Does the Rubber Meet the Road?: Assessing the Potential of Devulcanization Technologies for the Innovation of Tire Rubber Recycling

Innovation is crucial to meet the circular economy goals for tire recycling. Devulcanization, an innovative recycling method of reprocessing tire rubber, offers a pathway towards achieving circular economy objectives. While previous research on devulcanization has primarily focused on technical aspects, this study shifts the focus towards...

Reassessing tin circularity and criticality

Tin is an important metal for society with a high risk of supply disruptions. It is, therefore, classified as a critical material in many parts of the world. An exception is the European Union, for which tin was classified as a non-critical material in 2023. However, there are many discrepancies in the literature regarding the definitions and...

EU Critical Raw Materials Act: too ambitious or not ambitious enough?: A case study on the implications of the three Critical Raw Material Act proposals on satisfying demand for neodymium in wind turbines more sustainably through recycling in Germany

The mitigation of climate change and the transition to a more sustainable and circular use of resources are two of the largest challenges of our time. To this end, the European Commission proposed the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) and Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) in March 2023 as further pillars to its Green Deal. While the NZIA focuses on...

Bio-based plastics in a circular economy: A review of recovery pathways and implications for product design

Bio-based plastics are attracting increasing attention due to their perceived sustainability and circularity. While enabling circularity by using renewable feedstocks, they still contribute to plastic pollution. Furthermore, their rapidly growing market will cause bio-based plastics to constitute significant fractions of plastic waste,...

The geographical scale of a circular economy: Introducing a framework to determine a relevant geographical scale for the recycling of materials, based on a case study of concrete and copper for the Municipality of Leiden

The implications of a CE and the transition towards it are widely researched. However, there is a lack of research into the relevant geographical scales of CE. Thus, this research aims to present a framework that identifies the optimal geographical scale for the recycling of materials based on various factors. The framework is tested against a...

Towards an environmentally sound metric to evaluate post-consumer plastic packaging waste recycling: Towards an environmentally sound metric to evaluate post-consumer plastic packaging waste recycling

In the recent years, the circular economy (CE) has emerged as an alternative to current linear economic models with prospects of achieving the decoupling of environmental impacts from economic growth. To this end, CE models focus on the permanence of products, materials, and value in the economy, eliminating as much waste as possible. In waste...

Characterisation of recycled concrete aggregates from construction and demolition wastes

Construction and demolition waste form a significant problem in terms of environmental pollution and material depletion. Concrete, as part of construction and demolition waste, is already responsible for 9% of the total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Consequently, it is important to alleviate the environmental stress of concrete by...

Circular economy in the City of the Loops: Modelling an urban utopia aware of resources scarcity

The master thesis treats the possibilities of applying circular economy principles into specific conditions of post-soviet city: Nowa Huta. The city faces complex problems of negative demographics, loss of heavy industry and socio-economic regress. The project proposes several strategies that focuses on dealing with problems internally, without...

Developing a mobile device for a Circular Economy

E-waste, price volatility of resources and the constant increase of the middle class world population expecting the same ‘high quality’ life standards have (amongst other) made some companies consider their options. In the reports of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, one aspect of the circular economy model aims at decoupling sales revenues from...