Towards an environmentally sound metric to evaluate post-consumer plastic packaging waste recycling: Towards an environmentally sound metric to evaluate post-consumer plastic packaging waste recycling

In the recent years, the circular economy (CE) has emerged as an alternative to current linear economic models with prospects of achieving the decoupling of environmental impacts from economic growth. To this end, CE models focus on the permanence of products, materials, and value in the economy, eliminating as much waste as possible. In waste...

Phosphorus recycling in the Dutch communal wastewater chain: Barriers to growth

The goal of this research is to identify barriers that hinder the development of phosphorus (P)<br/>recycling by the communal water chain. Insights into these barriers can lead to a better<br/>understanding of the situation and can lead to possible solutions to overcome the obstacles. The research shows that P recycling is a complex field with...

Mapping stocks and flows of neodymium: An assessment of neodymium production and consumption in the Netherlands in 2010 and 2030

The Master's programme Industrial Ecology is jointly organised by Leiden University and Delft University of Technology. Neodymium applications, especially the neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) permanent magnet, have substantially enabled continuous miniaturization in the electronics sector and have become increasingly vital to electric mobility and...

Circular economy in the City of the Loops: Modelling an urban utopia aware of resources scarcity

The master thesis treats the possibilities of applying circular economy principles into specific conditions of post-soviet city: Nowa Huta. The city faces complex problems of negative demographics, loss of heavy industry and socio-economic regress. The project proposes several strategies that focuses on dealing with problems internally, without...