Today, one of the economic issues under discussion is the transition from the traditional linear model to the circular one. This implies that maximum value should be extracted from available resources. In this regard, there are several questions:
1. How to measure the degree of "circularity" of the economy at the level of enterprises, districts or nations? In other words, on the basis of what we can say that we are moving or have already moved to a circular economy?
2. How to conclude that we have extracted maximum value from the resource? Firstly, the same resources can be used in different areas, some of which are more preferable from an economic point of view than others. Secondly, technologies are developing very fast, which does not allow to create a reference version of the life cycle for any resource due to the appearance of new, more effective ways to use it.
3. What is the role of human resources in the circular economy? Are there any differences between this role in linear and circular economy?
I would be grateful for any comments, suggestions and answers to these questions, including literature recommendations.
Dear Pavel,
This is a really interesting and relevant topic. I think that these references could be helpful to you, especially regarding Quetion #1:
Measuring the Circular Economy progresses at the level of enterprises:
- Material Circularity Indicator (https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/resources/apply/circularity-indicators)
Article Measuring circular economy strategies through index methods:...
Measuring the Circular Economy progresses at a national level:
Article Providing an economy-wide monitoring framework for the circu...
- European Union (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/pdf/monitoring-framework.pdf)
I also developed a framework to support the assessment of the impacts of Circular Economy scenarios (Article Assessing the impacts of circular economy: a framework and a...
). If you are interested, I can share by private message the full paper.Regards,
Gianmarco
i think in these cases one would use and reference ideal cases as benchmarks. an ideal case might be zero waste. that is already measurable or quantifiable.
Dear Brian Barnard ,
But, if we are simply talking about the absence of waste, is this transition to a circular economy really necessary? It is enough to strengthen vertical integration, so that the waste of existing enterprises will be used somewhere else. For example, the use of ash from fossil fuels as fertilizer.
as mentioned, no waste is an ideal case. i doubt whether it will ever be attained. but, by talking about no waste, you can already measure "distance" to that goal, and all the sudden you can compare and evaluate performance in this regard. a company/ industry/ country will have x waste. also, all the sudden you can introduce benchmarking. another company/ industry/ country will have y waste, hence comparisons become possible. because the possibilities are so vast, i think the only real metric you have at your disposal is ideal metrics, like zero waste in this case.
Just first check some definitions, e.g. here: https://kenniskaarten.hetgroenebrein.nl/en/knowledge-map-circular-economy/what-is-the-definition-a-circular-economy/
and here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_economy
The EllenMacArthur foundation works hard on promotion of CE (but explanations of terms is not always the best possible on their website) - also many reports there: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/concept
It is crucial to ponder about what you mean by 'value' - is it monetized value in the market (not exactly), is it use value, is it compound social value,... etc. How the organisation defines value enormously affects on what circular economy eventually means.
For measurement you need to look at methodologies used in LCA, MFA, and metabolistic models of regions or sectors.
The current linear economy "take, make, discard" is a reflection of a time when resources, energy and credit were believed to be unlimited and easy to obtain and there was no awareness of the serious environmental consequences. The warning discourse of many ecologists was denied or minimized. The linear economy is what we still live today, based on a simple system and very harmful to the environment and to our own health. It is expected that the development of the circular economy will contribute to a significant decrease in the use of resources, as well as in the production of waste and limit the consumption of energy. In addition, it is projected as a driver of a productive reorientation of the countries towards a truly sustainable form.
The circular economy is an attractive and viable alternative that has already begun to explore different companies in the world. In addition to the environmental benefits, this emerging activity would generate wealth and employment in the countries, also generating competitive advantage in the context of globalization.
A fundamental requirement to achieve the transition to a circular economy is innovation, since new technologies, processes, services and business models are necessary, as well as an integral change in the patterns of consumer behavior.
I have read some literatures from China which they established indicators to evaluate the performance of CE implementation in Chinese cities. You can read and refer to Biwei et al 2005, Yong et al 2009, Hong 2009, Xue et al 2010, Geng et al 2010, Su et al 2012, Alan et al 2013. I havent read later than that, but based on 2005-2013 indicators CE development they lack of social consideration. I cant help you answer on that.
Here you can see the different circularity strategies based on their strengths": http://www.pbl.nl/en/infographic/circularity-strategies-within-the-production-chain-in-order-of-priority
Dear Pavel,
This is a really interesting and relevant topic. I think that these references could be helpful to you, especially regarding Quetion #1:
Measuring the Circular Economy progresses at the level of enterprises:
- Material Circularity Indicator (https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/resources/apply/circularity-indicators)
Article Measuring circular economy strategies through index methods:...
Measuring the Circular Economy progresses at a national level:
Article Providing an economy-wide monitoring framework for the circu...
- European Union (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/pdf/monitoring-framework.pdf)
I also developed a framework to support the assessment of the impacts of Circular Economy scenarios (Article Assessing the impacts of circular economy: a framework and a...
). If you are interested, I can share by private message the full paper.Regards,
Gianmarco
Hi Pavel,
I would recommend you to read the book:
Environment, Power, and Society for the Twenty-First Century: The Hierarchy of Energy, by Howard Odum
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=environment%2C++power%2C+society+in+the+21st+century%2C+odum
I hope you may find in this book some basic principles why is necessary a circular economy, and perhaps from that point you may try to further build up ideas about the possible ways of reaching a circular economy, which is only one of the parts of a harder question: How to achieve the long term sustainable development for human society as a whole.
Regards
I agree on the fact that it seems that policies are only focused on waste management tending to zero waste. I've been thinking of this poit because of the latter data indicators published by EUROSTAT relating to circular economy which are 90% about waste, and waste management. It seems to me that the idea of circular economy has been perverted to the same topics ever, and waste management is the area where there are more available data and "tradition" so it is easier to focus on it and ignoring. I can find no disruptive thinking in new policies development so far, and to me, there are infinite areas where policies should also focus like water, energy, processes efficiency, consumption impacts, etc. To me it circular economy is being treated as a "fashion" topic and it is going to happen exactly the same that has involved other environmental movements (ambientalism, sustainabiliby, etc.) it is becoming another topic to talk and do nothing with a real impact in our societies.
Thank you Pavel for suggesting this very interesting discussion.
About measuring according to the ideal state of zero waste, I understand Brian that this is the most noble way of assessing circularity. But the ideal state is only describable in thermodynamic terms. Measuring the distance to such a target would require to perform a systematic exergy analysis, which are very data intensive by the way (much more than performing a life cycle assessment) of the whole economy. If you talk about setting zero waste targets at company level, we know that this will inevitably lead to some kind of consumption or burden shifting. A true circular economy requires a change of the whole system. As Irene said, circular economy is too often confused with waste management, maybe because we first talked about this topic as an "umbrella concept" as P.M. Hirsch defines it, instead of a "paradigm shift" as T. Kuhn defines it. Measuring the progress towards a circular economy is much more complexe than just measuring waste management performance. The current work made by the WBCSD on this topic is very insightful.
http://postgrowth.org/the-real-circular-economy/
http://postgrowth.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/The-Real-Circular-Economy-Sharon-Ede-December-2016.pdf
In my opinion, the boundary are not-for-profit business models.
Circularity can be based on liquidity, linearity is based on profit.
For working markets and market participation, liquidity is sufficient.
Some updates related to your first question on the measurement of circularity performance, check out these two recent papers (January and February 2019) reviewing and analyzing state-of-the-art circularity indicators/metrics:
- A taxonomy of circular economy indicators, including a classification of 55 sets of circularity indicators (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652618330221)
- Measuring the circular economy, including an analysis of 63 metrics (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652618333948)
The problem is that material products such as food, clothes, etc. can hardly be ''circular"" (law of thermodynamics). Lots of greenwashing (e.g. Ellen MacArthur Foundation advertises Coca Cola as best case study etc). Still, there are lots of valuable lessons to be learned, especially through strict applications, related to Cradle to Cradle (e.g. no ''recycling"" as it is downcycling but infinite reuse, no eco-efficiency bas it makes a bad system last longer, but eco-effectiveness) esee for example
Dear Pavel perhaps have a look the six capitals model of gleeson white feel free to ASK me questions regards jan
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