Validating Circular Performance Indicators: The Interface between Circular Economy and Stakeholders

Abstract

The development and application of appropriate Circular Economy indicators is an issue that concerns both the scientific and the business community, as well as decision makers. The existing gap between research, policy and practice could be bridged by using a dynamic indicators selection approach that combines both expert and participatory practices. This study aims to develop such a novel approach for the selection of indicators based on views and needs of practitioners, whilst considering the complex interdependencies of the indicators and determining their importance. Twenty circularity indicators for the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems nexus are selected and ranked by different stakeholders. The interrelationships of the indicators are identified using the Interpretive Structural Model, resulting in six levels of importance. Cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) analysis further enabled the classification of the twenty indicators into four categories based on their driving and dependence power. The results indicate that seven indicators—one related to regeneration of natural environment principle, four related to keep resources in use, and two related to design out negative externalities—are the driving indicators to Circular Economy. The approach can be applied to other sets of indicators as well, enabling their prioritization and implementation with other systems.

Resource flow characterisation and sustainable value creation analysis for the holistic circularity assessment of wastewater systems

“…The circular use of wastewater has attracted signi cant attention in recent years, shifting the focus from treatment to recovery. This has the potential to overcome many issues triggered by population growth, urbanisation, and industrialism by recovering water, generating energy, and capturing nutrients for fertiliser production 11,12 . The need for specialised tools to realise a circular water sector is shown by the recent efforts of water utilities and stakeholders at a national level, such as KWR's dashboard for a circular water sector 13 , UK Water Industry Research's vision and pathway for a circular economy water industry 14 , and The World Bank's Water in Circular Economy and Resilience (WICER) framework 15 .…”

“…Insu cient consideration of the wider sustainability impacts leads to the attitude of circularity for circularity's sake 22 . The interconnectivity and importance of water systems at a societal level, as highlighted by the water-energy-food nexus 12 , means that circularity assessments must be approached from a systems perspective and consider the distinctive issues posed.…”

Water and Circular Cities

“…Additionally, to evaluate the level of circularity of resources' management in cities, appropriate indicators are proposed by the COST Action and presented in this Special Issue [7]. Other papers included in the Special Issue focus on several aspects of using NBS for creating circular economies in cities, i.e., green roofs and vertical greenery systems [8,9]; production of food in cities [10,11], vacuum toilets generating blackwater [12] as well as biogas plants [13].…”

“…We thank all authors for contributing to the Special Issue and thus making it a success. Last but not least, we thank COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology; www.cost.eu (accessed on 2 December 2021)) for funding the APC of seven papers [6][7][8][9][10]12,13].…”

Finding new purpose: Electric vehicle battery repurposing as a case for implementing a circular economy in automotive industry

“…For (Franco et al, 2021;Nika et al, 2021), others state that existing frameworks for implementing a CE provide little guidance on the required assessment methods to be used, which implies that "guidance on monitoring CE strategy implementation remains vague" (Pauliuk, 2018, p.81).…”