Sustainable packaging is a crucial focus in the context of circular economy efforts. This study evaluates the circularity of two secondary packaging systems used in Spanish fresh food produces: Reusable Plastic Crates and Single-use Cardboard Boxes. A Mass Flow Analysis was performed to assess the material flows in the production and use phases of both systems and two circular indicators were applied: the Material Circularity Indicator and Product Circular Indicator. While most previous studies for single-use packaging use these indicators at the product level, this study applies a system approach since the Reusable Plastic Crates can be reused 100 times. The functional unit was defined as the distribution of 1000 tonnes of fresh products, resulting in the distribution of 6,666,700 packages with 15 kg of products. The Material Circularity Indicator and Product Circular Indicator results show that Reusable Plastic Crates are more circular than Single-use Cardboard Boxes. The Product Circular Indicator provides a more comprehensive assessment of circularity by considering multiple life cycle stages, efficiency, and unrecoverable waste, resulting in a difference in circularity evaluations. The indicators used have limitations as they do not consider the resource stock. Further research is needed to explore this aspect.

The factual circularity of materials needs utilization of materials that keep their quality properties after going through recycling to minimize the inflow of virgin materials in the technosphere. Within the PEF methodology, and based on the economic model approach, the European Commission provides default parameters for the quality changes of the polymers after recycling, but solely for some fossil-based polymers. This study provides a test-based example for the calculation of technical substitutability for 2 fossil-based polymers (HDPE and PET) and 2 bio-based polymers (PLA and PHB) based on mechanical, processing, and optical properties. The results show that the economic substitutability method gives very different results compared to those obtained by considering real technical quality changes of the polymers in multiple-cycle recycling. HDPE proved to have superior circular properties compared to any other polymer under research. In addition, the recent practice of substituting fossil-based with bio-based polymers will need to be re-evaluated after additional research related to the quality change of bio-based polymers in recycling. The results showed the important limitations of the economic substitutability method and a strong need for a harmonized testing method for the calculation of quality degradation of all types of polymers in recycling.

Despite the initial decline in passenger numbers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant increase in air travel volumes was observed between 2021 and 2022. The aviation sector has shown continued growth in recent years. An increase in the number of passengers and the consumption of food and drinks during flights results in a rise in waste generation. Aviation is continually seeking solutions to minimize its environmental footprint. Implementing a more effective waste management system could be one such solution. The study conducted as part of the LIFE Zero Cabin Waste Project proposes the implementation of separate waste collection on airplanes. This initiative aims to increase the amount of recyclable waste diverted from landfills by introducing a selective on-board waste collection, complemented by bio-digestion processes. This study applies Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) to compare both the environmental and economic performance of the current 2016 waste management system (System A) with the proposed system over the project period (System B), for treating 1000 kg of aviation catering waste. The findings indicate that implementing the new management system would lead to reductions in various environmental impact categories, including fossil resource depletion and global warming. In particular, the carbon footprint of the alternative management system is reduced by 85%. This operational change requires an initial investment that raises operational costs by 5%. Nevertheless, System B's eco-efficiency surpasses System A's for most environmental categories. For instance, the eco-efficiency regarding Global Warming Potential increases by 84%. Graphical Abstract

This study compares the environmental impacts and the environmental prices related to applying composts, biofertilizers, and biostimulants, produced in Denmark, Sweden, and Ukraine, across different cropping systems, based on field trials in Denmark and Ukraine. The evaluation is conducted utilizing life cycle assessment and Eco-cost methodology. The functional unit is linked to the production of 1 kg of crops, and the system boundaries span from cradle to grave. In Denmark, fish hydrolysate shows the lowest environmental impacts across all categories compared to other products. In the case of climate change, it emits 0.029 kg of CO₂ per kg in pea sole and 0.017 kg of CO₂ in the pea−barley intercropping system. Moreover, fish hydrolysate presents lower impacts than the control in climate change, eutrophication, land use, water consumption, and resource use in pea−barley intercrop and pea sole. In Ukraine, biochar provides benefits in acidification, land use, water consumption, and fossil resource depletion compared to the control and other biofertilizers. Furthermore, intercropping generally shows lower impacts and costs than monocrops. The environmental costs amount to €0.48 per kg of intercrop in Denmark and €0.04 per kg in Ukraine. For pea sole, the costs increase to €1.16 per kg in Denmark and €0.06 per kg in Ukraine. These findings emphasize the importance of aligning organic amendments and biostimulants with suitable cropping systems to enhance agricultural sustainability.

Despite the initial decline in passenger numbers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant increase in air travel volumes was observed between 2021 and 2022. The aviation sector has shown continued growth in recent years. An increase in the number of passengers and the consumption of food and drinks during flights results in a rise in waste generation. Aviation is continually seeking solutions to minimize its environmental footprint. Implementing a more effective waste management system could be one such solution. The study conducted as part of the LIFE Zero Cabin Waste Project proposes the implementation of separate waste collection on airplanes. This initiative aims to increase the amount of recyclable waste diverted from landfills by introducing a selective on-board waste collection, complemented by bio-digestion processes. By employing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) methodologies, the study compares not only the environmental but also the economic performance of the current waste management system in 2016 (System A) with the proposed system throughout the project (System B) for treating 1,000 kg of aviation catering waste. The findings indicate that implementing the new management system would lead to reductions in various environmental impact categories, including fossil resource depletion, and global warming. In particular, the carbon footprint of the alternative management system is reduced by 85%. This operational change requires an initial investment that raises operational costs by 5%. Nevertheless, System B's eco-efficiency surpasses System A's for most environmental categories. For instance, the eco-efficiency regarding Global Warming Potential increases by 84%.

One of the main environmental problems in ports is Climate Change and its consequences. Since 1979, many international organizations have been working to control Climate Change. A literature review and a practical research were carried out to set up the basis to create a tool. These studies showed in recent years many ports have started to calculate their Carbon Footprint. However, there is no unified method in ports to do so. In addition, based on the results of the practical research, the development of a practicable tool for the calculation of Carbon Footprint in ports was highly demanded. Therefore, a new standardized tool was developed and validated by 20 experts. This tool was tested with the existing results of the Port of Oslo and Ports de la Generalitat. The results obtained were in line. Finally, a case study model was created to test all the functionalities of the tool. The calculated emission values were compared with those obtained with the OCCC tool and MITECO tool. The outcomes were very similar with minor changes due to different emission factors. The results of this test process prove that the new tool is suitable to be used by ports around the world.