Solid waste management in most MENA countries is characterized by lack of planning, improper disposal, inadequate collection services, inappropriate technologies that suit the local conditions and technical requirements, and insufficient funding. Therefore, waste management is mainly limited to collection, transportation, and disposal. As the circular economy has recently been given high priority on the MENA region’s political agenda, all MENA member states are seeking to move away from old-fashioned waste disposal, “waste management”, towards a more intelligent waste treatment, “resource efficiency”. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of national systems for municipal solid waste (MSW) management, and material and energy recovery as an important aspect thereof, in the context of the circular economy in selected countries in the MENA region. Since policy, regulation, and treatment technologies are traditionally connected to MSW management, the focus of this article is twofold. Firstly, it aims to identify the different practices of solid waste management employed in selected MENA region countries and their approaches to embracing the circular economy and, secondly, it examines the extent to which policies and technologies applied play any role in this context. The study revealed that most waste management issues in the countries analyzed appear to be due to political factors and the decentralized nature of waste management with multi-level management and responsibilities. In fact, material and energy recovery in the context of municipal solid waste management does not differ significantly in the countries in the MENA region considered. In most cases, “waste” is still seen as “trouble” rather than a resource. Therefore, a fresh vision on how the solid waste management system can be transformed into a circular economy is required; there is a need for paradigm shift from a linear economy model to a circular-economy model.

Organic semiconductors provide the potential of biodegradable technologies, but prototypes do only rarely exist. Transparent, ultrathin programmable luminescent tags (PLTs) are presented for minimalistic yet efficient information storage that are fully made from biodegradable or at least industrially compostable, ready‐to‐use materials (bioPLTs). As natural emitters, the quinoline alkaloids show sufficient room temperature phosphorescence when being embedded in polymer matrices with cinchonine exhibiting superior performance. Polylactic acid provides a solution for both the matrix material and the flexible substrate. Room temperature phosphorescence can be locally controlled by the oxygen concentration in the film by using Exceval as additional oxygen blocking layers. These bioPLTs exhibit all function‐defining characteristics also found in their regular nonenvironmentally degradable analogs and, additionally, provide a simplified, high‐contrast readout under continuous‐wave illumination as a consequence of the unique luminescence properties of the natural emitter cinchonine. Limitations for flexible devices arise from limited thermal stability of the polylactic acid foil used as substrate allowing only for one writing cycle and preventing an annealing step during fabrication. Few‐cycle reprogramming is possible when using the architecture of the bioPLTs on regular quartz substrates. This work realizes the versatile platform of PLTs with less harmful materials offering more sustainable use in future.

This study presents a systematic literature review of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies applied to the principal constituents of Carbon Fibre Metal Laminates (CFMLs): aluminium, carbon fibres, and epoxy resin. CFMLs are increasingly utilised in aerospace and automotive sectors due to their favourable strength-to-weight ratio; however, their production is resource- and energy-intensive, and their composite structure poses significant challenges for end-of-life (EoL) management. This review maps the diversity of existing LCA approaches, revealing substantial heterogeneity in system boundaries, impact categories, and geographical representativeness. A strong regional focus on Asia, and China in particular, was identified in the case of aluminium, as almost half of the aluminium sources were in this geography. For carbon fibres and epoxy resins, the regional impact was even more pronounced, with 63% and 70% of publications originating from Europe, respectively, hence showing an underrepresentation of certain life cycle geography, such as bauxite mining regions. A key finding is the limited consideration of EoL scenarios, primarily due to difficulties in separating composite layers, which highlights the technical gap and need for a chemically or thermally separable intermediate layer for carbon fibre composites. Furthermore, the study compares traditional keyword-based literature searches with AI-driven tools (Undermind, You.com, Litmaps), demonstrating that AI-assisted methods substantially enhance the efficiency and comprehensiveness of literature retrieval. Notably, although Undermind contributed only 23% of the initial search results, it accounted for 39% of the publications ultimately selected for in-depth analysis. In contrast, the standard Web of Science (WoS) search exhibited the lowest precision, with merely 10% of its results deemed relevant for detailed review. Importantly, 70% of the total WoS search results were excluded following an initial human screening, which underlines the extensive filtering required to identify pertinent studies from broad database outputs. The findings highlight the higher efficiency of AI-supported search strategies in comparison to conventional approaches, underscoring their potential to optimise literature screening processes in LCA research while also revealing shortcomings in reproducibility, which must be addressed to ensure the maintenance of scientific standards.