Municipal waste management has been an area of special interest of the European Commission (EC) for many years. In 2018, the EC pointed out issues related to municipal waste management as an important element of the monitoring framework for the transition towards a circular economy (CE), which is currently a priority in the economic policy of the European Union (EU). In the presented monitoring framework, 10 CE indicators were identified, among which issues related to municipal waste appear directly in two areas of the CE – in the field of production and in the field of waste management, and indirectly – un two other areas – secondary raw materials, and competitiveness and innovation. The paper presents changes in the management of municipal waste in Poland in the context of the implementation of the CE assumptions, a discussion of the results of CE indicators in two areas of the CE monitoring framework in Poland (production and waste management), and a comparison of the results against other European countries.

In Poland, tasks related to the implementation of municipal waste management from July 1, 2013 are the responsibility of the municipality, which is obliged to ensure the conditions for the system of selective collection and collection of municipal waste from residents, as well as the construction, maintenance and operation of regional municipal waste treatment installations (RIPOK). The municipality is also committed to the proper management of municipal waste, in accordance with the European waste management hierarchy, whose overriding objective is to prevent waste formation and limiting its amount, then recycling and other forms of disposal, incineration and safe storage. The study analyzed changes in the value of two selected CE indicators, i.e. (1) the municipal waste generation indicator, in the area of production and (2) the municipal waste recycling indicator, in the area of waste management. For this purpose, statistical data of the Central Statistical Office (GUS) and Eurostat were used. Data has been presented since 2014, i.e. from the moment of initiating the need to move to the CE in the EU. In recent years, there has been an increase in the amount of municipal waste generated in Poland as well as in the EU. According to Eurostat, the amount of municipal waste generated per one inhabitant of Poland increased from 272 kg in 2014 to 315 kg in 2017. It should be noted that the average amount of municipal waste generated in Poland in 2017 was one of the lowest in EU, with a European average of 486 kg/person. Poland has achieved lower levels of municipal waste recycling (33.9%) than the European average (46%). The reason for Poland’s worse results in the recycling of municipal waste may be, among others, the lack of sufficiently developed waste processing infrastructure, operating in other countries such as Germany and Denmark, and definitely higher public awareness of the issue of municipal waste in developed countries. Municipal waste management in Poland faces a number of challenges in the implementation of GOZ, primarily in terms of achieving the recycling values imposed by the EC, up to a minimum of 55% by 2025.

Commercial use of the sea includes, among others: sea shipping closely related to the transport of cargo and passengers, transhipment services in sea ports, fishery and aquaculture, marine mining, marine renewable energy, including the development of technologies for obtaining energy from renewable sources (wind, waves, tides), marine and coastal tourism. All the above-mentioned areas of economic activity are part of the traditionally understood maritime economy. Considering the maritime economy through the prism of sustainable development has led to the crystallization of the concept of the blue economy both at the universal level in the United Nations and at the regional level, e.g. in the European Union. The blue economy is a low carbon, resource efficient, circular economy based on sustainable consumption and production patterns, improving human well-being and social justice, providing economic value and employment, and significantly reducing environmental risks and shortages. The blue economy aims to promote economic growth, social inclusion, and the preservation and improvement of living conditions, while ensuring the environmental sustainability of seas, oceans and coastal areas. The legal framework for the blue economy includes, inter alia, in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The function of further development of the blue economy is the implementation of sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Od początku XIX w. ewolucja stosunków ekonomicznych i skomplikowane uwarunkowania polityczne na ziemiach polskich zmuszały, a jednocześnie umożliwiały części ziemianek podejmowanie aktywności gospodarczej. Co prawda, już w okresie staropolskim zdarzało się, że kobiety zarządzały dobrami ziemskimi i prowadzeniem tzw. żeńskiego gospodarstwa, ale przełom wieków XIX i XX wraz z industrialno-cywilizacyjnymi przemianami nadawał ich obecności w majątkach nową jakość. Ziemianki stawały się oficjalnymi współgospodarzami dóbr, odpowiedzialnymi za ich finansową kondycję. W artykule podjęte zostały zagadnienia związane z udziałem i wkładem ziemianek zarówno w rozwój własnych majątków, jak i życie gospodarcze Królestwa Polskiego w okresie przełomu stuleci. Postawione w tekście pytania, m.in. o preferowane przez ziemianki branże rolniczej wytwórczości, nie tylko tradycyjne, lecz także mniej typowe, pozwalają zauważyć wzrost aspiracji kobiet wypowiadających się w prasie i czasopismach fachowych na tematy gospodarcze, jak i nie zawsze udane zmagania z twardymi prawami rynku. Specyfika ziemianek – przedstawicielek elit – kierowała je w stronę poszukiwania europejskich inspiracji czy wzorców, znajdowanych w gospodarczych podróżach. Zdobytą wiedzę i umiejętności przekładały na własną działalność i na społecznym forum dzieliły się doświadczeniami. Coraz częściej też pojawiały się obok mężczyzn jako równoprawne działaczki gospodarcze, podejmujące mniej lub bardziej udane próby samodzielnej aktywności, warunkowanej finansową niezależnością. Zdobywały ją na drodze ewolucji i raczej powolnymi przemianami mentalności charakterystycznej dla środowiska, z którego się wywodziły.

In the process of determining the content of impurities, including fossil fuels, crude oil, coke, pitch, plastics, glass, slag, rust, metals, and rock dust, in charcoal and wood briquettes via microscopic examination, the question of the use of ashes from the combustion of grill fuels (taking the scale of the new national sport into account, commonly referred to as „weekend grilling”) was raised. Another reason for addressing this issue was the question regarding the use of organic additives to acidified soil (mineral) fertilizers submitted by one of the clients of the bituminous coal and reservoir rocks analysis laboratory. In addition, the manufacturer of gardening soil has also expressed an interest in an unconventional deacidifying agent; the introduction of a new product with a unique ingredient is considered as a chance to stand out from the competition. A review of the literature shows that attempts to use ashes obtained from the biomass combustion in power boilers have been made. However, due to the biomass composition and additives and pollutants used in biomass for energy purposes, the production of such mixtures has been dropped. Based on the data from numerous samples of grill fuel, which meet the requirements regarding the content of impurities set out in the PN-EN 1860-2 standard, the question of the possible use of ash obtained from charcoal and wood briquette grilling as a component for use in the production of acidified soil (mineral) fertilizers was discussed. The article will present the amount of material obtained based on the statistical sales of barbecue fuels based on the experimentally calculated ash mass resulting from the combustion of 1 kg of starting material. In addition, a logistic proposal for obtaining ash from individual grill users will be developed. On the day of the submission of the present work, the results of the chemical analysis of charcoal and wood briquettes subjected to the gasification process have not yet been obtained. However, based on the microscopic analysis, it can be concluded that the content of impurities in the examined samples is highly unlikely to prevent the use of the mentioned ashes in agriculture.

Mimo że w naszym kraju występują niedobory wody, nie odczuwamy tego i jesteśmy przyzwyczajeni do jej obecności. Czy zawsze będziemy mogli z niej korzystać bez ograniczeń?

Położenie w przestrzeni przepływów i powiązań determinuje obecnie pozycję społeczno-gospodarczą miast i regionów. W skali kontynentalnej dynamika większości przepływów jest najszybsza w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej, w tym w Polsce.

Obszary wiejskie zajmują ponad 93% terytorium Polski, na którym mieszka blisko 40% ludności kraju. Wzrost zapotrzebowania na energię na tych obszarach, w połączeniu ze zwiększonym jej zużyciem przez rolnictwo, wymusza na mieszkańcach wsi efektywniejsze jej wykorzystanie, a na politykach opracowanie strategii bezpieczeństwa energetycznego polskiej wsi. Wieś w dużym stopniu związana jest z produkcją oraz przetwórstwem żywności, w którym to istotne znaczenie przypisuje się gospodarstwom rolnym. Obecnie powinny być one postrzegane z jednej strony jako użytkownik energii, a z drugiej jako producent komponentów do produkcji energii lub energii finalnej, na podstawie odnawialnych źródeł energii. Dlatego ważną rolę w aspekcie zrównoważonej gospodarki energetycznej na obszarach wiejskich przypisuje się polityce energetycznej, uwzględniającej dbałość o środowisko naturalne tych obszarów oraz zachowanie ich bioróżnorodności. Mieszkańcy wsi, a przede wszystkim rolnicy, powinni zmienić swój wizerunek, związany głównie z użytkownikiem energii na konsumenta i jednocześnie producenta energii, a energetyka prosumencka i rozproszona powinna stać się istotna nie tylko ze względów ekonomicznych, ale także środowiskowych. Konieczne jest podkreślenie znaczenia zrównoważonego rozwoju obszarów wiejskich, opartego na odnawialnych źródłach energii i związanej z tym poprawie warunków środowiskowych polskiej wsi, a także jakości życia jej mieszkańców. Celem artykułu jest wskazanie kierunków rozwoju zrównoważonego gospodarki energetycznej na obszarach wiejskich Polski, uwzględniając energię wykorzystywaną we współczesnym rolnictwie, z akcentem położonym na odnawialne źródła energii.

Profesor Anna-Katharina Hornidge tłumaczy, jak łączyć perspektywy naukowców, polityków, obywateli, przedsiębiorstw i państw w sposób, który pozwoli realnie walczyć z kryzysem klimatycznym.

Zarządzanie przestrzenią to forma publicznego zarządzania szczególnym dobrem wspólnym. Obejmuje ono krąg działań i decyzji istotnych dla naszego środowiska życia.

The author believes that one all-inclusive assessment of Marx’s philosophy is inevitably misleading. Although Marx constructed one theory that has a texture of a uniform fabric, the fabric has been woven with threads of two very different qualities. His presentation of capitalist instability, exploitation and alienation has the quality of scientific explanations. But his treatment of dialectic, economy formulated in terms of priceless commodities and his vision of communism is fantastic and arbitrary.

In the paper the topic of Building Information Technology BIM is investigated. It is new in Polish circumstances technology for construction and for building product industry, which contribute to change and develop level of industrialization. Especially challenge raising from the information and introducing IT technology into daily practice is considered to provide changes in construction branch of economy. In Poland there is the hot need of start to introduce BIM as the common technology for owners of assets, facility management, construction entities, design offices, administration officers and many other players relative to construction data and processes. BIM technology introduction, basing on foreign case studies, results in cost savings, control and time reduction of investment processes and some more advantages. The perspective of digital buildings, digital infrastructure, digital roads, digital railways and digital cities is outlined at the perspective of technology challenge, but simply transfiguration of many fields of personal everyday life, where digitalization is already present and with the question when it will be common in professional activity, particularly in civil engineering.

Praca nawiązuje do artykułu Panek (2016b) zawierającego dowód tzw. „słabego” twierdzenia o wielopasmowej magistrali w stacjonarnej gospodarce typu Gale’a. Obecnie prezentujemy „silną” oraz „bardzo silną” wersję twierdzenia o wielopasmowej magistrali. Pokazujemy, że mimo uogólnienia modelu – polegającego na zastąpieniu pojedynczej magistrali (promienia von Neumanna) wiązką magistral, którą nazywamy magistralą wielopasmową– nie zmieniają się wcześniej udowodnione magistralne własności optymalnych procesów wzrostu w gospodarce Gale”a.

Research on the economy of the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth usually follows one of two paths: searching for the genesis of the crisis of the farm and serf economy or estimating the scale of war damage. Is it possible to join these two paths and present a complex model of the functioning of local communities during the crisis? Can it be used in the field of the rescue history?

In this article we pay attention to some theoretical backgrounds for the redesign of nineteenth-century public parks in Central and Eastern Europe. The research is part of a larger project ‘The design history of nineteenth-century public parks in Central and Eastern Europe; contemporary use and future development’ (HYPPE), initiated by the Faculty of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism in Budapest, in which nine schools of landscape architecture in nine different countries in Central and Eastern Europe participate and collaborate.

We will focus here on some theoretical backgrounds, that form the foundation for a research and design approach, in which the diversity and similarity of the sites, contexts and design problems can be assured. Product (plan and realisation) and process (design) play a role in the parks as object of planning and design; on the one hand we distinguish between land, landscape and landscape architecture, on the other one — at the same time the difference in approaches between science and design play a role in the relation between research and design.

In the second part backgrounds and principles, that underpin the relation between conservation and development in historical settings of parks are dealt with. Different design approaches — from restoration to complete reconstruction are highlighted. Applying these principles to nineteenth-century public parks in Central and Eastern Europe shows, where generic backgrounds and specifics of site, history and culture meet.

In the third part the new challenges for landscape architecture, that society requires from contemporary planning and design is elaborated. Energy transition, water management and the creation of healthy environments for people are as such not new for landscape architecture, but in this stage new steps have to be taken, that reach beyond, what is already practised. Here the explorative and experimental character of the design approach comes to the surface because for these aspects there are no precedents yet, they have to be developed by practice, research on evidence and imagining solutions, that are beyond the usual practice of energy transition, water management and the creation of healthy environments for people. For landscape architecture a synthetical and coherent design concept forms the core of the contribution; the search for a meaningful new order.

During the extraction of nuclear raw materials, rare earths and other elements from ores containing uranium and thorium, various types of radioactive waste and some recovery tailings are generated. Mining and ore processing residues, i.e. waste and tailings, present a variety of problems related to waste management. Their bulky structure prevents their disposal underground, and their long radioactive half-life causes various problems with regard to their long-term storage. As a matter of fact, the secondary presence of nuclear raw materials together with other minerals requires compliance with hazardous waste procedures in the storage of waste containing nuclear raw materials after the recovery of these main minerals. It may be possible in the future to recover these nuclear raw materials from stockpiles of stored mine waste. The prospect of imbalances in the global uranium supply and demand increases the importance of secondary sources contributing to the global uranium supply. The increasing importance of secondary sources of nuclear raw materials suggests that more attention should be paid to the recovery of these resources together with primary minerals than in the past. In world literature, there is no review article that describes and discusses the waste management of nuclear raw materials in mining and mineral processing together with the opportunities and obstacles for their recovery. Considering this deficiency in the literature, in this study, the properties of waste and tailings resulting from mining and ore preparation activities of nuclear raw materials are explained, the difficulties encountered are mentioned, and solution suggestions are presented by making use of the literature on the recovery of tailings and waste management.

W artykule analizuję strategię reformy nauki i szkolnictwa wyższego, ministra Jarosława Gowina oraz trzy koncepcje założeń do ustawy „Prawo o szkolnictwie wyższym”, wyłonione w konkursie. Staram się, podobnie jak Obywatele Nauki, rozważyć zalety proponowanych rozwiązań, a także duże zagrożenia jakie się z nimi wiążą. Swoje uwagi opieram między innymi na badaniach skutków amerykańskiej reformy szkolnictwa wyższego.