Reduction of red meat consumption is needed in the U.S. to reach public health and environmental goals. Campaigns that draw on behavioral theories will be most effective. The present preregistered project tests a comprehensive extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model to predict intention to eat small amounts of red meat, with an exploratory analysis comparing models for omnivores and meat-restrictors. 739 U.S. participants recruited from an online panel completed surveys assessing meat-related attitudes, norms, perceived behavioral control (PBC), meat-eating identity, habit, past behavior, and intention. SEM results indicated that intention to consume small amounts of meat was predicted by all variables in the model except for past meat-eating behavior. Descriptive comparisons revealed that meat-restrictors’ intention was more influenced by PBC and meat-eating habit. The results suggest that unified models which incorporate the influence of nonconscious processes, self-verification motivations, and moral considerations in addition to the reasoned action influences from the TPB may be most effective in predicting meat consumption intentions.
Chile’s rapid photovoltaic (PV) expansion is creating an emerging end-of-life challenge. This study develops a dynamic, cohort-based Material Flow Analysis to quantify PV system waste in Chile from 2026 to 2050 and discuss its implications for circular economy policy. The model separates DC-based modules and support structures from a defined electrical balance-of-system (BOS) inventory. It combines official capacity series, explicit AC/DC assumptions, stock-conserving replacement inflows, Weibull lifetime scenarios, repowering sensitivity, and Monte Carlo analysis. Under the regular-loss reference, cumulative PV system waste could reach 1.151 Mt by 2050, with annual waste of 134.9 kt/year. Cumulative waste could range from 0.043 to 1.547 Mt across the selected lifetime scenarios. The 20,000-run Monte Carlo median is 1.142 Mt, with a central 95% parameter interval of 0.643–1.903 Mt. These conditional estimates depend on representative crystalline-silicon inventories, deployment trajectories, and lifetime assumptions. The Circularity Gap is retained as a conceptual indicator; national recovery percentages cannot be established without collection, processing, and market data. Regulatory coordination, safe segregation, and verified downstream outlets could support recovery, but their quantitative effects remain unmeasured.
Circular Economy (CE) adopts a life-cycle perspective to reduce resource consumption, minimize environmental impacts, and preserve material value. Despite increasing interest in applying CE principles to railway infrastructure, there remains a lack of practical implementation frameworks. This study develops an integrated assessment framework combining life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC), and CE indicators to support decision-making in railway asset management. The framework is used to evaluate and identify the optimal CE scenario while addressing environmental, technical, and economic performance. A fleet of railway crossing assets in Sweden is used to evaluate five CE scenarios: reuse (2 scenario), recovery, repurpose and recycle (disposal). The results show that reuse scenarios are the most favorable, followed by repurpose and recovery, while disposal ranks lowest. The proposed framework enables the systematic evaluation of circular strategies and highlights the potential of CE implementation to improve resource efficiency, reduce lifecycle emissions, and enhance sustainable infrastructure management.
Food waste and disposable beverage packaging represent coupled sustainability challenges, yet practical pathways that convert food residues into functional packaging products remain limited. This study investigates the feasibility of upcycling post-consumer cooked rice into disposable cup bodies and evaluates their formability and use-phase performance as decision-oriented metrics for circular packaging systems. Cup shells were formed under controlled moisture content, charge mass, and dielectric consolidation time, and assessed for manufacturing robustness, short-term hot-fill containment, water uptake, and grasp-related thermal safety at 100°C. A medium moisture range (46–55 % w.b.), charge mass of 16–19 g, and dielectric dwell of 4–5 min produced the highest formability, yielding continuous rims (≈83–92 %), low wall non-uniformity (Δδ ≤ 0.30 mm), and clean demolding. Optimized cups showed no leakage during 1–5 min hot-fill screening, with limited water uptake (≈0.9–1.2 % of dry mass for short-grain formulations). SEM observations revealed a heterogeneous porous morphology that became more structurally continuous after thermoforming, while FTIR spectra confirmed the characteristic polysaccharide functional groups of the gelatinized rice material. Effective thermal conductivity at 25°C ranged from 0.046 to 0.052 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹, approximately 28–36 % lower than single-wall paper cups and comparable to paperboard. During hot-fill tests, rice-based cups exhibited outer-surface temperatures about 2–3°C lower and retained liquid temperatures 3–9°C higher over 5–20 min relative to paper references. The results provide pre-LCA, use-relevant performance evidence for defining functional substitution scenarios and the system boundaries required for subsequent comparative life-cycle assessment. The findings indicate that waste-derived cooked rice can be processed into functional disposable cups with performance suitable for short-term hot-beverage service, supporting resource-recovery strategies within circular packaging systems.
