1. Zero waste initiatives in Slovenian municipalities : a material flow and life cycle assessment analysesKristijan Brglez, Rebeka Kovačič Lukman, Roman Gumzej, 2025, izvirni znanstveni članek Opis: The European Union (EU) has implemented several strategies, including the zero-waste initiative, to minimize waste generation and enhance resource efficiency. Slovenia demonstrates this policy with the “Zero Waste Municipalities” project, which has shown notable success, but also highlights opportunities for further improvement. This study assesses the effectiveness of zero-waste initiatives and municipal solid waste management (MSWM) strategies across Slovenian municipalities using Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). MFA results from eight municipalities indicate that biowaste (averaging 42.49 %) and paper (21.78 %) constitute the largest fractions of collected municipal waste. LCA results highlight that, on a per capita basis, environmental impacts in urban areas are generally lower than in rural areas for glass, wood, biowaste, and plastic waste streams, but higher for metal and paper. Scenario modelling for Ljubljana demonstrates that meeting the EU recycling targets for 2025 and 2030 would lead to substantial reductions in environmental impacts—especially in terms of Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Abiotic Depletion Potential (ADP). Specifically, achieving the 2030 targets could reduce CO 2 emissions from paper, plastic, and wood waste by 52 %, 25 %, and 77 %, respectively, compared to current baseline recycling ratios. The integration of MFA and LCA provides a comprehensive and quantitative assessment and insight into current waste management practices in Slovenian municipalities, accelerating a transition towards zero waste and circular municipalities. The findings offer valuable information for decision-makers, researchers and stakeholders aligning local waste management strategies with broader EU objectives. Ključne besede: zero waste initiatives, material flow analysis, life cycle assessment, municipal solid waste management, environmental impacts, Slovenia Objavljeno v DKUM: 19.12.2025; Ogledov: 0; Prenosov: 0
Celotno besedilo (4,52 MB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
2. Comparative analysis of life cycle impact assessment methods for packaging productsGregor Radonjič, Matjaž Denac, 2025, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Opis: In assessing environmental impacts of packaging, it is necessary to use modern software tools, supported by verifiable databases based on the environmental life cycles of products. There are several software solutions that differ greatly from each other in terms of the complexity of life cycle modeling, accessibility to databases, LCIA methods used to determine environmental impacts, and the dynamics of database updating. The aim of this paper is to conduct LCA study for the case of a two-layered polymeric film made from low density polyethylene (PE-LD) and polyamide-6 (PA-6) laminated plastic packaging film using several LCIA methods to compare and comment the final LCA results in terms of the life-cycle environmental impacts. Results clearly show that the choice of LCIA method for evaluating environmental impacts within LCA study has a very large impact on the final result. Ključne besede: packaging, life cycle assessment, LCIA methods, environmental impacts Objavljeno v DKUM: 23.10.2025; Ogledov: 0; Prenosov: 7
Celotno besedilo (485,07 KB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
3. Eco-design processes in the automotive industryEwelina Staniszewska, Dorota Klimecka-Tatar, Matevž Obrecht, 2020, izvirni znanstveni članek Opis: Every year approximately 70 million passenger cars are being produced and automotive industry is much bigger then just passenger cars. The impact of automotive industry on the environment is tre-mendous. From extracting raw materials through manufacturing and assembly processes, exploitation of the vehicle to the reprocessing irreversible, extensive environmental damage is done. The goal of this study is to show how implementing eco-design processes into supply chain management can re-duce the impact of automotive industry on the environment by e.g. reducing the use of the fuel, in-creasing the use of recycled materials. Focus is on evaluation of current state, environmental impacts and potential improvements for design, raw materials, manufacturing and distribution and end-of-life phase. Ključne besede: eco-design processes, automotive industry, supply chain management, business processes, cleaner production, environmental impacts, logistics Objavljeno v DKUM: 18.12.2024; Ogledov: 0; Prenosov: 24
Celotno besedilo (495,46 KB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
4. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of the impact on the environment of a cosmetic cream with gold nanoparticles and hydroxylated fullerene ingredientsRebeka Rudolf, Peter Majerič, Zorka Novak-Pintarič, Andrej Horvat, Damjan Krajnc, 2024, izvirni znanstveni članek Opis: This review provides a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a cosmetic cream to assess the environmental impacts throughout its entire life cycle, from raw material extraction to disposal, using the methodology according to international standards. The LCA was performed using the OpenLCA 2.0.1 software, with data from the Ecoinvent 3.8 database and relevant literature. The assessment focused on multiple impact categories, including climate change, acidification, eutrophication (freshwater, marine and terrestrial), ecotoxicity (freshwater), human toxicity (cancer and non-cancer), ionizing radiation, land use, ozone depletion, photochemical ozone formation, resource use (fossils, minerals and metals), and water use. The LCA of a cosmetic cream containing gold nanoparticles revealed significant environmental impacts across critical categories. The total climate change potential was 2596.95 kg CO2 eq., driven primarily by nanoparticle synthesis (60.7%) and electricity use (31.9%). Eutrophication of freshwater had the highest normalized result (3.000), with nanoparticle synthesis contributing heavily, indicating the need for improved wastewater treatment. The resource use (minerals and metals) scored 1.856, while the freshwater ecotoxicity reached 80,317.23 CTUe, both driven by the nanoparticle production. The human toxicity potentials were 1.39 × 10−6 CTUh (cancer) and 7.45 × 10−5 CTUh (non-cancer), linked to emissions from synthesis and energy use. The LCA of the cosmetic cream revealed several critical areas of environmental impact. The most significant impacts are associated with gold nanoparticle synthesis and electricity use. Addressing these impacts through optimized synthesis processes, improved energy efficiency, and alternative materials can enhance the product’s sustainability profile significantly. Ključne besede: life cycle assessment, cosmetic cream, environmental impacts, gold nanoparticles Objavljeno v DKUM: 17.12.2024; Ogledov: 0; Prenosov: 18
Celotno besedilo (1,71 MB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
5. A company’s carbon footprint and sustainable developmentJure Gramc, Rok Stropnik, Mitja Mori, 2022, izvirni znanstveni članek Opis: Climate changes are already here. And they will get much worse in time. The main reason for global warming is GHG emissions from anthropological sources. That includes transportation, industry, electricity production, agriculture, and others. The European Union has introduced a new Green Deal as an answer to climate change. The European Green Deal puts more pressure on companies to mitigate their carbon footprint and implement sustainable development. One of the basic steps in the analysis of the environmental profile of a company is the identification of hot spots by using the carbon footprint methodology. The workflow of the carbon footprint calculation follows GHG Protocol standardised methodology. The calculation was made for a medium-sized company in the plastics industry. For all GHG emission sources, hot spots were identified and analysed. Based on the hot spots, sensitivity analysis for different pre-defined scenarios has been made, which are aligned with the company’s mid- and long-term sustainability goals. The three main hot spots of the company within scopes 1 and 2 are purchased heat, purchased electricity, and combustion of fuels in company vehicles. GHG emissions of heat and electricity are dependent on their distributor and their electricity and heat sources. The hot spot of scope 3 is purchased goods, especially plastic granulate. In the study, we focus only on scope 1 and scope 2. Ključne besede: carbon footprint, sustainable development, environmental impacts, GHG Protocol, greenhouse gas emissions, global warming, sensitivity analysis Objavljeno v DKUM: 30.10.2023; Ogledov: 533; Prenosov: 215
Celotno besedilo (2,06 MB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
6. Multi-objective synthesis of company’s supply-networks based on integration of renewable resourcesAnnamaria Vujanović, 2017, doktorska disertacija Opis: The aim of this doctoral dissertation was to develop a general methodology for sustainable integration of company's supply networks into nearby regional networks by i) integrating renewables, thereby increasing company's energy self-sufficiency, ii) by performing multi-objective synthesis in order to obtain economically efficient and yet environmentally benign or even unburdening solutions, and iii) to perform dynamic and stochastic synthesis under uncertainties in dynamically changing market conditions in order to obtain more reliable and realistic solutions. The research work is directly interlinked with a large-scale European meat producing company Perutnina Ptuj d.d., which is located in the heart of Slovenia.
The aim of the first part was to integrate renewables into companies’ supply-networks at regional level in order to maximize the self-sufficiencies of their energy supplies. This concerns companies’ activities from the use of natural resources to supplying their final products to the customers being interlinked with their regional networks. A Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model has been developed for the integration of both the companies’ and surrounding regional supply-networks and the utilization of different types of renewables as sources for the companies’ energy supplies. The potential renewable energy sources, which are located within companies surrounding region are solar, biomass, organic and animal wastes. The result indicates that by sufficient integration of renewables into companies’ supply networks, profitable and yet energy self-sufficient solutions can be obtained.
The second part presents the multi-objective synthesis of a company’s supply-network by integrating renewables and accounting for several environmental footprints. A previously developed model for achieving energy self-sufficiency by integrating renewables into companies’ supply-networks has been extended for the evaluation of environmental impacts, such as energy, carbon, nitrogen, and water footprints. The achievement of an energy self-sufficient supply-network has been considered whilst significantly reducing environmental impacts. Direct (burdening) and indirect (unburdening) effects that form total effects on the environment are considered for the evaluation of environmental footprints. This approach identifies those alternative energy production technologies that are more profitable and environmentally more benign with significant unburdening capabilities. The results showed significant unburdening of the environment in terms of carbon and nitrogen footprints; however, higher burdening in terms of the water footprint.
The third part presents a multi-objective MILP synthesis of a dynamic supply-network under uncertainty applied to the company. The previously-developed multi-objective model for achieving energy self-sufficiency by integrating renewables into companies’ supply-networks has now been extended to account for the dynamic consideration of variable supply and demand over the year, for uncertainties related to products’ demand and sun radiation, and for multi-objective optimisation, in order to obtain the most sustainable company’s supply-network. The sustainable synthesis of a company’s network is performed regarding the integration of the renewables such as biomass and other wastes, and solar energy. The obtained solutions are those reflecting maximal profit, reflecting constantly-changing dynamic market conditions, accounting for several uncertain parameters, and protecting the environment. Ključne besede: Company's supply network, Renewables, Environmental Impacts, Dynamic synthesis, Flexibility, Multi-objective optimisation, Uncertainty Objavljeno v DKUM: 21.07.2017; Ogledov: 1694; Prenosov: 186
Celotno besedilo (1,89 MB) |