainable and resource-efficient society. This study beganwith a desire to investigate what conditions the residents get to sortproperly, combined with the question of whether a change to the waste sitecan contribute to it becoming more inviting to sort properly. An iterativestudy was carried out in an area that received a new waste system. Thestudy included site visits, interviews and analyzing the waste incombination with literature studies linked to waste and environmentalscience. That waste management and recycling have built-in challengesemerged when the results pointed to a lack of statistics, which makes itdifficult to streamline and improve the work. Property managers have animportant role in encouraging residents to better waste sorting andrecycling through their personal contact. The municipalities have achallenge to plan for an efficient collection of recycling when they take overthis responsibility. The study's conclusion is that there is a lack of reliablestatistics for follow-up and therefore it is difficult to draw a conclusion asto whether the sorting of the waste has been affected by the undergroundcontainers. The study also showed that it is too early to say about theunderground containers' contribution to a better sorting rate, but there is along-term perspective and a belief that the new waste system will have aneffect. / <p>2023-06-02</p>

Circular Economy is an increasingly popular concept, which could be implemented to decrease our environmental impacts and promote sustainable development. Within Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement, the city of Stockholm has the goal to become climate neutral by 2030 and wants to explore the effects ofcircularity measures. The city has decided to introduce a flow of second-hand materials in a school as a pilotstudy to redirect waste, in alignment with the waste management hierarchy. This thesis' objective is to researchthe impacts of this measure on textile waste management at the scale of a school's use, in the context ofsustainable development. First, interviews were conducted with the stakeholders and the system was analysed from a systems thinking perspective. Second, a Life Cycle Assessment on implementing second-hand textile flows in the school was used to quantify the environmental impacts of the measure. Finally, a survey filled by students gave the perspective they had on using second-hand inside and outside of the school. Results show that the system gathers the required characteristics to support a CE. Introducing this new flow of textiles has benefits compared to business-as-usual scenarios, and decreases carbon emissions. Pupils are showing interest in second-hand, but an economic incentive might be needed for them to change behaviours outside of the school. Findings underline the circular economy is connected to the three pillars of sustainable development at the local scale of the pilot study. The challenge of scaling up this measure and expanding the results at the level of the city is arduous but would support the city of Stockholm in its climate neutrality goal while helping to change the mindsets of its citizens for the future.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore how environmentally sustainable efforts, in terms of circular economy (CE) initiatives, are affecting the customer-based brand equity (CBBE) of fast fashion brands. By considering the attitudes of Generation Z, fashion companies can build brands that respond to the environmental requirements of future decision-makers. Therefore, the following research questions are derived: What are Generation Z’s self-disclosed perceptions of fast fashion brands conducting circular economy initiatives? and How do the perceptions of Generation Z regarding circular economy initiatives impact the CBBE of fast fashion brands?  Method – This master thesis is an exploratory study with an inductive approach. In total, 12 qualitative interviews are conducted, consisting of consumers of fast fashion within Generation Z and currently living in Sweden. The interviews follow a semi-structured approach and in order to analyze the empirical findings, a thematic analysis was executed.  Findings – The main findings of this study consist of three overarching themes in terms of Generation Z’s perceptions towards fast fashion brands conducting CE initiatives and its impact on CBBE. The emerging perceptions describe different segments within Generation Z, which have been defined as Positive: Creates Value, Negative: Hypocritical, and Indifferent: Not relevant. Moreover, the results show that a positive perception towards CE initiatives can strengthen the CBBE of fast fashion brands. In contrast, a negative perception causes a small impact on CBBE and may even weaken the brand, whereas an indifferent perception towards CE initiatives has no noticeable impact on the CBBE.  Theoretical and practical contributions – The study provides insights into Generation Z's different perceptions regarding CE initiatives and how macro-environmental factors can impact the brand equity of fast fashion brands and consumer perception of these brands. The main findings can assist brand managers to address the different consumer segments and their needs by successfully implementing sustainability activities into the business operations of fast fashion brands.

Sveriges byggbransch genererar årligen stora mängder avfall som under 2018 uppgick till 13 miljoner ton vilket motsvarar 35 % av Sveriges totala genererade avfall. För att klara de globala hållbarhetsmålen och minska byggbranschens klimatpåverkan behöver resursanvändningen och uttaget av jungfruliga resurser minska. Diskussionen om ett hållbart samhällsbyggande kretsar kring en fossilfri och resurseffektiv värdekedja och kräver en övergång till cirkulära flöden. I byggbranschen är beställaren den huvudsaklige kravställande parten som besitter stor potential till förändring av hela branschen men den egna medvetenheten hos beställare varierar kraftigt beroende på målgrupp, organisationens storlek och ekonomiska förutsättningar. I denna studie har en intervjustudie genomförts för att undersöka beställarens roll för ökat återbruk av byggmaterial vilket lett till insikter om beställarens roll samt de främsta utmaningar för nämnt syfte. Respondenterna i studien har varit yrkesverksamma i byggbranschen med olika grad av professionell erfarenhet av återbruk av byggmaterial, som representerat olika typer av aktörer inom byggbranschen. I forskningen studeras idag möjligheten till återbruk av byggmaterial i innovations- och pilotprojekt för att hitta arbetsmetoder och lösningar för större flöden av återbrukat material och produkter inom byggbranschen. Denna studie har som avsikt haft att fortsatt undersöka återbrukets potential och utmaningar utifrån ett beställarperspektiv på en branschnivå och har resulterat i kunskap om beställarens roll för ökat återbruk av byggmaterial. Studien visar att beställaren besitter en nyckelroll för att driva förändringsarbetet inom branschen. Det framgår att det finns stora skillnader i beställarens medvetenhet över branschen och att de största aktörerna driver framgångsrika projekt med fokuserat återbruksarbete. Samtidigt är mindre beställare, som till antalet utgör stor del av byggbranschens aktörer, långt ifrån att driva återbruk som en del av hållbarhetsfrågan på grund av okunskap och avsaknad av efterfrågan från kunder. Studien presenterar även de främsta utmaningar som branschens beställare står inför för att gå mot större flöden av återbrukat byggmaterial. Dessa utmaningar visar sig vara; kunskapsbrist och erfarenhet, bristen på aktörer som arbetar med återbruk, att nya arbets- och tankesätt måste realiseras, att det befintliga regelverket måste förändras till att gynna återbruk, att stora delar av branschen inte är redo, logistik och lagerhantering samt medvetenheten om ekonomiska förutsättningar. För att vidare studera återbruk inom byggbranschen vore det intressant att studera olika entreprenadformers påverkan på återbruksmöjligheter. En annan intressant tråd att arbeta med vore att ta fram konkreta ekonomiska incitament för minskat avfall och ökat återbruk från höga strategiska nivåer för att på en branschnivå driva förändringsarbetet mot cirkulära flöden. Som vidare undersökning utifrån denna studie vore det av stort värde att genomföra en större kvalitativ studie med statistiska slutsatser som kan bidra med underlag för beslut för beställare och lagstiftning. / Sweden's construction sector generates large amounts of waste annually and amounted 2018 to 13 million tonnes of waste, which corresponds to 35 % of Sweden's overall generated waste. In order to meet the global sustainable development goals and reduce the climate impact of the construction sector, the use of resources and the abstraction of virgin resources need to be reduced. The discussion about sustainable construction development revolves around a fossil-free and resource-efficient value chain and requires a transition to circular material and economic flows. In the construction sector, the client is a demanding party who has great potential to push for change over the entire industry, but the self-awareness of the client varies greatly depending on the target group, the size of the organisation and economic conditions of the client’s organisation. In this study, an interview study has been conducted to investigate the client's role in increasing reuse of building materials, which has led to insights into the role of the client as well as the main challenges for the stated purpose. The respondents of the study are professionals in the construction industry with various levels of professional experience in the reuse of construction materials, representing different types of actors in the construction industry. Researchers are currently studying innovation and pilot projects to find new or improved working methods and solutions for greater volumes of recycled materials and products. This study aims to continue to investigate the potential and the arisen challenges of reuse from a client's perspective at an industry level and has resulted in knowledge of the client's role in increased reuse of building materials. The study shows that the client has a key role to play in driving change in the industry. Even though, it appears to be major differences in the client’s awareness across the industry and the largest actors are running successful projects with focused reuse work. At the same time, smaller client’s, who make up a large part in number of the industry's actors, have long ways to go before adopting reuse as part of the sustainability issue due to inexperience and lack of demand from customers. The study also presents the identification of the main challenges for the industry's clients in order to move towards industrial volumes of reused building materials. These challenges are: lack of knowledge and experience, the lack of actors working with reuse, the realisation of new ways of working and thinking, the need to change the existing regulatory framework to promote reuse, a large number of actors are not ready to adopt methods of reuse, logistics and warehousing, and awareness of economic prerequisites.  In order to further study reuse in the construction industry, it would be interesting to study the impact of different project delivery methods and its impact on reuse opportunities. Another interesting thread to follow up on would be to develop tangible financial incentives, for reduced waste and increased volumes of reused materials, from high strategic levels in order to drive change towards a circular economy. As a continuation of this study, it would be of great value to conduct a larger quantitative study with statistical deductions that can provide a basis for decisions for clients and legislative advancement.

Urban streets serve (1) movement functions: people and vehicles should get safely, comfortably and efficiently to their destinations, (2) place functions: streets are destinations on their own, people come here to access adjacent properties or to carry out activities directly in the street, (3) wider functions such as climate adaption or water management. Stakeholders in various cities worldwide are increasingly focusing on strengthening place functions and designing high quality street spaces that attract people and on-site activities, followed by movement activities in the active modes (walking, cycling, micro vehicles), while minimizing motorized traffic. Vibrant streets are streets for and with people, they contribute to urban planning ambitions for example by improving the economic success of adjacent properties or by strengthening local communities, to transport planning ambitions by supporting with walking and cycling the most sustainable and space-efficient transport modes, and to public health ambitions by increasing physical activity levels. Accordingly, vibrant streets contribute to sustainable development (e.g. SDG 11: “Sustainable Cities and Communities”). Similar to the benefits of vibrant streets, the success factors are interdisciplinary: Only joint efforts of urban and transport planning can achieve the ambitious goal of streets that serve all the three initially introduced functions in a balanced way but with a particular focus on walking, cycling and place activities. This chapter addresses the following main questions: What are the main characteristics of vibrant streets? What are their effects on the environment, the economy and society? What are the most promising strategies to achieve vibrant streets where street users stay for a long time? At the end of the chapter, the main lessons learnt are summarized and avenues for future research are outlined.:1 Vibrant streets as an interdisciplinary chance and challenge 2 Built-environment factors of walking and place activities at street level 2.1 Neighborhood level 2.2 Street level 3 Determinants of individual travel behavior 4 Community building 5 Contributions of vibrant streets to sustainable development 6 Strategies for fostering vibrant streets 7 Good practice examples 8 Avenues for research and planning practice 9 Publication bibliography

Titel: Cirkulär ekonomi som ett beslut: En kvalitativ studie om hur soptunnemodellen förklarar implementeringen av cirkulär ekonomi inom små och medelstora företag Nivå: Examensarbete på grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Daniel Jonsgården och Sakke Pellikka Handledare: Jean Mutiganda Datum: 2024 – januari Syfte: Flera studier visar på svårigheter och hinder för införandet av cirkulär ekonomi. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur implementeringsbeslutet ser ut och därmed varför företag trots hinder väljer att implementera cirkulär ekonomi. Metod: Denna studie bygger på tre semistrukturerade intervjuer. Genom en tematisk analys med utgångspunkt i teorier om beslutstagande, undersöktes respondenternas praktiska erfarenhet och kunskap vid införandet av cirkulär ekonomi. Beslutsprocessen analyserades genom soptunnemodellen. Resultat och slutsats: Respondenterna beskrev hur de sett hållbarhet som en lösning även innan de identifierat problem att lösa. Resultatet visar att beslutstagarens kunskap om cirkulär ekonomi inte är viktigt för att ta beslutet, vilket går emot tidigare forskning. Först när lösning, problem, och beslutstagare existerar i ett och samma tillfälle kan ett beslut att ställa om till cirkulär ekonomi fattas. Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien bidrar till en utökat teoretisk förståelse för den cirkulära omställningen. Detta genom att vara en utgångspunkt för vidare forskning inom beslutsfattande för omställning till en cirkulär ekonomi. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: I studien identifieras ett forskningsgap gällande beslutsfattande avseende införande av cirkulär ekonomi och det finns ett behov av att fler fördjupningsstudier genomförs. Det finns även behov av vidare forskning kring både hur beslutspersoner blir motiverade till omställning mot cirkulär ekonomi, samt vilken roll en beslutsfattare behöver ha. / Title: Circular economy as a decision: A qualitative study on how the garbage can model can explain the implementation of circular economy in small and medium sized entities. Level: Student Thesis, final assignment for bachelor’s degree in business administration Author: Daniel Jonsgården and Sakke Pellikka Supervisor: Jean Mutiganda Date: 2024 - January Aim: Multiple studies shows the difficulties and barriers surrounding the implementation of Circular economy. The aim of this study is to investigate what the decision to implement looks like and thereby why companies decide to start working with Circular economy. Method: This study builds on three semi-structured interviews. Through thematic analysis deriving from theories of decision making, the respondents' practical experience and knowledge at the time of implementation of circular economy was investigated. The decision-making process was analysed through the garbage can model. Results and conclusions: The respondents described how they have seen sustainability as a solution even before they identified a problem to solve. The result shows that the decision makers knowledge of Circular economy is not important in making the decision, which goes against previous research. Only when a solution, a problem, and a decision maker exist in the same moment can a decision to transition towards a circular economy be made. Contribution of the thesis: This thesis contributes by expanding the theoretical knowledge surrounding the circular transitioning. It does this by being a starting point for future research about the decision making that leads to a circular economy. Suggestions for future research: We have in this study identified a research gap and would like more studies done to fill that gap. We also suggest future research both surrounding how decision makers become motivated to transitioning towards a circular economy, as well as which role the decision makers need to have.

The Norwegian Food Research Institute (Nofima) and the University of Borås worked together to develop this project. The commonly used packaging materials pose a serious threat to the environment, as they are produced from nonrenewable crude oil and cannot decompose naturally. Despite some manufacturers' claims of their products being eco-friendly or sustainable, they are not entirely made from renewable resources and are not biodegradable. Nevertheless, some bio-based materials have emerged as a viable alternative that can naturally break down and safely decompose in the environment. Despite many studies, biopolymers possess limited mechanical and barrier properties, which restricts their potential for use in products. To overcome this limitation, polymer blending can be employed to enhance their final properties and make them more suitable for various applications. The objective of this project was to design sustainable food packaging using biopolymers. PHBV, one of the PHA’s bio-based polymers, was blended with other polymers to enhance its properties as a sustainable food packaging material. Through blending, PHAs'physical, chemical, and thermal properties can be enhanced to obtain exceptional films for food packaging purposes. Finally, in this work, a bio-based polymer, polyhydroxyalkanoate, was used to producea biodegradable packaging system for potential food packaging applications. The effect of the physical modification of PHBV on mechanical and barrier properties was studied by blending it with biodegradable polymers such as PLA and PBAT. Thermal properties were analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and FourierIItransform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) while the mechanical properties were evaluated by tensile test. Barrier properties were characterized using water vapor transmission rate (WVTR). The mechanical performance of PHBV 50%: PBAT 50% blend has been significantly improved, leading to better tensile properties. The high crystallinity of the PHBV 50%: PBAT 50% blend than other blends have been found to enhance the barrier properties of the polymer film, according to DSC analysis. FTIR investigations have suggested no difference in absorption peaks between the blends and the neat material. Furthermore, WVTR investigations have shown that PHBV50%: PBAT50% exhibits excellent barrier properties against water vapor, making it a highly promising material.

The data centre industry is becoming more and more important due to the rapid increase of digitalisation in our society. However, data centres are large electricity consumers since electricity is needed for both the Information Technology (IT) equipment and the cooling systems, as a certain temperature must be maintained in the server rooms in order to guarantee service operations. Thus, it is important to make data centres less energy intensive and implement a circular economy approach in the sector. One possible way to implement circularity is to reuse the waste heat generated in data centres in district heating networks. However, the potential of using waste heat from low-temperature sources, such as data centres, is mainly unexploited; therefore, more studies are needed in order to inform such use. In particular, it is essential to understand how this potential could be assessed.  The main purpose of this study is to identify the barriers to more heat recovery utilisation and the opportunities that heat recovery contracts can bring from the perspective of key stakeholders linked to DCs’ systems operation and service use, such as DC operators, DH operators, and municipalities. The study also aims at understanding how municipalities can enhance a greater integration of waste heat from data centres in district heating systems. To reach the objectives, this study is constructed as an explorative case study on the use of excess heat from data centres in the Stockholm district heating system. Eight stakeholders belonging to those categories were interviewed and the data collected were analysed with a Strengths – Weaknesses – Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis.   The study concludes that the main barriers preventing the implementation of heat recovery investments, in the explorative analysis for the Stockholm county, seem to be more business related than technical. For example, not having a clear business model in place. In terms of main opportunities, these are related to an improvement in sustainability, such as saving resources by replacing them with excess heat and exploiting an inevitable product instead of wasting it. Moreover, this study also concludes that municipalities can help find suitable places for data centres near the district heating grids both through initiatives like Stockholm Data Parks and city planning. / Datacenterbranschen blir allt viktigare på grund av den snabba ökningen av digitaliseringen i vårt samhälle. Datacenter är dock stora elkonsumenter eftersom el behövs både för IT-utrustningen och för kylsystemen, eftersom en viss temperatur måste hållas i serverrummen för att garantera serviceverksamheten. Det är därför viktigt att göra datacenter mindre energikrävande och införa en cirkulär ekonomi inom sektorn. Ett möjligt sätt att genomföra cirkulär ekonomi är att återanvända den spillvärme som genereras i datacentren i fjärrvärmenäten. Potentialen för att använda spillvärme från källor med låg temperatur, t.ex. datacenter, är dock i huvudsak outnyttjad, och därför behövs fler studier för att informera om sådan användning. I synnerhet är det viktigt att förstå hur denna potential kan bedömas.  Huvudsyftet med den här studien är att identifiera hindren för ett ökat utnyttjande av värmeåtervinning och de möjligheter som avtal om värmeåtervinning kan ge ur de viktigaste intressenternas perspektiv när det gäller drift av DC-system och användning av tjänster, t.ex. DC-operatörer, DH-operatörer och kommuner. Studien syftar också till att förstå hur kommunerna kan främja en ökad integrering av spillvärme från datacenter i fjärrvärmesystemen. För att nå målen är denna studie uppbyggd som en explorativ fallstudie om användningen av överskottsvärme från datacenter i Stockholms fjärrvärmesystem. Åtta intressenter som tillhörde dessa kategorier intervjuades och de insamlade uppgifterna analyserades med en SWOT-analys (Strengths - Weaknesses - Opportunities and Threats).  I studien dras slutsatsen att de främsta hindren för investeringar i värmeåtervinning, i den explorativa analysen för Stockholms län, verkar vara mer affärsrelaterade än tekniska. Till exempel att man inte har en tydlig affärsmodell på plats. När det gäller de viktigaste möjligheterna är dessa relaterade till en förbättring av hållbarheten, t.ex. att spara resurser genom att ersätta dem med överskottsvärme och utnyttja en oundviklig produkt i stället för att slösa bort den. I studien dras dessutom slutsatsen att kommunerna kan hjälpa till att hitta lämpliga platser för datacenter nära fjärrvärmenäten, både genom initiativ som Stockholm Data Parks och stadsplanering.

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