Assessing circularity interventions: a review of EEIOA-based studies

Abstract

In the early 1990s, the concept of circular economy was proposed by Pearce and Turner (1990) as a model to transform the traditional open-ended economy into an ongoing closed-loop system from a material perspective. Since then, several scholars and practitioners have adopted multiple definitions for circularity (Winans et al. 2017). After considering 114 conceptual frameworks, Kirchherr et al. (2017) define it as an economic system that substitutes product end-of-life with a set of circularity interventions.Circularity interventions are actions or processes that preserve resources inside the economy (Lieder and Rashid 2016a;Bocken et al. 2017). Such actions are based on three principles (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2013;Ghisellini et al. 2016): AbstractEnvironmentally extended input-output analysis (EEIOA) can be applied to assess the economic and environmental implications of a transition towards a circular economy. In spite of the existence of several such applications, a systematic assessment of the opportunities and limitations of EEIOA to quantify the impacts of circularity strategies is currently missing. This article brings the current state of EEIOA-based studies for assessing circularity interventions up to date and is organised around four categories: residual waste management, closing supply chains, product lifetime extension, and resource efficiency. Our findings show that residual waste management can be modelled by increasing the amount of waste flows absorbed by the waste treatment sector. Closing supply chains can be modelled by adjusting input and output coefficients to reuse and recycling activities and specifying such actions in the EEIOA model if they are not explicitly presented. Product lifetime extension can be modelled by combining an adapted final demand with adjusted input coefficients in production. The impacts of resource efficiency can be modelled by lowering input coefficients for a given output. The major limitation we found was that most EEIOA studies are performed using monetary units, while circularity policies are usually defined in physical units. This problem affects all categories of circularity interventions, but is particularly relevant for residual waste management, due to the disconnect between the monetary and physical value of waste flows. For future research, we therefore suggest the incorporation of physical and hybrid tables in the assessment of circularity interventions when using EEIOA.

Modeling the circular economy in environmentally extended input–output: A web application

“…This meant that the input–output lacked that information after transformation from supply‐use tables (SUTs). Faced with this challenge, other authors have employed hybrid tables using a Waste Input–Output model (Aguilar‐Hernandez, Sigüenza‐Sanchez, Donati, Rodrigues, & Tukker, 2018). The decision to employ monetary data, instead of hybrid data, was based on technical constraints and information preferences.…”

Recycling of Communal Waste: Current State and Future Potential for Sustainable Development in the EU

“…Development of waste and its use have been studied by a number of authors from various points of view [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41], discussing various aspects of the waste hierarchy [11].…”

“…Due to the use of global resources, there is a need for decoupling of economic growth and resource consumption by application of circular economy approaches [32]. Aguilar-Hernandez et al [33] applied circularity to waste management, closing supply chains, product lifetime extension, and resource efficiency, showing that residual waste management can be modeled by increasing the amount of waste flows absorbed by the waste treatment sector. The concept of a circular economy, introduced by David Pearce in 1990 [34], addresses the interlinkages of the economic functions of the environment.…”

Efficient computation of environmentally extended input–output scenario and circular economy modeling

“…EEIOA (Leontief, 1970) is widely used to assess the economic and environmental implications of environmental policy (Suh, 2009), and has become a crucial component of the science and policy interface (de Koning, 2018). EEIOA has been used to analyze both the effects of specific Circular Economy (CE) interventions (e.g., residual waste management, closing supply chains, product lifetime extension, resource efficiency Aguilar‐Hernandez, Sigüenza‐Sanchez, Donati, Rodrigues, & Tukker, 2018; Nakamura & Kondo, 2009), and to assess the overall transition to a CE (Aguilar‐Hernandez et al., 2018; McCarthy et al., 2018; Vivanco, Sprecher, & Hertwich, 2017).…”

“…efficiency Aguilar-Hernandez, Sigüenza-Sanchez, Donati, Rodrigues, & Tukker, 2018;Nakamura & Kondo, 2009), and to assess the overall transition to a CE (Aguilar-Hernandez et al, 2018;McCarthy et al, 2018;Vivanco, Sprecher, & Hertwich, 2017).…”