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• Opportunities in circular agriculture

  17-23

  Marianna Balla

  Marianna Szabó

  Gyula Lakatos

  Views:

  229

  Water is the source of life. For the long-term preservation of water resources it is very important to develop sewerage and sewage treatment. Sewage sludge is not primarily a waste that needs to be disposed of but also a secondary raw material or a renewable energy source. Municipal sewage sludge, and sewage sludge composts, contain relatively large quantities of organic matter, so agricultural utilization can be a major potential of its use. The transition to sustainable agriculture is becoming more urgent and increasingly important as it can provide a solution that looks to the future. Sustainable agriculture should work according to natural law, so it should be self-sustaining, that means, cycles, where in to one process the waste created can be used as raw material in the other process. The beneficial effects of sludge on soil include increasing soil organic matter content, increasing soil fertility, nutritional capacity, microbiological activity, and complex fertilizing effects. However, when is applicated, there is always a problem with the occurrence and accumulation of toxic elements and drug residues. The traditional model of economic activity is the linear model. This model ignores the high economic social, and environmental costs of exploiting, transforming and removing of the resources therefore it is not sustainable in the long term. The circular economy offers an alternative model in which the products materials and resources are maintaned as long as possible and the amount of waste is significantly reduced or lost. It is also possible adapt the overtuned ecological, biological balance of agricultural production systems, with a closed loop circular model. According to this model, the development of tillage technologies and the restoration of organic materials and nutrient supply are possible.

• Material Stock and Flow Analysis within the Agricultural Building Sector Based on Local Database

  297-320

  Gabriella Hancz

  József Kovács

  Views:

  106

  The purpose of the paper is to analyze on micro level the stream of building materials needed for raising cattle. The scope of the produced material flow chart will cover the inflow and storage of the materials. The overall objective of material flow analysis is to contribute to the data inventory development process which is needed to use these construction materials as secondary raw materials in the future. The assessment is based on a concrete new development in a Hungarian region being carried out nowadays as a development and modernization of an existing cattle raising farm. Driven by the concern of resource depletion, further research on higher level, based on larger database will be needed to verify the estimated national level results for the magnitude of growth of anthropogenic stocks.