A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Towards a sustainable circular economy : a framework for integrating circularity and life cycle sustainability assessments
Circular economy (CE) has emerged as an umbrella concept for achieving a sustainable economy. CE approaches that apply one or more CE strategies, such as refuse, recycling, or recover, hold significant potential for mitigating primary resource exploitation and greenhouse gas emissions, preserving biodiversity, or enhancing social well-being. However, despite the necessity of CE for fostering a sustainable economy, the transition from a linear economy to CE is not inherently sustainable as trade-offs and burden shifting might occur. An example of this is the reduction of primary resource consumption through implemented recycling that, simultaneously, might lead to higher environmental impacts stemming from the use of acids for cleaning and recycling processes or job losses in the mining industry. Moreover, the optimal CE strategies to be implemented may vary depending on case-specific circumstances, such as the robustness or recyclability of materials. Still, the selection process of CE strategies and implementation of CE approaches often lacks reliable derivation by relying on limited indicators such as recycling rates – failing to consider the complex nature of the three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic, social). To assess CE approaches in terms of their degree of circularity and their contribution to sustainability, robust monitoring and assessment methods are required. Many CE indicators have been introduced to assess circularity. Moreover, several researchers have assessed the potential of life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA), applying in parallel life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC), and social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) to the same functional unit (FU) and equivalent system boundaries, in the CE context. While both methodologies were found relevant, no CE indicator or assessment framework was found that could cover the intrinsic circularity (e.g., recirculation rate) of CE approaches together with their impact on sustainability performance. Moreover, several ...
Towards a sustainable circular economy : a framework for integrating circularity and life cycle sustainability assessments
Circular economy (CE) has emerged as an umbrella concept for achieving a sustainable economy. CE approaches that apply one or more CE strategies, such as refuse, recycling, or recover, hold significant potential for mitigating primary resource exploitation and greenhouse gas emissions, preserving biodiversity, or enhancing social well-being. However, despite the necessity of CE for fostering a sustainable economy, the transition from a linear economy to CE is not inherently sustainable as trade-offs and burden shifting might occur. An example of this is the reduction of primary resource consumption through implemented recycling that, simultaneously, might lead to higher environmental impacts stemming from the use of acids for cleaning and recycling processes or job losses in the mining industry. Moreover, the optimal CE strategies to be implemented may vary depending on case-specific circumstances, such as the robustness or recyclability of materials. Still, the selection process of CE strategies and implementation of CE approaches often lacks reliable derivation by relying on limited indicators such as recycling rates – failing to consider the complex nature of the three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic, social). To assess CE approaches in terms of their degree of circularity and their contribution to sustainability, robust monitoring and assessment methods are required. Many CE indicators have been introduced to assess circularity. Moreover, several researchers have assessed the potential of life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA), applying in parallel life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC), and social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) to the same functional unit (FU) and equivalent system boundaries, in the CE context. While both methodologies were found relevant, no CE indicator or assessment framework was found that could cover the intrinsic circularity (e.g., recirculation rate) of CE approaches together with their impact on sustainability performance. Moreover, several ...
Towards a sustainable circular economy : a framework for integrating circularity and life cycle sustainability assessments
Luthin, Anna (author) / Traverso, Marzia / Passer, Alexander
2024-01-01
Aachen : RWTH Aachen University 1 Online-Ressource : Illustrationen (2024). doi:10.18154/RWTH-2024-10378 = Dissertation, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2024. - Dissertation, University of Melbourne, 2024
Theses
Electronic Resource
English