Mapping and testing circular economy product-level indicators: A critical review

The goal of the circular economy (CE) is to transition from today's take-make-waste linear pattern of production and consumption to a circular system in which the societal value of products, materials, and resources is maximized over time. Yet circularity in and of itself does not ensure social, economic, and environmental performance (i.e., sustainability). Sustainability of CE strategies needs to be measured against their linear counterparts to identify and avoid strategies that increase circularity yet lead to unintended externalities. The state of the practice in quantitatively comparing sustainability impacts of circular to linear systems is one of experimentation with various extant methods developed in other fields and now applied here. While the proliferation of circularity metrics has received considerable attention, to-date, there is no critical review of the methods and combinations of methods that underlie those metrics and that specifically quantify sustainability impacts of circular strategies. Our critical review herein analyzes identified methods according to six criteria: temporal resolution, scope, data requirements, data granularity, capacity for measuring material efficiency potentials, and sustainability completeness. Results suggest that the industrial ecology and complex systems science fields could prove complementary when assessing the sustainability of the transition to a CE. Both fields include quantitative methods differing primarily with regard to their inclusion of temporal aspects and material efficiency potentials. Moreover, operations research methods such as multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) may alleviate the common contradictions which often exist between circularity metrics. This review concludes by suggesting guidelines for selecting quantitative methods most appropriate to a particular research question and making the argument that while there are a variety of existing methods, additional research is needed to combine existing methods and develop a more holistic approach for assessing sustainability impacts of CE strategies.

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A Critical Review of EU Key Indicators for the Transition to the Circular Economy

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18168840 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (16) ◽

pp. 8840

Author(s):

Roxana Lavinia Pacurariu ◽

Sorin Daniel Vatca ◽

Elena Simina Lakatos ◽

Laura Bacali ◽

Mircea Vlad

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Critical Review ◽

Waste Generation ◽

Mass Energy ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Monitoring Framework ◽

Key Indicators

The objective of this paper is to analyze the extent to which the system of indicators that is used in the Monitoring Framework for the transition to the circular economy (CE) is efficient and relevant in their contribution to the sustainable development of European communities. The fundaments of the transition framework and the main characteristics of the circularity indicators are presented. A critical review was performed in order to fulfill the objective of analyzing the current indicators. It is concluded that the indicators in the current framework are (as a selection from a very broad range of indicators theoretically proposed and with estimated practical applicability) limited from the perspective of circularity only to waste generation and recycling processes containing recyclable materials, without including important circularity indicators related to the prolonging and extending the life cycle of products and materials. This paper proposes and defines such an indicator, based on the consideration of the fundamental scalars describing economy, mass, energy, time, and value, respectively. The indicator is described and its applicability in all the phases of the economy is estimated.

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Circular economy and growth: A critical review of “post-growth” circularity and a plea for a circular economy that grows

Resources Conservation and Recycling ◽

10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.106033 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 106033

Author(s):

Julian Kirchherr

Keyword(s):

Circular Economy ◽

Critical Review

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A Multi-Criteria Evaluation Method of Product-Level Circularity Strategies

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12125129 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (12) ◽

pp. 5129 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yohannes A. Alamerew ◽

Marianna Lena Kambanou ◽

Tomohiko Sakao ◽

Daniel Brissaud

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Evaluation Method ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Business Decision ◽

Business Outcomes ◽

Product Level ◽

Multi Criteria Evaluation ◽

Life Cycle Perspective ◽

Need To Evaluate

The circular economy (CE) can drive sustainability. For companies to select and implement circularity strategies, they need to evaluate and compare the performance of these strategies both in terms of progress towards CE but also based on their feasibility and business outcomes. However, evaluation methods for circularity strategies at the product level are lacking. Therefore, this research proposes a multi-criteria evaluation method of circularity strategies at the product level which can be used by business decision-makers to evaluate and compare the initial business of the company, transformative and future circularity strategies. This multi-criteria evaluation method aims to assist business decision-makers to identify a preferred strategy by linking together a wide variety of criteria, i.e., environmental, economic, social, legislative, technical, and business, as well as by proposing relevant indicators that take into consideration, where possible, the life cycle perspective. It also allows for flexibility so that criteria, sub-criteria, and weighing factors can be altered by the business decision-makers to fit the needs of their specific case or product. Two illustrative examples based on case companies are presented to verify and illustrate the proposed method.

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A critical review on recycling of end-of-life carbon fibre/glass fibre reinforced composites waste using pyrolysis towards a circular economy

Resources Conservation and Recycling ◽

10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.04.013 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 136 ◽

pp. 118-129 ◽

Cited By ~ 58

Author(s):

S.R. Naqvi ◽

H. Mysore Prabhakara ◽

E.A. Bramer ◽

W. Dierkes ◽

R. Akkerman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Fibre ◽

End Of Life ◽

Glass Fibre ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Critical Review ◽

Reinforced Composites ◽

Fibre Glass ◽

Glass Fibre Reinforced ◽

Glass Fibre Reinforced Composites ◽

Fibre Reinforced Composites

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A critical review on circular and regenerative urban areas

IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science ◽

10.1088/1755-1315/855/1/012018 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 855 (1) ◽

pp. 012018

Author(s):

L Gejer ◽

V Gomes da Silva

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Systematic Literature Review ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Critical Review ◽

Human Activities ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Cradle To Cradle

Abstract Circular economy (CE) has gained relevance as a new economic-environmental paradigm. Despite their key role in this model, managing cities towards CE has taken different meanings, approaches, concepts and methods. Therefore, this study aims to clarify circularity approaches to urban areas, by identifying main trends and exploring potential organization into a framework for policymakers and urban managers. We first conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) to understand limits and divergences when spatially expressing circularity. Four approaches covering different possibilities regarding circularity in urban areas stood out: (i) specific flows within a circular city; (ii) flows integration for resource looping; (iii) planning the transition from linear to circular cities; and (iv) concepts of circular or regenerative urban areas. We then hypothesized that one of these concepts, the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) approach, embraces the multiplicity of quantitative and qualitative requisites needed for developing circular urban areas. Our contribution, in the second part of the paper, organizes the requisites and indicators raised during the SLR according to the C2C principles into a draft framework to enable optimization and integration of different flows with human activities to various urban and socioeconomic contexts.

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