scholarly journals Life Cycle-Based Sustainability and Circularity Indicators for the Tourism Industry: A Literature Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 11853
Author(s):  
Ioannis Arzoumanidis ◽  
Anna M. Walker ◽  
Luigia Petti ◽  
Andrea Raggi
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Hospitality Sector ◽  
Economic And Social Impacts

The tourism industry is one of the fastest growing sectors, even though in the last couple of years there has been a negative effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This growth has led to an increase in environmental, economic and social impacts. Furthermore, the transition towards a circular economy has become one of the priorities of the European Union given its orientation towards sustainable development. However, the concept of circular tourism has been poorly analysed until now. This paper aims at identifying a set of life cycle-based sustainability- and circularity-related indicators for the hospitality sector by means of a literature review and a content analysis. It presents an overview of the most relevant themes and indicators in the tourism sector, showing that carbon footprint and resource-related indicators are especially relevant. Given the complexity of the measurement of circularity and the fact that life cycle-based indicators have started to be considered in this field, the paper also proposes some criteria for indicator selection to make their application more feasible for hospitality actors.

scholarly journals A Review of Bioplastics and Their Adoption in the Circular Economy

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1229
Author(s):  
Alberto Di Bartolo ◽  
Giulia Infurna ◽  
Nadka Tzankova Dintcheva
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Environmental Risks ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Sustainable Society ◽  
Net Zero

The European Union is working towards the 2050 net-zero emissions goal and tackling the ever-growing environmental and sustainability crisis by implementing the European Green Deal. The shift towards a more sustainable society is intertwined with the production, use, and disposal of plastic in the European economy. Emissions generated by plastic production, plastic waste, littering and leakage in nature, insufficient recycling, are some of the issues addressed by the European Commission. Adoption of bioplastics–plastics that are biodegradable, bio-based, or both–is under assessment as one way to decouple society from the use of fossil resources, and to mitigate specific environmental risks related to plastic waste. In this work, we aim at reviewing the field of bioplastics, including standards and life cycle assessment studies, and discuss some of the challenges that can be currently identified with the adoption of these materials.

scholarly journals Circular Economy Contributions to the Tourism Sector: A Critical Literature Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Rodríguez ◽  
Carmen Florido ◽  
Marta Jacob
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Web Of Science ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Social Science Citation Index ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Literature

Economic activity today is still based on a linear model of production and consumption: extract/produce and consume/throw, which exhausts natural resources and generates waste. The current linear economy does not optimize materials nor favour their recycling, reuse or recovery. Hence, the concept of Circular Economy (CE) has received increasing attention between policymakers and stakeholders worldwide. However, the literature on CE was mainly developed for the manufacturing sector, and only a few references are found on the tourism sector even though it is a sector where huge consumption of energy and water, food waste, congestion problems and CO2 emissions take place. This work aims to evaluate the importance of tourism in the CE literature and to identify current research trends and possible gaps in the literature on CE and tourism. In order to identify papers for this, the authors carried out a literature review of papers in the social science citation index (Web of Science) and Scopus. The keywords used are related to the tourism sector and CE, and the last search was made at the end of January 2020. Only papers published in English have been considered in the sample, which totals to 55 articles. Each contribution is analysed and, according to its content, classified into eight streams; then, the paper identifies two knowledge areas in tourism that this scientific production covers and the areas with lack of knowledge generated. Findings show that more research is needed about tourism’s intersection with CE in order to generate possible solutions towards a more sustainable tourism industry.

scholarly journals A Systematic Literature Review of Bio, Green and Circular Economy Trends in Publications in the Field of Economics and Business Management

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria Ferreira Gregorio ◽  
Laia Pié ◽  
Antonio Terceño
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Economic Impact ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Business Management ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Organizational Models ◽  
Sustainable Economy ◽  
The Common

The concepts of bioeconomy, green economy and circular economy share the common objective of developing a sustainable economy, and they attract enormous political, academic, social and business interest. However, an analysis of these concepts in the fields of economics and business management is lacking. The objective of this article is to classify the publications on these topics by subject of study, to analyse trends in publications and to guide researchers interested in selecting articles. The review was performed using Scopus for the period 1960 to 2017. Four hundred and forty-nine publications were obtained and classified into 17 categories. The results show that the existing literature is rich in analysing implemented policies and issues related to the strategies and organizational models of companies looking for a more sustainable path, and research in China and the European Union is highlighted. However, there is still a long way to go in researching implemented case studies and evaluating the economic impact of these concepts. For this to happen, the need to promote, encourage and support companies to implement cleaner production and approach a more sustainable path must be prioritised. Possible gaps in current research that allow future lines of work are also identified.

scholarly journals Circular Economy — Challenges for the Textile and Clothing Industry

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 337-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Koszewska
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Textile Industry ◽  
Clothing Industry ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Economy Model ◽  
Business People ◽  
Production And Consumption

Abstract The circular economy model has recently gained a lot of attention worldwide from scientists, business people and authorities. The importance of the transition towards a more circular economy has also been noticed in the European Union. The new regulations provide the enabling framework for the circular economy to flourish. At the same time, although there is no standardized approach to creating a circular economy, while defining appropriate policies, care must be taken that they are suitable for particular industries. The limits of the present linear economy model (take-make-waste) are extremely apparent when examining the textile and clothing industry. The transition to a circular economy requires significant changes in both production and consumption models. This article uses a literature review and industry examples to identify and evaluate challenges faced by the clothing and textile industry in adapting to the circular economy model.

scholarly journals The 10 Most Crucial Circular Economy Challenge Patterns in Tourism and the Effects of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4940
Author(s):  
Julia Martínez-Cabrera ◽  
Francisco López-del-Pino
Keyword(s):  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
Open Coding ◽  
Theoretical Saturation

This paper makes a new contribution to the understanding of challenges for the transition toward the circular economy (CE) by identifying the main CE challenge patterns (CECPs) and analyzing their relevance for the tourism sector. Our work is based on a previous systematic literature review of 42 articles on CE through open coding following grounded theory. This allowed us to identify 68 CECPs and classify them into three levels of abstraction: microenvironmental, macroenvironmental, and organizational. To make this general research relevant to the tourism industry we conducted semi-structured interviews with 33 experts in CE and tourism, ensuring that theoretical saturation was reached. The data was analyzed in two coding phases, identifying which general CECPs are applicable to the tourism industry and which of them need further specification. The result shows that 34 of the 68 CECPs are applicable to tourism, of which 41% need to be specified to be relevant to the sector. Especially at the microenvironmental level, 53% of the general CECPs needed to be specified for the case of tourism. The analysis allowed to identify the 10 most crucial CECPs for the tourism industry and which of them have been most affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

European experience in transition to circular economy

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 598-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.V. Ratner
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
National Level ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
European Experience ◽  
General Scientific ◽  
The Eu

Subject. The article considers the concept of circular economy, which has originated relatively recently in the academic literature, and is now increasingly recognized in many countries at the national level. In the European Union, the transition to circular economy is viewed as an opportunity to improve competitiveness of the European Union, protect businesses from resource shortages and fluctuating prices for raw materials and supplies, and a way to increase employment and innovation. Objectives. The aim of the study is to analyze the incentives developed by the European Commission for moving to circular economy, and to assess their effectiveness on the basis of statistical analysis. Methods. I employ general scientific methods of research. Results. The analysis of the EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy enabled to conclude that the results of the recent research in circular economy barriers, eco-innovation, technology and infrastructure were successfully integrated into the framework of this document. Understanding the root causes holding back the circular economy development and the balanced combination of economic and administrative incentives strengthened the Action Plan, and it contributed to the circular economy development in the EU. Conclusions. The measures to stimulate the development of the circular economy proposed in the European Action Plan can be viewed as a prototype for designing similar strategies in other countries, including Russia. Meanwhile, a more detailed analysis of barriers to the circular economy at the level of individual countries and regions is needed.

scholarly journals Towards Circular Economy—A Comparative Analysis of the Countries of the European Union

Resources ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Ewa Mazur-Wierzbicka
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Spatial Differentiation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Population Member ◽  
Research Population

There are many studies which implement and assess existing measurement manners and document the progress of entities towards the circular economy (CE) at various levels, or present or propose new possibilities of measurement. The majority of them refer to the micro level. The aim of this paper is to conduct a multidimensional comparative analysis of the implementation of circular economy by EU countries. After an in-depth critical analysis of the literature, CE indicators which were proposed by the European Commission were adopted as a basis. Owing to the research population-Member States of the European Union (EU-28), focusing on the said indicators was declared reasonable in all aspects. The classification of EU countries according to the level of their advancement in the concept of CE was adopted as a main research task. In order to do so, a relevant index of development of circular economy was created (IDCE). This will allow us, inter alia, to trace changes in the spatial differentiation of advancement of the EU countries in implementing CE over the years, to identify CE implementation leaders as well as countries particularly delayed in this regard. The comparative analysis was conducted by means of statistical methods. On the basis of the analyses, it was concluded that among all EU countries, those of the old EU are the most advanced in terms of CE. The analysis confirmed significant rising trends for IDCE only in the case of Belgium and The Netherlands.

scholarly journals Environmental Consequences of Closing the Textile Loop—Life Cycle Assessment of a Circular Polyester Jacket

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 2964
Author(s):  
Gregor Braun ◽  
Claudia Som ◽  
Mélanie Schmutz ◽  
Roland Hischier
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Textile Industry ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Energy And Material Flows

The textile industry is recognized as being one of the most polluting industries. Thus, the European Union aims to transform the textile industry with its “European Green Deal” and “Circular Economy Action Plan”. Awareness regarding the environmental impact of textiles is increasing and initiatives are appearing to make more sustainable products with a strong wish to move towards a circular economy. One of these initiatives is wear2wearTM, a collaboration consisting of multiple companies aiming to close the loop for polyester textiles. However, designing a circular product system does not lead automatically to lower environmental impacts. Therefore, a Life Cycle Assessment study has been conducted in order to compare the environmental impacts of a circular with a linear workwear jacket. The results show that a thoughtful “circular economy system” design approach can result in significantly lower environmental impacts than linear product systems. The study illustrates at the same time the necessity for Life Cycle Assessment practitioners to go beyond a simple comparison of one product to another when it comes to circular economy. Such products require a wider system analysis approach that takes into account multiple loops, having interconnected energy and material flows through reuse, remanufacture, and various recycling practices.

scholarly journals Design of Consumables in a Resource-Efficient Economy—A Literature Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1036
Author(s):  
Siri Willskytt
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Product Design ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Specific Design ◽  
Design Considerations ◽  
Life Cycle Perspective ◽  
General Product

Consumable products have received less attention in the circular economy (CE), particularly in regard to the design of resource-efficient products. This literature review investigates the extent to which existing design guidelines for resource-efficient products are applicable to consumables. This analysis is divided into two parts. The first investigates the extent to which general product-design guidelines (i.e., applicable to both durables and consumables) are applicable to consumables. This analysis also scrutinizes the type of recommendations presented by the ecodesign and circular product design, to investigate the novel aspects of the CE in product design. The second analysis examines the type of design considerations the literature on product-type specific design guidelines recommends for specific consumables and whether such guidelines are transferable. The analysis of general guidelines showed that, although guidelines are intended to be general and applicable to many types of products, their applicability to consumable products is limited. Less than half of their recommendations can be applied to consumables. The analysis also identified several design considerations that are transferable between product-specific design guidelines. This paper shows the importance of the life-cycle perspective in product design, to maximize the opportunities to improve consumables.

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