This chapter will introduce the circular economy (CE) and Cradle to Cradle (C2C) models of sustainable production. It will reflect on the key blockages to a meaningful sustainable production and how these could be overcome, particularly in the context of business education. The case study of the course for bachelor’s students within International Business Management Studies (IBMS), and at University College in The Netherlands will be discussed. These case studies will illustrate the opportunities as well as potential pitfalls of the closed loop production models. The results of case studies’ analysis show that there was a mismatch between expectations of the sponsor companies and those of students on the one hand and a mismatch between theory and practice on the other hand. Helpful directions for future research and teaching practice are outlined. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319713113#aboutBook https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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Reputation has often been proposed as the central mechanism that creates trust in the sharing economy. However, some sharing platforms that focus primarily on social rather than economically driven exchanges have managed to facilitate exchanges between users without the use of a reputation system. This could indicate that socially driven exchanges are in less need of reputation systems and that having sufficient trust is less problematic. We examine the effect of seller reputation on sales and price as proxies for trust, using a large dataset from a Dutch meal-sharing platform. This platform aims to stimulate social interactions between people via meal sharing. Multilevel regression analyses were used to test the association of reputation with trust. Our main empirical results are that reputation affects both sales and price positively, consistent with the existing reputation literature. We also found evidence of the presence of an information effect, i.e., the influence of reputation on sharing decreases when additional profile information is provided (e.g., a profile photo, a product description). Our results thus confirm the effectiveness of reputation in more socially driven exchanges also. Consequently, platform owners are advised to use reputation on their platform to increase sharing between its users.
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Introduction: The Netherlands has been known as one of the pioneers in the sharing economy. At the beginning of the 2010s, many local initiatives such as Peerby (borrow tools and other things from your neighbours), SnappCar (p2p car-sharing), and Thuisafgehaald (cook for your neighbours) launched that enabled consumers to share underused resources or provide services to each other. This was accompanied by a wide interest from the Dutch media, zooming in on the perceived social and environmental benefits of these platforms. Commercial platforms such as Uber, UberPop and Airbnb followed soon after. After their entrance to the market, the societal debate about the impact of these platforms also started to include the negative consequences. Early on, universities and national research and policy institutes took part in these discussions by providing definitions, frameworks, and analyses. In the last few years, the attention has shifted from the sharing economy to the much broader defined platform economy.
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A transition to a circular economy is needed to revolutionize the construction sector and make it more sustainable for present and future generations. While the construction industry and the production of construction materials contribute to environmental pollution, they also offer great potential for addressing many environmental problems. Sheet materials are engineered wood boards that are produced from recycled or solid wood where an adhesive is used to bind the particles together, predominantly used in: Furniture manufacturing, Flooring application, Roofing, Wall sheathing. The most common binder for boards is urea-formaldehyde. Other binders may be used depending on the grade of board and its intended end-use. For example, melamine urea-formaldehyde, phenolic resins and polymeric diphenylmethane diisocyanate (PMDI) are generally used in boards that require improved moisture resistance. Formaldehyde is classified in the in the European Union as a carcinogen and it carries the hazard statement 'suspected of causing cancer'. In this project mycelium composites are developed as a formaldehyde-free, fully natural and biodegradable material with high potential to substitute these hazardous materials. The heat-press process, the feasibility of which was evaluated in a previous Kiem HBO project, is to be further developed towards a process where mycelium sheets with different thicknesses will be obtained. This is considered as a fundamental step to increase the material approachability to the market. Different Material manufacturing techniques are also considered to enable the increase of sample thicknesses and volume. Moreover, a business study will be incorporated to allow further understanding of the material market potential. The consortium composition of V8 Architects, QbiQ, Fairm, Verbruggen Paddestoelen BV, and CoEBBE merges different expertise and guarantees the consideration of the whole material production chain. The research will contribute to bring mycelium composites a step closer to the market, giving them visibility and increasing the possibility to a commercial breakthrough.
Mycelium composites are a promising new class of sustainable and circular building materials. These composites consist of lignocellulosic fibres that are colonized by mycelium (root network) of fungi. The fungal network functions as a natural glue for the fibres, resulting in foam-like materials with thermo-insulating properties. After heat-pressing, these materials show characteristics similar to particle board (Appel, 2019). However, one of the issues with these materials is their low wet strength, and their overall moisture sensitivity. For Fairm, a start-up company in mycelium composites, this is a limiting factor in their way to the market, hence they approached Avans Centre of Expertise Biobased Economy with the request to collaborate in research to make mycelium more water-resistant. One of the promising routes to address the Fairm’s request is acetylation, which is a proven technology for improving the water-resistance and durability of wood. Accsys, is a leading manufacturer of durable and sustainable wood products via an acetylation process, Therefore, Accsys was invited to join in the consortium to provide advice in acetylation and industrial views on manufacturing. They are interested on sustainable material innovation and the mycelium products can be interesting addition to their product lines. Forest Living, a company developing modular homes based on constructive insulation panels complements the consortium with their expertise on the new sustainable building technology. Their wish is to replace the currently used panels based on fossil based materials, with sustainable materials such as mycelium composites. Forest living will participate in the evaluation of the developed products for building applications In this project the partners combine their know-how on production of mycelium composites, acetylation and the use of the materials with the aim to create an improved mycelium composite, as a sustainable, innovative building material, suitable for insulation and for non-constructive interior uses.
