Bioeconomy – the solution to the challenges of the modern world

• The bioeconomy degree programme was created as a response to the need for sustainable development.
• The "Greener cities" projects address problems that affect the quality of life in Polish cities.
• Students measured the air quality in Wroclaw – the results were not surprising.
• In a project on fast fashion, students looked for ways to reduce the problem associated with the overproduction of clothes.
• Students Julia Pańczyk and Amelia Lis proved that cigarettes harm both lungs and the environment.
• The e-waste project proved that electronic waste should be responsibly recycled or reused.
• Bioeconomy offers many opportunities – both business and science.

Bioeconomy is a current interdisciplinary trend in the European Union, related to a sustainable, closed-loop economy in the areas of biomass production and management, food production, environmental engineering and the biorefinery industry. It’s the sustainable use of renewable biological resources to create goods and services. Studying bioeconomy allows you to possess the competencies that are essential in today's world for young and conscious people who want to positively influence the environment.

In response to the growing needs of our society, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, in collaboration with the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, has opened a new degree programme in English - Bioeconomy.

Bioeconomy was created as a response to real needs of the modern world

In 2015, at the United Nations General Assembly, representatives of 193 countries adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The resolution "Transforming our world: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" published 17 global goals and 169 related targets in areas of key concern to humanity, taking into account the balance between economic, social and environmental development.

The Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences supports the Sustainable Development Goals, which are directly linked to the university's education and research profile. This is not only due to its specialisation – the university covers key areas for the SDGs such as agriculture and issues related to environmental protection, food quality, strategies to combat hunger, analysis of the effects of climate change and the possibilities of minimising them, the protection of water resources, or modern waste management.

The first-year Bioeconomy students presented their projects as part of their course The projects relate to the issues raised in the Sustainable Development Goals. They chose issues with which they are familiar – pollution, smog, concrete jungles, or fast fashion – so  problems that affect all of us.

Green cities

– I grew up in the countryside and spent most of my life there. So when I moved to Wrocław to study, I became depressed by the omnipresent greyness and abundance of concrete. That's why our project – "Greener cities" – addresses a problem that literally surrounds us, the inhabitants of Wrocław and other Polish cities. We decided to share our knowledge on how we can improve our lives and make our spaces greener – says Milena Cygal, who, together with Julia Kłapkowska and Wiktoria Grodzka, has taken up the topic of green cities.

When we talk about green cities, we most often think directly about urban greenery, but the wider context in which we operate is also important. Emissions, air pollution and sustainability are big challenges for cities. But urban greenery – trees, squares, parks have a large and direct impact on air quality.

There is an abundance of concrete public spaces in Poland. With heat waves becoming more frequent, this is a worrying trend to say the least. The resulting urban heat islands have many negative consequences for the environment and city residents – by lack of proper air circulation they worsen the negative effects of air pollution, and high temperatures can cause strokes, among other things.

The lack of greenery also negatively affects the mental health of people living in cities. It’s a well known fact that green is calming, but it is not just the colour itself that has such an effect on us. Green, as in greenery, also has a direct effect on our wellbeing thanks to phytoncides, natural substances secreted by certain plants that reduce the amount of bacteria in the air.

Although it is sometimes impossible for residents to have a direct impact on urban green spaces, the students emphasise that it is worth adding some greenery to your immediate surroundings by introducing more plants into your home.

The topic of green cities was also raised by Norbert Sułek and Oliwia Żyszkiewicz, who focused on both adding greenery to one’s surroundings, and reducing the amount of food waste produced in households. – As part of our project, we created a compost bin which we used to dispose of organic waste. The created compost we then used as fertiliser and soil for planting plants – says Norbert.

According to the auditing agency Deloitte, the average Polish person produces 54 kg of food waste per year, which amounts to several million tonnes per year nationwide. This waste ends up in landfills. Composting waste therefore reduces the cost of waste disposal and the amount of biodegradable waste that ends up in landfills. The compost obtained can be used for planting crops.

Wrocław is an infamous leader in air pollution rankings

– When we leave our homes in winter, we can see and feel how polluted the air is in Wrocław. After all, our city has ranked first among cities with the most polluted air more than once. That is why we decided to find out how bad it really is and what we can do about it – says Marcel Kozakiewicz, who, together with Wiktor Kaczmarczyk and Jakub Gwóźdź, completed a project in which they examined the air in and around Wrocław. Their measurements showed that dust values were too high in most locations around the city. Surprisingly, the air quality was much worse in the suburbs of Wrocław than in the city centre.

The World Health Organisation defines polluted air as air of which the chemical composition may adversely affect human health and the health of plants and animals, as well as other elements of the environment, such as water and soil. Substances that pollute the atmosphere include sulphur dioxide (SO_2), nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen oxides (NO_2, NO_x), carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate pollutants. Among particulate matter, particles with a diameter of less than 10 micrometres – so-called PM10 or PM2.5 with a diameter of no more than 2.5 micrometres – are particularly hazardous to health. Other harmful substances such as cadmium, arsenic and nickel can also be components of these dusts.

These types of aerosols are considered the most dangerous to human health. This is because these particles can directly enter the bloodstream, causing heart disease, lung cancer or strokes.

According to the students' study, even a simple, handmade fan made out of a fan and a HEPA filter is able to partially clean a room of harmful pollutants. This is a good solution when you can’t afford to buy a real air purifier.

Fast fashion is quickly polluting the environment

The production of clothing emits huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, contributing to the climate crisis. Fast fashion contributes to this by encouraging consumers to constantly buy clothes. Cheap chain stores are able to replace their collections every fortnight on average.

According to the European Parliament, the clothing industry is responsible for 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions – more than the combined emissions from international air traffic and shipping. The fast fashion clothing industry is not only a huge contributor to global warming, but is responsible for many unethical practices, such as the exploitation of child labour.

Fast fashion garments are often produced in sweatshops, where poorly paid workers (often children) are housed in unsafe conditions and exposed to harmful chemicals used in production.

These chemicals then end up in the water. In Bangladesh alone, three rivers have already been designated as 'biologically dead'. Sewage from the production of clothes has so polluted them that they contain virtually no oxygen, so life does not thrive in them.

The water is also polluted by microplastics. Every year, half a million tonnes of synthetic fibres enter the oceans. Approximately 700,000 microplastic fibres are released into the water during one wash of clothes made from non natural materials. In addition, estimates from the European Parliament show that we don’t wear a third of the clothes we own, and that 85 percent of manufactured clothing ends up in landfill every year.

Students Michał Kamud, Alicja Burek and Amelia Klarowicz's suggestion for reducing the problem that fast fashion is causing, is to take care of the clothes we already own, buy second-hand clothes, buy clothes made of natural fibres, support small and sustainable businesses, sell clothes we no longer wear (instead of throwing them away), and use old clothes for DIY projects. The students showed that an old T-shirt can be made into a handbag and even a dog toy!

– I got involved in this project because of my interest in fashion. I like to read about how clothes are made and clothing brands in general, and the changes they are making to be more eco-friendly. I knit and crochet myself, I create my own clothes and I would like to work in this industry in the future – says Amelia.

Cigarettes harm both lungs and the environment

– Initially, we had planned to tackle the topic of fast fashion, but we didn’t want to repeat another group's project. So we focused on a problem that perhaps surrounds us even more than fashion. You don't think about it every day, but cigarettes don't just damage the health of smokers. Hundreds of tonnes of cigarette butts and cigarette filters litter the environment, and the chemicals in them trickle down into the soil and water, causing serious pollution – says Julia Panczyk.

Tobacco smoke contains almost 250 harmful chemicals, including heavy metals, arsenic, benzene, formaldehyde and polonium-210, which is a radioactive chemical element. But cigarettes are not only toxic when smoked. Their residues also give off harmful chemicals. The filters used in cigarettes mostly consist of cellulose acetate fibres, a type of bioplastic that can take up to several decades to decompose. Cigarette butts end up in oceans and water supplies, poisoning the water we drink and the fish we eat.

The Ocean Conservancy has proven over 32 years of beach clean-ups, that cigarette butts are the most common litter found in the sand. The chemicals in cigarette butts poison the soil and water, killing entire ecosystems. And used cigarette filters, left in the soil, damage plants and hinder their growth.

As part of their project to combat cigarette butts, which are often thrown away by smokers everywhere but into rubbish bins, students Julia Pańczyk and Amelia Lis have designed an information board to be erected at the university, among other things.

A new generation of waste

According to the United Nations Institute for Research and Training, approximately 50 million cubic metres of electronic products are discarded each year. Technological development is advancing rapidly and the price of products is decreasing, leading to a shorter product life. Developed countries continue to contribute the most to the production of this type of waste, but developing countries are rapidly catching up.

Common sources of e-waste include TVs, computers, mobile phones and all kinds of household appliances, from air conditioners to children's toys. – This is a huge problem that is not talked about enough. Not only in terms of the overproduction of waste, but also the loss of valuable elements. Hardly anyone recycles their electronic devices – says Malwina Matkowska, who, together with Julia Zieleniewicz, has shown that it is worth recycling used appliances responsibly, or trying to reuse them, for example in DIY projects.

As Malwina points out, electronics contain valuable non-renewable resources, including gold, silver, copper, platinum, aluminium and cobalt. This means that by disposing of them, we are throwing away valuable materials.

Recycling is a better option than sending valuable components to a landfill, but unfortunately there are many ethical issues involved. Some countries export e-waste to countries where labour laws do not protect those doing the meticulous and dangerous work of processing this waste to extract metals and minerals. That's why it's worth making sure you take your equipment to the right place.

One course, a double degree and lots of opportunities

– I was going to study biology, but my aunt sent me a link to the Bioeconomy degree programme, saying I I might like it. She was right. I'm interested in the problem of climate change and would like to work in the field of sustainability in the future. Plus, the degree is in English, which will make it easier for me to get a job abroad if I ever want to. Choosing this course was a hit with me – says Malwina Matkowska.

– A big advantage this course has, apart from the sustainability issues, is the wide range of subjects not necessarily related to science, that gives us comprehensive knowledge – adds Norbert Sułek, while Amelia Lis emphasises that the classes also taught them about social media, as the projects required them to create content for Instagram, TikTok, a blog, and even make an advert or a film.

– Bioeconomy opens the door to many opportunities, both in business and science. We learn programming, media design, social media management, among other things, but we also have chemistry classes in a lab. I think that these studies will both enable us to run our own businesses, with bio products, for example, and to work on solving environmental problems in the scientific world – concludes Wiktor Kaczmarczyk.

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  Veterinary students with an international scholarship

  Four UPWr students were among the recipients of the 2022 Veterinary Student Scholarship Program organised by MSD Animal Health and the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe.

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  Scientists unite to promote biodiversity

  Rectors of European life science universities affiliated with the ICA (Association for European Life Science Universities) have this year adopted a stance on promoting the importance of biodiversity, with the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences is among the signatories. The European Union already adopted a strategy for action in this field two years ago.