Resource efficiency and the circular economy: concepts, economic benefits, barriers, and policies

Resource efficiency and the circular economy play an important role in environmental and economic policy. This paper defines these concepts and discusses potential economic benefits, barriers to achieving a resource efficient circular economy, and public policies for overcoming these barriers. Resource efficiency and the circular economy are normative concepts which suggest the maximization of wealth and wellbeing through increased material circulation and minimization of losses whilst staying within the limits of the natural environment. An efficient use of resources benefits society and the economy in the long term by protecting the world we live in and reduces dependency on natural resources the economy depends on. Ecosystems provide society with food, materials, clean air and water, aesthetic and recreational pleasure and assimilate air emissions and wastes. Resource efficiency helps avoid depletion, degradation, or a collapse of ecosystems. It can also bring immediate economic benefits through reduced input costs and less dependence on volatile commodity prices. Waste and resource management should aim for a sustainable yield of renewable resources, substitution of finite resources by renewable resources, and absolute limits to environmental impacts. A perfectly circular economy cannot exist due to limited availability of materials for circulation, growing or changing material demand, and inherent process losses. Circular use of materials requires energy and causes environmental impacts. A more efficient use of materials can also create a rebound when cost savings on raw material inputs lead to lower prices and increase consumption. Evidence reviewed in this paper suggests increased resource efficiency can lead to private cost-savings and economic growth. However, these potential gains are likely to be unequally distributed across the economy: raw material exporting countries and the extraction industries are likely to suffer unless they adapt. Care should be taken when interpreting this evidence because the size and distribution of economic impacts depend on model design and assumptions. Circular economy jobs should address structural mismatch in order to lower unemployment. Public policies to support a more resource efficient and circular economy should aim to address market, system, and transition failures. This requires strategic leadership, support for technological innovation, and specific measures to improve social outcomes. Public policy could stimulate resource efficiency by shaping waste management, the business environment, and education and training. Policy makers should consider the global impacts of production and consumption and the potential trade-offs between environmental and economic gains

Recognising waste use potential to achieve a circular economy

Waste management historically focused on the protection of human health and the natural environment from the impacts of littering and dispersion of pollutants. An additional and more recent concern is the resource value of waste. Our analysis shows that the regulatory concept of waste in the European Union, which comprises environmental principles, the legal definition of waste, legal requirements, and policy implementation, is not fit for addressing this concern. The legal definition of waste overlooks the context of waste, fails to consider the interests of the waste user as opposed to the waste holder, and aims to control the impacts of careless discarding rather than stimulating careful discarding. To address these challenges, we suggest a legal requirement to recognise the potential of waste to be used, operationalised by formulating a waste use potential, which expresses how and how much waste can be used as a resource, given enabling conditions. Recognition of waste use potential highlights local opportunities for reuse and recovery, reduces the likelihood of careless discarding, and reveals the interests of possible waste users to the waste holder. The waste use potential may be employed in the formulation and evaluation of policies for industrial and municipal solid waste in a circular economy

Emission reduction potentials for academic conference travel

Air travel, including academic conference travel, is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions and must be limited to achieve climate change targets. To model reduction potentials, we analyzed travel emissions for three global conferences of the International Society for Industrial Ecology. Travel emissions were 722–955 t CO2e per conference and averaged 1.3–1.8 t CO2e per attendee. A shift to land transport for short flights has a maximum reduction potential of only 5% because long‐haul flights contribute most of the emissions. A carbon tax of 100$/t CO2e could reduce emissions by 4–14% but students face the largest relative increase in the cost of conference attendance. Having the 10% of attendees who travel furthest attend virtually reduces conference travel emissions by 20–30%. A multi‐site conference with two video‐linked locations yields a reduction of 25–50%; a three‐site conference yields a reduction of 46–75% and combined with a shift to land transport a reduction of up to 82%. A virtual conference would yield zero travel emissions. We conclude that the effectiveness of the reduction options mostly depends on how international the conference is and whether the longest flights are eliminated. We call on conference organizers, universities, academic societies, and funders to further develop, support, and implement multi‐site and virtual conference models. This article met the requirements for a gold–silver JIE data openness badge described in http://jie.click/badges

Analysing impacts of product life extension through material flow analysis: the case of EEE and paper

Material consumption is an important driver for environmental pollution. Total material throughput can be reduced through the extension of product life. The paper suggests Material Flow Analysis (MFA) as a method to assess the potential material throughput reductions due to increased product longevity. The method is applied to the case of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) and paper products. The paper first collates data from different sources to give an overview of material inputs and outputs for both material/product categories in the United Kingdom. Subsequently, it reviews the literature for a selection of interventions and calculates the potential savings in the total material throughput. For EEE, the analysis emphasises the issue of optimal life times that need to balance the impact generated in the production phase and during the use of the product. For paper, a key issue is the practical limitations on reusing a material that is easily damaged and worn. It is concluded that there is considerable potential for MFA in estimating the impacts of product life extension on material through put although limitations in data availability and quality are acknowledged

Global life cycle paper flows, recycling metrics and material efficiency

Despite major improvements in recycling over the last decades, the pulp and paper sector is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental pressures. Further reduction of virgin material requirements and environmental impacts requires a detailed understanding of the global material flows in paper production and consumption. This study constructs a Sankey diagram of global material flows in the paper life cycle, from primary inputs to end-of-life waste treatment, based on a review of publicly available data. It then analyses potential improvements in material flows and discusses recycling and material efficiency metrics. The article argues that the use of the collection rate as a recycling metric does not directly stimulate avoidance of virgin inputs and associated impacts. An alternative metric compares paper for recycling (recovered paper) with total fibrous inputs and indicates that the current rate is at just over half of the technical potential. Material efficiency metrics are found to be more useful if they relate to the reuse potential of wastes. The material balance developed in this research provides a solid basis for further study of global sustainable production and consumption of paper. The conclusions on recycling and efficiency should be considered for improving environmental performance assessment methods

Limitations of the waste hierarchy for achieving absolute reductions in material throughput

Dematerialization can serve as a measurable and straightforward strategy for sustainability and requires changes in management of material inputs and waste outputs of the economy. Currently, waste man- agement is strongly inspired by the waste hierarchy, an in fl uential philosophy in waste and resource management that prioritizes practices ranging from waste prevention to land fi ll. Despite the inclusion and prioritization of prevention in the hierarchy, the positive contribution of the application of the waste hierarchy to dematerializing the economy is not inevitable, nor has it been conclusively studied. In this paper, the waste hierarchy is analyzed on a conceptual level by studying its original aims, its potential to ful fi ll those aims, and its actual policy implementation. Issues with the hierarchy include limited spec- i fi cation and implementation of prevention, a lack of guidance for choosing amongst the levels of the hierarchy and the absence of a distinction between open-loop and closed-loop recycling. Also, the hi- erarchy only communicates relative priorities and therefore does not support decisions that affect other sectors as well as waste management. The article concludes that the waste hierarchy in its current form is an insuf fi cient foundation for waste and resource policy to achieve absolute reductions in material throughput. Suggested improvements are the adoption of a value-based conception of waste and related collection practices, more stringent and targeted policies on least desirable options like land fi ll, the speci fi cation of waste management targets based on dematerialization ambitions, and the use of the waste hierarchy within a resource productivity-oriented framework

Elemental and mineralogical composition of metal-bearing neutralisation sludges, and zinc speciation – A review

Zinc (Zn) in sludges from neutralisation of acidic emissions is a potential environmental pollutant and an element of interest for recovery. Findings regarding the elemental and mineralogical composition of such wastes were aggregated from the literature and examined together for a better understanding of management options, with a focus on Zn. Zn concentrations ranged from 0.006-22% in 46 acid mine drainage sludges, 0.009%-43% in 72 metal-finishing sludges, 0.024%-11.5% in 32 pyrometallurgical sludges, and 1.71-55.7% in 14 Zn production sludges. The main mineralogical characterization technique was X-ray diffraction, which found the dominant minerals to be calcite, gypsum, quartz, and iron oxides, but could not identify considerable proportions of amorphous phases. More than 60 mineral phases were observed. Crystalline Zn compounds identified included oxides, hydroxides, sulfates, sulfides, and metallic Zn; spinel, olivine and carbonate dominated in pyrometallurgical sludges. Zn may also be present in crystalline phases of low concentration, solid solution, and/or amorphous phases, which could be identified and characterised in more detail using other techniques. Overall, it is concluded that Zn occurs in high concentrations and includes phases that have high potential environmental mobility. Zn recovery seems feasible and would also enable harmless disposal of the residual

Mice lacking the MHC class II transactivator (CIITA) show tissue-specific impairment of MHC class II expression

CIITA activates the expression of multiple genes involved in antigen presentation and it is believed to be required for both constitutive and IFN\xce\xb3-inducible expression of these genes. To understand the role of CIITA in vivo, we have used gene targeting to generate mice that lack CIITA. CIITA-deficient (-/-) mice do not express conventional MHC class II molecules on the surface of splenic B cells and dendritic cells. In addition, macrophages resident in the peritoneal cavity do not express MHC class II molecules upon IFN\xce\xb3 stimulation nor do somatic tissues of mice injected with IFN\xce\xb3, in contrast with wild-type mice. The levels of li and H-2M gene transcripts are substantially decreased but not absent in CIITA (-/-) mice. The transcription of nonconventional MHC class II genes is, however, not affected by CIITA deficiency. A subset of thymic epithelial cells express MHC class II molecules. Nonetheless, very few mature CD4 T cells are present in the periphery of CIITA (-/-) mice despite MHC class II expression in the thymus. Consequently, CIITA (-/-) mice are impaired in T-dependent antigen responses and MHC class II-mediated allogeneic reponses