| 1. |
- Baumann, Henrikke, 1964, et al.
(author)
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A sociomaterial conceptualization of flows in industrial ecology
- 2022
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In: Journal of Industrial Ecology. - : Wiley. - 1530-9290 .- 1088-1980. ; 26:2, s. 655-666
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A major starting point in industrial ecology (IE) is that reaching ecological sustainability requires understanding relations between human actions and material (tangible) flows. IE studies have enabled assessments of different technical and sociotechnical configurations but only to a limited degree provided concepts that support the design of interventions for industrial ecologies. We contribute by proposing a sociomaterial flow approach, here applied to life cycle thinking. After problematizing some common concepts in IE, the key concepts, a procedure, and some applied variants of the proposed sociomaterial approach are presented. The approach is theoretically grounded in related sociomaterial research. This body of theories underpins our conceptualization of how flows in, for example, a product life cycle can be related to nets of human actions within one rather than several analytical frames. The sociomaterial interaction point (SMIP) is a key concept in our approach for the sociomaterial connection between material flows and actor networks. A SMIP can be described as the interactions where humans come closest to the flows. The conceptualization of the methodology provides a framework for exploring actor and action networks shaping material flows and a basis for a relational analysis of governance, organization, and management of the flows in industrial ecologies. A sociomaterial approach to flow studies can therefore help in designing more concrete sustainability interventions in industrial ecologies.
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| 2. |
- Baumann, Henrikke, 1964, et al.
(author)
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Populating the life cycle perspective: methods for analyzing social and organizational dimensions of product chains for management studies
- 2015
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In: International Society for Industrial Ecology Biennial Conference, 7-10 July, Surry, United Kingdom..
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The strength of the life cycle perspective is that it takes the whole product chain into account so that the shifting of environmental problems along the chain can be avoided. A weakness with conventional life cycle analysis is that its enviro-technical analysis does not easily identify actors and their scope of action. By replacing the focus on technical processes with a focus on actors and their organization of the product flow, another understanding of the sustainability issues of the product chain becomes possible. The outcome of a decade of research is a portfolio of life cycle methods for the management sciences: actor-LCA, social issue LCA, study of product chain organization, study of a production and consumption system, and organizational study of a flow node in a product chain. The theoretical reasoning leading to this developed rests on an application of actor‐network‐theories for a constructive combination of both social and material actants. It consists in part of an analysis of the problem with 'flow' and in part, the problem with 'organization'. The different methods focus on actors and organization in a product life cycle in different ways. The positioning of the methods relative to each other is presented and their application to management and governance problems is discussed.
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| 3. |
- Baumann, Henrikke, 1964, et al.
(author)
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The Usefulness of an Actor’s Perspective in LCA
- 2011
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In: Towards Life Cycle Sustainability Management. - Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands. - 9789400718982 ; , s. 73-83
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper is an argumentation for adding an actor’s perspective to lifecycleassessment (LCA). The need for this perspective stems from a criticismabout the usefulness of LCA interpretation methods comparing the relativecontribution of life-cycle phases of a product. Our argumentation is based on fourpreviously published studies providing practical examples of how value chainactors’ influence may be considered in an LCA and the benefit of doing so.Manufacturing sector examples show how one company's influence can beillustrated in results and how it may relate all relevant emissions to its ownprocesses. The food sector study shows how to assess several value chain actors’individual improvement potential. The final example, taken from building sector,explore how to consider the fact that actors in one part of the value chain caninfluence other actors to improve.
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| 4. |
- Ddiba, Daniel Isaac Waya, 1990-, et al.
(author)
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Sustainability assessment of increased circularity of urban organic waste streams
- 2022
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In: Sustainable Production and Consumption. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-5509. ; 34, s. 114-129
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The circular economy, from an urban organic waste perspective, is seen as an approach to deal with increasing waste streams, while contributing to meeting the increasing demand for water, energy, food and other resources in urban areas. However, there is need for a systematic assessment of the broader environmental and social ben-efits and trade-offs of resource recovery from organic waste streams. This paper presents a framework for assessing the societal impacts of increased circularity in terms of resource recovery from organic waste streams at city scale, building on the design of alternative scenarios for future technology systems. The framework was developed based on a literature review of current frameworks in the area, adapting and combining some of their aspects and adding required features to allow for a broad sustainability assessment. It was also informed by stakeholder interviews. The framework was applied to the case of Naivasha, Kenya to illustrate its applicability and usefulness. The outcome of the application in the Naivasha case indicate potential sustainability improve-ments from increased circularity, where resource recovery could lead to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, more efficient natural resource usage and job creation. It indicated also some risks of negative impacts on the health of workers in resource recovery facilities, and, in this specific case, negative impact on smallholder farmers. The framework proved applicable and useful in the case study, and hence could provide input at early stages of planning even with low availability of data. Thereby it could provide policy-relevant insights towards circular economy implementation approaches that harness the benefits while mitigating any identified potential negative impacts.
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| 5. |
- Ddiba, Daniel, 1990-, et al.
(author)
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Sustainability assessment of increased circularity of urban organic waste streams – with a case on Naivasha, Kenya
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- From an urban organic waste perspective, the circular economy is often seen as an approach to achieve dual outcomes: dealing with increasing waste streams while contributing to meeting the increasing demand for water, energy, food and other resources in urban areas. As the discourse on the circular economy moves from concept to implementation, there is need for assessing the environmental, social and economic benefits and trade-offs of both proposed and implemented strategies, policies, programs and projects for resource recovery from organic waste streams. This paper presents a framework with both conceptual and procedural aspects for assessing the societal impacts of alternative scenarios for resource recovery from organic waste streams at city scale. The framework was applied to the case of Naivasha, Kenya to illustrate its utility in assessing the environmental and social impacts associated with alternative scenarios that involve increasing circularity in the management of organic waste streams. The results highlighted that increasing circularity could potentially lead to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, more efficient natural resource usage and job creation, while at the same time leading to impacts on the health of workers in resource recovery facilities and a risk of reduced access to irrigation water for smallholder farmers. The framework also proved a useful way to identify potential positive and negative impacts linked to alternative scenarios and hence provide input at early stages of planning even with low availability of data. It is therefore expected that the framework and case study results could provide policy-relevant insights towards circular economy implementation approaches that harness the benefits while mitigating any identified potential negative impacts.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Lindkvist, Mathias, 1979, et al.
(author)
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A review of social science in five industrial ecology journals
- 2014
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- A major aim in the industrial ecology (IE) field is to reduce environmental burdens through industrial change. In order to aid and to reflect on this aim, scholars in the field have repeatedly called for or presented opportunities for research on the social aspects of IE, such as organisation cultures, legislation and environmental policy. However, the study of ‘social IE’ has remained fragmentary. In this study, an understanding for this discrepancy between calls and a marginal progress is systematically searched for. Five journals in the field are reviewed – Journal of Industrial Ecology; Progress in Industrial Ecology; the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment; Journal of Cleaner Production; Resources, Conservation and Recycling – covering the years 1988-2010 and backed up by a continued reading of their table of contents into the year 2014. Both ‘social IE’ studies and IE studies in general are covered. An empirically based approach is used, resulting in the following findings. The number of articles published has been growing rapidly since the first of the journals was launched, in 1988. JCP and PIE have the highest shares of ‘social’ articles within each of the journals. A large number of the studies, 49%, cover social aspects, whereof economic aspects account for a large part. For both the studies on social aspects in general and on economic aspects, the absolute number of articles has increased over the years while their shares of the field have remained stable. Analysing the whole field, the articles often seem to be user oriented which importantly includes that they to a relatively little extent make explicit use of or are explicitly designed to be compared to other studies. Also, when looking closer at the ‘social’ articles, it is revealed that only a small part of the ‘social’ aspects are researched using social science theory, and then often using marginally established theories. In addition, no or very few of the ‘social IE’ studies align to any of the paradigms that represent a large part of the social sciences during the last half century. Finally, from a survey of proxies of ‘social IE’ sub fields, four rather small groupings are identified: life cycle costs, life cycle management, supply chain management with several associated concepts, and social life cycle assessment. Reflections on the limitations of this study and on the findings as such point to possible needs for more holistic and society-wide approaches to understanding the research problem identified in this study.
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| 8. |
- Lindkvist, Mathias, 1979, et al.
(author)
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About adapting O-LCA to decision makers
- 2019
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Goal: We aim to reason about how environmentally more effective understanding of management could be reached by extending the organizational LCA developed by the Life Cycle Initiative (here called standard O-LCA) to include studying human actions. Method: We compare standard O-LCA to a well-tested socio-material flow methodology. The socio-material methodology has been used in product life cycle based case studies that our comparison builds on. The cases cover bread and metal packaging product life cycles. Results: Both standard O-LCA and the socio-material flow methodology aim to enable better environmental management of product life cycles. An ISO/TS defines standard O-LCA as “a compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and potential environmental impacts of the activities associated with the organization adopting a life cycle perspective”. The socio-material flow methodology complements this approach with a focus on how nets of actual interactions between humans, within and between organizations, determine the environmental performance. In the metal packaging case, the management of and technical processes along metal packaging flows determined the life cycle environmental impacts of different organizations: packaging producers, fillers, and waste management organizations. We applied the socio-material flow methodology to metal packaging flows in Sweden and the Netherlands. The study, among other, led to a finding about complementing recycling via source collection with recovery from ashes. Such recovery can be performed on the waste that has passed through municipal waste incineration. The ashes were not considered, however, because an earlier government agency policy had dis-encouraged incinerating non-combustible materials. The policy was abandoned, but this had not been communicated to the waste management procurers. A standard O-LCA would cover the product life cycles passing one organization. For example, if that study covered the waste management procurement organization, the study would cover four packaging types in addition to metal packaging. This O-LCA would produce both more coarse results and less knowledge on important organizational links between different organizations. Communication was also found to be of relevance for the product life cycle of bread. We studied three Swedish bakeries and their product flows. We found, among other, in the flows related to one of the bakeries, high levels of bread discarding at retailers. The discarding at the retailers had increased over time because of a growing bakery that had extended the number of retailers from one to six without assigning more time for coordination of production and sales. A standard O-LCA would both be coarser because it would include the bakery’s many different patisserie products and have less focus on the organizational processes. The bread and packaging case findings put emphasis on interactions between humans and the material flows. Flows are considered thoroughly in standard O-LCA. How the hotspots can be changed in practice could be pointed out by using our socio-material flow methodology. The methodology captures the organization of flows both within and across different organizational entities, which extends the one-company focus in O-LCA. This points to different meanings of the term ’organization’.
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| 9. |
- Lindkvist, Mathias, 1979-, et al.
(author)
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Analysis of human well-being as the area of protection in social life cycle assessment
- 2023
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In: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. - : Springer Nature. - 0948-3349 .- 1614-7502. ; 28:10, s. 1428-1442
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) has been developed for almost two decades for assessing the social impacts of product life cycles. Only a limited amount of research, however, considers the full range of social sustainability that is impacted by the cause-effect relationships in the impact pathway (IP) approach in S-LCA. The aim of this study is to provide guidance on the ultimate purpose of S-LCA by presenting an up-to-date overview on human well-being (HWB). Methods: Due to the broadness of the purpose of presenting and assessing an up-to-date set of HWB components, our study was designed as a qualitative literature review. The review includes core characteristics of a qualitative systematic review, a realist review, and an umbrella review. We designed the operationalised review to result in a synthesised HWB component set and guidance on its use. In order to achieve this, we searched for theoretical lenses on how HWB component sets relate to other HWB approaches, searched for HWB component sets, and identified S-LCA relevant sustainability aspects and tested these on the component sets. The component sets were found in sustainability science, philosophy, psychology, and development studies. Results and discussion: The study resulted in a framework that contains both a HWB component set and guidance on its use. The set consists of the five components: having a healthy life; having competencies; having influence and enjoying freedom; having a meaningful life; and enjoying fair treatment. This approach is by philosophers denoted an objective goods list, containing “goods” that are seen as intrinsic parts of HWB because they so clearly can support humans in their lives. Other philosophical perspectives suggest that either desires in choice situations impacting the objective goods or the experienced mental states resulting from the goods, ultimately matters to humans. Challenges with the goods approach are how to define a good life and to relate to actual human activity. Conclusions: The presented updated definition of a HWB components set and guidance on it can benefit developers and practitioners of S-LCA, and in particular the IP approach, by illustrating the scope of social sustainability and the challenge of defining it. Regarding the scope, several other social sustainability aspects than health have been shown to matter. Regarding the challenge of defining social sustainability, it remains to see what the path forward is taking this challenge into account.
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| 10. |
- Lindkvist, Mathias, 1979, et al.
(author)
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Analyzing how governance of material efficiency affects the environmental performance of product flows: A comparison of product chain organization of Swedish and Dutch metal packaging flows
- 2017
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In: Recycling. - : MDPI AG. - 2313-4321. ; 2:4, s. 1-22
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Environmental governance is commonly performed through recycling, but its effects are often difficult to predict. Studies have covered the environmental impacts and organizational structures of recycling and other circular economy governance, but only to a small degree related organization to environmental performance. We have therefore explored a methodological contribution for better understanding. We have applied and tested a hybrid, socio-material, approach, a product chain organization (PCO) study, in a comparison of governance of metal packaging product flows in Sweden and the Netherlands. A PCO study is a systematic and nuanced exploration of how nets of actions and actors shape environmental impacts. We identified that the policies in the two countries have focused on combined recycling rates, which has indicated superior Dutch governance. We, however, have discerned how various actions have been environmentally relevant, regarding inaccurate statistics, combining of waste streams, and consumption. We conclude that the test case on packaging shows how a PCO study can complement other approaches with a nuanced understanding of the environmental effects of governance toward a circular economy.
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