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Abstract: This special volume of the Journal of Cleaner Production was developed primarily based on materials presented at the 2nd International Workshop Advances in Cleaner Production held in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2009. The content reflects the growing awareness of the urgent and unavoidable need for making changes to help transform unsustainable to sustainable societies. The eleven papers provide different viewpoints to help society make progress on the journey towards sustainability. Key elements of this urgent journey are addressed in this collection of papers; some challenge society to address the problems in a systematic manner and some underscore the essentiality of proper planning by using green teams, or a Sustainable Environmental Management System. Other authors explored the role of proactive regulation and economic instruments to promote environmental performance improvements. Innovation through learning and promotion of multidisciplinary thinking as well as transference of information and knowledge between academy and industry are key aspects explored. Their inputs enabled this editorial team to propose alternatives uses for ‘wastes’, for substituting one raw material for another, which is environmentally and economically advantageous, for changing industrial process to decrease Greenhouse Gas emissions, or for optimizing diverse processes. The role of the Clean Development Mechanism as a promoter of implementation of innovative cleaner technologies in host countries is discussed. A systemic assessment tool, emergy synthesis, was employed to evaluate a reverse logistic enterprise from an environmental perspective. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Concern in relation to creating environmental protection policies is increasing, particularly with regard to the reuse of waste for power generation. In this context, biodiesel production from waste cooking oils could play an important role. Biodiesel is a biofuel that can be produced from saturated fatty raw material discarded by restaurants, such as oils and fats used for cooking processes. This paper describes a biodiesel production plant installed at Pinheira Beach in the State of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil and aims to discuss the environmental, social and economic impacts by analyzing the biodiesel production by life cycle assessment (LCA), relationship with the emission of greenhouse gases. The plant is run by an association and is aimed at promoting the recycling of waste cooking oil from restaurants and residences in the area and, at the same time, enables the continuity of artisanal fisheries in the region. The transesterification production process was used to convert waste cooking oils into biodiesel using basic catalysis in the presence of methanol. A batch system with the capacity to produce 200 L of biodiesel per day was adopted. The data obtained for the biodiesel produced at the plant were 879.2 kg m −3 density, 495.74 mg kg −1 water content, 94.38% ester content, and 1.5 mg.kg −1 sodium plus potassium. Related to the Life Cycle Assessment the results demonstrate that the category that most contributes to the emissions generated in biodiesel production process is the collection stage with 92.10% contribution, presenting a significant difference to the productions stage which contributed 7.9%. The plant provides environmental, social and economic gains for the community, for instance, increased income for the associates and fishermen, environmental education in schools, and cooking oil recycling opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Alongside with biofuel development, social acceptance issues have been underestimated. While social acceptance can emerge as powerful barrier for biofuel development, this article provides discussion on social acceptance in biofuel context. An acceptance framework based on life cycle biofuel production had been referred for a better understanding on social acceptance issues. Malaysia has been referred for the discussion as the country has faced with acceptance issue in their biofuel program. The discussion point out different societal groups will demand specific consideration for either support or oppose biofuel. This paper concludes that biofuel development will be constraint if social acceptance issues remain neglect. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]