Supply network collaborations in a circular economy: A case study of Swedish steel recycling

This case study explores the strategic business opportunities, for Lane Crawford, an iconic luxury department store, to transition in a circular economy towards sustainability. A new experimentation framework was developed and conducted among cross departmental employees, during a Design Lab, with intention to co-create novel Circular Economy business concepts towards a new vision: the later was a reframe of the old system based on the principles of sustainability; to move beyond a linear operational model towards a circular economy that can contribute to a regenerative society. This work draws on both academic and professional experience and was conducted through professional practice. It was found that innovative co-created concepts, output from the Design Lab, can create radical change in a circular economy that is holistically beneficial and financially viable; looking forward to extract greater value a)Internal organization requires remodeling to transform towards a circular economy; b)Requirement for more horizonal teams across departments vs solely vertical; c)New language and relationships are required to be able to transition towards a circular economy; d)Some form of physical and virtual space requirements, for cross-disciplinary teams to come together to co-create; e)Ability to iterate, learn and evolve requires agency across the business

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Ensuring access to water in an emergency context: Towards an overexploitation and contamination of water resources?

Social & Legal Studies ◽

10.1177/09646639211031626 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 096466392110316

Author(s):

Chloé Nicolas-Artero

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Water Resources ◽

Qualitative Methods ◽

Water Scarcity ◽

Water Rights ◽

Environmental Crisis ◽

Supply Network ◽

Mining Pollution ◽

Access To Water

This article shows how geo-legal devices created to deal with environmental crisis situations make access to drinking water precarious and contribute to the overexploitation and contamination of water resources. It relies on qualitative methods (interviews, observations, archive work) to identify and analyse two geo-legal devices applied in the case study of the Elqui Valley in Chile. The first device, generated by the Declaration of Water Scarcity, allows private sanitation companies to concentrate water rights and extend their supply network, thus producing an overexploitation of water resources. In the context of mining pollution, the second device is structured around the implementation of the Rural Drinking Water Programme and the distribution of water by tankers, which has made access to drinking water more precarious for the population and does nothing to prevent pollution.

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Reverse supply network design for circular economy pathways of wind turbine blades in Europe

International Journal of Production Research ◽

10.1080/00207543.2020.1870016 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-20

Author(s):

Athanasios Rentizelas ◽

Nikoletta Trivyza ◽

Sarah Oswald ◽

Stefan Siegl

Keyword(s):

Network Design ◽

Wind Turbine ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Turbine Blades ◽

Supply Network ◽

Wind Turbine Blades

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The Key Strategies to Implement Circular Economy in Building Projects—A Case Study of Taiwan

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13020754 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 754

Author(s):

H.-Ping Tserng ◽

Cheng-Mo Chou ◽

Yun-Tsui Chang

Keyword(s):

Case Studies ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Building Industry ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Pilot Projects ◽

Building Projects ◽

The World ◽

Project Phases ◽

Future Project

The building industry is blamed for consuming enormous natural resources and creating massive solid waste worldwide. In response to this, the concept of circular economy (CE) has gained much attention in the sector in recent years. Many pilot building projects that implemented CE concepts started to appear around the world, including Taiwan. However, compared with the pilot projects in the Netherlands, which are regarded as the pioneer ones by international society, many CE-related practices are not implemented in pilot cases in Taiwan. To assist future project stakeholders to recognize what the key CE-related practices are and how they could be implemented in their building projects in Taiwan, this study has conducted a series of case studies of Dutch and Taiwanese pilot projects and semi-structured interviews with key project stakeholders of Taiwanese pilot projects. Thirty key CE-related practices are identified via case studies, along with their related 5R principles (Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle) and project phases. Suggestion on CE-related practices, their 5R principles, project items, and phases to implement in building projects in Taiwan is also proposed while discussion on differences between two countries’ pilot projects is presented.

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Extending Multilevel Statistical Entropy Analysis towards Plastic Recyclability Prediction

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13063553 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. 3553

Author(s):

Philippe Nimmegeers ◽

Alexej Parchomenko ◽

Paul De Meulenaere ◽

Dagmar R. D’hooge ◽

Paul H. M. Van Steenberge ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Circular Economy ◽

Real Life ◽

Plastic Waste ◽

Entropy Analysis ◽

Waste Collection ◽

Statistical Entropy ◽

Waste Streams ◽

Material Component ◽

Future Work

Multilevel statistical entropy analysis (SEA) is a method that has been recently proposed to evaluate circular economy strategies on the material, component and product levels to identify critical stages of resource and functionality losses. However, the comparison of technological alternatives may be difficult, and equal entropies do not necessarily correspond with equal recyclability. A coupling with energy consumption aspects is strongly recommended but largely lacking. The aim of this paper is to improve the multilevel SEA method to reliably assess the recyclability of plastics. Therefore, the multilevel SEA method is first applied to a conceptual case study of a fictitious bag filled with plastics, and the possibilities and limitations of the method are highlighted. Subsequently, it is proposed to extend the method with the computation of the relative decomposition energies of components and products. Finally, two recyclability metrics are proposed. A plastic waste collection bag filled with plastic bottles is used as a case study to illustrate the potential of the developed extended multilevel SEA method. The proposed extension allows us to estimate the recyclability of plastics. In future work, this method will be refined and other potential extensions will be studied together with applications to real-life plastic products and plastic waste streams.

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Moving from Niche to Norm: Lessons from Food Waste Initiatives

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13147667 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (14) ◽

pp. 7667

Author(s):

Lusine H. Aramyan ◽

Gonne Beekman ◽

Joris Galama ◽

Sandra van der Haar ◽

Maarten Visscher ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Food Waste ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Food Systems ◽

Food System ◽

Behavioural Change ◽

Policy Instruments ◽

Transition Process ◽

Personal Factors ◽

Success Traits

For a transition to a circular economy to take place, behavioural change from people who are part of the transition is a key requirement. However, this change often does not occur by itself. For systemic behavioural change, policy instruments that incentivise behaviour supporting circular food systems play a key role. These instruments need to be aligned with the environment in which the behaviour takes place. In this study, we scrutinise a case study with five initiatives on the reduction of food loss and waste (FLW) contributing to a circular food system, to understand how specific, well-targeted combinations of instruments as well as other contextual and personal factors can fuel the transition to a circular economy and the reduction of FLW. All the initiatives are taking place under the umbrella of the Dutch initiative “United against food waste” (STV). We use a behavioural change perspective to assess how initiatives that support circular food systems arise and how they can be further supported. Based on the case-study analysis, we arrive at five common success traits and barriers, and five key needs for upscaling. We conclude that motivated, inspiring frontrunners are of key importance in the initial phase of a transition process. However, once a niche initiative is ready to be scaled up, the enabling environment becomes increasingly important.

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