5.8 Circular Economy and solid waste management
Summary
TLDRDr. Ljiljana Rodic discusses the circular economy, contrasting it with the traditional linear model of 'take, make, use, discard.' She explains the importance of distinguishing between biological and technical materials for recycling and reuse. The circular economy aims to mimic nature's cycles, promoting sustainable practices through material recovery and innovation across various disciplines. Dr. Rodic emphasizes the role of solid waste management in completing the cycle and the need for new business models and consumer behavior to achieve a fully circular economy.
Takeaways
- 🌿 **Circular Economy Definition**: Circular economy is a model that aims to keep resources in use for as long as possible, mimicking natural ecosystems where waste is minimized and materials are continuously recycled.
- 📚 **Educational Pioneer**: Dr. Ljiljana Rodic has been a pioneer in introducing university education on circular economy in the Netherlands.
- 🌍 **Global Legislation**: The concept of circular economy is recognized globally, with legislation like China's Circular Economy Promotion Law adopted in 2008.
- 🏭 **Linear vs. Circular**: Traditional economies follow a linear 'take-make-dispose' model, which is unsustainable due to finite resources and environmental impact.
- 🌱 **Biological Materials**: These are designed for safe return to the natural cycle, like food, soap, or clothes, and are part of the consumption products category.
- 🔩 **Technical Materials**: Used for service products like electronics and cars, these are kept in the industrial cycle to be reused in new products.
- ♻️ **Cascading Use**: Biological materials like wood and textiles can be used in a cascade of applications where quality degrades but can ultimately be returned to nature.
- 🔄 **Upcycling**: Recycling can improve material quality in each cycle, as seen in PET bottle recycling where harmful substances are removed.
- 🔄 **Closing Cycles**: It's efficient to close material cycles along with energy and water cycles to save resources and recover nutrients.
- 🛠️ **Innovation Needed**: A fully circular economy requires innovation in material sciences, design, and business models, focusing on ease of repair, refurbishment, and disassembly.
- 🏢 **Business Models**: New business models are crucial, emphasizing service provision over product ownership, which can change consumer relationships with products.
- 🌐 **Supply Chain Trust**: Trust is key in supply chains for sharing proprietary information about materials and parts to facilitate circular processes.
- 🏛️ **Government Role**: Governments play a significant role by providing supportive policies, legislation, and incentives to foster circular economy practices.
- 🔍 **Design Importance**: Design is pivotal in the circular economy as decisions about materials and assembly methods are made, affecting the product's end-of-life.
- 🗑️ **Waste Management Role**: Solid waste management is crucial for completing the cycle, ensuring materials return to production after use.
Q & A
What is the circular economy?
-The circular economy is a system that aims to minimize waste and make the most of resources by designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems.
How does the circular economy differ from the traditional linear economy?
-The traditional linear economy follows a 'take, make, use, discard' pattern, whereas the circular economy envisions a system where materials are recovered and reprocessed after the 'make' and 'use' stages into a new cycle of production and use.
What are the two types of materials defined in the circular economy?
-In the circular economy, materials are defined as either biological materials or technical materials. Biological materials are used for consumable products like soap or food, while technical materials are used for service products like computers or cars.
What is the role of biological materials in the circular economy?
-Biological materials are designed to be safe for human health and the environment, and they can safely return to the natural biological cycle. They can also be used in defined cascades where the quality deteriorates from one application to the next.
How are technical materials managed in the circular economy?
-Technical materials are kept within the industrial technical cycle where they are used to make new products repeatedly. They are often non-renewable and hazardous, so their management is crucial to prevent harm to human health and the environment.
What is cascading use and how does it relate to biological materials?
-Cascading use refers to the sequential use of a material for different purposes, with the quality deteriorating from one application to the next. Biological materials like wood and textiles are good examples of materials that lend themselves to cascading use.
How can recycling be upcycling in the context of the circular economy?
-Upcycling in recycling means that the quality of materials improves in each cycle. An example given is the recycling of PET bottles where antimony is removed, resulting in a higher quality material than the original.
What is the significance of closing material cycles in conjunction with energy and water cycles?
-Closing material cycles along with energy and water cycles can save significant amounts of energy, allow recovery of nutrients, and ensure that materials are used efficiently and sustainably.
What role does innovation play in achieving a fully circular economy?
-Innovation across various disciplines is crucial for a fully circular economy. This includes material sciences for well-defined materials, design considerations for ease of repair and disassembly, and the development of new business models focused on service provision rather than product sales.
How does the design phase impact the circular economy?
-The design phase is critical in the circular economy as it is when decisions about materials, assembly methods, and usage are made. These decisions determine how easily a product can be repaired, refurbished, disassembled, or remanufactured.
What is the role of solid waste management in the circular economy?
-Solid waste management plays a prominent role in the circular economy by ensuring that materials after usage are returned to the next production cycle, completing the cycle and supporting the circular model.
Outlines
🔁 Introduction to Circular Economy
Dr. Ljiljana Rodic introduces the concept of the circular economy and its connection to solid waste management. She explains that the term has gained prominence in recent years, with legislation such as China's Circular Economy Promotion Law and reports from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The traditional linear economy, characterized by 'take, make, use, discard,' is unsustainable due to finite resources and environmental impacts. In contrast, circular economy mimics nature's circular use of resources, aiming to recover and reprocess materials after use. Materials are categorized as biological, suitable for consumption and safe return to nature, or technical, intended for continuous industrial use. The lecture also touches on the potential for materials to be upcycled, improving in quality through recycling, and the importance of closing material cycles alongside energy and water cycles.
🌿 Advancing Circular Economy Practices
This section delves into the practical aspects of implementing a circular economy, emphasizing the need for innovation across various fields. It highlights the importance of material sciences in defining materials that can be easily recovered and reused. The design phase is crucial, as it determines the material choices, assembly methods, and end-of-life options like repairability and disassembly. New business models that focus on selling services rather than products are discussed, challenging traditional notions of ownership. The role of citizens is also highlighted, as they are responsible for ensuring materials are returned to the production cycle. Governments have a part to play by providing supportive policies and incentives. The summary concludes by reiterating the significance of solid waste management in completing the circular economy cycle and encourages engagement from all stakeholders, including consumers, to contribute to its success.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Circular Economy
💡Solid Waste Management
💡Biological Materials
💡Technical Materials
💡Cascading Use
💡Upcycling
💡Downcycling
💡Remanufacturing
💡Innovation
💡Business Models
💡Ownership
💡Supply Chain
Highlights
Introduction to the concept of circular economy and its importance in solid waste management.
Dr. Ljiljana Rodic's pioneering work in university education on circular economy in the Netherlands.
The circular economy as a national strategy for sustainable development in China since 2008.
Reports from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation towards a circular economy.
The linear pattern of natural resource use post-industrial revolution and its unsustainability.
The finite nature of material sources and the limits of Earth's ecosystems.
Nature's circular pattern of resource use as a model for the circular economy.
Definition of materials in a circular economy: biological and technical materials.
The role of biological materials in consumption products and their safe return to the natural cycle.
Technical materials and their role in service products within the industrial technical cycle.
The concept of cascading use with examples of biological materials like wood and textiles.
The potential for recycling to be upcycling, improving material quality with each cycle.
The importance of closing material cycles in conjunction with energy and water cycles.
Innovation needed in various disciplines for a fully circular economy.
The significance of design in the circular economy, considering end-of-use stages.
The emergence of new business models focused on selling services rather than products.
The role of citizens in ensuring materials return to the next production cycle.
The government's role in providing supportive policies and incentives for circular economy.
Solid waste management's critical role in completing the circular economy cycle.
The increasing focus on circular economy in political and public debate.
The collective responsibility in contributing to the circular economy, including consumers.
Transcripts
Hi and welcome again! In this module we will introduce the hot topic of circular
economy and its relation to solid waste management. Dr. Ljiljana Rodic is with us again.
She has pioneered university education on this topic in the
Netherlands.
Ljiljana, welcome again! The floor is yours.
Thank you very much Imanol. It is a pleasure to be here again.
Nowadays, we often hear or read in the media about circular economy. In this
lecture I will introduce this term,
explain briefly different meanings in which it is used and discuss potential
place of solid waste management in circular economy. How did you hear the
term circular economy? You may have heard about the circular economy promotion law,
the milestone legislation of the People's Republic of China adopted in
2008 to promote the circular economy as a national strategy for sustainable
development. Or you may have come across reports towards a circular economy
prepared for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. But what is it all about?
Since the industrial revolution our economies have grown following a linear
pattern of use of natural resources
consisting basically of take, make, use, discard steps. This was based on a
false premise that the resources are infinitely available and accessible at
an affordable cost, both in terms of money and in terms of environmental
impacts. However, such a pattern simply cannot be sustained by the earth system. On the
one hand the sources of materials are finite and on the other hand, there are
limits to the ability of Earth's ecosystems to recover from habitat
degradation and pollution by various hazardous and other chemicals. But if you
look at nature and natural ecosystems, how they use natural resources around them,
we see that nature functions
in a circular pattern. Starting from plants as producers, including several
levels of consumers and when they die
decomposers get to work to convert them into soil nutrients, which in turn serve
as food for the producers again.
Circular economy envisages a similar system, where after make and use stages,
materials are recovered and processed into a new cycle of production and use.
For materials to be recovered and returned to the next cycle of production, they
need to be clearly defined in circular economy. Materials can be defined either
as biological materials or technical materials. Biological materials are used
to make the so-called consumption products, which get consumed during use,
such as a soap or shampoo or wear off during use, such as clothes or shoes.
These are designed to be safe for human health and the environment and as such
they can safely return to the natural biological cycle. Here, we have an example
of biological material: food. Technical materials are used to make service
products, such as computer, telephone, washing machine, a car. As they are
non-renewable and often hazardous to human health and the environment,
these are kept within the industrial technical cycle, where they will be used
to make new products,
time and again. At that some materials lend themselves perfectly for cascading use.
This is usually the case with biological materials, wood and textiles are very
good examples. Biological materials can be used in defined cascades where the
quality deteriorates from one application to the next, but both, along
the way and at the end, the material can be fully returned to the biological
cycle with no harm to human health or the environment. In the end, they can be 51 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:30,490 processed,
by for example, aerobic composting or anaerobic digestion to recover resources
such as organic matter nutrients and energy. Of course, products user stages can
be extended through reuse and repair. Also, after this assembly parts can be
used for refurbishment and manufacture of the products. Here, you see an example
of complete disassembly into the part and their corresponding materials.
As you know, recycling is usually downcycling, whereby materials loose their quality in
each cycle. However, it is possible for recycling to actually be upcycling,
whereby quality improves in each cycle. Here, we have an example of a packaging
that is made out of 100% PET bottles, and from the PET material
during recycling antimony is removed, which was there originally.
So, this material is now better quality than it used to be.
It often makes sense to explore possibilities of closing material cycles
together with energy and water cycles. For example, closing metal cycles saves a
lot of energy, if we close water cycles. It allows recovery of nutrients.
Also, for renewable energy it is important to consider materials used for such
technologies, as they often contain rare and hazardous materials. For a fully
circular economy a lot of innovation will be needed in various disciplines in
various fields. For example, in material sciences, well-defined materials are
particularly important. Also, for the design, end of use stage need to be taken
into consideration: How easy the product is to be repaired, to be refurbished, to
be disassembled, to be remanufactured.
Also of particular importance are the new business models, where a lot of
innovation is needed, so that services are sold and not necessarily the
products. This also includes our relationship to ownership. Do we actually
need to possess and own a product or are we perfectly happy with the service it
provides us? This also means that new relationships or new types of
relationships are needed along the supply chain, where trust among partners
has a prominent role, because it is about sharing proprietary information about
materials and parts. This also means that citizens have a new role and that is
that they have to make sure that these materials indeed do return into the next
production cycle. And government has also a role because it can provide supportive
policies, legislation and incentives to enable support such developments in
society. You may have seen in literature that the role of the design is very
important for circular economy. It is indeed, because it is the design stage
when all the decisions are made about the material, about assembly methods,
about the usage. However, solid waste management has an equally important role in
circular economy, because it makes the other half of the cycle complete. It makes
sure that the materials after usage will indeed return to the next
production cycles. Circular economy is currently in the focus of political and
public debate and its importance is only going to increase. While it begins with
the design of products,
everybody has a role to play and everybody can contribute. Not the least,
us citizens, as consumers to choose
buy and discard the products.However, solid waste management has a very
prominent role as it makes sure that the materials actually return into the
next production cycle. Should you have any questions or comments, do not
hesitate to contact me at the email address given here.
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