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Wood ash-based materials with improved post-fire resistance for building and infrastructure applications Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 10.9) Pub Date : 2025-06-20 Rosa De Michele, Barbara Liguori, Daniel Luceri, Giulio Zecca, Alessandro Largo, Christos Koidis, Charisios Achillas, Athanasios Kalaitzidis, Carmine Pascale, Costantino Menna
Alkali-Activated Materials (AAMs) are gaining attention because of different advantages such as CO2 emissions reduction and improved fire-resistance. Wood Ashes (WA), potentially derived from fires, can been proposed as secondary raw material in AAMs manufacturing to guarantee a double positive impact: improved fire resistance of construction materials and secondary raw material valorisation. In this
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Mapping the optimal marine zones for artificial upwelling and assessing its macroalgae-based carbon sink potential in China Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 10.9) Pub Date : 2025-06-20 Lulu Yue, Yiyuan Zhang, Zhiyu Zou, Shanshan Shi, Yu Zhang, Yonggang Zhao, Mengjie Qu, Wei Fan
Seaweed aquaculture plays a crucial role in marine food production and carbon sequestration. While artificial upwelling (AU) has been shown to enhance nutrient availability and boost seaweed production in marine ecosystems, the potential of AU-enhanced seaweed cultivation to act as a carbon sink remains poorly understood. Here, we develop a comprehensive framework to estimate the carbon sink potential
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How did traffic and climate situations worsen material consumption and waste from road infrastructure in Bangkok? Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 10.9) Pub Date : 2025-06-20 Kronnaphat Khumvongsa, Jing Guo, Suthida Theepharaksapan, Varameth Vichiensan, Masatoshi Hasegawa, Hiroaki Shirakawa, Hiroki Tanikawa
Heavy traffic and climatic loads can accelerate road deterioration and the subsequent material consumption and waste generation from road maintenance. In Bangkok, Thailand, the lack of statistical records on this pressure necessitates the modeling and mapping of material movement. Therefore, this study combines Highway Development and Management System-4 and bottom–up approaches to conduct a spatiotemporal
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Sharing to prevent waste: The effectiveness of an intervention encouraging food sharing Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 10.9) Pub Date : 2025-06-20 Yi Zhang, Erica van Herpen, Ellen J. Van Loo
Food waste, especially in households, is a pressing issue. Sharing excess food with others can be a strategy to tackle this issue. To encourage sharing, this research introduces an intervention involving a guideline on giving food to others and stickers reminding individuals to do so. Through a field study (N = 199), we examine the effectiveness of this intervention on food sharing and other household
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Upcycling GFRP wastes from end-of-life wind turbine blades into Ultra-High-Strength Geopolymer Concrete (UHSGC) Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 10.9) Pub Date : 2025-06-20 Dan-Dan Shi, Bo-Tao Huang, Zhi-Liang Zhang, Ling-Yu Xu, Jian-Guo Dai
In this study, recycled glass fiber-reinforced polymer (rGFRP) powders derived from End-of-Life Wind Turbine Blades (EoL-WTB) were successfully used in partial replacement of raw precursors to produce Ultra-High-Strength Geopolymer Concrete (UHSGC) with compressive strengths exceeding 110 MPa. A comprehensive investigation was conducted on their mechanical performances, reaction mechanisms, microstructures
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Fully upcycling spent ternary cathodes by simultaneously extracting lithium and constructing high performance oxygen evolution catalysts Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 10.9) Pub Date : 2025-06-18 Chunli Gou, Fang Gao, Mingke Yang, Zhihao Zhang, Chunli Wang, Yufang Wang, Xinwen Ou, Jing Zhang
Recycling spent ternary batteries provides a dual benefit in both addressing environmental concerns and favoring resource utilization. However, conventional recycling strategies suffer from lengthy separation procedures and low recovery efficiency of valuable metals. This work proposed a flash joule heating-based direct conversion strategy to both selectively extract lithium and transform other metals
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T-reX: Quantifying waste and material footprints in current and future Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) databases Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 10.9) Pub Date : 2025-06-18 Stewart Charles McDowall, Elizabeth Lanphear, Stefano Cucurachi, Carlos Felipe Blanco
The quintessential principle of the circular economy is to minimise material consumption and waste generation. Thus, identifying and quantifying waste and material flows is critical. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a powerful quantitative method for this, especially given its capacity to expose the details of an activity’s entire life cycle, often guiding the implementation of circular principles to
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Reclaiming cigarette butts: biorefinery technologies toward circular waste valorization Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 10.9) Pub Date : 2025-06-17 Federico Battista
Cigarette butts (CBs) are among the most abundant forms of anthropogenic litter, with about 5 trillion units discarded each year, corresponding to more than 800,000 tons of waste. Composed primarily of cellulose acetate (CA), accounting for 95% of the filter mass, CBs exhibit low biodegradability and act as carriers of toxic substances such as nicotine, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
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Exploring antimony material flow in the context of energy transition: A scenario-based analysis Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 10.9) Pub Date : 2025-06-17 Linting Xu, Zhengyang Zhang, Mohammed Engha Isah, Kazuyo Matsubae
Antimony is critical for clean energy technologies but is one of the scarcest mineral resources. The limitations of alternative materials, such as the deterioration of flame retardant polymers, increased foaming, and decreased quality of alternatives for photovoltaic glass, further exacerbate reliance on antimony. The diverse end uses of antimony result in its recycling being challenging. Furthermore
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Carbon decoupling and drivers decomposition under the carbon neutrality target: Evidence from county-level cities in China Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 10.9) Pub Date : 2025-06-16 Zhixiong Weng, Meng Xu, Jiayi Li, Xiao Wu, Yang Xie, Dan Tong
Addressing urban carbon emissions in China is crucial for achieving the goal of carbon neutrality. This study explores the relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions in China’s county-level cities, identifies key drivers of carbon emissions, and projects future emission scenarios under a carbon-neutral framework. The analysis reveals a shift from weak to strong decoupling of economic
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Mapping the optimal regions for wind farm construction in China Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 10.9) Pub Date : 2025-06-16 Dazhi Yang, Xuyang Zhang, Wei Song
Against the backdrop of accelerating global energy transition, wind energy has emerged as a strategically critical clean energy source, yet its deployment confronts dual challenges of suboptimal site selection efficiency and multifaceted environmental constraints. This research addresses the inherent limitations of unidimensional siting methodologies through the development of an innovative multi-factor
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Tracking five decades of global sand and gravel stocks and flows in 184 countries Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-14 Shurong Zhuang, Qiance Liu, Kun Sun, Stephan Lutter, Ruishan Chen, Gang Liu
Sand and gravel, providing essential physical foundations for modern societies, are facing increasing demand due to urbanization and rural construction. This surge stems from the widespread use of these materials in building, roads, and other infrastructure, which has raised increasing concerns about the “sand crisis” and environmental damages from overexploitation. Addressing such concerns requires
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Recycling recycled concrete powder into low-carbon construction material through compaction and carbonation Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-13 Zongxuan Shao, Yuya Sakai
The recycling of concrete waste aggregate generates abundant recycled concrete powder (RCP) annually that remains underutilized. Previous studies have shown that the compaction-based recycling of concrete requires autoclave treatment to achieve sufficient strength, which consumes considerable energy. This study combined carbonation with compaction to recycle RCP into construction materials with low
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Developing a refined land use emission intensity inventory in China with land use activity-based data Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-13 Zhenhao Liu, Chaoqing Chai, Haoyang Wang, Huadong Zhu, Wenhao Niu, Ronghao Wen, Weiwei Zheng, Xiangbin Kong, Han Zhang, Bangbang Zhang
Current accounting of land use emission intensity (LUEI) based on specific land use activities is insufficient. This study develops a refined and spatially explicit LUEI inventory by integrating authoritative national land survey data and sophisticated land use activity data within an activity-based carbon accounting framework, alongside quantifying uncertainty using Monte Carlo simulation. The results
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Deep reinforcement learning-based optimization of an island energy-water microgrid system Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-13 Roozbeh Ghasemi, Gersi Doko, Marek Petrik, Martin Wosnik, Zhongming Lu, Diane L. Foster, Weiwei Mo
Islanded microgrids often struggle with limited resources and heavy reliance on fossil fuels. This study optimizes an island energy-water microgrid using reinforcement learning (RL) to schedule the water system as a virtual battery. Using the Shoals Marine Laboratory microgrid as a testbed, a dynamic model simulating water and energy interactions was integrated with an RL algorithm to improve profit
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Moving toward fiber-based products free of PFAS: Industry response to regulations for paper packaging, hygiene and textile products Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-13 Mariana Lendewig, Ronald Marquez, Jorge Franco, Ramon E. Vera, Keren A. Vivas, Naycari Forfora, Richard A. Venditti, Ronalds Gonzalez
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have played a critical role in the fiber-based industry for decades, primarily due to their ability to impart water and grease resistance to materials. However, increasing environmental and public health awareness has intensified regulatory scrutiny and driven a transition toward safer alternatives. Historically, the paper industry has depended on PFOA, PFOS
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Ramification of dyes for fiber-to-fiber recycling of cotton textiles Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-12 Yuanyi Shao, Bingnan Mu, Xiaoqing Yu, Yiqi Yang
We investigated the ramification of dyes for dissolution and extrusion of cellulosics, and for the properties of regenerated cellulosic fibers from waste cotton via the Lyocell process and proposed pivotal solutions to the challenges of dyes on cotton recycling. Dyed fibers cannot be regenerated to new fibers with acceptable performance properties via direct re-extrusion since the dyes inside fibers
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Assessing the global sustainability implications of China’s lithium-ion battery sector using value chain analysis Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-12 Haoning Liu, Teresa Domenech Aparisi
Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) of critical raw materials (CRMs) is instrumental for the low-carbon transitions. Recent literature has emerged mapping CRMs’ physical flows and analysing their current degree of circularity. However, limited research has focused on the understanding of the patterns of value-added creation along the supply chain, as a critical step in assessing long-term sustainability
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A field study on the reduction of household grain waste: The effects of social norms and measuring cups Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-12 Lisanne E.J. van Geffen, Erica van Herpen, Robert P.G. Goedegebure, Hans C.M. van Trijp hans.vantrijp@wur.nl
Household food waste has a significant impact on the environment and to diminish this, understanding the effectiveness of different types of interventions, alone and in combination, is key. To better understand what makes waste-reduction interventions effective, we need to disentangle different intervention components. This study aims to contribute to existing knowledge by using the Motivation, Opportunity
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Temporal lag in nitrogen use efficiency and its implications for sustainable cropland management Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-11 Jincheng Li, Jiaxing Fu, Taher Kahil, Dor Fridman, Kaikui Cai, Shasha Xu, Gang Zhao, Man Zhang, Xingxing Duan, Yue Qin, Yong Liu
Improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is crucial for sustainable agriculture. Despite recent advancements, China continues to face significant environmental risks due to nitrogen surplus. This study examines the spatiotemporal dynamics of cropland nitrogen use across 350 prefecture-level cities from 1980 to 2020. Results reveal a persistent “three highs and one low” pattern-high input, high output
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Efficient and selective gold recovery from practical e-waste and electroplating wastewater using protein crystals Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-11 Xiao-Qian Jin, Jia-Lei Li, Chen-Yuan Li, Liang-Liang Chen, Xue-Ting Wang, Wen-Pu Shi, Jun-Bin Xiong, Rui Zhang, Wei-Hong Guo, Da-Chuan Yin
Gold recovery from wastes is becoming increasingly important in gold production. However, satisfactory recovery technologies are lacking. Here we show that protein (hemoglobin) crystals exhibit outstanding performance in gold recovery. We prepared crosslinked hemoglobin crystals (CLHCs) from discarded bovine blood. The CLHCs demonstrated combined advantages in gold recovery: high recovery efficiency
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Efficient carbon/phosphorus recovery from sludge anaerobic fermentation with recyclable MOF-based conductive materials activating sodium persulfate Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-10 Long Chen, Jianming Zhu, Ziwei Lin, Xiaohan Zhi, Zimu Qin, Hongtao Zhu
Recovering volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and phosphorus (P) from waste activated sludge (WAS) via anaerobic fermentation (AF) is hindered by several challenges, including low sludge disintegration efficiency and limited P release and recovery. This study addresses these challenges by incorporating a novel and recyclable composite material, FeM@CS, alongside sodium persulfate (PS) in AF. The activation
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Re-directing mixed-feed deconstruction products to hybrid polyesters: Tolerance windows for commodity plastics reconstruction Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-10 Ryan W. Clarke, Briona J. Carswell, Jason S. DesVeaux, Levi J. Hamernik, Clarissa Lincoln, Vinod K. Konaganti, Rufina G. Alamo, Katrina M. Knauer
Solvolysis is a promising strategy for mixed-feed polyester recycling, but little attention has been given to downstream product separations or the impact of using imperfectly separated monomer mixtures in recycled polymer reconstruction. Here, we challenge the traditional need for high-purity monomers in polycondensation synthesis of engineering thermoplastics. Monomer mixtures are derived from catalyzed
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Improving biogenic carbon and land use accounting for construction wood Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-10 William Horan, Michael Quilligan, George Bishop, David Styles
Harvested Wood Product (HWP) inventory data in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) databases are limited in terms of geographical scope. Thus, LCA studies of wood products often neglect important variations in growth rates and wood densities across tree species and regions. Resulting discrepancies in biogenic carbon accounting along value chains for HWP used in construction undermines accurate representation
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Re-using end-of-life solar waste for solid state lithium metal batteries Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-10 Yeow Boon Tay, Qinjie Wu, Ankit, Nripan Mathews
Upcycling materials from end-of-life photovoltaics (EoL PV) into energy storage applications is gaining traction due to the favorable promotion of the circular economy. However, despite being one of the heaviest components, solar glass from EoL PV is often overlooked in this upcycling trend. Inert nanoparticles have been identified to enhance the performance of solid polymer electrolytes (SPE), which
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Enhancing supply resilience for critical materials: case study of gallium supply in the United States Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-07 Jannis Wesselkaemper, Alex C. Newkirk, Thomas P. Hendrickson, Nadiyah Helal, Prakash Rao, Sarah J. Smith, Andrew Z. Haddad
Accelerating energy technology development will increase demand for critical raw materials, such as gallium, that enable clean energy technologies. Processing of gallium is concentrated in mainland China (98 % of global production in 2023), resulting in high supply risks for importing countries. To investigate pathways for more resilient supply, we develop a material flow analysis and apply it to the
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Sustainable recycling of polymer solid-state batteries – a mechanical-hydrometallurgical case study Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-07 Kirstin Schneider, Marco Ahuis, Laura Helmers, Peter Michalowski, Bengi Yagmurlu, Arno Kwade
Polymer solid-state batteries (SSBs) are a promising next-generation energy storage technology critical to the energy transition and are already being used in the first electric vehicles. Unlike conventional lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with liquid electrolytes, polymer SSBs contain different materials such as flexible polymers, metal anodes and composite cathodes, which influence the overall recyclability
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Environmental impact of minimally invasive procedures: life cycle assessment of two hospital care pathways Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-06 Eva S. Cohen, Lisanne H.J.A. Kouwenberg, Hannah V. Dürager, Lynn E. Snijder, Jesse Lammerts, Martijn van Bodegraven, Dionne S. Kringos, Nicolaas H. Sperna Weiland, Wouter J.K. Hehenkamp
The healthcare sector significantly contributes to global environmental impacts, with minimally invasive procedures being particularly resource- and energy-intensive. This study at a Dutch tertiary hospital quantified the environmental impacts of two minimally invasive treatments in gynecology: total laparoscopic hysterectomy (surgical) and uterine artery embolization (non-surgical). Using comparative
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Decarbonizing Mongolia: An integrated structural path and decomposition analysis of carbon emissions (2015–2021) Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-06 Shubo Ma, Xiuzhi Hua, Jingru Liu
Mongolia exemplifies the developmental paradigm of small, low-industrialized developing economies, striving to address the dual challenges of socio-economic development and entrenched carbon dependency. This study establishes an environmentally extended input-output (EEIO) model for Mongolia's energy-related carbon emissions from 2015 to 2022. Structural Decomposition Analysis (SDA) and Structural
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Dual growth of green total factor productivity and greenhouse gas emission intensity of smallholder farms in China: Trends and misallocation Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-06 Xiangbo Xu, Yue Xu, Ziyi Zhou, Mingxing Sun, Yunli Bai, Linxiu Zhang
Improving green production efficiency while reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is essential for China’s sustainable agriculture. However, precise measurements of these two indicators at the household and crop levels and the mechanisms underlying their misallocation remain limited. Using two phases of first-hand tracked survey data from rural China (2000 households per phase) and applying the Life
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Understanding land use impacts of croplands on biodiversity through UNEP’s Global Guidance for Life Cycle Impact Assessment Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-06 Carla R.V. Coelho, Pål Börjesson, Henrik G. Smith
In a global retrospective assessment, this study quantifies the potential impacts of croplands on biodiversity using the UNEP-Life Cycle Initiative’s recommended method for land use that was proposed by the GLAM consensus working group for Global Guidance for Life Cycle Impact Assessment Indicators and Methods. The findings show the importance of using tools that account for both occupied area and
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Dual effects on vegetation caused by urban expansion in global drylands: Insights from the enhanced vegetation disturbance index Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-05 Tao Qi, Chunyang He, Qiang Ren, Yida Wang, Shengpeng Cao
Drylands account for approximately 40 % of the global vegetation productivity and serve as critical regions for advancing global sustainable development. In the context of rapid urbanization, accurately evaluating the urban expansion-induced effects on vegetation in drylands helps optimize urban land use and foster sustainable growth in dryland cities. Focusing on the rapidly urbanizing and ecologically
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Regional electric vehicle roadmap and strategy in Japan based on a lifecycle optimization model Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-05 Yuya Nakamoto, Ryosuke Yokoi, Shohei Tokito
Vehicle electrification reduces well-to-wheel emissions but may not lower lifecycle CO2 (LC-CO2) emissions. This study uses a lifecycle optimization (LCO) model to identify the optimal fuel type progression to minimize LC-CO2 emissions. By combining LCO with product stock-flow analysis, we extend optimization from individuals to regions and from a single year to 2020–2050, establishing a regional electrification
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Unraveling risk propagation in the copper value chain: A firm-level network analysis Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-05 Qiyan Liu, Peter Adriaens
This study examines the copper value chain through firm-level, temporal, and multi-tier network analysis to explore risk propagation and structural evolution. By incorporating relationship duration as an edge weight in a cascading failure model, this study identifies critical firms based on their connectivity and vulnerability to disruptions. This granular approach captures the roles of both public
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Recycling spent lithium ion batteries by flash joule heating: preferential lithium recovery and Li-phase conversion mechanism under ultra-temperature Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-05 Ao Shen, Jialiang Zhang, Yongqiang Chen, Chengyan Wang
The recovery of spent lithium-ion batteries is crucial for sustainable renewable resources and environmental protection. Low lithium recovery efficiency and high energy consumption are the main problems in current recycling technologies for black mass of spent NCM batteries. This study innovatively applies flash joule heating (FJH) to preferentially recover lithium from industrial raw materials. We
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Development finance and critical minerals: opportunities for supporting sustainability and inclusion through patient capital Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-04 Rebecca Ray, Bowen Gu, Julia Radomski, Cynthia Sanborn
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Hybrid delamination of silver contacts from c-Si solar cells: a low environmental impact recycling approach Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-04 Bashayer Nafe Alsulami, Jonathon Harwell, Guillaume Zante, Andrew P. Abbott, Andrew Feeney, Jeff Kettle
As deployment of photovoltaic (PV) systems intensify amidst the shift towards renewable energy sources, the imperative to minimise their environmental footprint across the full life cycle has become increasingly critical. Here, we introduce a novel Hybrid process for recovering silver (Ag) from monocrystalline silicon (Si) PV cells that achieves a 93 % Ag recovery yield. By selectively removing aluminium
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Mapping operational and embodied emissions in relation to household and ownership profiles with bottom-up building stock analysis: The case of Vaud, Switzerland Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-03 Ankita Singhvi, Mikhail Sirenko, Aristide Athanassiadis, Claudia R. Binder
We conducted a bottom-up, spatially explicit building stock analysis to examine the social and spatial heterogeneity of operational and embodied emissions of residential buildings in Canton Vaud, Switzerland. Variations emerged between locations, household profiles and ownership types. Urban households exhibited lower embodied emissions per resident, but higher annual operational emissions (1500–1900
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Transitioning towards standardised circular economy assessments; application to high-value production from OFMSW biogas Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-06-02 D. Renfrew, V. Vasilaki, G.A. Tsalidis, V. Perez, S Danishvar, F. Perez, Buch C. González, R. Muñoz, E. Katsou
Publication of the European Green Deal, and subsequent Circular Economy Action Plan, establishes improving resource circularity as a key pillar of Europe’s sustainable development plan. However, a higher degree of circularity does not automatically result in a more sustainable economy, meaning the newly published ISO59020 for circularity performance measurement and assessment demands the completion
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We have to talk! Claims of early career researchers to transform circular economy research Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-31 Laura Beyeler, Marlene Eimterbäumer, Meret Jürgens, Alexa Böckel, Konrad Schoch, Regina M. Bichler, Michael Straub-Mück, Magdolna Molnár, Melanie Jaeger-Erben
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Geometry-informed material intensity reveals considerable intra-archetype material variability of UK housing Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-31 Menglin Dai, Charles Gillott, Jakub Jurczyk, Kun Sun, Xiang Li, Gang Liu, Danielle Densley Tingley
Building stock modelling underpins energy and environmental assessments of the built environment. Material Intensity (MI), representing material mass per unit dimension, is vital for bottom-up estimation of building material stocks. However, reliance on sparse or uniform MI data can lead to significant inaccuracies due to intra-archetype variability, often stemming from differing building morphologies
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Quantification of recycled content in plastics: a review Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-30 Saleh S. Soomro, Chaehwan Hong, Michael P. Shaver
The increasing demand for plastic products has generated unprecedented amounts of plastic waste. To reduce both proper and improper plastics disposal and the concomitant long and short term physical and chemical risks, recycling has emerged as an effective and complementary tool to recover waste and lower demand for unsustainable virgin plastics production. Post-consumer and post-industrial recyclate
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County-level air pollutant mitigation from China’s staple crop production Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-29 Yize Liu, Yunrui Li, Xia Liang, Keer Gao, Lixiao Zhang, Yan Hao, Minghao Zhuang
Agricultural activities in crop production emit substantial air pollutants, impacting air quality, ecosystems, and public health. However, compiling a spatially explicit crop air pollutant emission inventory including all agricultural activities in field is urgent but still lacking. Here, we conducted a county-level air pollutant emission inventory and mitigation potential assessment for China’s wheat
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Life cycle material footprints of geothermal power generation: A global technology- and stage-specific analysis Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-29 Wufei Zhang, Wei Yang, Guangrui Liu, Zhenjiao Jiang, Junnian Song
Expansion of geothermal power generation (GPG) enhances stability of renewable energy systems yet with increasing material demands. However, material footprints of GPG remain underexplored for a thorough comparison with wind and photovoltaic power. We establish a life cycle system for GPG to evaluate material footprints of flash steam, dry steam, and binary cycle power generation on a global scale
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Carbon and reactive nitrogen footprint of greenhouse versus open-field vegetable production in China Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-29 Weili Li, Minghao Zhuang, Lei Feng, Wei Wei, Longlong Xia, Yi Yang
Global greenhouse vegetables production has grown substantially and will play a critical role in meeting future global vegetable demand. However, the environmental performance of large-scale greenhouse vegetable production compared to open-field cultivation remains unclear. Through carbon and reactive nitrogen footprint analysis of provincial-scale vegetable production in China, we show that greenhouse
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Recovery of fluorine-containing resources from spent lithium-ion batteries as high-value products Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-28 Yongfeng Zhao, Yunpeng Wen, Yue Yang, Shengming Xu
The fluorine-containing organics in the spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) cause environmental pollution during recycling. Recovery of fluorine-containing resources is critical for the recycling process of spent LIBs. This study elucidated the transformation mechanism of fluoride in cathode black mass (BM) during pyrolysis and proposed an integrated approach for fluoride reclamation. At 650 °C, 89
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Differential industrial structures and the impact on timber carbon stocks: A comparative study of China, the United States, and Canada Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-28 Chang Yu, Erman Xia, Xinyue Zhu, Zixing Gao, Di Shang, Qiong Wu, Chao Yang
As the largest terrestrial carbon sink, forests regulate global carbon cycling, with timber providing long-term carbon storage for climate mitigation. This study analyzes consumption-based timber carbon stock flows in China, the U.S., and Canada, focusing on their roles in the global timber trade and sectoral linkages. China’s timber supply chain is dependent on imported timber carbon stocks, particularly
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Human health, economic, and environmental impacts of emergency drinking water contamination events and response actions Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-28 Taler S. Bixler, M.Robin Collins, Weiwei Mo
This study investigated various drinking water emergency countermeasures, evaluating their economic, environmental, and public health tradeoffs during contamination events. Employing process-based dynamic modeling and life cycle assessment methodologies, we assessed the effectiveness of 10 countermeasure deployment scenarios applied to a surrogate drinking water system. Our analysis indicates that
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Quantifying material stocks in long-lived products: Challenges and improvements for informing sustainable resource use strategies Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-28 Jan Streeck, André Baumgart, Helmut Haberl, Fridolin Krausmann, Bowen Cai, Tomer Fishman, Maud Lanau, Peter Berrill, Zhi Cao, Sebastiaan Deetman, David Frantz, Volker Krey, Alessio Mastrucci, Alessio Miatto, Stefan Pauliuk, Lola Sylvie Annie Rousseau, Shoshanna Saxe, Danielle Densley Tingley, Gamze Ünlü, Dominik Wiedenhofer
Material stocks in long-lived products require over half of the annual global resource extraction for their construction and maintenance, and lock in energy use through their technical and geospatial characteristics. A thorough understanding of material stocks is therefore essential to inform sustainable resource use strategies. However, despite substantial advances in material stock research in recent
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Algae-based earth materials for sustainable construction: Toward a new generation of bio-stabilized building solutions Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-27 Yassine El Mendili, Mohamed-Hichem Benzaama, Lukáš Bejček, Romain Mège, Franck Hennequart, Badreddine El Haddaji
This study explores the enhancement of Compressed Earth Blocks (CEBs) using alginate-based stabilization, promoting resource conservation and the use of renewable materials in construction. By utilizing alginates from algae— a renewable and increasingly abundant resource due to the uncontrolled proliferation of algae belts —the research addresses key limitations of traditional CEBs, such as mechanical
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Probabilistic evaluation of enterprises' fraudulent report in pollutant levels based on machine learning: a case of hazardous waste generation quantity Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-26 Wen Fang, Qingyuan Yu, Wenjun Xie, Jianxun Yang, Zongwei Ma, Miaomiao Liu, Jun Bi
Industrial enterprises are prominent sources of contaminants, and accurate reporting of contaminant discharge by these enterprises is essential for effective environmental management. However, fraudulent reporting, particularly underreporting hazardous waste (HW) generation, has become an intractable issue. HW is difficult to monitor automatically, and underreporting often implies improper treatment
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Integrating nutrient balance, environmental footprints and nutrient optimization strategies for sustainable potato production system in China Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-25 Hanyou Xie, Ping He, Wencheng Ding, Xinpeng Xu, Yan Xu, Wentian He
Optimized fertilizer managements are crucial for enhancing global food security and represent essential strategies for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) and reactive nitrogen (Nr) emissions. However, a systematic assessment of the distribution and reduction potential for nutrient inputs, GHG and Nr emissions within the Chinese potato production system is lacking. Here, we evaluated the nutrient balance
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A global spatialized approach to estimate residential building floor area and material stocks Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-24 Adrian Foong, Stepan Svintsov, Tobias Seydewitz, Anne Holsten, Barbara K. Reck
A better understanding of the material stock in the built environment is needed to reduce its climate and environmental impacts while also improving its circularity. We introduce a comprehensive, globally consistent method to estimate residential floor area and material stock at a fine-scale spatial resolution, using the latest publicly available datasets on key building parameters and material intensity
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Fluoride ion-mediated differential coordination separation of Al (III) and Fe (III) for regeneration of low-aluminum, high-purity battery-grade iron phosphate Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-23 Fei Han, Yaohui Xie, Lin Qu, Zhenzhou Wang, Wei Zhang, Guang Yang, Huiqin Hu, Meiting Huang, Haoxuan Yu, Liming Yang, Xubiao Luo
Deep removal of trace aluminum from lithium extraction slag (LES) is key to recovering high-purity battery-grade iron phosphate (FePO4). Existing methods exhibit low aluminum removal due to the close solubility product constants of Al (III) and Fe (III). In this work, we propose a novel strategy for trace aluminum removal based on fluoride ion-mediated differential coordination of Al (III) and Fe (III)
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Improving agricultural mulching to reduce environmental footprint and enhance economic profit across China Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-22 Huihui Wei, Yifan Yang, Li Zhang, Zutao Ouyang, Matthew Tom Harrison, Ke Liu, Guojun Sun, Gary Y. Gan, Feng-Min Li, Li Dong, Rui Wang, Bo Wang, Feng Zhang
Large-scale and difficult to decompose greenhouse gas (GHG) have challenged the agrifood sector to achieve net zero. While mulching perturbs GHG emissions and soil carbon sequestration, its potential in reducing GHG emissions remains unexplored. Here, we combined life cycle assessment with process-based model to evaluate carbon footprints and net environmental and economic benefits of maize, wheat
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Impact of spatial transfer of farmland on the food-water-GHG nexus in China during 2000–2020 Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-22 Yunxi Liu, Xue Wang, Minghong Tan, Fuyao Zhang, Xiubin Li
Analyzing the impact of spatial transfer of farmland (STF) on the food-water-greenhouse gases (FWG) nexus through a coupled perspective holds significant scientific value for guiding sustainable farmland management policies. This study developed an integrated assessment framework to quantify FWG-nexus dynamics induced by STF, systematically evaluating changes in crop yields, irrigation water consumption
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Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and material use for passenger vehicles in Türkiye: A scenario-based analysis with material efficiency strategies Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-22 Ayla Alkan, Stefan Pauliuk
Türkiye has not yet decoupled its economy from energy and material consumption, but aims to transition to a circular economy and become carbon neutral by 2053. The potential of energy system transformation and efficient material use has not yet been assessed for many services in Türkiye. This study analyzes the impacts of these transformations on passenger vehicles, using the RECC model, a physical
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Building stock modelling for circularity: Insights from a Danish component-level model Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (IF 11.2) Pub Date : 2025-05-21 N. Francart, S.R.B. Gummidi, E. Hoxha, H. Birgisdottir
This paper presents the iBuildGreen building stock model, which estimates the material content of the Danish building stock based on macro-component archetypes (types of wall, roof, floor slab, etc). The model draws up a detailed material inventory and estimates the embodied carbon content for each building, based on publicly available Danish National Building Registry data. The high level of detail