Current circular economy discourse is largely shaped by metaphors similar to the ones used for a linear economy: the machine metaphor, competitive metaphor and the journey metaphor. Metaphors influence patterns of thought, what ideas and solutions are valued (and which are not). Therefore, if a radical economic change is desired, it is important to explore which radically different metaphors could inform this thinking. This study explores the use of the forest as a source domain to enrich circular economy discourse. First, through a qualitative enquiry, intuitive knowledge about a forest is mapped out. Then, circular economy experts were asked to project these insights onto circular economy discourse. The results are presented as practical subdomains that can be applied within design, business and educational contexts. The findings show rich insights related to dealing with wholeness, the importance of relationship, and response to change. The Results Section presents concrete prompts for activating these source domains and applying these as a prompt for ideation. This research contributes to circular economy education by using metaphors derived from nature as a tool for reflection and novel circular economy conceptualisations.

This chapter presents the lesson learnt from several European projects supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) which integrated remanufacturing (the process of restoring used products to like-new condition) education into the curriculum of engineering and business programs. The projects, implemented in partnership with both universities and companies, designed teaching materials and then experimented with those in formats such as workshops and online digital nuggets on remanufacturing. The projects’ objective was to foster a skilled workforce that could contribute to the transition to a circular economy and to promote sustainable development. The projects emphasized interdisciplinary collaboration in order to promote sustainable product design and supply chain management. The chapter discusses the pedagogical approaches adopted, and offers evaluative case studies illustrating successful implementation in different educational contexts. The projects in question showed that a collaborative approach between universities and companies was effective in promoting the integration of remanufacturing education into the curriculum. The outcomes included the development of a network of educators and industry professionals who could share best practices, experiences, and knowledge related to remanufacturing education. The projects’ success highlights the importance of collaborative European projects in promoting sustainable development and fostering a skilled workforce which can contribute to the transition to a circular economy.

The construction sector in the European Union is the biggest producer of waste when compared to other economic sectors. Waste prevention could reduce greenhouse emissions by up to 80%. Much of the material demand is from primary mined material sources and both this demand and primary supply have seen an exponential rise in the twenty-first century. In addition to conventional “bulk” materials, there is an increasing demand for a wider palette of technology materials driven by the need for smart, energy-efficient buildings. The current pattern for building construction and refurbishment tends to follow the linear economic model of ”take-make-waste.”

In this chapter an overarching approach is taken to circularity in buildings, in which the how, who, when, and what are considered. Circular Built Environment models are explored to see which approach facilitates modular design, which in turn facilitates product life extension strategies followed by enhanced recycling. The proposition of this chapter is that product life extension strategies in a Circular Built Environment context can deliver enhanced recycling activities.

Numerous academic scholars argue for a radical transformation of the economy towards a circular model, in response to pressures from planetary and social issues such as energy, climate change, inequality, and resource depletion. This study examines how the academic community perceives the concept of a circular economy in comparison to traditional economic discourse, through the lens of conceptual metaphors. Conceptual metaphors are systematic properties that reflect one’s understanding of abstract phenomena like a circular economy. Through a structured review of the literature, seven dominant conceptual metaphors were identified that shape the understanding of traditional economics. The study also conducted a textual analysis of the ten most frequently cited academic papers on the circular economy. The analysis revealed that certain dominant metaphors from traditional economics have been influential in shaping discourse on the circular economy. The most common metaphors were the machine metaphor, competitive metaphors, the journey metaphor, and ecological metaphors. Each conceptual metaphor has its own strengths and weaknesses, which may include poorly explained areas or missing dimensions. These two aspects are referred to as misconceptions and blind spots, respectively, and the paper reflects on the implications of these for the current academic discourse on the circular economy.

Most frameworks for dealing with the complexity of designing for the circular economy have limitations in terms of correlating different domains of knowledge, correlating highly complex design strategies, and facilitating the process of design strategies’ discovery and development. This paper discusses how managers and designers can create products that can be circulated for several life cycles by considering five different circular objectives (i.e., maintenance/longevity, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture and/or recycling). To achieve one or more of these objectives, multiple design strategies can be used at various phases of each product life cycle and throughout the product’s lifetime. A literature review is used in this article to evaluate how circular objectives and design strategies are classified in terms of relevance, product life cycle phases, and product life cycles. The three classifications are merged to create a novel conceptual framework, which is then tested through the use of four circular case studies to map out life cycles, circular objectives, and design strategies. The framework may help managers and designers better understand how their businesses and products interact along the supply chain, allowing them to establish more effective product lifetime plans.

Remanufacturing offers an approach to extend product lifetime beyond its first use. After restoring products to original quality, they are reintroduced to the market. To make products more suited for this approach, and to increase resource-efficiency, design for remanufacturing can be incorporated for new product development. Academic literature points out opportunities for improved implementation particularly through early-stage design activities. This paper presents an in-depth, single case study into the opportunities and barriers to incorporate design for remanufacturing ine early-stage design. The selected case company is a producer of professional imaging equipment with an internal remanufacturing division. The company has decades of experience in remanufacturing and has introduced a company standard on design for End-of-Life. For data collection, employees from different departments were interviewed and observed. Design management theory was used to combine findings from all perspectives into a company-specific strategy map. This map shows departmental interrelations and dependencies, and exposes the opportunities for creating new value through design. At the case company, remanufacturing was found to be separate from, and secondary to, the development of newly manufactured products. If the strategy of a company is not attuned to developing products that serve multiple use-cycles, its execution will remain sub-optimal and remanufacturing will be a value-retention strategy in isolation. These findings may be valid for other companies that have remanufacturing operations, which are separate, as well.

In recent years, implementing a circular economy in cities has been considered by policy makers as a potential solution for achieving sustainability. Existing literature on circular cities is mainly focused on two perspectives: urban governance and urban metabolism. Both these perspectives, to some extent, miss an understanding of space. A spatial perspective is important because circular activities, such as the recycling, reuse, or storage of materials, require space and have a location. It is therefore useful to understand where circular activities are located, and how they are affected by their location and surrounding geography. This study therefore aims to understand the existing state of waste reuse activities in the Netherlands from a spatial perspective, by analyzing the degree, scale, and locations of spatial clusters of waste reuse. This was done by measuring the spatial autocorrelation of waste reuse locations using global and local Moran’s I, with waste reuse data from the national waste registry of the Netherlands. The analysis was done for 10 material types: minerals, plastic, wood and paper, fertilizer, food, machinery and electronics, metal, mixed construction materials, glass, and textile. It was found that all materials except for glass and textiles formed spatial clusters. By varying the grid cell sizes used for data aggregation, it was found that different materials had different “best fit” cell sizes where spatial clustering was the strongest. The best fit cell size is ∼7 km for materials associated with construction and agricultural industries, and ∼20–25 km for plastic and metals.The best fit cell sizes indicate the average distance of companies from each other within clusters, and suggest a suitable spatial resolution at which the material can be understood. Hotspot maps were also produced for each material to show where reuse activities are most spatially concentrated.

Design indicators can be used by companies to track circular design implementation, which can yield insights into their performance and opportunities for improvement. Yet, existing indicator methods either lack depth with regard to circular design, are incomplete, or do not use design semantics. This study explores product-level circularity indicators, with the aim of developing a comprehensive circularity indicator method specifically aimed at designers. The method development process follows a three step Design Science Research approach. It comprises a literature review and knowledge coproduction sessions with circular design experts on topics such as durability, repair, remanufacturing, and recycling. Furthermore, it includes company evaluations with two multinational corporations operating in the white goods and automotive industries. The study delivers the first indicator method for assessing circular product design on a broad range of aspects, including levels of readiness, company strengths, and opportunities for improvement. The method uses product design semantics to evaluate design aspects, takes a comprehensive view of the full life cycle, and has been specifically developed for industry use.

In this article, we explore concrete examples of circularity strategies for critical raw materials (CRMs) in commercial settings. We propose a company-level framework for systematically evaluating circularity strategies (e.g., material recycling, product reuse, and product or component lifetime extension) in specific applications of CRMs from the perspectives of specific industrial actors. This framework is applied in qualitative analyses—informed by relevant literature and expert consultation—of five case studies across a range of industries: (1) rhenium in high-pressure turbine components, (2) platinum group metals in industrial catalysts for chemical processing and oil refining, (3) rare earth permanent magnets in computer hard disk drives, (4) various CRMs in consumer electronics, and (5) helium in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines. Drawing from these case studies, three broader observations can be made about company circularity strategies for CRMs. Firstly, there are multiple, partly competing motivations that influence the adoption of circularity strategies, including cost savings, supply security, and external stakeholder pressure. Secondly, business models and value-chain structure play a major role in the implementation of circularity strategies; business-to-business models appear to be more conducive to circularity than business-to-consumer models. Finally, it is important to distinguish between closed-loop circularity, in which material flows are contained within the “focal” actor’s system boundary, and open-loop circularity, in which material flows cross the system boundary, as the latter has limited potential for mitigating material criticality from the perspective of the focal actor.

In recent years, implementing a circular economy in cities (or “circular cities”) has been proposed by policy makers as a potential solution for achieving sustainability. One strategy for circular cities is to reintroduce manufacturing into urban areas (or “urban manufacturing”), allowing resource flows to be localized at the city scale. However, the extent to which urban manufacturing contributes to circular cities is unclear in existing literature. The purpose of this paper is therefore twofold: to understand whether urban manufacturing could contribute to the circular economy, and to understand the drivers and barriers to circular urban manufacturing. By reviewing existing literature and interviewing experts, we identified the caveats for the contribution of urban manufacturing to circular cities, as well as the spatial, social, and material-related drivers and barriers for circular urban manufacturing.

This report presents the findings from a review of more than one hundred Research & Innovation (R&I) projects under EU Framework programmes FP6 and FP7, dealing with a range of circularity considerations related to product design, manufacturing, use and after-use. Nine independent experts analysed these projects, brought in their own expertise, and identified key messages and lessons for policy makers with regard to possible future research and policy action. These findings may prove useful in the implementation of the brand-new second Circular Economy Action Plan, which develops a vision for an innovative circular material policy embedded in the broader context of the ambitious objectives for climate change mitigation that the new Commission expressed in its European Green Deal

The assessment of the criticality of raw materials allows the identification of the likelihood of a supply disruption of a material and the vulnerability of a system (e.g. a national economy, technology, or company) to this disruption. Inconclusive outcomes of various studies suggest that criticality assessments would benefit from the identification of best practices. To prepare the field for such guidance, this paper aims to clarify the mechanisms that affect methodological choices which influence the results of a study. This is achieved via literature review and round table discussions among international experts. The paper demonstrates that criticality studies are divergent in the system under study, the anticipated risk, the purpose of the study, and material selection. These differences in goal and scope naturally result in different choices regarding indicator selection, the required level of aggregation as well as the subsequent choice of aggregation method, and the need for a threshold value. However, this link is often weak, which suggests a lack of understanding of cause-and-effect mechanisms of indicators and outcomes. Data availability is a key factor that limits the evaluation of criticality. Furthermore, data quality, including both data uncertainty and data representativeness, is rarely addressed in the interpretation and communication of results. Clear guidance in the formulation of goals and scopes of criticality studies, the selection of adequate indicators and aggregation methods, and the interpretation of the outcomes, are important initial steps in improving the quality of criticality assessments.

Society requires a stable and secure supply of raw materials. Raw materials supply stability and security are, amongst others, addressed by the concept of raw materials criticality, which focuses on the vulnerability of an economic unit (most commonly a country or region, but also the world, specific sectors, companies or products) to supply restrictions of certain mineral raw materials (cf. Schrijvers et al., 2020). The idea of keeping materials in the economic cycle for longer is specified in the Circular Economy (CE) concept, which encompasses efforts that reduce waste and improve material efficiency (Ellen McArthur Foundation, 2013; European Commission, 2018). So far, CE beyond recycling has not played a prominent role in the criticality debate. At the same time, critical raw materials (CRM) have only been a minor topic in the discussion on CE (recent exceptions include European Commission, 2018, and Gaustad et al., 2018). If properly aligned, criticality assessments might help in defining priority materials for the CE, and circularity strategies could substantially mitigate supply risks. In this paper, we explore the potential benefits, as well as caveats, of adopting a CE approach to CRM, based on our own experiences and our discussions organized by the IRTC (International Round Table on Materials Criticality) project.

Adopting design approaches that allow products to last multiple use-cycles supports European Commission objectives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce primary material impacts. Remanufacturing is an example of an appropriate circular strategy and it can be applied in a variety of industries that are intensive materials users. However, most companies have not yet adopted design strategies facilitating remanufacturing at scale. In this paper, we explored how design management can facilitate the implementation of Design for Remanufacturing, based on a literature review and in-depth interviews. Seven companies active in business-to-business markets were interviewed about the design-related opportunities and barriers they see for remanufacturing. We found that access to technical knowledge is not a barrier, whereas integrating this knowledge into the existing design process is. We conclude that design management can contribute to the uptake of Design for Remanufacturing for the following reasons: by making the value of Design for Remanufacturing to the company at large explicit, by building bridges between internal and external stakeholders, and by embedding Design for Remanufacturing into existing processes by means of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and roadmaps.

This paper analyses the user safety of a playground built out of reused blades from a dismantled wind turbine. Located in Rotterdam and designed by the Netherlands architecture firm Superuse Studios, the playground, called “Wikado”, represents an example of the circular economy applied to the built environment. With reused materials, Wikado represents a saving in resources and energy, when compared to a standard playground built with primary materials. Furthermore, the playground creates a unique design experience for its users, who can still recognise the original rotor blades following their transformation into slides, platforms, and tunnels. However, the safety of the playground could be questioned. This paper will analyse the materials and products used in the playground and their condition some years after opening. The analysis focuses on the risks of human health during the use of the playground. It considers the shape and the sharpness of the rotor blades, its components such as glass fibres and epoxy resin. As a result of the analysis, two risk analysis conceptual models help to assess the health concerns regarding the contact with the materials, and some yellow drops leaching from the rotor blades. This analysis informs the contemporary debate concerning the reuse of materials, and more generically, the circular economy applied to the built environment: whether it is recommended and safe to reuse materials for a different function from that which they were originally designed. This paper will explain that in the analysed case study, it can be safe to reuse materials for a different function, but only with the appropriate precautions.

Remanufacturing is proposed as a strategy to develop circular business models to manage resource loops in the future circular economy (CE). If remanufacturing is to occupy a central role in the CE it needs to be considered from a series of complementary and synchronous business activities. Thus, the aim of this article is to investigate how such an integrated perspective can drive sustainable value creation within the context of remanufacturing business models. This is explored through three business cases: Philips Healthcare Refurbished Systems, Siemens Wind Power, and Orangebox. This ‘integrated view’ considers remanufacturing activities according to: product design and development; remanufacturing processes; value chain design and management; and marketing and consumer/user relationship. The research question asks, ‘Can an integrated perspective drive sustainable value creation in remanufacturing contexts?’ To answer this, the research maps a set of triple-bottom-line indicators across the chosen cases. The work contributes to the field by mapping a set of business mechanisms (e.g. warranties, service approaches, partnerships) that can be utilised to co-develop necessary activities in unison for a successful remanufacturing approach. In certain cases, remanufacturing has the potential to add to the triple-bottom-line through such an integrated approach. However, each of the firms are investing in remanufacturing predominantly for profitability and market protection measures and therefore environmental and social components of the triple-bottom-line must be proactively considered.

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The availability of resources is crucial for the socio-economic stability of our society. For more than two decades, there was a debate on how to structure this issue within the context of life-Cycle assessment (LCA). The classical approach with LCA is to describe "scarcity" for future generations (100-1000 years) in terms of absolute depletion. The problem, however, is that the long-term availability is simply not known (within a factor of 100-1000). Outside the LCA community, the short-term supply risks (10-30 years) were predicted, resulting in the list of critical raw materials (CRM) of the European Union (EU), and the British risk list. The methodology used, however, cannot easily be transposed and applied into LCA calculations. This paper presents a new approach to the issue of short-term material supply shortages, based on subsequent sudden price jumps, which can lead to socio-economic instability. The basic approach is that each resource is characterized by its own specific supply chain with its specific price volatility. The eco-costs of material scarcity are derived from the so-called value at risk (VAR), a well-known statistical risk indicator in the financial world. This paper provides a list of indicators for 42 metals. An advantage of the system is that it is directly related to business risks, and is relatively easy to understand. A disadvantage is that "statistics of the past" might not be replicated in the future (e.g., when changing from structural oversupply to overdemand, or vice versa, which appeared an issue for two companion metals over the last 30 years). Further research is recommended to improve the statistics.

The tensions around limits to growth versus tech will fix it are, today, as prominent as ever in the debates around critical materials. Changes in the demand and supply of materials has regularly led to periods of material supply problems. This chapter provides an overview of the development of critical materials from the mid-20th into the early 21st century. The overview begins with, in the U.S., the development of critical materials policy in World War II and the Cold War years, the oil crisis of the 1970s and the subsequent evolution into the early years of the 21st century. Critical materials thinking has been defined through war, the cold war and then concerns over energy availability and environmental impacts. This chapter shows how the historical military-energy framework for assessing critical materials has evolved into critical materials approaches to help address the challenges of energy, materials and the environment in the 21st century.