Food waste quantities and composition in Polish households.

Over one-third of the produced food is wasted globally. Most food is wasted at the consumer stage. The use of waste sorting analysis is considered to deliver more precise and less biased results than self-reporting methodologies.

Carbon footprint reduction potential of waste management strategies in tourism.

Tourism is one of the major economic factors contributing to growth and jobs worldwide. The number of international travellers has increased more than 50-fold in the past 70 years. However, the contribution of tourism to (municipal) waste generation is also large and is increasing, accompanied by an increase in some environmental and socio-economic impacts.

Environmental impacts of food waste in Europe.

Approximately 88 Million tonnes (Mt) of food is wasted in the European Union each year and the environmental impacts of these losses throughout the food supply chain are widely recognised. This study illustrates the impacts of food waste in relation to the total food utilised, including the impact from food waste management based on available data at the European level. The impacts are calculated for the Global Warming Potential, the Acidification Potential and the Eutrophication Potential using a bottom-up approach using more than 134 existing LCA studies on nine representative products (apple, tomato, potato, bread, milk, beef, pork, chicken, white fish).

Modelling informally collected quantities of bulky waste and reusable items in Austria.

Disparities in earnings between Western and Eastern European countries are the reason for a well-established informal sector actively involved in collection and transboundary shipment activities from Austria to Hungary. The preferred objects are reusable items and wastes within the categories bulky waste, WEEE and metals, intended to be sold on flea markets. Despite leading to a loss of recyclable resources for Austrian waste management, these informal activities may contribute to the extension of the lifetime of certain goods when they are reused in Hungary; nevertheless they are discussed rather controversially.

Climate balance of biogas upgrading systems.

One of the numerous applications of renewable energy is represented by the use of upgraded biogas where needed by feeding into the gas grid. The aim of the present study was to identify an upgrading scenario featuring minimum overall GHG emissions. The study was based on a life-cycle approach taking into account also GHG emissions resulting from plant cultivation to the process of energy conversion.