European clothing consumption has increased dramatically in recent decades, leading to a current average of 26 kg of textiles annually purchased per capita (EEA, 2019). While garments (and most of clothing’s environmental impacts) are produced in other parts of the world, European municipalities face a problem of increasing volumes of textile waste. Moreover, the revised waste directive of 2018 specifies that European Union countries will be obliged to collect textiles separately by 2025. This study investigates how these phenomena are affecting city-level policy and strategy, including but not limited to textile waste management. It builds on a comparative analysis of official documents informed by interviews with policy makers and waste management authorities in five European cities. The research points out that, in these cities, clothing environmental policy and other public initiatives are at varied levels of development. The paper identifies three kinds of measures, namely (a) improving separate collection, (b) waste prevention, and (c) consumption reduction. Reducing the share of textiles disposed of in general household waste (and therefore increasing separate collection) has been a central aim in cities where textiles fall under local waste regulation. The waste directive mentioned above makes separate collection of all textiles compulsory for EU members, leading to revisions in some cities’ collection systems. Some municipalities have gone one step further in preventing these textiles from reaching waste streams by supporting local initiatives for repair and reuse. The most advanced and recent approach is aiming at reductions in new clothing demand through citizen campaigns and monitoring the effect of repair and reuse actions in consumption levels. The comparative analysis leads to recommendations for future policy and strategy including developing the three approaches mentioned above simultaneously, further exploring measures for consumption reduction, and the integration of more concrete targets and monitoring plans, so that the most effective paths in social and environmental terms can be identified.
This research investigates the impact of early facility management involvement on the effective utilization of building information modelling during the operation and maintenance phase. It looks at understanding the factors that encourage building owners to prioritize early facility manager engagement. This research also examined the role of facility managers when involved early in the process, including the stage in which FM should be involved, the additional knowledge and competencies to add value, the main tasks to perform and what barriers should be overcome to involve FM early. Lastly, this research defines the potential added value that early engagement has on the use of BIM in the operational phase. Recognizing that facility managers bear the ultimate responsibility for building management, this study explores how their early engagement can ensure BIM model align with operational needs, maximizing the technology’s benefits throughout a building’s lifespan. By examining the impact of early FM input, this research aims to provide actionable insights for facility managers to contribute to the BIM development process.
MULTIFILE
Er is een toename van het aanbod van e-health-toepassingen in Nederland, dat blijkt onder meer uit de e-health monitor 2016 (www.e-health-monitor.nl). Eén van de aanbevelingen uit deze monitor is dat meer onderzoek moet plaatsvinden naar veilige en effectieve e-health-toepassingen. In dit artikel bundelen onderzoekers van verschillende kenniscentra hun ervaringen en beschrijven de door hen geleerde lessen die zijn gebaseerd op diverse onderzoeksprojecten.
