The main source of pollution prevention is the recycling and reuse of waste and end-of-life cycle products. Industrial Symbiosis is where at least two companies exchange their waste. They use this waste to create their product. Companies that have these relationships form an Industrial Ecosystem. Which have two categories: Eco-industrial Parks and Eco-Industrial Networks. There are many case studies regarding this in Greece. In the reading, they identified 455 case studies regarding industrial symbiosis in 16 Eco-Industrial networks. This included small and big businesses. It stated they tried to find case studies that covered a wide range of waste types. They found a total of 45 waste types. Within those types include energy exchange and material resource exchange. These businesses that participate in industrial symbiosis are throughout Greece. To transport materials within the country trucks were mainly used and if it was abroad ships were used.

Waste was separated into different categories including thermal energy, fuels, metals, plastics, chemicals, minerals, and organics. Some of these categories may overlap. Included in this were also tables. The first table was Industrial Parks currently in Greece. Apparently, 30 are established while 24 are either under construction or have not been established yet. The majority of the case studies are from smaller spatial scales, IP and local. As the spatial scale increases the number of cases decreases. Waste was also transported from other countries like Spain, Italy, Russia, China, etc. This is still profitable because shipping the waste across the tea does not cost very much, but it could not be great for the environment. The next table explained the case studies by spatial scale of transportation of waste.

The next table shows the spatial scale of EINs by category and type of waste exchanged. It was found that only certain types of waste were transported at a small spatial scale. Some of these types included: superheated water, malt residues, yeast residues, seed residues, wastepaper, old tires, carbon dioxide, industrial iron scrap, purified iron scrap, electrical furnace iron dross, spent catalysts, marble powder, and industrial polycarbonate waste. It then goes on to talk about certain types of waste and the characteristics of the locations and spatial areas it was transported to.

An example of spatial allocation of companies at the IP scale in Greece is the Eco-Industrial Network of aluminum industries. The aluminum waste is exchanged usually at a national scale, while the end-of-life product is exchanged at a global scale. The last table focuses on the “distribution of case studies by development (industrial) Centre by spatial scale” (6). They noticed out of the 455 case studies, 408 of them are located in the greater areas of Athens, Thessaloniki, Inofyta-Thiva, Volos-Larisa and Patra.

Overall, Greece has an average performance in air quality, fish stocks, and GHG emissions intensity. While on the other end, Greece suffers from air emissions from transportation, water resources, issues in biodiversity and marine life, and coastal zones.

Greece is getting closer to the EU average. There are five components to the Eco-IS composite index which include: eco-innovation inputs, eco-innovation activities, eco-innovation outputs, resource efficiency outcomes, and socio-economic outcomes. Greece is currently behind in eco-innovation inputs, resource efficiency outcomes, and socio-economic outputs.

Eco-innovation input for Greece is 79 where the average is 100. There are not very many R&D personnel and researchers working in Greece. Most of these workers are at universities or research centers. Greece once again scored below the EU average for eco-innovation activities. In 2017 Greece had fewer small and medium enterprises that has sustainable products than the EU average. Greece actually scored well for eco-innovation outputs. Apparently, Greece was one of Europe’s leaders in eco-innovation-related media coverage. The reading states, “The environmental outcome component is based on combined national statistics on domestic material productivity, domestic water productivity, inland energy productivity, and GHG emissions intensity”(11). Greece scored 53 outcomes out of 100. For energy productivity Greece was close to the EU average. For socioeconomic outcomes, Greece is one of the lowest-scoring countries.

There were efforts to input eco-innovations into the construction sector, but they were slowed down. Due to the economic issues in Greece, many companies focused and explored opportunities in fulfilling their customer’s needs focusing on solar cells that can be used in windows, and other products. This technology is being supported by the government because of its energy efficiency and saving energy. There has been growth in solar energy in Greece. Along with that, there have been several energy-related research programs. Funds are being used to focus on green growth and antipollution technology.

Greece has multiple barriers with politics, institutions, culture, society, and economy that are preventing them to develop with eco-innovation. Because of the economy companies have been focusing on low-risk investments with short-term returns rather than high-risk and high returns that have longer periods and are knowledge focused. Smaller companies can be more flexible and adapting innovation opportunities. Another barrier Greece faces is education. Their high school performance is considered weak. Because of this, there are not many people graduating with doctorates or going into research. Greece has to focus on external funding for research.

Greece keeps focusing on renewable energy and other aspects of energy. They’re also focusing on waste management. These things can promote eco-innovation.

In Hydra the only mode of transportation is by donkey, mule, or water taxi, besides the two garbage trucks. The island is actually a national monument and has the feel of a small town. There’s no mass tourism, all the restaurants are family owned. Along with it not having mass tourism there are no hotels or an airport. Everything may look great from the surface but there are issues with garbage, water, and electricity. The only economic activity on the island is tourism. Everything is even brought to the island by boat, including ice. The way the island has electricity is from undersea cables. One time in 2018 the cable broke and the island was at a standstill.

There are two different views, the first is where people feel like Hydra has been sidelined as some of the islands have become more popular. The other view is people who have their summer home, environmentalists, and foreign residents fear development. Some people believe the only income the island receives are from visitors. A good portion of jobs in Greece is specifically for tourism. During the summer time in Hydra they have to bring in more workers since they get so busy.

Most of these issues are arising because of the rise of tourism. The reputation of visiting Greece has worsen over the years. The rising price of land is forcing locals to move out and rich foreigners moving in. There were rumors going around Hydra that they were planning to make the island more accessible to cruise ships like Santorini.

The main issue in ydra is that it is unsustainable. The young people who visit don’t see a future there. People are thinking the island is turning into an island for old people’s home for the rich. To tackle the problems on the island they need to take a bottom-up approach.

They decided to start a research project. This project includes the research of energy use, waste disposal, water supply, land use and transportation to make a plan for the island.

The main source of water is from the water boat which transports water from the mainland to the island. Some ideas for the island to be self sufficient is collecting rain water, getting new cistern systems or holding tanks or a reservoir. One idea that is less sustainable are pipelines to the mainland. This source is very unsustainable. The main ideas to make this more sustainable are generating power from wind and water. The islands waste is brought to a designated area and set on fire. There tends to be spillage that gets into the sea and soil. A small idea is to create a fee for plastic bags. It’s not a giant step but it’s a start. Other ideas included plastic water bottles being banned or a separate waste collection system. Transportation and education and employment are two other areas that also need to be focused on.

A circular economy is where the loop is closed, unlike a linear economy. Linear economy goes through the process of produce, sell, use than landfill. Whereas circular economy eliminates that landfill and switches to recycle, refurbish, reuse, and repair. One thing they emphasized multiple times was “Recycling alone will not save us”. While using a circular economy they have to keep in mind when designing to ensure the product can be reused, refurbished, repaired, or recycled. They also have to keep in mind when designing to ensure the product can be reused, refurbished, repaired, or recycled. They also avoid using fossil fuels and non-renewable energy.

They are not certain who exactly invented circular economy but over time it has been changed and refined through academics, leaders, and businesses. Even though there they are not the creators of circular economy there are two men who are considered “fathers of circular economy”. These men are a German chemist named Michael Braungart and an American architect William McDonough. They have pushed some concepts with their book “Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things”.

The quote “Nothing is lost, everything is transformed” is from a French chemist named Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier which this motto can be adopted to circular economy. The goal for circular economy is to have the industry not harm nature so we can all live happily and healthy. The circular economy actually mimics the Earth’s circular systems. Through circular economy the goal is not throw away anything. As the world’s pollution and population keeps growing it is clear that we can’t keep using a linear economy.

Some facts they mention are: about one third of the food produced for human consumption goes to rot or waste, since the 1970s, humanity has been in ecological overshoot, with annual demand on resources exceeding Earth’s biocapacity. Today humanity used the equivalent of 1.6 Earths to provide the resources we use and absorb our waste, over the past 15 years, clothing production has doubled, but we wear out clothes for half as long, since the economic downturn of 2007-2009. resource prices have rebounded more quickly than global economic output, more than 80% of the world’s population lives in a country running on an ecological deficit, and of the 100 billion tons of resources that flow into the economy every year, more than 60% end up as greenhouse gas emissions or waste (page 14).

In circular economy there is the term regeneration. This means the product or service in this economy contributes to the system “that renews or replenish themselves throughout various lifecycles and uses”(16).

US Embassy: During this visit, the guest speakers were all very engaging and told us information that is beneficial to us and formed the visit around our questions. It was interesting to hear that none of them were expecting or planning on working for the embassy. Yuri Arthur was the main one to speak but she had a lot of insights and tips. The first thing that Yuri told us was she wasn’t planning on working for the embassy nor was she expecting to get hired. She first explained the application process. She said a person doesn’t automatically read your application, a computer system does.  Apparently, this computer system looks for the target words and how many times you used them. Yuri explained she thinks she was able to get through this first part because she is very wordy. Her advice was to keep reusing the main words. She then went on to explain that some questions will ask if you have certain skills or experience in something. She explained even if you don’t have that specific skill or don’t have the specific experience to explain an experience or skill that is similar. After the application process, she explained there is a stress test. After she went into further detail about her experience with the stress test she explained other aspects of the job.

She explained you have to move every 4 years. Luckily you get somewhat of a say where you go. She said you fill out a sheet with the top places you want to go and you will receive your assignment. Moving to a brand new country can be very scary but she explained the government helps you. She said they actually find you a house, pay for the house, and all the necessary things that we get for free in the United States. For example, their house is paid for, if they need clean water, and even their children’s tuition is paid for. She also explained sometimes you will get training or tips for the country you’re moving to. Whether that is learning the language or culture, but every country is different and so is the amount and duration of the training.

ACG Center for Excellence in Sustainability: On our first day of class we had Rania Assariotaki come visit us. She is the Senior Manager of Sustainability for The American College of Greece. A few things that I remember from her presentation are they listen to their students and have them help in easy ways. When they were getting students to use reusable water bottles, the students complained that there weren’t any drinking fountains to refill their bottles. So the school listened and put in drinking fountains. Or another situation was a student was talking to her about how they wanted to help but are only a history major. So what they did was have them stand in the front of the school holding a sign. Even though they don’t have a major relating to sustainability they were able to help out and make a difference.

On the first day, we first talked about what exactly a supply chain is and certain terms used that are used, like upstream and downstream, etc. We then discussed greenwashing. Greenwashing is where companies will say they’re going green just to be able to sell a product. For example, a company will have a sustainable promotion, like buying an item and we’ll donate one, for only a month and then stop. But, because of that one promotion people will associate that company with that one short promotion.

On the second day, we started off discussing the linear economy. This is where there is a linear relationship that flows up and down the supply chain. For example, you couldn’t jump from tier 1 to tier 3, you would have to go from tier 1 to tier 2 to tier 3. In class we discussed in a linear economy they use different ways to take care of the environment. Mostly reduce, reuse, and recycle. We then went on to discuss cradle-to-grave. This is a “firm’s perspective on the environmental impact created by their product or activities from the beginning of its lifecycle to the end”(video from class). In cradle-to-grave there is also no returning, no reusing, and no recycling. The key component of this is to reduce waste. At the end of the product’s lifecycle, they will do a lifestyle assessment (LSA) which will measure the impact of the product, service, or process. To do this assessment there are 5 steps.

Step 1: Why am I conducting this?

Step 2: Define the scope of the analysis. The who, what, when, where, and how.

Step 3: Collect background data

Step 4: Collect data by conducting interviews or surveying the site.

Step 5: Interpret data and create an action plan

Next, we learned cradle-to-cradle. This cycle mimics the regeneration cycle that is found in nature. The focus of it is to eliminate waste all together. It also uses a closed-loop system. In the video we watched it also talked about biological nutrient which is materials that can be absorbed back into nature, and technical nutrient that is used over and over again. This helps lower costs, improved competitiveness and reduce waste. Close-loop is not constantly a linear flow. It is a strategy aimed at optimizing resources used within industries so that sustainability can be achieved (recycling, sharing, leasing, and refurbishing). Resources are minimized or reduced. This economy is trying to eliminate waste. We also discussed industrial symbiosis. This is a mutually beneficial exchange of waste and by-products between three or more parties. One firm’s waste is another firm’s raw materials. We then discussed the benefits of sustainable responsible cooperation. It improves brand reputation, increase competitive advantage, access to new markets, increase market share due to sustainability positioning, reduce costs due to energy efficiency, better innovation in business models, innovation of products/services, reduce costs due to materials or waste efficiencies, improved regulatory compliance and better stakeholder/investor relationships. Lastly we talked about reverse logistics. This is where the end product needs new manufacturing or reused and goes back upstream.