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- Holmkvist, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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Smarta Loopar : En kartläggning av hinder och åtgärder för att ta fram smarta loopar för produkter av plast och textil, med fokus på policy och beteende
- 2021
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Ett vanligt argument för att inte sortera plastavfall utan i stället slänga det i brännbar avfallsfraktion är att volymerna av plastavfall är för små för att det skulle betala sig ekonomiskt att återvinna dem. Lösningen på detta har hittills varit att försöka samla in så mycket som möjligt för att sedan sortera i olika plastfraktioner. Med detta projekt har det utvärderat om man istället kan ha en specifik insamling och få mindre, men renare flöden, s.k. ”smarta loopar” av material.I projektet har det gjorts en kartläggning vad som skulle kunna fungera/ inte fungera och hitta möjligheter för att nå smarta loopar. Fokus i projektet låg på att identifiera hinder och åtgärder/lösningar som adresserar beteende och policyfrågor och inte på tekniska lösningar.Kartläggningen i projektet har genomförts med hjälp av fyra fallstudier: 1) Pallsträckfilm, 2) Spännband och lyftslingor, 3) plastemballage av kläder och 3) sportartiklar för innebandy. I projektet har det kartlagts båda på individuella hinder och åtgärder, som mer allmänna hinder och åtgärder som verkar vara gemensamt i de loopar projektet har tittat på.Projektet har visat att det redans finns bra exempel på fungerande smarta loopar i Sverige och det finns ett stort intresse hos svenskt näringsliv att ta fram flera smarta loopar. Det finns dock flera utmaningar kopplat till detta som diskuteras i projektet. Nu när flera hinder och potentiella åtgärder har kartlagts, krävs det att looparna testas och utvärderas i en liten skala. För företag som vill komma igång har projektet tagit fram en handlingsplan bestående av ett antal punkter man bör undersöka innan man startar.
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| 2. |
- Kalantari, Joakim, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Effektiva cirkulära flöden : en förstudie om hur cirkulära flöden kan nyttja överkapaciteten i befintligt distributionssystem
- 2019
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Ett effektivare transportsystem är en nödvändighet för Sveriges omställningen till världens första fossilfria välfärdsnation. Effektivisering av transportsystemet bidrar inte bara till avfossilisering av en sektor som svarar för en stor andel av de fossila utsläppen i Sverige. Det möjliggör också en minskning av utsläpp i konsumtion- och produktionsledet genom att skapa förutsättningar för cirkulär ekonomi. Det saknas dock kunskap om hur en ökad cirkulär ekonomi kan komma att påverka transportefterfrågan och följaktligen transportsystemet. På en övergripande nivå kan man anta att de cirkulära flödena kommer gå i motsatt riktning flöden av nya material och produkter och att tidskrav inte är lika höga för de cirkulära flödena som för flöden av nya material och produkter. Samtidig uppskattar man att ca. en av fyra lastbilar är underutnyttjade eller kan betraktas som tomma. Med detta som bakgrund är det intressant att analysera förutsättningarna för att den transportefterfrågan som uppstår som resultat av den cirkulära ekonomin effektivt kan absorberas av överkapaciteten i det befintliga transportsystemet. I denna förstudie har VTI och CIT undersökt denna frågeställning. Projektet bygger på litteraturstudier, intervjuer, workshops samt modellresultat från den nationella godstransportmodellen Samgods. I projektet har fokus legat på fyra produktområden: byggmaterial, elektronikprodukter, textilier och personbilar. Branschaktörer såsom byggföretag, elektronikföretag, textilföretag, biltillverkare, avfallshanterare, återvinningsföretag, branschorganisationer, välgörenhetsorganisationer och forskare har bidragit i genomförandet av projektet.
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| 3. |
- van Loon, Patricia, et al.
(författare)
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Linking circularity metrics at product and society level (LinCS) : Final report
- 2021
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The LinCS research project aimed to generate knowledge and understanding on the environmental and financial implications of circular products and circular economy at micro and macro level. It also sought to consider and review potential rebound effects. While circular economy is promoted as a promising solution that will decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, empirical evidence and academic research on the sustainability of circular economy and circular business models is in an embryonic form. Hence, the following research questions were posed: What factors/variables impact the environmental performance of circular products/circular business models? Under what circumstances/conditions are circular products/circular business models environmentally and economically preferred compared to linear ones? How can circular business models be improved in order to be sustainable? What are suitable indicators to monitor the environmental effects of CE at the micro and macro level? Which policies need to be introduced/altered that prevent/reduce the proliferation of unsustainable CE and support sustainable CE products? The research started with an extensive systematic literature review that mapped current knowledge and knowledge gaps on the environmental impact of circular products and circular business models. Despite the large interest of researchers on circular economy, the review only identified 54 papers that quantified the environmental impact of a circular versus linear product or system. Many of these papers focused on the environmental impact of the reuse or remanufacturing process but did not include key aspects of circular economy such as product design specific to the circular economy, or circular business models. Hence, there is a clear need for more research on the environmental impact. Based on the review, several product characteristics can be distilled that have a strong role in determining whether a product is suitable for the circular economy. In other words, these characteristics help to determine whether the increased circularity of a product is likely to lead to reduced environmental impact compared to the production of new products. These characteristics include 1) the extension of the product life, 2) the contribution of the manufacturing stage to the total life cycle environmental impact compared to other stages, 3) innovation frequency, 4) deterioration impacts during the life cycle including wear, 5) usage intensity, and 6) obsolescence. In particular, white goods were highlighted in the literature as being less suitable, due to their large share of environmental impacts in the use phase and because there has historically been a high degree of energy-efficiency innovation. For other groups of products, such as consumer electronics, the results are more ambiguous as it depends on the usage intensity and speed of innovation. Given the clear lack of studies assessing the environmental impact of circular products including the key aspects of circular product design and circular business models, ten case studies were conducted as part of the LinCS project in which the environmental, economic, and circularity performance of a product in a linear and circular business model were quantified. The majority of the case studies included circular product design and circular business models. The case studies show that the circular offer reduced the greenhouse gas impacts significantly in all but one case (where the rental business model led to increased emissions from transport for the customer and was highly dependent on rental location). Most cases resulted in a 50 to 60 % reduction. Based on the results we conclude that the recovery process or business model that enables life extension is usually less material- and energy-intensive. We further argue that with the expected transition towards renewable energy sources, the focus will likely shift away from greenhouse gas emissions to other environmental impacts. Material intensity will become more central, with the associated impacts of extraction and mining processes, as well as impacts on biodiversity. As a consequence, it is likely that the superior performance of circular products will become even more apparent in the future. The case studies further showed that profitability is an issue for some, but not all, manufacturers. In many cases, the costs of the circular model were estimated to be lower than in the linear case, mainly because less items need to be manufactured to fulfil the same level of demand, reducing manufacturing costs significantly. However, the revenue that can be generated in the circular model compared to the linear model is also lower, meaning that in some cases the profitability became lower. In many cases, the price customers pay for the circular product was set significantly lower than the linear product. More knowledge is needed to help companies set the correct price that can make their circular offer profitable and economical attractive. Macro-economic modelling was then performed to assess potential secondary effects and explore the benefit for Sweden when transitioning towards a circular economy. Multi-Regional Input Output (MRIO) modelling was used to understand the link between product level changes and macro level impacts. To model potential rebound effects, three alternative spending scenarios were modelled for the estimated financial savings from using more circular products. None of these resulted in higher impacts than the current situation, however, the impact of the scenarios was highly variable and almost as high in one case. This highlights a potential rebound effect depending on how savings are spent and the importance of considering (e.g. in policy and research) future levels of disposable income of consumers. The results also suggest that there is a limit to what can be achieved with circularity and that more traditional reductions in energy and improvements in resource efficiency are still required. For policy makers we note that, in order to accelerate the transition to circular economy, one aspect can be to utilise a societal functions framework to track, monitor and develop targeted policy instruments. We utilized and developed a societal functions framework consisting of: housing and infrastructure; nutrition, mobility, consumables, services, healthcare, and communication. Indicators can be developed to track each societal function and each system level (from product level, to product group and the societal function it provides) so that the impact to deliver each societal function within a country can be tracked and mitigation measures applied. Monitoring of this would allow increased knowledge and remediation action on the possible emergence of rebound effects, such as where a product has increased macro impacts (e.g. through increased consumption) despite product level efficiency improvements (or where one functions impact decreases but leads to an increase in another, e.g. increasing impact of online videos). Similarly, knowledge on the use phase, including statistics on the use and associated impact of repair facilities, spare parts, and second-hand reuse, can be improved. For researchers we note that more research is needed on how innovation is affected in the circular economy and what its role can be for sustainable circular products. We further note that knowledge is lacking on consumer behaviour in the circular economy, both in terms of how people behave and react towards circular product design (e.g. modularity and upgradability) and circular business models as well as the impact of circular products and business models on consumption levels. Many of these challenges align with similar issues highlighted in research on product service systems for which there are many parallels, but where further research is also required. Finally, many of the challenges and potential pitfalls of circular products are because they currently need to operate within a linear market and a system that is currently based on cheap fossil fuels, where the cost and impact of raw material extraction is undervalued and underestimated. As we have noted above, the overwhelming evidence is that circular products have enormous potential to reduce impacts, but their fostering requires careful management and monitoring to avoid potential rebound effects.
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