• Energy Research

Abstract In the last decades, the problem of waste management has gained momentum because of its associated environmental and health risks. This fosters a paradigm shift towards more sustainable regimes. This paper assesses the sources of pressure at the landscape level that are able to trigger a transition towards a sustainable innovative waste-management system. The paper carries out (i) a stakeholder’s analysis, aimed at identifying the key stakeholders acting at the socio-technical landscape; and (ii) an assessment of sources of pressure, which explores economic and political pressures exerted at both local and global levels. Our findings suggest that the transition towards a sustainable waste-management regime is associated with a ‘combined pressure mechanism’, which is based on the concerted action of different actors. In particular, it was observed that the combination of economic and political pressure triggered a competition/imitation mechanism among the receivers, activating a web of indirect sources of pressure.

Fodder legumes play a major role in developing sustainable agricultural production systems and contain a range of compounds, which can be utilized to produce a wide spectrum of materials currently manufactured from petroleum-based sources. Hence, if associated with Green Biorefinery technology, the use of fodder legumes brings about significant advantages in terms of overall environmental sustainability. Since fodder legume production in Europe is currently very low, the objective of this study is to assess if a new value chain generated by Green Biorefineries can make fodder legume production profitable for farmers, and therewith increase cultivation numbers. We conducted a financial cost-benefit analysis of producing biomass from agricultural land in the federal state of Brandenburg (Germany) in three different production scenarios at two farm size levels. Costs, benefits, expected profits and risks between the scenarios were quantified. Fodder legume production for traditional fodder production was already able to increase the internal rate of return, while the production of feedstocks for Green Biorefineries, depending on prices paid for the legume juice showed an even higher profit potential. Therefore, in future agricultural production systems, fodder legumes should be part of crop rotations again.