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a b s t r a c tIn the framework of the INTERREG IVC RENERGY project an innovative methodology was devised to exploit stakeholder involvement on energy and environmental decisions at community level and to increase community acceptance. It is based on the "Living Lab" paradigm applied to policy making as a powerful instrument to encourage and coordinate stakeholder engagement. The paper describes the preliminary stakeholder analysis performed and the application of "Energy Lab" concept to eleven different EU communities (Kaunas e LT, Torre Vedras e PT, Potenza e IT, Slagelse e DK, Durham and Sheffield e UK, Tulln e AT, Szentes e Hu, Jaslo e PL and Avrig e RO) with the purpose of identifying gaps and needs at regional level, share the knowledge through the discussion of exemplar case studies, maximize the transfer of good practices for the regional implementation plans and derive effective policy recommendations. The results show that the Energy Labs can give a sound basis for a future dialogue and a long lasting co-operation among the different parties and can be therefore considered an investment in the future at community level. At interregional level the comparison of the experiences among different countries helps to highlight the different motivations and aspirations of the various communities as well as the main common barriers in the implementation of renewable energy and energy efficiency strategies.

Electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) has penetrated everyday life. The EEE industry is characterized by a rapid technological change which in turn prompts consumers to replace EEE in order to keep in step with innovations. These factors reduce an EEE life span and determine the exponential growth of the amount of obsolete EEE as well as EEE waste (e-waste). E-waste management systems implemented in countries of the European Union (EU) are not able to cope with the e-waste problem properly, especially in the new EU member countries. The analysis of particular e-waste management systems is essential in evaluation of the complexity of these systems, describing and quantifying the flows of goods throughout the system, and all the actors involved in it. The aim of this paper is to present the research on the regional agent based material flow analysis in e-waste management systems, as a measure to reveal the potential points for improvement. Material flow analysis has been performed as a flow of goods (EEE). The study has shown that agent-based EEE flow analysis incorporating a holistic and life cycle thinking approach in national e-waste management systems gives a broader view to the system than a common administrative one used to cover. It helps to evaluate the real efficiency of e-waste management systems and to identify relevant impact factors determining the current operation of the system.

Manufacturing of textile and apparel contributes depletion of water resources, the use of natural resources, the release of water and air pollution and increasing the amount of waste entering landfills. Industrial textile waste represents nearly half of the whole flow of textile waste. Major part of the industrial textile waste is landfilled, because of the lack of technologies and infrastructure for recycling. The practice of mixing all the textile cuttings at the apparel production companies, leads to the challenge for reuse or recycling of the leftovers.. Textile companies are obliged to look for alternative waste management options in order to meet the requirements and challenges of Circular Economy action plan published by the European Commission. This article represents the model created for the analysis of industrial textile waste flows and development of scenarios for reasonable waste management. The model and methodologies involved are oriented to preventive solutions -The evaluation of the efficiency of the model is based on sustainability indicators which represents the effect of the scenarios for environmental, economic and social aspects. The implementation of the model to the case study of Lithuanian apparel production company, have disclosed that improvements at the industrial textile waste management within the company, could lead to the increase of efficient use of resources (three times) and environmental impact (twice).

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