Identifying design guidelines to meet the circular economy principles: A case study on electric and electronic equipment

Bovea, Marı́a D.; Pérez-Belis, Victoria

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.08.014

Cited by 93 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…It is present within the II e IV scenario, thanks to the ability to activate CE. Eco-design emerges as an instrumental factor in the search for sustainable solutions, from the design phase [37,56], to the assembly or the disassembly phase [39], or to support the "design or architecture" for the efficiency and the sustainability of the business [57].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Entrepreneurial Drivers for the Development of the Circular Business Model: The Role of Academic Spin-Off

et al. 2020

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Circular Economy represents today a new economic paradigm based on the environment and on the recovery of material. The pursuit of this change can be implemented through different policies with a top-down or bottom-up approach. Following the latter approach Spin-Offs, typically defined as “Science Based” companies, represent an alternative tool to promote technology transfer. In other words, they represent a bridge between the research and the production system. This part of the study is part of a larger and more complex project whose objective is to verify whether the development of research Spin-Offs and in particular academics, operating in the environment sector, or more generally sustainable, facilitate the transition from the classic model of linear economics to the innovative model of circular economics. The aim of the paper is to investigate how spin off enterprises can be a driver for the development of a Circular Business Model and to facilitate the transition from the classical model of linear economy to the new model of Circular Economy. At the methodological level, a multiple compared analysis was made between a sample of firms located in Lazio Region- Italy, that operates in the area of green economy Smart Specialization Strategy (S3). The analysis shows a rapid succession of variables that lead to the identification of four scenarios, deriving from the interconnection of the outcome: “closed loop”, “open loop” and the presence or absence of Circular Economy practices. The result confirms that the Academic Spin-Offs can be a driver of Circular economy, as long as that fall within the IV scenario, characterized by the interconnection of an open loop system that works in a circular approach. The “High valorization of waste” represents the discriminant in this scenario, which allows to activate a cascade system in a multi-stakeholder perspective.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Entrepreneurial Drivers for the Development of the Circular Business Model: The Role of Academic Spin-Off

et al. 2020

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“…Color mapping is relevant in visualization tools, and the selection of the proper color scale to represent some data and information is not trivial [132]. To support the intuitiveness of the visualization (feature C1) and rapidly identify possible underlying models and their potential (feature C3), specific colors are selected to differentiate the value of flows and resources in the model.…”

Section: Color Codementioning

confidence: 99%

Overcoming the Main Barriers of Circular Economy Implementation through a New Visualization Tool for Circular Business Models

2019

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There is a huge gap between the broad concept of circular economy (CE) and its practical implementation in the industrial sector due to several types of barriers, which shall be led back to the lack of consistent and precise information about resources, products, and processes. Without a proper information flow, it is impossible to quantify circular initiatives, both in comparison with the actual linear situation or with circular alternative opportunities. A proper quantification of circular initiatives allows the assessment of economic, environmental and social benefits and the preventative identification of potential barriers and relative solutions, monitoring the risk associated with circular investments and supporting the decision-making process. This paper describes a new tool to ensure the quantification of circular initiatives and the method to define it. It is a new Circular Business Model (CBM) visualization tool, which overcomes the main limitations of the existing models able to explain CE concepts but not to boost its practical implementation in industry. The new CBM visualization tool can be adopted in every industrial sector to highlight circular opportunities that are still hidden or unexploited or to select the best CE strategy. The proposed CBM visualization tool differs from the previous diagrams in two main characteristics: (i) the possibility to quantify resource flows and important indicators representing energy consumption, environmental and social impact, and (ii) the focus, which is not only on the product, but on the whole system, involving also the process, the company and the entire supply chain. The methodology to adopt and adapt the proposed model to different scales is described in detail. To provide a practical example, the model was qualitatively applied to a generic technical product to highlight its potential in the identification and quantification of circular activities.

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“…Other product-specific methods for durable products [7,9] seem to fall short on providing more detailed product-specific guidelines. Bovea and Perez-Belis [20] and Vezzoli [14], however, acknowledged that different product categories have different design constraints on design measures. Not providing customization or guidance makes a design method harder to use than a method that does, as in our tool, where recommendations are based on product characteristics.…”

Section: Product Typesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many of the studies focus on durable products in general [7,9,18,19], a specific durable product [20], or products in general [6,10]. Consumables, in contrast, have been somewhat forgotten in many of the circular design methods [76,77], with the exception of Haffmans, et al [78].…”

Section: Product Typesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ceschin and Gaziulusoy [16] reviewed design for sustainability (DfS) literature and concluded that DfS contributes to the CE, but the notion of the CE generally has a limited emphasis on user practice and behavior [16,17]. Additionally, design tools vary in their coverage of product types, from a focus on certain product types, mainly durable products [18][19][20], to the inclusion of all types [10]. Similarly, as pointed out by Telenko, et al [21] (p. 2), "The difficulty with Design for Environment (DfE) principles and guidelines is that they are scattered throughout the literature, in various forms and levels of abstraction, and often with focused emphases on specific life-cycle stages, products, or industries".…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Design Guidelines Developed from Environmental Assessments: A Design Tool for Resource-Efficient Products

Willskytt

Brambila‐Macias

2020

Sustainability

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The circular economy provides a potential solution to the take–make–dispose model of resource use that currently characterizes the economy. Guidelines for the circular economy often consist of prioritized lists of measures to achieve resource efficiency. However, for the purpose of designing products, such general prioritizations of measures are less useful. Instead, the tool developed in this study is based on learnings from numerous life cycle assessments and provides design recommendations for the improved resource efficiency of products based on product characteristics. The tool includes measures over the whole lifecycle of different products that lead to improved resource efficiency. The tool also demonstrates how different product types, such as different varieties of durable and consumable products, can become more resource-efficient and when trade-offs occur over the lifecycle of a product. The tool was tested in a design case where its usefulness and usability were evaluated using a comparative life cycle assessment and a questionnaire. The evaluation shows the tool is informative and provides design suggestions that lead to improved resource efficiency. The tool is considered usable and could be implemented in design practice.

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Identifying design guidelines to meet the circular economy principles: A case study on electric and electronic equipment

Cited by 93 publications

References 34 publications

Entrepreneurial Drivers for the Development of the Circular Business Model: The Role of Academic Spin-Off

Entrepreneurial Drivers for the Development of the Circular Business Model: The Role of Academic Spin-Off

Overcoming the Main Barriers of Circular Economy Implementation through a New Visualization Tool for Circular Business Models

Design Guidelines Developed from Environmental Assessments: A Design Tool for Resource-Efficient Products

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