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Purpose: The topic of corporate social responsibility is already present in many areas and spheres of economic life. In many cases, it determines the strategies of companies. Therefore, the article aims to examine the development and role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in management and sustainable economy. Emphasis will be placed on an overview of the most important international promotion initiatives. Finally, CSR and its development in Poland were discussed. Design/Methodology/Approach: The article uses the descriptive method. It consisted in the separation and identification of a specific phenomenon, which is the development of corporate social responsibility initiatives. Findings: Our findings suggest that the common element in all definitions is a broad category of stakeholders and the CRS definition determined by the standard quality, the ISO 26000. The important place in CSR idea is currently caring for the natural environment. Practical Implications: Efforts to encourage enterprises to the implementation of CSR principles which it is possible to build a positive image of the company and the trust and loyalty of its stakeholders. Therefore, such initiatives should be supported by government funding schemes and heavily promoted. Originality/Value: To the authors’ best knowledge, the present study is one of the few critical analyzes of the literature on the subject., peer-reviewed

Waste management issues are prevalent in many parts of the world. Member states of the European Union (EU) are expected to follow the guidelines of the Waste Framework Directive set by the EU. The directive includes targets intended to facilitate waste management practices such as recycling and landfilling. Unfortunately, several countries in the Mediterranean regions are failing to meet these targets, one such country being Cyprus. The country is the third largest generator of municipal waste in the EU and majority of the country’s waste (approx. 80%) are landfilled, while just 19% are recycled. Cyprus has failed to meet the target for recycling 50% of the municipal waste by 2020. Much of the problems can be attributed to the fact that the country lacks good infrastructures such as recycling facilities and services for separate processing of recyclables and biodegradables. Cyprus University of Technology,situated in the city of Limassol, is a leading university in country that values environmental protection and sustainability and has won several awards for depicting their commitment towards sustainable development. Owing to their good environmental record, a study was conducted at this university in the form of a waste audit and nudging experiment along with a complimentary questionnaire. Nudging is a concept in behavioural science which proposes positive reinforcement through the form of indirect suggestions as a strategy to influence decisions and behaviours of individuals or groups. Nudging was undertaken through the intervention of an informative sign at the recycle bins. The waste audit was separated into two periods, control (without nudging) and intervention (with nudging). Later, a questionnaire was distributed to students to understand their attitudes and behaviours towards recycling and the nudging experiment. This research is analysed using a mixed method approach whereby data is collected and analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. A secondary data analysis was also utilised for recommending possible solutions to improving waste management problems in Cyprus based on recycling initiatives in other countries, particularly from the Mediterranean region. The research found that there has been an increase in the rate of recycling since nudging was introduced. The questionnaire results also implied that there is a general concern among students for recycling and that much more has to be done by the university to help with waste separation and recycling. The secondary analysis of literature also reveals Cyprus has a long way to go, but proper waste management can be achieved through the government’s prioritisation of environmental protection and improvement of waste management infrastructures. Although the findings in this research has been successful, it could have been further investigated if the waste audit period had been extended and more responses were acquired to the questionnaire. Additionally, conducting interviews of certain individuals could have provided more insight into the waste management challenges in the future.

Global plastic pollution of the natural environment is extremely detrimental as it is causing deaths of animal species. More than 80 % of marine litter is made up by plastics and 70 % of those are made up by disposable items. For this reason, the European Parliament has agreed to abolish the top ten single-use plastic items found in the marine environment from the EU market from 2021. Therefore, the fossil-based disposables will need to be substituted by disposables made from renewable materials. It is thus important to investigate the environmental impact of these alternatives through their life cycle in order to support sustainable consumption and production. In this study, environmental impact of disposable plates made from two different renewable materials (paper and leaf) were analysed by means of life cycle assessment (LCA). The aim of the study was to examine the environmental performance of the two plates in the impact category global warming potential (GWP); and reveal the processes with the largest contributions to the overall GWP of each plate. The leaf plate was produced in India and the paper plate in the Nordics, however, both plates were used and disposed of in Uppsala, Sweden. The results showed that the leaf plate has a higher GWP due to its long-distance transport and electricity use derived from fossil fuels. Scenario analysis has proved that its GWP can be reduced when sea transport route is chosen instead of flying and production is increased. When it comes to the paper plate life cycle, the processing stage was identified to contribute the most to the total GWP. It could be further improved by applying a biodegradable layer for its coating. To keep the good performance in GWP the plate should be incinerated with energy recovery. The disposal of the plates has a substantial positive influence on their total carbon footprint as both plates substitute use of fossil fuels. However, the credits allocated for the different waste management options are specific to Uppsala and thus the results of this study should be applied only under similar conditions.

Pulp and paper companies all over the world certify their environmental management systems assuming public commitments for the continuous improvement of their relationship with the environment. Once certified, they consider themselves having done their part. But is this enough? This work has been carried out with the clear intention of provoking the professionals who can give the much needed answers for the construction of environmental sustainability in the pulp and paper sector.

Taiwan's EPA has implemented a new guideline called the “Plastic Products Restriction Policy”, prohibiting some industries to use plastics as packaging materials for the sake of sustainable use of resources. The significant effect resulting from this policy is the substitution of plastic products with paper products. Is this policy beneficial to achieve future sustainability? I attempt to analyze the resource choice between renewable resources and exhaustible resources for production of final products and services in case of exhaustion of natural resources. In this paper, I develop a framework to examine the dynamic responsiveness of a socio-economical system in facing a continual depletion of natural resources provided by an environmental system. In this framework, the status of an environmental system in terms of carrying capacity is affected by the cumulative impacts caused from human activities, including environmental pollution and resource exploitation. Conversely, it also affects the growth of renewable resources. This framework can serve as a guideline to construct indicators to measure the status of the environmental system and the socio-economical system in order to support a policy planner that formulates an appropriate environmental policy. Based on this framework, I also develop a mathematical model to determine the optimal ratio of resources choice between renewable resources and exhaustible resources. Keywords: Renewable resources, Exhaustible resources, Carrying capacity, Resilience

The most environmental threats within the pulp and paper industry are of local or regional in character rather than global. The pulp and paper industry requests methods for assessment of the impact of specific mills on their local recipients. With recipient specific knowledge, taking in account the specific prerequisites of the recipient, it is possible to set recipient specific threshold values enabling to reach sustainable emission levels. Earlier experiences show that the present Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) fails to reach this purpose because it assesses potential impacts on a homogenous environment without distinction of the recipient sensitivity. Additionally, the present LCA does not differ between local, regional or global environmental threats. This Master’s Thesis composes a second part of an introduction for carrying out threshold values for aquatic recipients. The first report was made during a previous practice period and consists of a life cycle inventory study of the production at the Norrsundet Mill and the Skoghall Mill. The study aims to suggest a method for assessing local impacts with life cycle perspective, partly by inventory and classification of recipient impact of the two forest industrial mills, and party by an analysis of important literature and development directions in the area. The target audience of this study is an international forest product company, Stora Enso, and also governmental and non-governmental organizations who utilize data and information for environmental applications, or develop methods and methodologies for environmental assessment. This study includes an inventory analysis and an assessment of the environmental conditions of the aquatic recipient of Skoghall Mill during the period 1980-2000 according to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s quality criteria for classification. A general framework for site- specific LCA is presented including a method for inventory and assessment of local environmental impact of the waste water from Skoghall Mill on its aquatic recipient. It is presently not possible to reach such reliability of LCA that is required for an assessment of local environmental impacts. To be able to apply site-specific LCA in the future is required implemented methods for handling environmental data and information internally or externally within the company, or between universities, governmental or non-governmental organizations: standardized methods for inventory of site-specific data from other systems than the technical system: more site-specific data and a higher environmental competence: and also an increased cooperation between suppliers, producers, customers, universities, governmental and non- governmental organizations, etc, to make it possible to aggregate different life cycle stages and to be able to coordinate the costs that become enclosed. Validerat; 20101217 (root)