Suchergebnisse

Food production systems are undergoing a structural transformation towards a sustainable resilient state, offering opportunities for economic benefits, employment creation, and enhanced food safety and security. Governing this sustainability transition is a complex process which calls for interventions at all policy levels, including higher education. Adopting an agri-food systems perspective, the Western Balkans countries are facing challenges which are mostly related to issues such as the modernization of food engineering and food management practices, the organic agriculture production, the post-harvest processes, the supply chain management, the corresponding environmental footprint, etc. Tackling with the afore-mentioned topics requires educational interventions (among other actions), which may contribute effectively towards the specific sustainability transition. To this purpose, and in light of these countries' current convergence, with the European Union, the Erasmus+ "STEPS" project offered a unique opportunity for collaboration between eleven (11) European partners, who led to the development of a joint Master of Sciences Program entitled "Sustainable Food Production Systems" with two directions: "Food Engineering and Food Safety", and "Food Production Systems Management". The paper sheds light on the development process of the curriculum, providing evidence on the design process, the structure and the syllabus of the courses, the necessary accreditation process, and the benefits of the new joint postgraduate program.

Almost 500 municipal solid waste incineration plants in the EU, Norway and Switzerland generate about 17.6 Mt/a of incinerator bottom ash (IBA). IBA contains minerals and metals. Metals are mostly separated and sold to the scrap market and minerals are either disposed of in landfills or utilised in the construction sector. Since there is no uniform regulation for IBA utilisation at EU level, countries developed own rules with varying requirements for utilisation. As a result from a cooperation network between European experts an up-to-date overview of documents regulating IBA utilisation is presented. Furthermore, this work highlights the different requirements that have to be considered. Overall, 51 different parameters for the total content and 36 different parameters for the emission by leaching are defined. An analysis of the defined parameter reveals that leaching parameters are significantly more to be considered compared to total content parameters. In order to assess the leaching behaviour nine different leaching tests, including batch tests, up-flow percolation tests and one diffusion test (monolithic materials) are in place. A further discussion of leaching parameters showed that certain countries took over limit values initially defined for landfills for inert waste and adopted them for IBA utilisation. The overall utilisation rate of IBA in construction works is approximately 54 wt%. It is revealed that the rate of utilisation does not necessarily depend on how well regulated IBA utilisation is, but rather seems to be a result of political commitment for IBA recycling and economically interesting circumstances.

Almost 500 municipal solid waste incineration plants in the EU, Norway and Switzerland generate about 17.6 Mt/a of incinerator bottom ash (IBA). IBA contains minerals and metals. Metals are mostly separated and sold to the scrap market and minerals are either disposed of in landfills or utilised in the construction sector. Since there is no uniform regulation for IBA utilisation at EU level, countries developed own rules with varying requirements for utilisation. As a result from a cooperation network between European experts an up-to-date overview of documents regulating IBA utilisation is presented. Furthermore, this work highlights the different requirements that have to be considered. Overall, 51 different parameters for the total content and 36 different parameters for the emission by leaching are defined. An analysis of the defined parameter reveals that leaching parameters are significantly more to be considered compared to total content parameters. In order to assess the leaching behaviour nine different leaching tests, including batch tests, up-flow percolation tests and one diffusion test (monolithic materials) are in place. A further discussion of leaching parameters showed that certain countries took over limit values initially defined for landfills for inert waste and adopted them for IBA utilisation. The overall utilisation rate of IBA in construction works is approximately 54 wt%. It is revealed that the rate of utilisation does not necessarily depend on how well regulated IBA utilisation is, but rather seems to be a result of political commitment for IBA recycling and economically interesting circumstances.