Roberta Salomone

Life Cycle Assessment in the Cereal and Derived Products Sector

This chapter discusses the application of life cycle assessment methodologies to rice, wheat, corn and some of their derived products. Cereal product systems are vital for the production of commodities of worldwide importance that entail particular environmental hot spots originating from their widespread use and from their particular nature. It is thus important for tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) to be tailored to such cereal systems in order to be used as a means of identifying the negative environmental effects of cereal products and highlighting possible pathways to overall environmental improvement in such systems. Following a brief introduction to the cereal sector and supply chain, this chapter reviews some of the current cereal-based life cycle thinking literature, with a particular emphasis on LCA. Next, an analysis of the LCA methodological issues emerging from the literature review is carried out. The following section of the chapter discusses some practices and approaches that should be considered when performing cereal-based LCAs in order to achieve the best possible results. Conclusions are drawn in the final part of the chapter and some indications are given of the main hot spots in the cereal supply chain.

Urban Metabolism: Many Open Questions for Future Answers

Currently, the Urban Metabolism (UM) approach, as deducted from international literature, has been applied several times to assess and describe urban flows and impacts related to them, using different tools such as Material Flow Account (MFA). Although very useful, UM is not a systematic approach in urban development, and, for this reason, the authors of this chapter introduce MFA into the urban planning model, designing a research project in the field of Industrial Ecology (IE) applied in an urban context. This chapter presents the preliminary considerations of the first conceptualization phase of this project.

Life Cycle Assessment in the Olive Oil Sector

The olive oil industry is a significant productive sector in the European Union and the related production process is characterised by a variety of different practices and techniques for the agricultural production of olives and for their processing into olive oil. Depending on these different procedures, olive oil production is associated with several adverse effects on the environment, both in the agricultural and in the olive oil production phase. As a consequence, tools such as LCA are becoming increasingly important for this type of industry. Following an overview of the characteristics of the olive oil supply chain and its main environmental problems, the authors of this chapter provide a description of the international state of the art of LCA implementation in this specific sector, as well as briefly describing other life cycle thinking methodologies and tools (such as simplified LCA, footprint labels and Environmental Product Declarations). Then, the methodological problems connected with the application of LCA in the olive oil production sector are analysed in depth, starting from a critical comparative analysis of the applicative LCA case studies in the olive oil production supply chain. Finally, guidelines for the application of LCA in the olive oil production sector are proposed.

Human and Environmental Impact Assessment for a Soybean Biodiesel Production Process Through the Integration of LCA and RA

Biodiesel is one of the most important global renewable fuels produced by vegetable biomass. It is the main green fuel produced and utilized in Europe (in this context Italy is the 4th producer country) and the result of national biofuel mandates. The EU Renewable Energy Directive imposes to reach a minimum threshold of 10 % diesel blending with biodiesel by 2020 in order to reduce global warming. Biodiesel has many positive aspects, it is a renewable, non-ecotoxic and obtained from vegetable oils and animal fats with a favorable balance in terms of GWP (Global Warming Potential) and EROI (Energy Return On Investment), but its production has also some critical aspects mainly related to its impacts on the environment and health. The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate how an approach for the assessment of these impacts, by means of the integration of LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) and RA (Risk Assessment) methodologies, helps in evaluating the acceptability of the process.

The Implementation of Product-Oriented Environmental Management Systems in Agri-Food SMEs

The application potentiality of the POEMS model proposed in the previous chapter has been tested in pilot companies, operating in two different agri-food supply chains (olive oil production and roasted coffee production); the main aim of the pilot experiences was to test the model and to plan possible corrective and/or improvement actions. The implementation potentiality of the defined POEMS model was evaluated following five main procedural analysis phases: (1) supply chain analysis; (2) analysis of the level of integration of the pilot firm’s management systems; (3) preliminary analysis of the environmental impacts of the product/products identified by the companies themselves using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology; (4) identification of the most suitable product environmental communication; and (5) identification of main future improvement options.

Innovative Environmental Management Tools for the Agri-Food Chain

Agri-food firms, as enterprises in any other sector, have a series of tools at their disposition, based on international standards, which may be useful for the purposes of environmental management. System standards (such as ISO 14001 for Environmental Management Systems) are the most widely used, but a more suitable approach to environmental quality management in the agricultural and agri-food sectors is probably one based on using direct means of ensuring the environmental performance of products. In this chapter, new approaches centred on the product-orientation of environmental management systems are presented, also investigating their role in the improvement of economic and competitive performance. Finally, the path towards the definition of a Product-Orientation of Environmental Management Systems (POEMS) framework, specifically tailored to companies operating in the agribusiness sector, is described.

Integrating strategic environmental assessment and material flow accounting: a novel approach for moving towards sustainable urban futures

PurposeThe population living in urban areas of the world continues to grow rapidly. It is, thus, a great priority for the planning practice to embed sustainability concept in their urban development endeavors. Currently, development and expansion of urban systems stress the need to control consumption of resources, especially non-renewable ones. There is also a need to reduce related environmental impacts, while stimulating a sustainable pathway for the population and urban growth.MethodsStrategic environmental assessment (SEA) is useful for policy design to build an integrated method for supporting the development of a sustainable society. It undertakes territorial assessments and describes urban flows and impacts related to them by using a variety of tools, including material flow accounting (MFA). This study employs MFA, as it fits well within the scope of SEA and supports the growing environmental attention in the urban metabolism approach. Although helpful, MFA has not been systematically applied in the urban development context; for this reason, this paper proposes the integration of SEA and MFA.Results and discussionIntegration of SEA and MFA generates a new framework for sustainable development planning. The framework is structured in phases oriented to the continual improvement based on the Deming cycle (i.e., plan, do, check, act), a key management approach mainly used in businesses for improving the effectiveness of an organization. It can also be implemented at the urban system level. In order to maintain normative compliance, each process (urban planning, strategic environmental assessment with urban metabolism approach, participatory processes) is standardized in line with a common and mandatory approach. While the processes are integrated among them, highlighting the reciprocal contact points, the results are combined in a holistic perspective. The framework, hence, transforms the voluntary MFA tool into a mandatory process.ConclusionsThe proposed SEA-MFA framework has the potential to unify and standardize the processes of categorizing and quantifying data in order to improve the understanding of urban metabolic principles and scale effects. It also supports management and policy development and meets the requirements of different stakeholders. The framework, thus, generated a novel approach for sustainable urban development planning by providing solutions for specific policy problems and ensuring urban ecological balance and sustainable urban futures.

Product-Oriented Environmental Management Systems: Methodologies and Experiences

In this chapter, a literature review of previous methodological and applicative studies on Product-Orientation of Environmental Management Systems (POEMS) was performed, in order to bring order and clarity to the main issues concerning this new tool of environmental management. The review method employed, consisted of classifying and separately analysing the collected material on three different levels of document content: projects and programmes concerning POEMS application; technical standards suitable for the POEMS structure; methodological research on POEMS framework. The state-of-the-art and literature review allowed the authors to identify models and case studies on POEMS from which to extrapolate key topics for designing a complete theoretical framework of the tool. These key topics are useful starting points to drive future research and developments and successful implementation of POEMS.

A Model of Product-Oriented Environmental Management System for Agri-Food SMEs

In this chapter, a POEMS model specifically tailored to companies operating in the agri-food sector is described. The framework was developed from a traditional Environmental Management System (ISO 14001 standard), integrated with a Quality Management System (ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 standards) in order to allow the satisfaction of external customer and other stakeholder expectations concerning product requirements. Considering that the main obstacle firms face in performing POEMS is organising cooperation and close interaction between the different actors involved in the product chain, organisational capabilities are necessary, so that the proposed model integrates the “Deming cycle” (Plan-Do-Check-Act—PDCA Cycle) and the “Capability cycle” in which capability is intended as “the ability to coordinate, deploy and legitimate resources to perform tasks”. Furthermore, the product-orientation of the Integrated Management System is guaranteed by the inclusion of a simplified-LCA and by the identification of the most appropriate environmental product label or declaration.