Resource recovery from post-consumer waste: important lessons for the upcoming circular economy
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2016

A circular economy has been proposed as a sustainable alternative to our current linear economic system, mainly by recirculating material resources for new product development. To understand resource recirculation in practice, this paper analyses over 50 examples of products developed from discarded materials, categorising them into the recovery routes described in the circular economy literature. The examples were obtained during interviews with waste management professionals and designers who had developed products with discards. Practical challenges to implementing a circular economy were identified based on the example categorisation and comments from the interviews. The main difference observed was that the examples mostly recirculate resources to make different types of products, whereas a circular economy requires manufacturing companies to take back their own products to secure their material resources. This is partly because in practice the material collection system in place is waste management, rather than manufacturing-centred take-back systems. A revised model for recovery routes in society in which waste management is allocated an important role in facilitating material recirculation is therefore presented. The study highlights that current product design is facing a new challenge of anticipating social, economic and environmental challenges to realise the goals of a circular economy.

Post-consumer waste

Re-manufacturing

Circular economy

Product study

Resource recovery

Product design

Författare

Jagdeep Singh

Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH)

Isabel Ordonez Pizarro

Chalmers, Produkt- och produktionsutveckling, Design and Human Factors

Journal of Cleaner Production

0959-6526 (ISSN)

Vol. 134 Part A 342-353

Drivkrafter

Hållbar utveckling

Ämneskategorier

Design

Annan materialteknik

Styrkeområden

Produktion

DOI

10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.12.020

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Senast uppdaterat

2020-03-02