A bottom-up ontology-based approach to monitor circular economy: Aligning user expectations,tools, data and theory

With circular economy being high on governmental agendas, there is an increasing request from governing bodies for circularity measurements. Yet, currently existing macro-level monitoring frameworks are widely criticized for not being able to inform the decision-making. The criticism includes, among others, a lack of consensus on terminologies and definitions among scholars, politicians, and practitioners, a lack of supporting data and tools and, consequently, a lack of transparency and trustworthiness. To address those needs, a bottom-up approach to build a shared terminology is suggested as a starting point for monitoring development. The government, data providers, and tool developers are involved in the process of formal ontology development and alignment. The experiment builds upon a use case of the Amsterdam Circular Economy Monitor (2020). First, four ontology development approaches are used to create a theory-centered, a user-centered, a tool-centered, and a data-centered ontology. The ontologies are later compared, merged, and aligned to arrive at one single ontology which forms the basis of the circular economy monitor. The notes taken during the process have revealed that next to a material flow model, typical of socioeconomic metabolism analysis, policy makers are concerned with actors (i.e., institutions, companies, or groups of people) who participate in the analyzed processes and services. Furthermore, a number of terms used by the decision-makers lack clear definitions and references to be directly associated with the available data. Finally, a structured terminology alignment process between monitor users, developers, and data providers helps in exposing terminology conflicts and ambiguities.     

Transforming existing local ecosystems to circular economy ecosystems for plastics: The case of the PlastiCity ecosystem

This paper discusses the transition toward a circular economy ecosystem (CEE) for plastics by assessing and mapping existing ecosystems and coordinating efforts among ecosystem actors. The PlastiCity ecosystem is used as a case study. The study employs ecosystem analysis and mapping to identify the new activities and actors needed to transition toward a CEE. These include local and eco-friendly transportation, plastic recycling knowledge management, and upgrading the existing recycling infrastructure. The findings emphasize the significance of the joint orchestration of ecosystem actors facilitated by an ecosystem coordinator and knowledge team to achieve a CEE. It presents a tangible and feasible approach to achieving a local plastic CEE. The policymakers are encouraged to support collaborative orchestration efforts among ecosystem actors and establish knowledge management practices that facilitate ecosystem transitions.     

Characterizing IT asset disposition flows for the circular economy: A case study on export for reuse from Ireland

Understanding flows of resource-rich electrical and electronic equipment throughout its life cycle is increasingly important in the development of global circular economies, reflected by heavy legislative focuses on waste prevention and resource use efficiency. This research facilitates broader material flow analysis by characterizing flows of professional IT equipment within the Republic of Ireland, emphasizing the flow of legal exports for the purposes of refurbishment and reuse. The analysis of transboundary movement of non-waste used equipment contributes to a less often measured, but influential, facet of material flows. Eight key exporters of used equipment, comprising original equipment manufacturers, information technology asset disposition companies, and waste treatment facilities, were interviewed to characterize the sector, map the flow of materials, and identify gaps in existing reporting. Interviewed organizations declared exports of used equipment by category using a voluntary declaration form. Two key flows were identified representing currently unreported and unmeasured flows of non-waste professional equipment. A total of 441,261 units of equipment were declared to be exported for reuse from the Republic of Ireland through these previously unmeasured flows in 2019. Product keys developed by United Nations University were used to estimate the weight of total units exported as approximately 576 metric tons, amounting to an additional approximately 9% of the weight of IT equipment collected in the Republic of Ireland in 2018, or 0.1 kg per inhabitant. These quantifications of IT equipment exported for reuse will be a key component of future material flow analyses in the development of a circular economy.     

Agent-based modeling and simulation for the circular economy: Lessons learned and path forward

Circular economy aims at decoupling human activities from resource use and creating wealth. However, many have questioned the link between increased circularity and sustainability, resulting in several methodological approaches being developed to answer that question. This article analyzes and discusses the insights gained from applying agent-based modeling and simulation to study the techno-economic and social conditions promoting circularity and sustainability. This article analyzes the benefits and limitations of this technology and discusses future methodology developments within the circular economy context. Moreover, six limits of the circular economy concept are used to interpret insights from the literature: thermodynamic limits, system boundary limits, limits posed by the physical scale of the economy, limits posed by path dependencies and lock-in, limits of governance and management, and limits of social and cultural definitions. Promising research avenues are to use this methodology with machine learning, industrial ecology methods, and detailed geographic information.     

How much sorting is required for a circular low carbon aluminum economy?

Aluminum recycling follows a downcycling dynamic where wrought alloys are transformed into cast alloys, accumulating tramp elements at every cycle. With the saturation of stocks of aluminum and the reduction of the demand for cast alloy due to electrification of transport, improvement in the recycling system must be made to avoid a surplus of unused recycled aluminum, reduce the overall environmental impacts of the industry, and move toward a circular economy. We aim to evaluate the potential environmental benefits of improving sorting efforts by combining operations research, prospective material flow analysis, and life cycle assessment. An optimization defines the optimal sorting to minimize climate change impacts according to different sorting efforts, dismantling conditions, and collection rates. Results show how the improvement of sorting can reduce by around 30% the greenhouse gas emissions of the industry, notably by reducing unused scrap generation and increasing the recycled content of the flows that supply the demand of aluminum. The best performance is achievable with four different sorting pathways. Further improvements occur with a better dismantling and an increase of collection rates, but it requires more sorting pathways. Results point to different closed-loop recycling initiatives that should be promoted on priority in specific sectors, like the building and construction sector and the aluminum cans industry. To implement a better material circularity, the mobilization of different stakeholders is needed. From a wider perspective, the article shows how operations research can be used to project a circular future in a specific industry. This article met the requirements for a Gold–Gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges .      

The effect of consumption and production policies on circular economy business models: A machine learning approach

The circular economy (CE) is attracting increasing interest, as it can bring environmental, social, and economic benefits. However, policymakers and scholars appear to concentrate more on the production side of CE, while consumption, and particularly policies that affect consumption have received less attention and their effect is ambiguous. This paper investigates the effect of CE consumption policies on circular economy business models (CEBMs) in firms, but also examines the interplay this type of policies have with CE production policies to have a broader picture of the circular economy policy framework and the relevance of each type of policy on firms. While previous studies assume rational and passive consumer behavior, this paper borrows from a natural resource-based view and stakeholder theory, arguing that consumers have a proactive attitude toward the consumption of environmentally friendly products. Moreover, we use institutional theory as an analytical framework for modeling the effects of a particular policy framework on the CEBM. Our analysis combines classical econometric methods with machine learning approaches, employing data from the EU. The results show that CE policies aimed at promoting consumption have a direct and positive effect on CEBMs. This paper also confirms that a wide portfolio of CE policies on production and consumption has a greater effect on the development of CEBMs, due to the complementarity of CE consumption and production policies. Moreover, we show that in interaction with CE production policies, CE policies on consumption have an even greater effect on CEBMs in firms than would have been anticipated.     

Analysis of parameters about useful life extension in 70 tools and methods related to eco-design and circular economy

One of the approaches followed by the circular economy (CE) to achieve sustainability through design is product life extension. Extending the life of products to make them useful for as long as possible is a means to reduce waste production and materials consumption, as well as the related impacts. For designers, conceptualizing products in a way that allows them to be used for longer is a challenge, and assessing how well they extend their lifespan can be helpful when it comes to choosing the best proposal. In this paper, 70 tools and methods related to eco-design and circular economy are studied to determine how many of them consider parameters related to life extension and which can be applied in the early stages of design. The results of the analysis show that most of the existing tools and methods are applicable to developed products, and only a few of them take into account parameters related to extending the useful life. Of the 70 tools and methods, only 14 include some parameter related to life extension and are applicable to concepts. CE toolkit, Eco-design PILOT, CE Designer, Circularity Assessment tool, Circularity Potential Indicator and Circular Design Tools take into consideration eight or more parameters to assess life extension in concepts. This will help designers select the most appropriate and will indicate the need for more complete tools to consider useful life extension in the early stages of design and thus enhance the selection of more sustainable products.     

A framework to open the black box of the use phase in circular economy life cycle assessments: The case of shell jacket reuse

Life cycle assessments of circular economy measures (CE LCA) of consumer products have been criticized for oversimplifying important aspects of the use phase such as user behavior and rebound effects, limiting our understanding of the environmental performance of circular economy measures. This study tests the usefulness of a framework designed to facilitate accounting for such aspects, by applying the framework to a case study of reuse of shell jackets enabled by “premium secondhand” outdoor stores. Methods for collecting use phase data were user surveys and interviews with store managers. Using the framework on this case study generated several novel insights which are interesting in themselves and as inputs to CE LCA. For instance, secondhand shell jackets have a significantly lower frequency of use during their first use span compared to the second and to shell jackets in the linear reference scenario. This implies that reuse in this case does not function as a mere use extension of otherwise similar use phases as is commonly assumed. The generation of such insights, which hitherto have been lacking in CE LCAs, points to the usefulness of the framework as a tool for opening the “black box” of the use phase in CE LCAs to improve understanding of the environmental performance of circular economy measures.     

Modeling the circular economy in environmentally extended input–output: A web application

Global environmental and resource problems ask for new ways of managing the production and consumption of resources. The implementation of new paradigms, such as the circular economy, requires decision‐makers at multiple levels to make complex decisions. For this, clear analyses and modeling of scenarios are of utmost importance. Meanwhile, as the sophistication of databases and models increases so does the need for user‐friendly tools to use them. The RaMa‐Scene web platform reduces these barriers by allowing users to visualize easily diverse impacts of implementing circular‐economy interventions. This online web platform makes use of the multi‐regional environmentally extended input–output database EXIOBASE version 3 in monetary units, which has been modified to show explicit transactions of raw materials from recycling activities.     

Combining industrial ecology tools to assess potential greenhouse gas reductions of a circular economy: Method development and application to Switzerland

Industrial ecology (IE) methodologies, such as input/output or material flow analysis and life cycle assessment (LCA), are often used for the environmental evaluation of circular economy strategies. Up to now, an approach that utilizes these methods in a systematic, integrated framework for a holistic assessment of a geographic region's sustainable circular economy potential has been lacking. The approach developed in this study (IE4CE approach) combines IE methodologies to determine the environmental impact mitigation potential of circular economy strategies for a defined geographic region. The approach foresees five steps. First, input/output analysis helps identify sectors with high environmental impacts. Second, a refined analysis is conducted using material flow and LCA. In step 3, circular strategies are used for scenario design and evaluated in step 4. In step 5, the assessment results are compiled and compared across sectors. The approach was applied to a case study of Switzerland, analyzing 8 sectors and more than 30 scenarios in depth. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) from waste incineration, biogas and cement production, food waste prevention in households, hospitality and production, and the increased recycling of plastics had the highest mitigation potential. Most of the scenarios do not influence each other. One exception is the CCS scenarios: waste avoidance scenarios decrease the reduction potential of CCS. A combination of scenarios from different sectors, including their impact on the CCS scenario potential, led to an environmental impact mitigation potential of 11.9 Mt CO₂-eq for 2050, which equals 14% of Switzerland's current consumption-based impacts.     

循环经济——可持续的经济发展模式

循环经济是经济效益与环境效益有机结合的一种新的经济发展模式,将经济发展推向循环经济的轨道是保证可持续发展的重要举措。循环经济具有深刻的经济学基础和生态学基础,发展循环经济具有重要的现实意义,它是生态社会最适宜的经济发展模式,世界发达国家已在发展循环经济领域取得了较大成就。本文从循环经济的基础理论入手,阐述了我国发展循环经济的现状、重要意义和所面临的问题,提出我国发展循环经济的对策,并指出循环经济是中国21世纪经济可持续发展模式的必然选择。     

Exploiting the Potential of Public Procurement: Opportunities for Circular Economy

The objective of a circular economy (CE) is to maintain the value of products, materials, and resources in the economy by closing material loops and minimizing waste generation. In recent years, the role of public procurement has been recognized as an important, but as yet not fully exploited, opportunity by cities and municipalities in their transition toward circular societies. This study analyzed public procurement opportunities to promote CE. Different approaches and examples of circular public procurement were identified using case studies. In addition, opportunities to promote CE through sustainable and green public procurement policy were identified analyzing predefined sustainable or green public procurement criteria. The study concludes that public procurement can promote CE and related business models by setting criteria and requirements for the extension of product life spans, efficiency and/or intensity of use, and efficient cycling of biological or technical materials, as well as for the securing of clean and nonrisky cycles. Circular procurement can occur through the procurement of better‐quality products in circular terms, the procurement of new circular products, the use of business concepts that support the CE, and investments in circular ecosystems. Several sectors and product groups were identified as having potential for circular procurement, such as construction, waste, and wastewater management, transportation, food, and catering, furniture, and textiles. The study also suggests that the use of certain tools, such as performance‐based procurement, life cycle approach, and life cycle costing, as well as criteria concerning reuse and recycling of materials, could promote circular procurement. Market dialogue and cooperation between procurers and actors in the supply chains are important for the future development of circular procurement.     

基于生态效率的江西省循环经济发展模式

循环经济发展模式的研究是当今可持续发展研究及政府相关决策的核心内容,生态效率则是循环经济的合适测度,它是资源能源效率和环境效率的综合表征指标。基于生态效率度量模型和循环经济发展模式的判别模型,以江西省为例,分析其在2000-2010年间循环经济发展模式的变化轨迹。结果表明:(1) 能源消耗与经济发展表现出同步增长的趋势;(2) 各种资源和环境效率均有所上升,其环境效率总体上大于资源效率,按效率增加快慢的排序为:固体废弃物排放效率 > 建设用地效率 > COD排放效率 > 水资源效率 > SO₂排放效率 > 能源效率;(3) 江西省循环经济发展走的是一条由传统线性经济模式到末端治理模式再到循环经济模式的发展道路,符合环境库兹尼茨曲线发展规律,即无害化→减量化→资源化。对研究方法的创新性进行了谨慎的探讨,对区域循环经济发展所应注意的问题提出的建议。     

Circular economy innovations,growth and employment at the firm level: Empirical evidence from Germany

Circular economy (CE) describes a concept that aims at saving resources by minimizing the use of material and energy over the entire life‐cycle of products, including production and repair, as well as reuse and recycling. CE innovations help to realize the goals of sustainable development by targeting environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainability. This paper looks at the economic and social dimensions by investigating whether firms with CE innovations perform better or worse in terms of sales growth and employment. Our econometric analysis uses data from two waves of the German part of the Community Innovation Survey. Quantile regressions show that CE innovations are positively linked to turnover and employment growth. While there is no statistically significant impact on labor productivity, at the same time, firms with CE innovations show a significantly better financial standing.     

Toward a low-carbon and circular building sector: Building strategies and urbanization pathways for the Netherlands

Buildings are an important part of society's environmental impacts, both in the construction and in the use phase. As the energy performance of buildings improve, construction materials become more important as a cause of environmental impact. Less attention has been given to those materials. We explore, as an alternative for conventional buildings, the use of biobased materials and circular building practices. In addition to building design, we analyze the effect of urbanization. We assess the potential to close material cycles together with the material related impact, between 2018 and 2050 in the Netherlands. Our results show a limited potential to close material cycles until 2050, as a result of slow stock turnover and growth of the building stock. At present, end-of-life recycling rates are low, further limiting circularity. Primary material demand can be lowered when shifting toward biobased or circular construction. This shift also reduces material related carbon emissions. Large-scale implementation of biobased construction, however, drastically increases land area required for wood production. Material demand differs strongly spatially and depends on the degree of urbanization. Urbanization results in higher building replacement rates, but constructed dwellings are generally small compared to scenarios with more rural developments. The approach presented in this work can be used to analyze strategies aimed at closing material cycles in the building sector and lowering buildings' embodied environmental impact, at different spatial scales.     

Developing Regenerate: A circular economy engagement tool for the assessment of new and existing buildings

The transition toward a circular economy (CE) is key in decarbonizing the built environment. Despite this, knowledge of—and engagement with—CE philosophies remains limited within the construction industry. Discussion with practitioners reveals this to be contributed to by a lack of clarity regarding CE principles, with numerous organizations recommending implementation of differing and sometimes conflicting principles. In addition, a systematic assessment of how building designs consider CE is made difficult by the multiple design areas required to be considered and the large amount of design data required to do so. The absence of a systematic CE assessment causes a lack of comparability across designs, preventing benchmarking of CE practices in building design at present. This paper details the development of Regenerate, a CE engagement tool for the assessment of new and existing buildings, established in an effort to overcome the aforementioned barriers to the adoption of CE within the construction sector. A CE design workflow for the built environment is proposed, comprising four overarching circularity principles (Design for Adaptability; Design for Deconstructability; Circular Material Selection; Resource Efficiency) and contributing design actions. In addition to engaging stakeholders by enabling the assessment of building designs, the tool retrieves key data for further research. Information on completed design actions as well as recycling and waste metrics is collected to facilitate future CE benchmarking. “Bill of materials” data (i.e., material quantities) is also compiled, with this being key in material stock modeling research and embodied carbon benchmarking.     

工业园区循环经济关联与生态效率评价——以福建省蛟洋循环经济示范园区为例

工业园区因物质能量的高度集聚,生产-消费过程的网络关联,以及区域示范带动效应,在循环经济发展中受到持续关注。本研究以福建省蛟洋循环经济示范园区为例,应用物质流、生态网络和生态效率等测度分析方法,综合评估了2012—2016年间园区循环经济的网络关联和生态效率。研究结果表明:(1)园区物质流结构单一,关联度和稳定度明显较弱;(2)园区网络的韧性不足,关键节点的级联效应显著,尤其对中下游企业的影响程度大;(3)生态效率指数分析发现,园区关键节点企业在循环经济效益方面带动能力不足,影响园区循环经济的前景。为此,从园区网络关联稳定度和企业生态经济效率优化提升的角度,探讨园区未来的循环经济发展策略。可为处于起步阶段的专一化工业园区探索可行的循环经济模式提供借鉴。     

福建外来物种入侵现状及对经济社会和生态的影响

福建已成为中国遭受外来物种入侵最严重的省份之一。本文概述了福建主要入侵物种的数量、种类、地理起源、分布、引入途径和入侵特点,系统分析了福建外来物种入侵严重的原因和外来物种入侵对福建生态安全、经济及社会的影响,在此基础上提出了针对外来物种入侵的防控对策。     

Species concepts and the determination of historic gene flow patterns in the Eulemur fulvus (Brown Lemur) complex

Eulmur fulvus , a complex comprising six subspecies, is a classic example of species status conferred through evolutionary taxonomy. We used the phylogcnctic species concept as an alternative method to the biological species concept for determining historic patterns of gene flow between the various E. julvus subspecies and for conferring species status. In this paper, we used population aggregation analysis to determine the proper species partitions and cladistic analysis to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships of the different populations in the Eulemur fulvus complex. We sequenced three mtDNA gene regions (d-loop, 12S, and cyt-b) and one nuclear region, casein kinase, for a total of 1247 bases. Through population aggregation analysis, we determined that the E. fulvus complex should be split into three units; one unit supported by six diagnostic sites comprising E.f. albocollans , one unit supported by three diagnostic sites comprising E.f. collaris , and one unit supported by two diagnostic sites comprising the four other subspecies. Although all six subspecies in the E. julvus complex share a common ancestor, we found in our cladistic analysis that E. J. collaris and E. j. albocollans share a common ancestor that more recently split off from the common ancestor of the four other E. fulvus subspecies.     

Material Recycling and the Myth of Landfill Diversion

Proponents of material recycling typically point to two environmental benefits: disposal (landfill/incinerator) reduction and primary production displacement. However, in this paper we mathematically demonstrate that, without displacement, recycling can delay but not prevent any existing end‐of‐life material from reaching final disposal. The only way to reduce the amount of material ultimately landfilled or incinerated is to produce less in the first place; material that is not made needs not be disposed. Recycling has the potential to reduce the amount of material reaching end of life solely by reducing primary production. Therefore, the “dual benefits” of recycling are in fact one, and the environmental benefit of material recycling rests in its potential to displace primary production. However, displacement of primary production from increased recycling is driven by market forces and is not guaranteed. Improperly assuming all recycled material avoids disposal underestimates the environmental impacts of the product system. We show that the potential magnitude of this error is substantial, though for inert recyclables it is lower than the error introduced by improperly assuming all recycled material displaces primary material production. We argue that life cycle assessment end‐of‐life models need to be updated so as not to overstate the benefits of recycling. Furthermore, scholars and policy makers should focus on finding and implementing ways to increase the displacement potential of recyclable materials rather than focusing on disposal diversion targets.