Suchergebnisse

Businesses face political, economic, environmental, and social pressures to act in a sustainable and circular manner. Circular economy (CE) emerges as an alternative to the linear way of producing goods and services and seems to successfully respond to the current need of companies to generate profits and be sustainable simultaneously. For those companies already established in the market and making use of linear models, the transition means a major challenge. This is especially relevant for the European region, due to its high levels of industrialization. In many cases, the problems that arise during this transition are not identified in advance and in some cases occur without the responsible managers being aware of them. Previous research has focused mostly on the field of industrial ecology, but few studies have analyzed the barriers that companies need to overcome from a managerial perspective. For this reason, the theoretical methodology available to explain, predict and understand challenges and opportunities (C&O) from a manager´s point of view, is limited. In addition, existing literature has demonstrated the central role of digital data technologies (DDT) as enablers in the transition and their potential to create sustainable competitive advantages (SCA) for the respective enterprise.

Rapid urbanization, unregulated industrialization, growing transport intensity and agricultural activities have created a problem of heavy metal (HM) contamination worldwide. HMs are long-term contaminants with the ability to accumulate in soil and plants and have no natural way to be removed. Forests near local contamination sources have been subjected to HMs concentration measurements. Trees are HMs bioindicators capable to record HM concentrations in the environment in the past. In this paper, concentrations of HMs determined in wood trees were compared with phytotoxic, excessive, deficiency and naturally found HM concentrations in plants. Results of our investigation showed that HM concentrations in trees that grew in potentially contaminated areas did not exceed phytotoxic and excessive values of HMs found in plants. Concentrations of HMs in a wood of pines varied: Ni – 0.1– 3.50 mg·kg–1; Cr – 0.1–1.50 mg·kg–1; Cu – 0.25–3.00 mg·kg–1; Mn – 10– 160 mg·kg–1; Zn – 2–75 mg·kg–1, Pb – 0.05–2.80 mg·kg–1 and those for birch ranged: Ni – 0.90–3.20 mg·kg–1; Cr – 0.90–2.50 mg·kg–1; Mn – 40– 130 mg·kg–1; Pb – 1.0–3.50 mg·kg–1. The higher transfer of HMs to wood was associated with higher concentrations of HMs in tree environment (soil and nearby water bodies) and the function of some HMs as elements necessary for tree physiological processes. The values of HM transfer factors for trees were: Ni – 0.001–0.55; Cu – 0.04–0.45; Zn – 0.03–0.6; Mn – 0.001–0.75; Pb – 0.002–0.085; Cr – 0.005–0.11.

Rapid urbanization, unregulated industrialization, growing transport intensity and agricultural activities have created a problem of heavy metal (HM) contamination worldwide. HMs are long-term contaminants with the ability to accumulate in soil and plants and have no natural way to be removed. Forests near local contamination sources have been subjected to HMs concentration measurements. Trees are HMs bioindicators capable to record HM concentrations in the environment in the past. In this paper, concentrations of HMs determined in wood trees were compared with phytotoxic, excessive, deficiency and naturally found HM concentrations in plants. Results of our investigation showed that HM concentrations in trees that grew in potentially contaminated areas did not exceed phytotoxic and excessive values of HMs found in plants. Concentrations of HMs in a wood of pines varied: Ni – 0.1– 3.50 mg·kg–1; Cr – 0.1–1.50 mg·kg–1; Cu – 0.25–3.00 mg·kg–1; Mn – 10– 160 mg·kg–1; Zn – 2–75 mg·kg–1, Pb – 0.05–2.80 mg·kg–1 and those for birch ranged: Ni – 0.90–3.20 mg·kg–1; Cr – 0.90–2.50 mg·kg–1; Mn – 40– 130 mg·kg–1; Pb – 1.0–3.50 mg·kg–1. The higher transfer of HMs to wood was associated with higher concentrations of HMs in tree environment (soil and nearby water bodies) and the function of some HMs as elements necessary for tree physiological processes. The values of HM transfer factors for trees were: Ni – 0.001–0.55; Cu – 0.04–0.45; Zn – 0.03–0.6; Mn – 0.001–0.75; Pb – 0.002–0.085; Cr – 0.005–0.11.