What is Circular Economy?
A circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life.
Reference: The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) (http://www.wrap.org.uk/about-us/about/wrap-and-circular-economy)
Circular Economy aims to redefine growth, focusing on positive society-wide benefits. Underpinned by a transition to renewable energy sources, the circular model builds economic, natural, and social capital. It is based on three principles:
Principle 1: Regenerate natural systems. Preserve and improve natural capital, controlling stocks and balancing the flows of renewable resources
Principle 2: Keep products and materials in use. Optimize the use of resources, recirculating products, components and materials
Principle 3: Design out waste and pollution. Promote system efficiency by minimizing losses and negative externalities
From Linear to Circular
The advances in the last 50 years related to environment care and the promotion of sustainability and, lately, for the transition from a linear economy to a circular economy, are showed in the following infographic.
European Commission approach
With the Circular Economy Package release in December 2015 (reference [1]) and the Circular Economy Action Plan in March 2020, aligned to EU Green Deal (reference [2]), the European Commission has shown its commitment to the transformation towards Circular Economy (CE). CE aims to improve resilience and maintain competitiveness against other markets, especially considering the increasing difficulties of accessing natural resources to develop products and services within the current linear model.
The new CE Action Plan announces initiatives along the entire life cycle of products, targeting for example their design, promoting circular economy processes, fostering sustainable consumption, and aiming to ensure that the resources used are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible. It also introduces legislative and non-legislative measures targeting areas where action at the EU level brings real added value.
Oceanwise project approach
Oceanwise, within WP6, aims to develop Circular Economy-oriented methodologies to analyse the circularity of current solutions for EPS and XPS products and applications (fish boxes, seafood and food packaging), as well to design, develop and select the most sustainable (economic, social, environmental) and circular alternatives.
What are the challenges of the project related to circular economy?
What is a Circularity Assessment?
A structured procedure to assess a company, product or service in terms of circularity and sustainability. It is focused on maximizing the efficiency in the use and exploitation of materials and resources, putting a value on perceived waste as well as to minimize generated waste. In essence, it strives to obtain economic, social and environmentally sustainable products and services.
What is the Life Cycle of a Product?
Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material acquisition or generation from natural resources to final disposal.
Reference: ISO 14040: Environmental Management – Life Cycle Assessment – Principles and Framework. Second Edition 2006
Work Package Summary
It comprises the following activities:
Summarizing, a state-of-the-art review of regulations, standards, guidelines, methodologies and tools to perform circularity assessments and to develop more sustainable and circular alternatives was carried out in the first place (WP6.1, WP6.2)
Considering the existing initiatives, a comprehensive methodology to perform a circularity assessment of EPS/XPS products and applications was developed, aiming to help the development of the most sustainable (economic, social, environmental) and circular solutions for the targeted applications (WP6.3)
WP6.1 SUMMARY – Review of Circularity Indicators/Tools to help evaluate product/application circularity
The objective of this first report was to provide an overview of and assess the current regulations, standards, guidelines, methodologies and tools to perform circularity assessments of generic products and give recommendations to perform a circularity assessment of alternative solutions to EPS and XPS products and applications.
The report noted that the circularity assessment of the life cycle of a product should be aligned with three key Circular Economy principles which are:
The report noted that a broad range of more than 90 documents, such as research papers, articles, guidelines and methodologies, were found. These were then reviewed and categorised under headings such as Life Cycle approach, quantitative/qualitative approach and certifiability.
The following figure shows the distribution of the document type of the references that have been found.
Main conclusions of this particular analysis demonstrate that transition to a circular economy is just at the beginning in relation to legislation and regulations, since:
The report noted that circularity has to be sustainable and on that basis a Life Cycle Sustainability approach should be followed to perform circularity assessments incorporating environmental, social and financial impacts.
See the full content in WP6.1 report.
WP6.2 SUMMARY – Review of models to evaluate and improve product/application circularity
The objective of this second task was to assess and provide an overview of the regulations, standards, guidelines, methodologies, models and tools that currently exist which relate to the improvement of the circularity of generic products and applications. A review of models which were specifically geared towards or designed for EPS and XPS products and applications was also conducted.
This second document reported that more than 80 papers, articles, guidelines and methodologies had been found, which provide models to improve to evaluate and improve general product and application circularity.
The following figure shows the distribution of the document type of the references that have been found.
The main conclusions drawn are:
As a general conclusion, no reference has been found at this moment that could be fully and directly applied to design circular and sustainable EPS/XPS products and applications. However, a lot of relevant aspects are extracted and analyzed from the references studied that can be used to develop an specific methodology and tools to perform it.
Finally, this report provides recommendations to the development of a methodology for the design of alternative technical solutions for EPS/XPS products and applications, which is to be addressed in activity 3 of the work package 6 of OW project.
See the full content in WP6.2 report.
WP6.3 SUMMARY – Circularity Assessment of EPS/XPS Products and Applications
The task here was to develop a methodology to perform a circularity assessment of EPS/XPS products and applications. The ultimate goal of the methodology is to develop the most sustainable (economic, social, environmental) and circular alternatives for the targeted applications.
It applies to both current and potential alternatives solutions for EPS/XPS products and applications targeted by the OceanWise project.
It is not oriented just to materials level. By “solution” it is understood the combination of possible alternatives throughout a life cycle application, using a specific material, a manufacturing and distribution process to different distribution and utilisation points (1st level users, 2nd level users, etc), waste collection systems and end of life management processes.
Any of the following options could be combined within a life cycle application solution:
Part 1 was to describe how to carry out an EPS/XPS product application assessment and involved a number of steps:
From these exercises a sustainability overall score should be calculated from the circularity and sustainability indicators.
Part 2 continued the work and was about how to do a trade-off analysis of alternative solutions and also involved a number of steps:
The Circularity Assessment is to be oriented to:
The main characteristics of the methodology are:
The three dimensions of sustainability i.e. economic, environmental and social, must be considered to analyse fully circularity and sustainability. A Life-Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) approach should be the main focal point in order to combine environmental impact (Life-Cycle Analysis – LCA), cost impact (Life-cycle Cost – LCC) and social impact (Social Life-Cycle analysis – SLCA)
The stakeholders for whom the methodology is being designed include:
The methodology describes how each group of stakeholders can use the methodology to implement the principles of sustainability and circularity in their main activities with respect to circularity and sustainability of solutions.
See the full content in WP6.3 report.
REFERENCES
[1] European Commission – Press release. Closing the loop: Commission adopts ambitious new Circular Economy Package to boost competitiveness, create jobs and generate sustainable growth (http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-6203_en.htm)
[2] Circular Economy Action Plan. For a cleaner and more competitive Europe. European Commission. March 2020. (https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/)
Circularity Indicators & Tools
Circular Economy aims to redefine growth, focusing on positive society-wide benefits. Underpinned by a transition to renewable energy sources, the circular model builds economic, natural, and social capital. It is based on three principles:
Principle 1: Regenerate natural systems
Preserve and improve natural capital, controlling stocks and balancing the flows of renewable resources
Principle 2: Keep products and materials in use
Optimize the use of resources, recirculating products, components and materials
Principle 3: Design out waste and pollution
Promote system efficiency by minimizing losses and negative externalitie
European Commission approach
With the Circular Economy Package release in December 2015 (Link) and the Circular Economy Action Plan in March 2020, aligned to EU Green Deal (Link) the European Commission has shown its commitment to the transformation towards Circular Economy (CE).
CE aims to improve resilience and maintain competitiveness against other markets, especially considering the increasing difficulties of accessing natural resources to develop products and services within the current linear model.
With the WP6 report (from OCEANWISE), the aim is to develop Circular Economy-oriented methodologies to analyze Circularity of current solutions for EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) and XPS (Extruded Polystyrene) products and applications (fish boxes and seafood eps, food packaging) and to select the most sustainable (economic, social, environmental) and circular alternatives
Innovation Keypoints:
Integrate Circular Economy principles from the early design and development phases
Life Cycle orientation. Addressing the entire life-cycle of EPS/XPS products & applications
Circularity is to be Sustainable à Measuring Triple Impact (environment, social and economic)Development of a Methodology for the Circularity Assessment of EPS/XPS Products and ApplicationsCircularity has to be sustainable
Circularity has to be sustainable
Main Output from WP6
Université Bretagne Sud
OceanWise, construire une économie circulaire autour des polystyrènes moussés
La Commission Européenne a identifié « les polymères » comme une priorité du Plan d’Action pour une Économie Circulaire, qui vise à aider les entreprises et les consommateurs à utiliser les ressources de manière plus durable. OceanWise (www.oceanwise-project.eu) est un projet européen sur trois ans, visant à élaborer un ensemble de mesures à long terme pour prévenir l’accumulation de déchets en polystyrène expansé (EPS / XPS) dans les océans. Le consortium compte 12 partenaires de 5 pays – Portugal, Irlande, France, Espagne et Royaume-Uni, couvrant les domaines des sciences de l’océan, des matériaux, de la gestion des déchets, et de l’économie circulaire. 1er Atelier de réflexion participatif, ouvert aux acteurs de la filière PSE/XPS Afin de répondre de manière durable aux défis environnementaux posés par les plastiques expansés sur nos océans, il est essentiel de garantir la participation active de toutes les parties prenantes. Nous pensons que le partage d’expérience et des connaissances de chacun contribuera à trouver des solutions efficaces et durables, pour réduire les impacts environnementaux liés aux polystyrènes moussés. C’est l’objectif de ce premier événement public, proposé dans le cadre d’OceanWise par les partenaires français du projet : l’Université Bretagne Sud, le Cedre, et la société Seabird.
In a circular economy, the value of products and materials is maintained for as long as possible. “Waste and resource use are minimised, and when a product reaches the end of its life, it is used again to create further value”, according to the European Commission.Circular Economy aims to redefine growth, focusing on positive society-wide benefits.
Underpinned by a transition to renewable energy sources, the circular model builds economic, natural, and social capital. It is based on three principles:
Design out waste and pollution Keep products and materials in use Regenerate natural systems
On 2 December 2015, the European Commission put forward a package to support the EU’s transition to a circular economy. website >>
Innovation Keypoints: Addressing the entire life-cycle of EPS products & applications Integrate Circular Economy principles from the early design and development phases LCC (Life Cycle Cost) Assessment approach to analyze the cost of the different alternatives all along the entire life cycle
Outputs from the project: Define methodologies, models and indicators for the transition of Linear to Circular Business Models to: Assess and improve Circularity of current EPS Products & Applications (fish and seafood boxes, food packaging, consumer goods packaging) Design, develop and select sustainable and circular alternative
Circularity Assessment Database of current foamed polystyrene Products & Applications and alternatives
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