Life Cycle Assessment & Circular Economy (Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes) 3031339819, 9783031339813

Citation preview

Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes

Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu   Editor

Life Cycle Assessment & Circular Economy

Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes Series Editor Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu, Chief Sustainability Officer, Green Story Inc., Canada

Indexed by Scopus This series aims to broadly cover all the aspects related to environmental assessment of products, development of environmental and ecological indicators and eco-­ design of various products and processes. Below are the areas fall under the aims and scope of this series, but not limited to: Environmental Life Cycle Assessment; Social Life Cycle Assessment; Organizational and Product Carbon Footprints; Ecological, Energy and Water Footprints; Life cycle costing; Environmental and sustainable indicators; Environmental impact assessment methods and tools; Eco-­ design (sustainable design) aspects and tools; Biodegradation studies; Recycling; Solid waste management; Environmental and social audits; Green Purchasing and tools; Product environmental footprints; Environmental management standards and regulations; Eco-labels; Green Claims and green washing; Assessment of sustainability aspects.

Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu Editor

Life Cycle Assessment & Circular Economy

Editor Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu Chief Sustainability Officer Green Story Inc. Kowloon, Hong Kong

ISSN 2345-7651     ISSN 2345-766X (electronic) Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes ISBN 978-3-031-33981-3    ISBN 978-3-031-33982-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33982-0 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

This book is dedicated to: The lotus feet of my beloved Lord Pazhaniandavar My beloved late Father My beloved Mother My beloved Wife Karpagam and Daughters – Anu and Karthika My beloved Brother Last but not least To all dedicated and passionate sustainability practitioners working in making the LCA and Circular Economy sectors “Sustainable”

Preface

This book is intended to revolve around a hot topic in the sustainability space, i.e. LCA and Circular Economy. Life Cycle Assessment, which needs no introduction, is one of the prominent tools available today to quantify the environmental footprints of various products and processes. On the other hand, circular economy, which has already become very popular, is a meaningful alternative to a traditional linear economy, i.e. take, make, waste, and it seeks all the possible ways to reduce waste, recover resources at the end of a product’s life, and importantly channel them back into production, thus significantly reducing the environmental impacts. This book deals around LCA & CE, and it disseminates a lot of important information on this important topic with the aid of six chapters written by qualified practitioners. I am blessed to get the wonderful authors to author these carefully selected six chapters to talk about this very timely topic in the environmental sustainability space. I take this opportunity to thank all the contributors for their earnest efforts to bring out this book successfully. I am sure readers of this book will find it very useful. With best wishes, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu

vii

Contents

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close Resource Loops����������������������������������������������������    1 Ana Batlles-delaFuente, Maria Laura Franco-García, Luis J. Belmonte-­Ureña, and José A. Plaza-Úbeda Prospects of Circularity in Steel Industry: Mapping Through LCA Approach����������������������������������������������������������������   35 Hema Diwan and Seema Unnikrishnan Circular Economy as a Way Forward Against Material Criticality: The Case of Rare Earth Elements in the Context of Sustainable Development��������������������������������������������������   47 M. Palle Paul Mejame, David King, and Yinghe He Building a Sustainable Future: A Circular Economy–Based Leasing Model for Affordable Housing in Malaysia, Evaluated by Life Cycle Assessment��������������������������������������������������������������   69 Mohd Zairul Alternatives to Improve the Management of Agricultural Plastics Within the Framework of Circular Economy ��������������������������������   87 Francisco José Castillo-Díaz, Ana Batlles-delaFuente, María J. López-­Serrano, and Luis J. Belmonte-Ureña Application of Green Technology for the Management of Figs’ Deseasonalization: An Economically and Environmentally Effective Tool ��������������������������������������������������������������  115 Ana Batlles-delaFuente, Luis Jesús Belmonte-Ureña, Mónica Duque-Acevedo, and Francisco Camacho-Ferre Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  131

ix

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close Resource Loops Ana Batlles-delaFuente, Maria Laura Franco-García, Luis J. Belmonte-­Ureña, and José A. Plaza-Úbeda

Abstract  For more than a decade, circular economy (CE) has been presented as a sustainable economic development model through actions focused on the revalorization and limitation of resource consumption that reduce environmental pollution. Even further, CE offers a regenerative framework encouraging the incorporation of innovations that facilitate the redesign of production and organizational processes. However, those innovations often shed light upon knowledge gaps that might diminish their chances of successful application in contexts where circularity is sought. The present work synthesizes the production of scientific publications issued on this subject from a bibliometric and systematic literature analysis. These analyses allow the authors to identify both limitations and future trends of research in relation to the contributions of innovations to CE. Among the results generated from this study, some of them clearly show an increase in articles centered on this subject with a dominant number of publications from European countries. The fundamental role of the European political-regulatory framework may explain these findings as European regulations have encouraged the introduction of innovations in the production processes to implement the CE principles. Hence, the need for future research broadening the scope to non-European countries was put forward. Another relevant finding was the dominancy of pilot scales description in the reviewed articles, namely the elaboration upon larger scale cases, which was also regarded as gap in this CE literature revision. Additionally, methodologies with more refined optimizations to further achieve the implementation of CE tenets were missing.

A. Batlles-delaFuente · L. J. Belmonte-Ureña · J. A. Plaza-Úbeda Department of Economy and Business, Research Centre CIAMBITAL, University of Almeria, Almeria, Spain e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] M. L. Franco-García (*) CSTM Governance and Technology for Sustainability, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. S. Muthu (ed.), Life Cycle Assessment & Circular Economy, Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33982-0_1

1

2

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

Keywords  Circular economy · Innovation · Technology · Closing resource loops · Sustainability

1 Introduction The linear economic system, prevailing since the industrial revolution, is based on unsustainable production models due to the short life cycle of goods (Murray et al., 2017). However, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, published in 2015, was an important stimulus for action plans in favor of the sustainability of the planet and people. This stimulus is summarized in 17 objectives and 169 goals which cover several areas of social, environmental, and economic concerns. In this sense, the progressive scarcity of available natural resources, as well as the increase in society’s demand for products, prompted the reorientation toward economic systems more focused on environmental protection. In this context, the term circular economy (CE) arises as a more sustainable economic development model, which aspires to combine economic activities and environmental well-being (Franco-García et al., 2019). In fact, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) defines this term as “an economic closed-loop system in which raw materials, components and products maintain their quality and value for as long as possible and where systems are powered by renewable energy sources” (Ellen Macarthur Foundation, 2017). Therefore, the EMF framework represents an operating framework focused on reorienting production systems in order to: (i) minimize the waste of resources; (ii) extend the use of the inputs involved in economic activities; (iii) generate economic opportunities and social benefits (Korhonen et  al., 2018; Llorente-González & Vence, 2020). Regarding the practices for the efficient use of resources, a set of different frameworks have been published. One of the most well-­ known is the 10 Rs. Those Rs stand for: recovering, recycling, repurposing, remanufacturing, refurbishing, repairing, reusing, reducing, rethinking, and refusing (Bag et al., 2021). Currently, one of the biggest challenges in the scientific and industrial fields is the lack of tacit knowledge to introduce CE into business models and action plans. This results from the complex systematic changes in the current production patterns that must be considered. There is a clear necessity for a transition from linear economy models that imply a high waste of resources to a model with action plans based on the 10 Rs. In fact, some of the main barriers identified for implementing CE can be here mentioned as: (i) lack of knowledge on innovation in the CE processes and (ii) lack of advanced technologies to achieve circular flows (Rehman Khan et al., 2021). For those reasons, and to hereby specify the approach given to the term innovation, the concept in this research will be expressed as: “the methods and processes that are learned individually and collectively to obtain favorable results for the problems that arise in society” (Alegre & Chiva, 2008). The introduction of those new organizational methods is encouraged as they are considered a crucial factor in the survival of companies since they achieve, depending on the innovation that is

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

3

implemented at each moment, better results in terms of sustainable innovation, competitive advantage, and satisfaction of customer needs, among others (Ajayi & Morton, 2015; de Guimarães et al., 2021). In this line, evidence has shown that the concern for sustainability and the need to respect the environment are considered fundamental issues by all entities of society, including organizations (Matos & Hall, 2007; Banaeian et al., 2018; Bombiak & Marciniuk-Kluska, 2018; Pimonenko et  al., 2020). Hence, the processes that favorably contribute to solving this concern should be considered among the activities carried out by companies. However, it must be clarified that innovation requires accessibility to resources, a reason that makes it difficult for organizations with limited resources (Kim et al., 2021). According to the Oslo Manual, four types of innovations are specifically identified, which refer to the product, processes, marketing and organization (Oslo Manual, 2007, 2018: Guidelines for Collecting, Reporting and Using Data on Innovation, 4th Edition | en | OECD, no date). In the order mentioned, the first two involve technological innovation, while the last two do not (Camisón & Villar-López, 2014). The former refers to the presentation of a product/service with new or improved properties or applications. In this process, both technical changes and functional characteristics or integrated technologies are considered, among other aspects (Goedhuysa & Veugelers, 2012). The second, namely process innovation, is understood as the incorporation of a new or improved distribution and/or production process. This model considers alterations in computer programs, procedures or supplies (Huergo & Jaumandreu, 2004). Third, marketing innovation focuses on presenting variations in the marketing model, which implies changes in characteristics such as product design, packaging, promotion, or positioning (Gupta et al., 2016). Finally, it is considered that there is an organizational innovation where a new procedure is focused on public affairs, either for the best distribution of knowledge or the best available workplace (Crossan & Apaydin, 2010; Sørensen & Stuart, 2016). In this context, numerous advantages may be derived from applying innovation to the transformation toward a more sustainable CE (Antikainen et  al., 2018; Imoniana et  al., 2020), because it favors more resilient, efficient, and intelligent processes through the use of accurate information. In addition, regarding the same innovative line, the integration of technologies allows for the creation of value in the new economic model, increasing performance and improving decision-making focused on sustainability, reducing time in processing a resource, or even making processes more flexible (Ajwani-Ramchandani et al., 2021; de Jesus et al., 2021; Suchek et al., 2021). As a consequence, the application of innovation and technology in the field of CE is considered key due to the great benefits that exist for both, the company and the environment. Thus, to achieve a sustainable transition, research into technological innovations and strategies that can accompany such progress is required (Kiefer et  al., 2021). Hence, this study opts for this type of innovation, excluding other potential related actions of innovations. This study explores the literature so as to examine current and future worldwide trends in research on the nexus of innovations, technology, and CE, from 2005 to the present. To do this, the documents analyzed describe the main drivers and potential

4

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

trends and reveal critical knowledge gaps. Regarding the structure of this article, Sect. 2 presents the research methodology; Sect. 3 summarizes the findings and their discussion in a broader context; and finally, the conclusion is presented in Sect. 4.

2 Methodology 2.1 Research Questions This research aims to analyze all the scientific production carried out in the field of technological innovations and CE, registered in the Scopus database. The period analyzed, which begins in 2005 with the first research, provides publications with different approaches; thus, knowing their main characteristics can serve as a reference for researchers and those interested in the line of research, as well as for policymakers. In this way, the research questions that arise are: (1) Is there a growing trend in the publications of this line of research? (2) Who are the most productive authors, institutions, and countries? (3) What are the keywords and what concepts have recently been incorporated into the research? (4) What is the object of study of the most recent research? To answer these four sections, two analyses have been performed: a bibliometric analysis, in charge of answering the first three questions raised, and a systematic analysis, in charge of answering the last.

2.2 Sample Selection This analysis was supported by the Scopus database, since it is easily accessible and has a large research repository (Harzing & Alakangas, 2016; Mongeon & Paul-Hus, 2016). There are three stages that define this sample selection process. The first consisted of an initial evaluation to learn the concepts and synonyms that refer to the subject of study. Second, after knowing the most representative terms, the search was defined in order to limit the documents to those that had a direct relationship with both terms (technological innovation and CE), eliminating from the beginning the publications of 2022 as they were not complete. Third, once the sample was obtained (3864 records), the period of time and the type of document were defined. It was limited to original articles; therefore, a total of 1700 documents were removed. The decision to choose only articles is due to the possibility that the content published in the journals may have been previously presented in conference papers, news, letters, etc.; therefore, the authors decided to avoid analyzing duplicate information. In this case, the final search parameters were: (TITLE-ABS-KEY (“circular economy or circularity or circular practices”) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY (technolog* OR innovati* OR “technological innovation“)) AND (LIMIT -TO (DOCTYPE,

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

5

“ar”)) AND (EXCLUDE (PUBYEAR, 2022)). In this final phase of the process and after obtaining a second sample of 2164 articles, the publications were divided into two: one of them for the bibliometric analysis from 2005 to 2020 and with a sample of 1326 articles; and a second with the rest of the publications (838) to carry out the systematic analysis of the scientific production in the last year analyzed, 2021.

2.3 Bibliometric Analysis and Data Processing The bibliometric analysis (Gutiérrez-Salcedo et al., 2018) is quantitative in nature. It consists in identifying trends in a specific field of research and is widely used in different disciplines (Abad-Segura et al., 2020, 2021; Herrera-Franco et al., 2021; Wu et al., 2021; Concari et al., 2022). This study, with a sample of 1326 articles, previously discarded four articles for containing irrelevant literature, thus obtaining a final sample of 1322 articles. The analysis consisted in downloading the sample obtained in RIS format and in CSV format to be subsequently processed with different tools. The RIS format made it possible to filter duplicate records in references, author names, or keywords, which could make the analysis difficult, through SciMAT. In this phase, the variables examined were annual publications; the most representative subject areas; the most prolific authors; the most active journals, institutions, and countries; and the most used keywords in scientific production. In addition, with the purpose to evaluate the relative importance of research in this area, several quality indicators were analyzed, such as the number of citations received (Eysenbach, 2006), the H index (Hirsch, 2005; Costas & Bordons, 2007; Bar-Ilan, 2008), and the impact factor of the Scimago Journal Rank (SJR) (Scimago Journal & Country Rank (SJR), 2020). On the other hand, the CSV format allowed it to be used in mapping tools such as VOSviewer to graphically represent the international collaboration between the variables studied (Van Eck & Waltman, 2010). The third stage of this bibliometric analysis consisted of processing the information obtained in Microsoft Excel and preparing tables that represented the most representative data of the variables studied.

2.4 Systematic Review and Sample Limitation Once the current context on the terms of technological innovation and CE was recognized, and once the specific terms related to the field of study were positioned, the second analysis was carried out. This was a systematic qualitative review, and its main objective was the synthesis of research information found in primary studies during the year 2021 (Kitchenham, 2004). This can be considered a very widespread technique; hence, it is very common to find research papers based on this type of review in various disciplines (Cassettari et al., 2019; Duque-Acevedo et al., 2020; Ding et  al., 2022; Tejedo et  al., 2022), including CE topics (Govindan &

6

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

Hasanagic, 2018; Marrucci et  al., 2019; Pinheiro et  al., 2019; Centobelli et  al., 2020). This process resulted in the compilation of research related to the topic of interest. However, due to the thematic scope of this study and the specific interest of this work, a complete filtering process had to be performed. For this, the publications were limited to the categories that are directly related to the field of study, specifically Environmental Sciences, Energy and Economics, and Econometrics and Finance (Prieto-Sandoval et al., 2018); this resulted in a total of 260 articles, having eliminated a total of 578 articles. After selecting the valid categories, the sample was limited to those articles that established a relationship between “CE and innovation” or “CE and technology” in the title, in the summary, in the abstract, or in the conclusions. As a result of this limitation, a total of 140 articles were obtained, which were reviewed in their entirety to compose the total sample represented in the work. In this last step, only 38 articles were selected, since the rest, although they had both concepts as the object of study, the aims and objectives were entirely different from the study presented. In Fig.  1, a summary of the applied steps and assumptions is illustrated.

3 Results and Discussion 3.1 Technological Innovation Systems for CE Until 2020 3.1.1 Evolution of Scientific Production Table 1 shows the main characteristics of the research on technological innovation systems for CE. The study covered all scientific production related to this subject until 2020; thus, the time horizon corresponds to 16 years without interruption. In addition, in order to understand the evolution of this field, in a more exhaustive way, the analysis was divided into 4 periods of 4  years of research each. Therefore, Table 1 shows each period’s main characteristics, such as the number of articles (A), the authors (Au) who published in this field, the evolution in the number of countries (C) that are active in this line of research, the total number of citations (TC), the number of citations per article (TC/A), and the number of active journals (J). The total sample analyzed was made up of 1322 articles. The first period analyzed (2005–2008) includes a total of 19 documents, while the last period (2017–2020) has 1158. This increase in scientific production is also reflected in the sample’s representation percentage, since the first period amounts to 1.44% as compared to 87.59% in the last period. Total 4607 authors participated in this line of research. In the first period (2005–2008), the investigations were carried out by a total of 49 authors, which represents an average of 2.6 authors per article. On the other hand, the last period, 2017–2020, is made up of a total of 4083 authors, which represents 88.63% of the sample of authors, with an average of 3.5 authors per article. The number of countries that have participated in the research has also registered an exponential increase, from 5 countries in 2005–2008 to 88 countries in 2017–2020.

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

Fig. 1  Data collection process used in the methodology

7

8

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

Table 1  Major characteristics of scientific production from 2005 to 2020 A 19 30 115 1158

AU 49 93 401 4083

C 5 7 34 88

TC 12 201 906 14,512

TC/A 1 7 8 13

1400

15 23 68 441

1000% 900%

1200

Number of articles by period

J

800% 1000

700% 600%

800

500%

600

400% 300%

400

200% 200

100%

Percentage variation in the number of aticles

Period 2005–2008 2009–2012 2013–2016 2017–2020

0%

0 2005-2008

2009-2012 Number of articles

2013-2016

2017-2020

Percentage Variation

Fig. 2  Comparison between the number of articles published and their variation percentage

In this sense, the sample is made up of a total of 89 countries; thus, in the last period, all countries participated except for one, Morocco. In addition, 2013–2016 has the highest percentage of variation (386%) since it goes from 7 countries in the previous period to 34. The citations go from 12 between 2005 and 2008 to a total of 14,512 between 2017 and 2020, a value that represents 92.84% of the total sample. In addition, in the TC/A column of Table  1, it can be observed how the average of citations per article increases from 1 in the first period (2005–2008) to 13 citations per document in the last period (2017–2020). Finally, in 2005–2008, only 15 journals registered publications on this study topic, while between 2017 and 2020, the number of available journals amounted to 441. This represents an increase in the average number of articles per journal from 1.27 to 2.63. Figure 2 shows the evolution of the published articles, in yellow, and the percentage of variation throughout the period studied, in orange. As can be seen, the number of articles published throughout the time horizon expresses a growing trend. The 2009–2012 period has a 58% variation percentage as publications on technological innovation systems for CE increased from 19 to 30 documents. The

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

9

following period, 2013–2016, represents a 283% variation, reaching a total of 115 publications. The last period (2017–2019) stands out for exceeding 100 annual investigations. This increase experienced in the number of investigations as of 2017 is mainly due to the approval of the 2030 Agenda (United Nations, 2015) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2016, which served as a precedent to promote the search for an investigation of efficient alternatives in all productive sectors. Finally, when analyzingevolution of researchannually, 2005 has the first 4 investigations (Gao, 2005; Mo et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2005; Zhang & Luo, 2005); 2006 registers the least number of investigations, with a total of 2 articles; and 2020 possesses the largest, with a total of 509. 3.1.2 Analysis of Scientific Production by Subject Area The sample of 1322 articles is classified into 25 subject areas thanks to the analysis tools provided by the Scopus database (Burnham, 2006). Each article may belong to one or more categories depending on the interest of the authors and the publishers. Therefore, these categories include a total of 3044 investigations, since some publications are framed in more than one discipline at the same time. The evolution of the thematic areas during the considered time horizon has also changed. For this reason, Fig. 3 represents the annual evolution of the main categories. Environmental Science, with 815 investigations, finds itself in the first position. This discipline represents 27% of the total sample obtained and is the only category that registers annual investigations in the entire time period analyzed. Energy can be found in the second place, with a total of 427 investigations and 14% representation. This subject area registered its first publication in 2006, although it was in 2015 that Environmental Science Engineering Business, Management and Accounting

Energy Social Sciences

350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Fig. 3  Comparison of growth trends between subject areas in research by periods

10

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

it began to be framed annually in publications. Engineering, with 384 articles (13%), and Social Sciences, with 306 articles (10%), are the disciplines that occupy the following positions in the classification of subject areas. Engineering, in the third position, has been considered annually in publications since 2008, although in 2006, it occasionally registered only one. In the case of Social Sciences, investigations have been framed annually since 2007, with the exception of 2013, which does not possess any. Business, Management, and Accounting are positioned in the fifth place with 273 publications and a 9% representation as compared to the total sample. This subject area has one publication in 2006, and it is from 2010 that it registered publications annually. These 5 categories encompass a total of 2205 articles and represent 72.44% of the research activity carried out. The remaining 20 categories are not considered in the analysis or in the representation of Fig. 2, as they have a representation percentage below 5%. 3.1.3 Identification of the Most Prolific Journals Scientific production on the technological innovation systems for the CE field has been published in a total of 498 journals. This table considers the number of articles published by each journal, the journal’s and articles’ H index (Hodge & Lacasse, 2011), the impact factor according to Scimago Journal Rank (Scimago Journal & Country Rank (SJR), 2020), the total citations received (Eysenbach, 2006), and the average citation per article of the 20 journals that have contributed to a greater extent and therefore have more completed research. About 80% of the journals are classified in the first and second quartiles, and only one journal is registered in the fourth one. Nationality is varied, although the United Kingdom has the highest percentage of representation (30%), since six journals in the table are British. Finally, the journals considered in the table include a total of 596 investigations and represent 45.08% of the total sample analyzed. The Journal of Cleaner Production heads the table with a total of 157 articles and citations average per article of 26.34. This British journal has the highest values ​​in the number of total citations (4136) and in the articles’ H index (34). Its first research was published in 2006, and it is the second journal with the longest research career. Sustainability appears second, with 124 publications and 1093 total citations. This Swiss journal did not have any research in the first two periods. However, in the third period (2013–2016), it registered five publications, and in the last period (2017–2020) it reached a total of 119 articles. Environmental Science and Technology has the highest values of ​​ all the journals considered in the table for average citations and journals’ H index, with values of ​​ 54.62 and 397, respectively. On the other hand, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews has the highest impact factor, specifically 3522. Finally, Xiandai Huagong Modern Chemical Industry has the lowest impact factor, with a value of 0.111. In addition, it is characterized by being the only one that has not published any research in the last period (2017–2020) (Table 2).

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

11

Table 2  The most active journals in the field of innovations for CE Journal A Journal of Cleaner 157 Production Sustainability 124 Resources Conservation and 60 Recycling Waste Management 28 Science of the Total 27 Environment Journal of Industrial 24 Ecology Procedia Environmental 23 Science Engineering and Management Journal of Environmental 18 Management ACS Sustainable Chemistry 16 and Engineering Applied Sciences 14 Switzerland Energies 14 Environmental Engineering 14 and Management Journal Environmental Science and 13 Technology Business Strategy and The 12 Environment Renewable and Sustainable 10 Energy Reviews Environmental Science and 9 Pollution Research Xiandai Huagong Modern 9 Chemical Industry Bioresource Technology 8 Chemical Engineering 8 Transactions Energy 8

H index TC TC/A articles 4136 26.34 34

H index journal 200

SJR C 1.937(Q1) UK

1093 8.81 20 1087 18.12 22

85 130

0.612(Q1) Switzerland 2.468(Q1) Netherlands

9.61 13 8.74 14

161 244

1.807(Q1) UK 1.795(Q1) Netherlands

740 30.83 14

102

2.377(Q1) USA

269 236

18

0.78

3

8

0.320(Q3) Romania

304 16.89 12

179

1.441(Q1) USA 1.878(Q1) USA

92

5.75

6

109

67

4.79

4

52

0.435(Q2) Switzerland

98 57

7.00 4.07

7 5

93 35

0.598(Q2) Switzerland 0.250(Q3) Romania

710 54.62 10

397

2.851(Q1) USA

259 21.58

7

105

2.123(Q1) UK

131 13.10

8

295

3.522(Q1) UK

120 13.33

5

113

0.845(Q2) Germany

0.11

1

13

0.111(Q4) China

145 18.13 13 1.63

6 3

294 35

2.489(Q1) UK 0.274(Q3) Italy

357 44.63

6

193

1.961(Q1) UK

1

A number of articles, TC total citations for all articles, TC/A number of citations per article, H index articles Hirsch-index in this topic, H index journals Hirsch-index in journal, SJR (Q) Scimago Journal Rank (Quartile), R rank position by the number of articles published, USA United States, UK United Kingdom

12

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

3.1.4 Most Prolific Authors Table 3 shows the main characteristics of the most prolific authors, such as published research, the number of citations received, the average number of citations, the institution to which they belong, and the H index they possess (Hirsch, 2005; BarIlan, 2008). Additionally, this table, which displays 0.22% of the total number of active authors, represents 4.99% of the total research sample. Regarding nationality, European authors predominate with a representation percentage of 80%. Finally, the date on which these authors have published their latest research is highlighted, since all of them have published in the last year analyzed (2020), except for Fiona Charnley. Samy Yousef leads the table with a total of 8 investigations. This author, who belongs to Kaunas University of Technology, records 62 total citations and an average of 7.75 citations. Second, Nancy M.P. Bocken has 7 investigations and the highest index H (7) together with the first author of the table, Samy Yousef. Joseph Sarkis is in the fifth position, with the highest values ​​in the table in total citations and average citations per article, 292 and 41.71, respectively. This is due to his article entitled “Creating integrated business and environmental value within the context of China’s circular economy and ecological modernization” (Park et  al., 2010), which has a total of 177 total citations. This author, along with Callie Table 3  Main authors from 2005 to 2020 Authors Yousef, S.

A TC TC/A Institution 8 62 7.75 Kaunas University of Technology Bocken, N. 7 112 16.00 Maastricht University School of Business and Economics Irabien, A. 7 61 8.71 Universidad de Cantabria Milios, L. 7 95 13.57 The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics Sarkis, J. 7 292 41.71 Worcester Polytechnic Institute Smol, M. 7 96 13.71 AGH University of Science and Technology Tatariants, 7 61 8.71 Kaunas University of M. Technology Azapagic, 6 177 29.50 The University of Manchester A. Babbitt, 5 59 11.80 Rochester Institute of C.W. Technology Charnley, 5 157 31.40 University of Exeter F.

C Lithuania

1st Last H A A index 2018 2020 7

Netherlands 2018 2020 7 Spain Sweden

2018 2020 6 2018 2020 6

USA Poland

2008 2020 7 2016 2020 5

Lithuania

2018 2020 6

UK

2017 2020 6

USA

2017 2020 4

UK

2015 2019 4

A number of articles, TC total citations for all articles, TC/A number of citations per article, 1st A First published article, Last A Last published article, H index Hirsch-index for authors, USA United States, UK United Kingdom

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

13

W. Babbitt, is the only non-European; both from the United States. On the other hand, Fiona Charnley, located at the bottom of the table, has the longest research career, since her first work was carried out in 2015. Moreover, it is interesting to analyze when the rest of the authors first published, since with the exception of the research carried out by Fiona Charnley (Portillo-Barco & Charnley, 2015) and Marzena Smol (Kulczycka et al., 2016), the rest contributed for the first time in this line of research in the last period (2017–2020). The VOSviewer tool allows to graphically represent the collaborative relationships among authors (Van Eck & Waltman, 2010). Therefore, after identifying the main authors of this line of research, in Fig.  4, collaboration is represented as co-­ authorship. The graph was made with 145 most prolific authors, of which only 21 cooperated jointly in the scientific production according to the VOSviewer tool. To identify the five collaboration groups, these have been marked in different colors. Finally, the circles appear in different sizes to indicate the number of investigations published by each author. The first cluster, in green, contains Akshit Singh, a British author, together with Sunil Luthra and Mangla Sachin Kumar, both of Indian origin. The research “Barriers to effective circular supply chain management in a developing country context” (Mangla et al., 2018) is the result of joint cooperation between the three mentioned authors. Secondly, the blue cluster establishes a certain relationship with the previous group, based on the investigation “Development of a lean manufacturing framework to enhance its adoption within manufacturing companies in developing economies” (Yadav et  al., 2020), which includes authors from both clusters.

Fig. 4  Network of cooperation based on co-authorship

14

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

This second group is represented by the authors Donald Huisingh, Yang Liu, JinWang, and Shan Ren. Among these four authors, various publications have been carried out in this field of study, such as “An active preventive maintenance approach of complex equipment based on a novel product-service system operation mode” (Wang et al., 2020) and “Barriers to smart waste management for a circular economy in China” (Zhang et  al., 2019). The third cluster, in grey, is represented by Weisheng Lu and Zhikang Bao. Both authors are from Hong Kong and established a close collaborative relationship, since they have several joint publications (Bao et al., 2019; Bao & Lu, 2020; Lu et al., 2020). The orange cluster is represented by Tianchi Liu, for registering the largest number of publications (3). As a result of collaborative activity, joint authorship research can be seen (Song et al., 2016; Yuan et  al., 2018; Tian et  al., 2019). Finally, the fifth cluster appears in yellow. John Sutherland and Joseph Sarkis head this group for registering the largest number of investigations with 3 and 7, respectively. As can be seen, John Sutherland only shares co-authorship with Fu Zhao, based on research such as “Value recovery from end-of-use products facilitated by automated dismantling planning” (Cong et al., 2017b) and “Integration of dismantling operations into a value recovery plan for circular economy”(Cong et  al., 2017a). On the other hand, Joseph Sarkis shares authorship with the rest of the authors in the collaboration group through various investigations, such as “Material flow analysis of Lithium in China” (Hao et al., 2017). 3.1.5 Main Research Institutions Table 4 shows the 10 most prolific institutions for the period of time studied (2005–2020). Even further, the table shows the international activity carried out, such as the collaboration index of the publications made and the citations obtained for national and international documents. In addition, specific data of the mentioned institutions, such as the country of origin, the amount of published research, the total citations received, the average number of citations per document, and their H index, are also provided. In this case, the 10 institutions, which group 200 investigations, represent 15.13% of the total sample. Finally, in terms of nationality, all the journals are European, with the exception of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The Delft University of Technology leads the table having the highest number of publications (35) and H-index (17). This institution from the Netherlands registers a total of 813 citations and an average of 23.23 citations per article. Lunds Universitet of Swedish origin appears second. This institution has 24 publications, a total of 469 citations, and an average of 19.54 citations per article. On the other hand, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna registers the highest values in total citations and average citations, with a total of 1260 and 66.32, respectively. This is due to the research entitled “A review on circular economy: The expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems,” which has 1407 (Ghisellini, Cialani and Ulgiati, 2016). As regards international activity between these institutions, the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

15

Table 4  Characteristics of the most outstanding institutions Institution Delft University of Technology Lunds Universitet The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics Chinese Academy of Sciences Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna Università degli Studi di Catania The University of Manchester Danmarks Tekniske Universitet Linköpings universitet Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

H C A TC TC/A index IC (%) TCIC TCNIC Netherlands 35 813 23.23 17 68.57% 28.21 12.36 Sweden Sweden

24 22

469 19.54 14 444 20.18 13

75.00% 77.27%

17.22 26.50 18.12 27.20

China

21

478 22.76 11

52.38%

26.27 18.90

Italy

19 1260 66.32

9

Italy

17

2

UK

16

354 22.13 14

43.75%

11.86 30.11

Denmark

16

177 11.06

8

56.25%

8.22 14.71

Sweden Italy

15 15

172 11.47 10 68 4.53 7

66.67% 46.67%

10.90 12.60 3.14 5.75

7

0.41

52.63% 123.70 0.0%

0.00

2.56 0.41

A number of articles, TC total citations for all articles, TC/A total citations per article, H index Hirsch index in this research topic, IC percentage of articles made with international collaboration, TCIC number of citations in articles with international collaboration, TCNIC number of citations in articles without international collaboration

and Lunds Universitet stand out for their high percentages of international collaboration, with 77.27% and 75%, respectively. On the contrary, Università degli Studi di Catania registers 0% in the collaboration index as it has not carried out any research internationally. Finally, in relation to total citations, the highest value in international collaboration research is held by Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, with 123.70, while the highest value of national documents is recorded by the University of Manchester, with 30.11. 3.1.6 Characteristics of the Most Relevant Countries Table 5 represents the most active countries in research on technological innovation systems for CE. This table gathers the main information from the 10 most productive countries, such as the number of investigations, the citations received, the average number of citations per article, the H index or the position it occupies in the ranking for the period analyzed, according to the publications made. In general terms, it is observed that 80% of the most prolific countries are European, with the exception of China and the United States.

16

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

Table 5  The most relevant countries by number of articles between 2005 and 2020

Country Italy United Kingdom China Spain United States Germany Netherlands Sweden Finland Poland

A 190 173 171 135 114 111 83 80 67 52

TC 2931 3668 3190 1394 1940 1040 1603 2277 624 475

TC/A 15.43 21.20 18.65 10.33 17.02 9.37 19.31 28.46 9.31 9.13

R(A) 2005– H index 2008 31 0 34 3(2) 28 1(15) 23 0 27 2(3) 21 0 26 0 23 0 20 0 13 0

2009–2012 2013–2016 2017–2020 0 4(12) 1(178) 7(1) 5(12) 2(158) 1(25) 1(35) 6(96) 0 6(7) 3(128) 3(2) 8(6) 4(103) 0 3(12) 5(99) 0 2(13) 8(70) 6(1) 7(7) 7(72) 0 10(4) 9(63) 0 17(3) 10(49)

A number of articles, TC total citations for all articles, TC/A number of citations per article, H index Hirsch index in this research topic, R rank position by the number of articles published

Italy leads the table with a total of 190 publications. This country registers a 2931 citations, an H index of 31, and an average of 15.43 citations per article. Regarding this country’s research trajectory, its first investigation was registered in the third period analyzed (2013–2016), and currently it is positioned as the first with a total of 178 investigations for the last (2017–2020). The United Kingdom appears in the second place with a total of 173 articles. This country has the highest value in ​​ total citations (3668) and in the H index (34). Specifically, the article with the most citations in this country is entitled “China’s growing CO2 emissions – A race between increasing consumption and efficiency gains” with a total of 439 (Peters et  al., 2007). In addition, the United Kingdom, China, and the United States are the only countries that register publications throughout the four periods analyzed. Finally, Sweden, with 80 investigations, registers the highest value in average citations per article, with a total of 28.46. In this case, the article with the highest number published by Sweden is “A review on circular economy: The expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems” (Ghisellini et  al., 2016), written by three authors of different nationalities. Hence, this same publication is the most cited in the Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, of Italian origin. These countries have carried out numerous investigations throughout the time horizon studied. For this reason, Table 6 lists the most prolific countries with the international activity they participated in. In particular, this table specifies the number of countries with which each one collaborates, their main collaborators, the international collaboration index expressed as a percentage, and the average of citations received for national (NIC) and international (CI) articles. The most prolific countries are organized in this table in the same order as the previous one (Table 5), that is, organized by the number of investigations. Italy, in the first position, has 44 collaborators. The countries with which Italy has conducted the majority of its research are Spain, the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, and

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

17

Table 6  International collaboration of the most prolific countries Country Italy United Kingdom China

NC Main collaborators 44 Spain. United Kingdom. Sweden. France. China. 46 Italy. United States. China. Spain. Sweden.

IC (%) 32.1 55.5

TC/A IC NIC 32.26 7.47 27.03 13.94

37

38.6

34.59

8.64

Spain

32

43.0

11.76

9.25

United States

38

57.0

19.85 13.27

Germany

40

54.1

11.38

7.00

Netherlands

32

66.3

25.22

7.71

Sweden

40

67.5

32.17 20.77

Finland

27

50.7

10.82

7.76

Poland

20

30.8

19.00

4.75

United States. United Kingdom. Netherlands. Sweden. Australia. Italy. United Kingdom. Denmark. Germany. Portugal. China. United Kingdom. Germany. Finland. Sweden. Netherlands. United States. Japan. United Kingdom. Switzerland. Sweden. Germany. China. United Kingdom. Belgium. Netherlands. United Kingdom. China. Italy. United States. United States. Sweden. China. Germany. United Kingdom. Germany. Greece. United States. Finland. Lithuania.

NC number of collaborators, IC (%) percentage of articles made with international collaboration, TC/A number of citations per article, IC number of citations by articles with international collaboration, NIC number of citations by articles without international collaboration

China, with a 32.1% collaboration rate. The United Kingdom appears in the second place, with the largest number of collaborators (46). This country has a 55.5% collaboration rate and registers the highest number of citations of their internationally produced articles. On the other hand, Sweden, with 67.5%, and The Netherlands, with 66.3%, has the highest percentage of collaboration index. This is due to the fact that Sweden has published 54 international publications, out of their 80 articles, and the Netherlands has a total of 55 investigations, out of 83. Regarding the average of total citations, China, with a value of 34.59, and Sweden, with a value of 20.77, stand out for registering the highest value of citations for articles of an international and national nature, respectively. On the contrary, Finland (10.82) and Poland (4.75) register the lowest values for international and national publications, respectively. Additionally, the value obtained in the total of citations of international articles is highlighted, since in the 10 most prolific countries this exceeds the citations of articles published nationally. Finally, the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden, and Finland are the four countries to only register prolific nations among their main collaborators. To conclude the analysis of the countries that have contributed to the scientific production on this subject of study, Fig. 5 is presented. This Figure differentiates the countries by color, according to the number of investigations carried out. Therefore, this map provides information on the countries that occupy an advantageous position in scientific production.

18

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

Fig. 5  Publications made by each country between 2005 and 2020

Italy, the United Kingdom, China, Spain, the United States, and Germany appear in green, which means they possess the largest number of investigations. Secondly, there are five countries that have published between 50 and 90 articles (Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Poland, and France), in blue. Thirdly, the countries in yellow have between 20 and 49 investigations. This group is made up of a total of twelve countries, including Denmark, Australia, Austria, and Switzerland. In the fourth position, with a total of 6 to 19 publications, are the countries indicated in orange. This group is made up of a total of 21 countries, including South Korea, South Africa, Hong Kong, and Singapore, among others. On the other hand, the group in red is the widest as it represents a total of 45 countries throughout the world. Indonesia, Morocco, Bulgaria, and Argentina are to be found within this classification. Finally, the countries that do not register any research on this line of study have been indicated in grey to be easily located as well. 3.1.7 Analysis of the Keywords Used (2005–2020) Table 7 shows the 20 keywords with the most occurrences in the research on technological innovation systems for CE for the period analyzed. Each research may register more than one keyword as there are several concepts that define the scope of the study. Therefore, although the sample of documents analyzed contains 1322 articles, the total sample of keywords obtained is 9443. In order to identify the different interests that have arisen in the research throughout the years, the analysis has been carried out for the four defined periods. In fact, this classification allows to see the concepts that have been used since the beginning of the research and those that have been incorporated over the years. In addition, to better perform this analysis, those keywords that have been used in the main search have been eliminated, that is, CE, innovation, and technology.

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

19

Table 7  Main keywords from 2005 to 2020

Keyword Recycling Sustainable development Sustainability Waste management Life cycle assessment Economics Life cycle Environmental impact Life cycle analysis Industrial economics Economic analysis Anaerobic digestion Economic aspect Carbon dioxide Environmental technology Climate change Environmental economics Recovery Decision making Environmental management

2005– 2020 A % 297 22.47 297 22.47

2005–2008 R (A) % 11(2) 10.53 1(7) 36.84

2009–2012 2013–2016 R (A) % R (A) % 12(4) 13.33 3(26) 22.61 3(7) 23.33 1(28) 23.48

202 15.28 119(1) 188 14.22 0 124 9.38 0

5.26 352(1) 0.00 39(2) 0.00 0

122 119 107

9.23 52(1) 9.00 0 8.09 0

5.26 6(4) 0.00 0 0.00 0

75 70 69 65 63 62 62

5.67 5.30 5.22 4.92 4.77 4.69 4.69

60 60

4.54 31(1) 4.54 0

58 57 55

4.39 0 4.31 0 4.16 0

91(1) 0 9(2) 0 0 7(2) 0

5.26 0.00 10.53 0.00 0.00 10.53 0.00

0 208(1) 123(1) 0 124(1) 17(2) 26(2)

3.33 6.67 0.00

2017–2020 R (A) % 1(265) 22.88 2(255) 22.02

9(14) 11.30 3(186) 16.06 4(19) 15.65 4(167) 14.42 5(17) 14.78 5(107) 9.24

13.33 2(26) 22.61 8(91) 0.00 8(14) 12.17 6(105) 0.00 12(10) 8.70 7(97) 0.00 3.33 3.33 0.00 3.33 6.67 6.67

7.86 9.07 8.38

33(6) 5.22 9(68) 7(14) 12.17 14(55) 10(11) 9.57 13(55) 19(7) 5.22 11(58) 92(3) 2.61 10(59) 13(9) 7.83 19(49) 30(6) 5.22 15(54)

5.87 4.75 4.75 5.01 5.09 4.23 4.66

5.26 0 0.00 0

0.00 6(14) 11.30 28(45) 0.00 98(3) 2.61 12(57)

3.89 4.92

0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 24(2)

0.00 33(6) 0.00 54(4) 6.67 29(6)

4.49 4.58 4.32

5.22 17(52) 3.48 16(53) 5.22 21(47)

A number of articles, R rank position by the number of articles published, % percentage over the total articles of the period

The terms recycling and sustainable development occupy the first two positions with a total of 297 occurrences. These concepts represent 22.47% of the total sample and have been the subject of study throughout the four periods. The keyword waste management has 188 occurrences and represents 14.22% of the total sample. This term is characterized by being among the first positions even though it registered its first occurrence in the second period analyzed (2009–2012). On the other hand, the incorporation of most of the concepts in the third period (2013–2016) is striking, since 45% of the terms are incorporated as words with the highest number of occurrences at this stage. Apart from that, when it comes to terms with the highest occurrences per period, during 2005–2008, carbon dioxide, energy utilization, resource productivity, and air pollution stand out among the most repeated in research. In the second period (2009–2012), ecology, energy efficiency, and environmental protection register higher occurrences in the investigations of those years.

20

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

Fig. 6  Main keywords network based on co-occurrence

Between 2013 and 2016, the most used concepts were waste management, industrial economics, life cycle, and climate change. Finally, in the last period (2017–2020), environmental impact, life cycle analysis, economic aspect, and environmental technology register the highest occurrences. Figure 6 shows a map based on the keywords used in scientific production. For its creation, four clusters have been used that refer to the main lines of research. Each group of words is represented in a color. In addition, the terms with the highest number of occurrences are distinguished from the rest by the size of the circle that represents them. The first yellow cluster encompasses the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development, due to the number of occurrences they have in research on this topic. Product design, decision making, supply chains and resource efficiency also appear here. In this way, this first group of terms suggests the interest in efficiently managing production and the resources involved in production models. Secondly, the green cluster includes the term life cycle and all the concepts that relate to it, such as life cycle assessment, life cycle analysis, etc. In addition, other terms associated with environmental impact, such as global warming, greenhouse gases, and environmental impact, are also considered. This cluster might be a combination of the interest in correctly evaluating the life cycle of the product and the desire to improve it, and the possibility of simultaneously contributing to the environmental impact. The third cluster, in orange, is led by the terms wastewater treatment and anaerobic digestion.

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

21

This group of words encompasses the processes related to the decomposition, reduction, and recovery of waste. Optimization, recovery, procedures, and resource recovery are some other concepts that exemplify the interest in this area. In addition, this group of words refers to the agricultural sector since terms such as agriculture, food, nutrients, and fertilizer are used. Finally, the fourth cluster is represented in blue. This set of words is led by the terms waste management and recycling. There are keywords that propose alternatives when it comes to managing waste, such as plastic recycling or incineration, as well as concepts that refer to the metal industry, such as zinc, aluminum, and heavy metal, and its need to manage this industrial waste (metal recovey and industrial waste).

3.2 Scientific Production Carried Out on Technological Innovation Systems for CE in 2021 In this second part of the findings section, the topics of interest in the scientific production of the last year, specifically 2021, are analyzed. The methodological strategy used made it possible to obtain a total of 38 documents that establish a clear relationship between the CE concept and technological innovation (Table  8). However, not all those investigations focused their efforts on the same field of study, and those concentrating on “blockchain” stand out (Khadke et al., 2021; Khan et al., 2021b; Shojaei et al., 2021; Upadhyay et al., 2021). The systematic analysis allowed to distinguish two types of research, according to their nature: theoretical or practical. The first research cluster is made up of a total of 14 publications. This set of documents is merely theoretical and has as its main purpose delimiting the concepts, clarifying the contributions made to date, identifying the barriers when introducing innovative processes or even clarifying the implications of current technology or methods in the field of CE. Among those publications, there are state-of-the-art systematic and bibliometric reviews, as well as the description of processes to either synthesize or critically review the contributions made up to date. The second cluster of documents encompasses a total of 24 investigations. These articles are of a practical nature, since they focus on expanding the studies of innovation applications to demonstrate their efficiency towards a more sustainable future within CE framework. In this set of investigations, all aspects are considered which range from the creation of games to increase awareness at the business level, to the description of processes and models for the innovation of CE business models. In addition, there are also studies that evaluate and quantify the relationship between innovation and CE in small/medium-sized companies and how those relationships impact their performance. After identifying the character of each of those documents and their area of interest, it is of utmost importance to mention their limitations, as well as the suggested future research paths. In this sense, it was detected that the vast majority

22

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

Table 8  Research on technological innovation systems for CE in 2021 Title Phosphorus circular economy of disposable baby nappy waste: Quantification, assessment of recycling technologies and plan for sustainability (Chowdhury & Wijayasundara, 2021) Learning through play: A serious game as a tool to support circular economy education and business model innovation (Manshoven & Gillabel, 2021) A technology for recycling lithium-ion batteries promoting the circular economy: The RecycLib (Santos et al., 2021) Digital technology and circular economy practices: An strategy to improve organizational performance (Khan et al., 2021b) Innovation and the circular economy: A systematic literature review (Suchek et al., 2021) Digital technologies, circular economy practices and environmental policies in the era of covid-19 (Khan et al., 2021a) Circular economy business models: The complementarities with sharing economy and eco-innovations investments (Aldieri et al., 2021) Implementation of circular economy technologies: An empirical study of Slovak and Slovenian manufacturing companies (Šebo et al., 2021) Assessment of urban solid waste management systems for Industry 4.0 technology interventions and the circular economy (Kanojia & Visvanathan, 2021) Exploring the influence of industry 4.0 technologies on the circular economy (Laskurain-Iturbe et al., 2021)

A conceptual merging of circular economy, degrowth and conviviality design approaches applied to renewable energy technology (Ralph, 2021)

Study objective The potential to minimize the loss of phosphorus (P) bound to human excrement through used disposable baby diapers.

The development and testing of a simulation board game, aimed at addressing this gap between business theory and practice.

A technology for recycling LIB cells (Lithium-Ion Batteries) that recovers active materials and other elements contained in LIB cells. The role of BCT in CE practices, and its impact on organizational performance.

Priority areas related to CE and encouragement for future research that meets international standards of excellence. The relationship between Industry 4.0 technologies, the COVID-19 outbreak, environmental regulation policies, and CE practices. A systemic approach to the instruments necessary to foster an effective transition to CE.

The identification of the characteristics of manufacturing companies and their perceptions of the barriers to the adoption of CE technologies. A readiness assessment tool to promote the comprehensive transformation of municipal solid waste management under I4.0 and CE.

The influence of the main technologies: additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, artificial vision, big data and advanced analysis, cybersecurity, Internet of things, robotics and virtual and augmented reality in the main areas of action covered by CE. Both CE strategies and design tools for proposed technologies.

(continued)

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

23

Table 8 (continued) Title Towards the circular economy — A pilot-scale membrane technology for the recovery of water and nutrients from secondary effluent (Czuba et al., 2021) Eco-innovation diversity in a circular economy: Towards circular innovation studies (de Jesus et al., 2021) Closing the loop in a circular economy: Saving resources or suffocating innovations? (Zhou & Smulders, 2021)

A review of circular economy research for electric motors and the role of industry 4.0 technologies (Tiwari et al., 2021) Progress in sustainable technologies of leather wastes valorization as solutions for the circular economy (Chojnacka et al., 2021) Efficient plastic recycling and remolding circular economy using the technology of trust–blockchain (Khadke et al., 2021) Technological innovation and circular economy practices: Business strategies to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 (Khan et al., 2021c) A circular economy business model innovation process for the electrical and electronic equipment sector (Pollard et al., 2021) Impact of subsidies on innovations of environmental protection and circular economy in China (Xu et al., 2021)

Study objective A new secondary effluent (SE) management approach to recover the valuable components of wastewater for a variety of purposes, starting with the water itself and followed by nutrients. A debate on what is really known about the dynamics of innovation within a CE by synthesizing the main findings available in the published reviews. A two-sector endogenous growth model with Schumpeterian innovation, in which the primary sector continually develops new products and uses primary resources in production, while the secondary sector renews retired products for reuse. A holistic view of CE research for electric motors and the role of Industry 4.0 technologies by presenting the state of the art available in the literature and comparing it with the industrial perspective. Methods that offer the recycling of materials or energy from tanning waste, including chemical, thermal and biological techniques Continuous efforts to utilize plastic waste by introducing blockchain during plastic waste recycling.

The role of technological innovation (T.I.) and business data analytics (B.D.A.) in the F.P. of food in Ecuador during COVID-19. A CEBMI Process Framework to support EEE manufacturers with the creation and implementation of specific CEBMs tailored to their own offerings.

62 publicly traded energy conservation and environmental protection companies (EEPEs) in the Chinese market between 2013 and 2018 and quantitatively assess the innovative performance of these companies using multivariate regression. Critical CE barriers and provide guidelines to improve Exploring the decisive barriers to achieve circular economy: Strategies for innovation in the textile industry in Taiwan. the textile innovation in Taiwan (Huang et al., 2021) The relationship between proactive eco-innovation The nexus between proactive eco-­ and the financial performance of companies and how innovation and firm financial proactive eco-innovation relates to CE explored. performance: a circular economy perspective (Johl & Toha, 2021) (continued)

24

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

Table 8 (continued) Title Digital technologies for urban metabolism efficiency: Lessons from urban agenda partnership on circular economy (D’amico et al., 2021) Developing a process model for circular economy business model innovation within manufacturing companies (Pieroni et al., 2021b) On the contribution of eco-innovation features to a circular economy: A microlevel quantitative approach (Kiefer et al., 2021) Enabling a circular economy in the built environment sector through blockchain technology (Shojaei et al., 2021) Blockchain technology and the circular economy: Implications for sustainability and social responsibility (Upadhyay et al., 2021) Framing and assessing the emergent field of business model innovation for the circular economy: A combined literature review and multiple case study approach (Santa-Maria et al., 2021) Circular economy business model innovation: Sectorial patterns within manufacturing companies (Pieroni et al., 2021a) Towards a circular economy for packaging waste by using new technologies: The case of large multinationals in emerging economies (Ajwani-Ramchandani et al., 2021) 3D print e circular economy: Innovation and sustainability for the construction sector (Vaccaro & Buoninconti, 2021)

Sustainable design thinking and social innovation for beating barriers to circular economy (Deniz, 2021) Circular economy practices and industry 4.0 technologies: A strategic move of automobile industry (Yu et al., 2021)

Study objective Information on the practices of digitalization of the circularity of urban metabolism by analyzing the initiatives implemented by the municipalities of Kaunas. A systematic process model for the innovation of CE business model, in close collaboration with seven manufacturing companies. The causal relationship between the different characteristics of EI (ecoinnovation) and CE with the help of a unique dataset of small and medium-sized enterprises in Spain and an econometric analysis. Blockchain as a promising technology for CE facilitation in the built environment. The current and potential contribution of blockchain technology to CE through the lens of sustainability and social responsibility. The field of CBMI (Circular Business Model Innovation), the current state of field research, a future research agenda, and the most relevant elements of the CBMI process in practice.

Industry business model patterns to help manufacturing companies reduce complexity and uncertainty within CE business model innovation. The CE framework to a specific phenomenon still not sufficiently studied: the packaging of fast-moving consumer goods.

The strategies that can provide an acceleration to the construction sector from the recovery of construction and demolition (C&D) waste and the possibility of inserting it in a reuse cycle through current 3D printing techniques for the construction of economically accessible buildings with low environmental impact. The theoretical framework focuses on CE with respect to sustainable design thinking and social innovation. The role of Industry 4.0 in CE practices and the ability of the supply chain to improve business performance.

(continued)

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

25

Table 8 (continued) Title Circular economy and innovation: A look from the perspective of organizational capabilities (Sehnem et al., 2022) Circular economy-based new products and company performance: The role of stakeholders and Industry 4.0 technologies (Pinheiro et al., 2022) Sustainable technologies for the transition of auditing towards a circular economy (Imoniana et al., 2021) Digital technologies catalyzing business model innovation for circular economy—Multiple case study (Ranta et al., 2021) Implementing the circular economy paradigm in the agri-food supply chain: The role of food waste prevention technologies (Ciccullo et al., 2021)

Study objective The basic conceptual framework, with an analysis of the articles published on the topic of CE and innovation. How Industry 4.0 technologies and stakeholder pressure influence circular product design (CPD) and, in turn, impact company performance. The relationships between sustainability technologies, the transition of auditors, and CE models. Theoretical information for both business model innovation and digital technologies in CE.

Thee range of technologies available and the detailed goals of those technologies for food loss and waste prevention.

of the investigations in the year 2021 advocate for the same topics, which are here described as follows. As for limitations, the lack of technologies and methods that can be applied on a large scale is frequently mentioned, since most of them have only been tested in laboratories or pilot studies (Chowdhury & Wijayasundara, 2021). In addition, it is worth noting the unavoidable need to delve into the role of disruptive and emerging technologies in the processes toward CE. The latter with the purpose of obtaining methodologies with a more refined optimization to ensure success at the industrial level. Another limitation detected was the lack of investment that allows for additional evaluations in large companies and other sectors outside and inside the manufacturing processes (Pieroni et al., 2021b; Santos et al., 2021; Suchek et al., 2021). Finally, special attention is paid to the political dimension, since an adequate regulatory framework is suggested, with political measures that promote technological endowments such as 0% tariffs to import specific equipment or those that strengthen actions focused on innovation (Johl & Toha, 2021; Khan et al., 2021a). Regarding future research, the topics that attract the most interest from researchers include promoting modernization in the supply chain of food products, expanding scientific production on technological and innovation processes in various sectors with different clients, suppliers, or parties interested. Future research work is recommended to include non-European countries, because European studies have been dominant at a scientific level for this subject (Khan et al., 2021c; Laskurain-­ Iturbe et al., 2021).

26

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

3.3 Discussion The bibliometric analysis carried out has allowed to obtain valuable information about the research on technological innovation systems for CE. The study performed for a period of 17 years of research shed light on (i) the most active countries in this matter, (ii) the percentage of scientific production and the (iii) the names of scholars who stand out for their high involvement in this line of research. Specifically, for the time horizon analyzed, 87.59% of the total investigations on this subject have appeared in the last 4 years (2017–2020). In addition, this last period has experienced an important percentage variation of 907%, going from 115 investigations between 2013–2016 to a total of 1158 publications between 2017 and 2020. Among the main reasons that support this exponential increase is the high commitment by all entities that are part of society, as well as the need to contribute effectively from any productive sector. That is why research on technological innovation systems that contribute favorably to CE is considered an issue capable of positively influencing current and future scenarios. In this context, Samy Yousef must be mentioned, as he is the author with the highest number of investigations (8) and has an H index of 7 for the publications made on technological innovation systems for CE. In addition, one of his recent investigations stands out for providing information about the recycling of multilayer flexible packaging and for being the most cited in his entire career (Mumladze et al., 2018). As for the countries most committed to technological innovation in EC, Italy is worth highlighting, with 190 publications, and the United Kingdom, with 173. In addition, the United Kingdom has the highest number of total citations (3668) and the highest H index (34) out of the 10 most prolific countries analyzed. On the other hand, the documents of the last year analyzed (2021) mention the large presence of studies focused on European countries, a statement that is fully understood when analyzing the section on the most productive countries. Finally, the Journal of Cleaner Production and Sustainability have been the most active journals, with 157 and 124 publications, respectively. Both journals stand out from the rest for their advantageous positions, in addition to both belonging to the first quartile. Environmental science, in the first place, and energy, engineering, social sciences, and business, management, and accounting in successive positions are the most representative categories for this line of research. The analysis of category offers the multidisciplinary vision that CE represents from an innovative perspective, since it not only pursues environmental improvement, and therefore sustainability, but efficiency in areas related to social sciences, business, and engineering. In addition, this study has a significant connection with the analysis of keywords, since the topics of interest that make up the clusters can be framed in these categories. The yellow cluster, which is represented by the words sustainable development and sustainability, is an example of this, since among the terms used there are several focusing on business management, and the economic costs derived from technological innovations. The interest in generating quality scientific production and contributing to the productive sectors must never be overlooked. This

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

27

commitment is reflected both in recent research and in the incorporation of CE into production processes, which allow it not only to be more efficient but also to manage the available resources more effectively. To sum up, the results for the last year were also mentioned, in which a high percentage of research focuses its efforts on contributing to the scientific production of technological processes and methods that allow the evolution towards a CE context. In this sense, it is true that progress is being made based on pilot studies, but it is necessary to resolve the effectiveness of this innovation at the industry level or even in other companies whose characteristics are not so limited. In addition, support from the political dimension is necessary, since the most recent studies explain the lack of regulations and measures that encourage scientific progress towards new circular models in all sectors.

4 Conclusions The objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between technological innovation systems and CE based on a systematic and bibliometric review. The time horizon established covered 17  years, including all the research published from 2005 to 2021. In addition, this analysis has allowed to ascertain the main productive sectors that investigate the incorporation of technological innovations for CE, as well as the main drivers of the investigation. Furthermore, research shows the current interest in improving production processes and in being more efficient with the resources available. In this sense, circularity in the production sectors is considered an option to be implemented for improvement purposes. However, there are many disciplines that must intervene in this line of research to obtain a general idea of which ​​ processes and systems are appropriate to improve CE. In fact, this multidisciplinary nature is clearly reflected in the analysis carried out for the thematic areas and the keywords. Therefore, future analyses should focus on measures and decisions to improve CE in all productive sectors, as well as the necessary strategies for its correct implementation. Some of the limitations that could be dealt with in future research are: (1) the incorporation of qualitative tools or other quantitative techniques that complete the results provided; (2) focusing on a specific productive sector so as to learn about specific technological innovation systems; (3) evaluating the positive effects derived from field studies, instead of those focused on laboratories or pilot studies that make it difficult to contribute at a real level. To conclude, the importance of these results for future decision-making in the productive sectors is worth mentioning, as well as the incorporation of innovation systems focused on EC. In addition, this work is of great interest to researchers who wish to obtain a global and updated view of the state of the research and to political entities wishing to favor technological innovation in society, in general, and in production processes, specifically. Furthermore, as a specific contribution, it is worth highlighting the gaps in information found in a practical dimension. The upcoming

28

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

questions are: What are the factors that make practical studies of CE nexus technological innovations difficult to be published/ communicated? What is the predisposition to pay and to introduce technological models in organizations and social entities? Would the creation of a regulatory framework and the introduction of incentives be reflected in an exponential increase of technological innovations in favor of CE? These and further questions require answers in order to advance in a more concrete sense, leaving theory aside and really focusing on the limitations that prevent the reception and adoption of those technological innovative processes.

References Abad-Segura, E., et al. (2020). Industrial processes management for a sustainable society: Global research analysis. PRO, 8(5), 631. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8050631 Abad-Segura, E., et al. (2021). Implications for sustainability of the joint application of bioeconomy and circular economy: A worldwide trend study. Sustainability, 13(13), 7182. https://doi. org/10.3390/su13137182 Ajayi, O.  M., & Morton, S.  C. (2015). Exploring the enablers of organizational and marketing innovations in SMEs: Findings from South-Western Nigeria. https://doi. org/10.1177/2158244015571487, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015571487 Ajwani-Ramchandani, R., et al. (2021). Towards a circular economy for packaging waste by using new technologies: The case of large multinationals in emerging economies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 281, 125139. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JCLEPRO.2020.125139 Aldieri, L., et al. (2021). Circular economy business models: The complementarities with sharing economy and eco-innovations investments. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(22). https://doi. org/10.3390/su132212438 Alegre, J., & Chiva, R. (2008). Assessing the impact of organizational learning capability on product innovation performance: An empirical test. Technovation, 28(6), 315–326. https://doi. org/10.1016/J.TECHNOVATION.2007.09.003 Antikainen, M., Uusitalo, T., & Kivikytö-Reponen, P. (2018). Digitalisation as an Enabler of Circular Economy. Procedia CIRP, 73, 45–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PROCIR.2018.04.027 Bag, S., Gupta, S., & Kumar, S. (2021). Industry 4.0 adoption and 10R advance manufacturing capabilities for sustainable development. International Journal of Production Economics, 231, 107844. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.IJPE.2020.107844 Banaeian, N., et al. (2018). Green supplier selection using fuzzy group decision making methods: A case study from the agri-food industry. Computers & Operations Research, 89, 337–347. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.COR.2016.02.015 Bao, Z., & Lu, W. (2020). Developing efficient circularity for construction and demolition waste management in fast emerging economies: Lessons learned from Shenzhen, China. Science of the Total Environment, 724. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138264 Bao, Z., et  al. (2019). Procurement innovation for a circular economy of construction and demolition waste: Lessons learnt from Suzhou, China. Waste Management, 99, 12–21. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2019.08.031 Bar-Ilan, J. (2008). Which h-index? – A comparison of WoS, Scopus and Google Scholar. Scientometrics, 74(2), 257–271. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-­008-­0216-­y Bombiak, E., & Marciniuk-Kluska, A. (2018). Green human resource management as a tool for the sustainable development of enterprises: Polish young company experience. Sustainability 2018, Vol. 10, Page 1739, 10(6), 1739. https://doi.org/10.3390/SU10061739 Burnham, J. F. (2006). Scopus database: A review. Biomedical Digital Libraries, 3, 1–8. https:// doi.org/10.1186/1742-­5581-­3-­1

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

29

Camisón, C., & Villar-López, A. (2014). Organizational innovation as an enabler of technological innovation capabilities and firm performance. Journal of Business Research, 67(1), 2891–2902. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JBUSRES.2012.06.004 Cassettari, L., Patrone, C., & Saccaro, S. (2019). Industry 4.0 and its applications in the healthcare sector: A sistematic review. In Proceedings of the Summer School Francesco Turco (pp. 136–142). AIDI – Italian Association of Industrial Operations Professors. Centobelli, P., et al. (2020). Designing business models in circular economy: A systematic literature review and research agenda. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29(4), 1734–1749. https:// doi.org/10.1002/bse.2466 Chojnacka, K., et al. (2021). Progress in sustainable technologies of leather wastes valorization as solutions for the circular economy. Journal of Cleaner Production, 313. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127902 Chowdhury, R.  B., & Wijayasundara, M. (2021). Phosphorus circular economy of disposable baby nappy waste: Quantification, assessment of recycling technologies and plan for sustainability. Science of the Total Environment, 799, 149339. https://doi.org/10.1016/J. SCITOTENV.2021.149339 Ciccullo, F., et al. (2021). Implementing the circular economy paradigm in the agri-food supply chain: The role of food waste prevention technologies. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105114 Concari, A., Kok, G., & Martens, P. (2022). Recycling behaviour: Mapping knowledge domain through bibliometrics and text mining. Journal of Environmental Management, 303, 114160. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JENVMAN.2021.114160 Cong, L., Zhao, F., & Sutherland, J. W. (2017a). Integration of dismantling operations into a value recovery plan for circular economy. Journal of Cleaner Production, 149, 378–386. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.02.115 Cong, L., Zhao, F., & Sutherland, J.  W. (2017b). Value recovery from end-of-use products facilitated by automated dismantling planning. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 19(7), 1867–1882. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-­017-­1370-­9 Costas, R., & Bordons, M. (2007). The h-index: Advantages, limitations and its relation with other bibliometric indicators at the micro level. Journal of Informetrics, 1(3), 193–203. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.joi.2007.02.001 Crossan, M.  M., & Apaydin, M. (2010). A multi-dimensional framework of organizational innovation: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of Management Studies, 47(6), 1154–1191. https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1467-­6486.2009.00880.X Czuba, K., et al. (2021). Towards the circular economy—A pilot-scale membrane technology for the recovery of water and nutrients from secondary effluent. Science of the Total Environment, 791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148266 D’amico, G., et al. (2021). Digital technologies for urban metabolism efficiency: Lessons from urban agenda partnership on circular economy. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(11). https:// doi.org/10.3390/su13116043 de Guimarães, J. C. F., et al. (2021). The journey towards sustainable product development: Why are some manufacturing companies better than others at product innovation? Technovation, 103, 102239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2021.102239 de Jesus, A., et  al. (2021). Eco-innovation diversity in a circular economy: Towards circular innovation studies. Sustainability 2021, Vol. 13, Page 10974, 13(19), 10974. https://doi. org/10.3390/SU131910974 Deniz, D. (2021). SUSTAINABLE DESIGN THINKING and SOCIAL INNOVATION for BEATING BARRIERS to CIRCULAR ECONOMY. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 253, 219–226. https://doi.org/10.2495/SC210191 Ding, Q., et al. (2022). Removal of microcystins from water and primary treatment technologies – A comprehensive understanding based on bibliometric and content analysis, 1991–2020. Journal of Environmental Management, 305, 114349. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JENVMAN.2021.114349

30

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

Duque-Acevedo, M., et al. (2020). Agricultural waste: Review of the evolution, approaches and perspectives on alternative uses. Global Ecology and Conservation, 22(January). https://doi. org/10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e00902 Ellen Macarthur Foundation. (2017). What is a circular economy? Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Available at: https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-­economy-­introduction/ overview. Accessed: 17 Jan 2022. Eysenbach, G. (2006). Citation advantage of open access articles. PLoS Biology, 4(5), 692–698. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0040157 Franco-García, M.-L., Carpio-Aguilar, J.  C., & Bressers, H. (2019). Towards zero waste, circular economy boost: Waste to resources (pp.  1–8). Springer. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-­3-­319-­92931-­6_1 Gao, Z. N. (2005). Intensify environmental safety to ensure sustainable development. Rural Eco-­ Environment, 21(2). Ghisellini, P., Cialani, C., & Ulgiati, S. (2016). A review on circular economy: The expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems. Journal of Cleaner Production, 114, 11–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.09.007 Goedhuysa, M., & Veugelers, R. (2012). Innovation strategies, process and product innovations and growth: Firm-level evidence from Brazil. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 23(4), 516–529. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.STRUECO.2011.01.004 Govindan, K., & Hasanagic, M. (2018). A systematic review on drivers, barriers, and practices towards circular economy: A supply chain perspective. International Journal of Production Research, 56(1–2), 278–311. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2017.1402141 Gupta, S., et  al. (2016). Marketing innovation: A consequence of competitiveness. Journal of Business Research, 69(12), 5671–5681. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JBUSRES.2016.02.042 Gutiérrez-Salcedo, M., et  al. (2018). Some bibliometric procedures for analyzing and evaluating research fields. Applied Intelligence, 48(5), 1275–1287. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10489-­017-­1105-­y Hao, H., et al. (2017). Material flow analysis of lithium in China. Resources Policy, 51, 100–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2016.12.005 Harzing, A.  W., & Alakangas, S. (2016). Google Scholar, Scopus and the Web of Science: A longitudinal and cross-disciplinary comparison. Scientometrics, 106(2), 787–804. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11192-­015-­1798-­9 Herrera-Franco, G., et al. (2021). Worldwide research on geoparks through bibliometric analysis. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(3), 1–32. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031175 Hirsch, J. E. (2005). An index to quantify an individual’s scientific research output. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(46), 16569–16572. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0507655102 Hodge, D.  R., & Lacasse, J.  R. (2011). Evaluating journal quality: Is the H-index a better measure than impact factors? Research on Social Work Practice, 21(2), 222–230. https://doi. org/10.1177/1049731510369141 Huang, Y. F., et al. (2021). Exploring the decisive barriers to achieve circular economy: Strategies for the textile innovation in Taiwan. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 27, 1406–1423. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2021.03.007 Huergo, E., & Jaumandreu, J. (2004). Firms’ age, process innovation and productivity growth. International Journal of Industrial Organization, 22(4), 541–559. https://doi.org/10.1016/J. IJINDORG.2003.12.002 Imoniana, J.  O., et  al. (2020). Sustainable technologies for the transition of auditing towards a circular economy. Sustainability 2021, Vol. 13, Page 218, 13(1), 218. https://doi.org/10.3390/ SU13010218 Imoniana, J.  O., et  al. (2021). Sustainable technologies for the transition of auditing towards a circular economy. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su13010218

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

31

Johl, S. K., & Toha, M. A. (2021). The nexus between proactive eco-innovation and firm financial performance: A circular economy perspective. Sustainability 2021, Vol. 13, Page 6253, 13(11), 6253. https://doi.org/10.3390/SU13116253 Kanojia, A., & Visvanathan, C. (2021). Assessment of urban solid waste management systems for Industry 4.0 technology interventions and the circular economy. Waste Management and Research, 39(11), 1414–1426. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X21992424 Khadke, S., et  al. (2021). Efficient plastic recycling and remolding circular economy using the technology of trust–Blockchain. Sustainability 2021, Vol. 13, Page 9142, 13(16), 9142. https:// doi.org/10.3390/SU13169142 Khan, S.  A. R., Ponce, P., Thomas, G., et  al. (2021a). Digital technologies, circular economy practices and environmental policies in the era of COVID-19. Sustainability 2021, Vol. 13, Page 12790, 13(22), 12790. https://doi.org/10.3390/SU132212790 Khan, S. A. R., Zia-ul-haq, H. M., et al. (2021b). Digital technology and circular economy practices: An strategy to improve organizational performance. Business Strategy & Development, 4(4), 482–490. https://doi.org/10.1002/BSD2.176 Khan, S.  A. R., Ponce, P., Tanveer, M., et  al. (2021c). Technological innovation and circular economy practices: Business strategies to mitigate the effects of COVID-19. Sustainability 2021, Vol. 13, Page 8479, 13(15), 8479. https://doi.org/10.3390/SU13158479 Kiefer, C. P., del Río, P., & Carrillo-Hermosilla, J. (2021). On the contribution of eco-innovation features to a circular economy: A microlevel quantitative approach. Business Strategy and the Environment, 30(4), 1531–1547. https://doi.org/10.1002/BSE.2688 Kim, K., Lee, J., & Lee, C. (2021). Which innovation type is better for production efficiency? A comparison between product/service, process, organisational and marketing innovations using stochastic frontier and meta-frontier analysis. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537325.2021.196597 9. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537325.2021.1965979 Kitchenham, B. (2004). Procedures for performing systematic reviews. Keele University, Keele, 33, 1–26. Korhonen, J., Honkasalo, A., & Seppälä, J. (2018). Circular economy: The concept and its limitations. Ecological Economics, 143, 37–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.06.041 Kulczycka, J., et  al. (2016). Evaluation of the recovery of Rare Earth Elements (REE) from phosphogypsum waste  – Case study of the WIZÓW Chemical Plant (Poland). Journal of Cleaner Production, 113, 345–354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.11.039 Laskurain-Iturbe, I., et  al. (2021). Exploring the influence of industry 4.0 technologies on the circular economy. Journal of Cleaner Production, 321, 128944. https://doi.org/10.1016/J. JCLEPRO.2021.128944 Llorente-González, L.  J., & Vence, X. (2020). Resources , Conservation & Recycling How labour-intensive is the circular economy? A policy-orientated structural analysis of the repair , reuse and recycling activities in the European Union. Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 162(November), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105033 Lu, W., et al. (2020). Cross-jurisdictional construction waste material trading: Learning from the smart grid. Journal of Cleaner Production, 277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123352 Mangla, S. K., et al. (2018). Barriers to effective circular supply chain management in a developing country context. Production Planning and Control, 29(6), 551–569. https://doi.org/10.108 0/09537287.2018.1449265 Manshoven, S., & Gillabel, J. (2021). Learning through play: A serious game as a tool to support circular economy education and business model innovation. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(23). https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313277 Marrucci, L., Daddi, T., & Iraldo, F. (2019). The integration of circular economy with sustainable consumption and production tools: Systematic review and future research agenda. Journal of Cleaner Production . Elsevier Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118268 Matos, S., & Hall, J. (2007). Integrating sustainable development in the supply chain: The case of life cycle assessment in oil and gas and agricultural biotechnology. Journal of Operations Management, 25(6), 1083–1102. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JOM.2007.01.013

32

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

Mo, X.  P., et  al. (2005). Study on development strategy of circular economy for China’s coal industry. Xiandai Huagong/Modern Chemical Industry, 25(11), 12–16. Mongeon, P., & Paul-Hus, A. (2016). The journal coverage of Web of Science and Scopus: a comparative analysis. Scientometrics, 106(1), 213–228. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s11192-­015-­1765-­5 Mumladze, T., et al. (2018). Sustainable approach to recycling of multilayer flexible packaging using switchable hydrophilicity solvents. Green Chemistry, 20(15), 3604–3618. https://doi. org/10.1039/c8gc01062e Murray, A., Skene, K., & Haynes, K. (2017). The Circular Economy: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Concept and Application in a Global Context. Journal of Business Ethics, 140(3), 369–380. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-­015-­2693-­2 Oslo Manual. (2007). OECD. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264065659-­es Oslo Manual. (2018). Guidelines for collecting, reporting and using data on innovation, 4th edition | en | OECD (no date). Available at: https://www.oecd.org/science/oslo-­ manual-­2018-­9789264304604-­en.htm. Accessed: 24 Jan 2022. Park, J., Sarkis, J., & Wu, Z. (2010). Creating integrated business and environmental value within the context of China’s circular economy and ecological modernization. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18(15), 1494–1501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2010.06.001 Peters, G.  P., et  al. (2007). China’s growing CO2 emissions  – A race between increasing consumption and efficiency gains. Environmental Science and Technology, 41(17), 5939–5944. https://doi.org/10.1021/es070108f Pieroni, M. P. P., McAloone, T. C., & Pigosso, D. C. A. (2021a). Circular economy business model innovation: Sectorial patterns within manufacturing companies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124921 Pieroni, M.  P. P., McAloone, T.  C., & Pigosso, D.  C. A. (2021b). Developing a process model for circular economy business model innovation within manufacturing companies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 299, 126785. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JCLEPRO.2021.126785 Pimonenko, T., et  al. (2020). Green Brand of Companies and Greenwashing under Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainability 2020, Vol. 12, Page 1679, 12(4), 1679. https://doi. org/10.3390/SU12041679 Pinheiro, M.  A. P., et  al. (2019). The role of new product development in underpinning the circular economy: A systematic review and integrative framework. In Management Decision (pp. 840–862). Emerald Group Holdings Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-­07-­2018-­0782 Pinheiro, M. A. P., et al. (2022). Circular economy-based new products and company performance: The role of stakeholders and Industry 4.0 technologies. Business Strategy and the Environment, 31(1), 483–499. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2905 Pollard, J., et al. (2021). A circular economy business model innovation process for the electrical and electronic equipment sector. Journal of Cleaner Production, 305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jclepro.2021.127211 Portillo-Barco, C., & Charnley, F. (2015). Data requirements and assessment of technologies enabling a product passport within products exposed to harsh environments: A case study of a high pressure nozzle guide vane. International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management, 8(3), 253–282. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJPLM.2015.074145 Prieto-Sandoval, V., Jaca, C., & Ormazabal, M. (2018). Towards a consensus on the circular economy. Journal of Cleaner Production, 179, 605–615. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jclepro.2017.12.224 Ralph, N. (2021). A conceptual merging of circular economy, degrowth and conviviality design approaches applied to renewable energy technology. Journal of Cleaner Production, 319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128549 Ranta, V., Aarikka-Stenroos, L., & Väisänen, J. M. (2021). Digital technologies catalyzing business model innovation for circular economy—Multiple case study. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105155

Technological Innovations Promoting Circular Economy: A Profitable Tool to Close…

33

Rehman Khan, S.  A., et  al. (2021). Digital Technologies, Circular Economy Practices and Environmental Policies in the Era of COVID-19. Sustainability 2021, Vol. 13, Page 12790, 13(22), 12790. https://doi.org/10.3390/SU132212790 Santa-Maria, T., Vermeulen, W.  J. V., & Baumgartner, R.  J. (2021). Framing and assessing the emergent field of business model innovation for the circular economy: A combined literature review and multiple case study approach. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 26, 872–891. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2020.12.037 Santos, M. P., do., et al. (2021). A technology for recycling lithium-ion batteries promoting the circular economy: The RecycLib. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 175, 105863. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.RESCONREC.2021.105863 Scimago Journal & Country Rank (SJR). (2020). Journal Rankings. Available at: https://www. scimagojr.com/journalrank.php. Accessed: 17 Feb 2021. Šebo, J., Šebová, M., & Palčič, I. (2021). Implementation of circular economy technologies: An empirical study of Slovak and Slovenian manufacturing companies. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(22). https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212518 Sehnem, S., et  al. (2022). Circular economy and innovation: A look from the perspective of organizational capabilities. Business Strategy and the Environment, 31(1), 236–250. https:// doi.org/10.1002/bse.2884 Shojaei, A., et al. (2021). Enabling a circular economy in the built environment sector through blockchain technology. Journal of Cleaner Production, 294, 126352. https://doi.org/10.1016/J. JCLEPRO.2021.126352 Song, C., et  al. (2016). Construction and countermeasures of standard system for agricultural circular economy in China. Nongye Gongcheng Xuebao/Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, 32(22), 222–226. https://doi.org/10.11975/j.issn.100 2-­6819.2016.22.030 Sørensen, J.  B., & Stuart, T.  E. (2016). Aging, Obsolescence, and Organizational Innovation. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666980, 45(1), 81–112. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666980 Suchek, N., et  al. (2021). Innovation and the circular economy: A systematic literature review. Business Strategy and the Environment, 30(8), 3686–3702. https://doi.org/10.1002/BSE.2834 Tejedo, P., et al. (2022). What are the real environmental impacts of Antarctic tourism? Unveiling their importance through a comprehensive meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Management, 308, 114634. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JENVMAN.2022.114634 Tian, Y., et  al. (2019). Cycle economic development evaluation of agricultural park based on emergy analysis. Nongye Gongcheng Xuebao/Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, 35(4), 241–247. https://doi.org/10.11975/j.issn.100 2-­6819.2019.04.030 Tiwari, D., et al. (2021). A review of circular economy research for electric motors and the role of industry 4.0 technologies. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(17). https://doi.org/10.3390/ su13179668 United Nations. (2015). The 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Available at: https:// sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/21252030 Agenda for Sustainable Development web.pdf. Upadhyay, A., et al. (2021). Blockchain technology and the circular economy: Implications for sustainability and social responsibility. Journal of Cleaner Production, 293, 126130. https:// doi.org/10.1016/J.JCLEPRO.2021.126130 Vaccaro, G., & Buoninconti, L. (2021). 3D print e circular economy: Innovation and sustainability for the construction sector. Sustainable Mediterranean Construction, Thirteen, 73–82. Van Eck, N.  J., & Waltman, L. (2010). Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics, 84, 523–538. Wang, J., et al. (2005). Foundry production and technology facing to circular economy. Zhuzao/ Foundry, 54(12), 1169–1174.

34

A. Batlles-delaFuente et al.

Wang, N., et al. (2020). An active preventive maintenance approach of complex equipment based on a novel product-service system operation mode. Journal of Cleaner Production, 277, 123365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123365 Wu, M., et al. (2021). Knowledge mapping analysis of international research on environmental communication using bibliometrics. Journal of Environmental Management, 298, 113475. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JENVMAN.2021.113475 Xu, X., et al. (2021). Impact of subsidies on innovations of environmental protection and circular economy in China. Journal of Environmental Management, 289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jenvman.2021.112385 Yadav, G., et al. (2020). Development of a lean manufacturing framework to enhance its adoption within manufacturing companies in developing economies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 245, 118726. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118726 Yu, Z., Khan, S.  A. R., & Umar, M. (2021). Circular economy practices and industry 4.0 technologies: A strategic move of automobile industry. Business Strategy and the Environment. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2918 Yuan, X., et  al. (2018). Industrial chain optimization of circular agricultural garden based on analysis of material flow and energy flow. Nongye Gongcheng Xuebao/Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, 34(15), 228–237. https://doi.org/10.11975/j.iss n.1002-­6819.2018.15.029 Zhang, J., & Luo, S. (2005). Practical and theoretical issues on the sustainable development of Chinese ecological agriculture. Chinese Journal of Ecology, 24(11), 1365–1370. Zhang, A., et al. (2019). Barriers to smart waste management for a circular economy in China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 240, 118198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118198 Zhou, S., & Smulders, S. (2021). Closing the loop in a circular economy: Saving resources or suffocating innovations? European Economic Review, 139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. euroecorev.2021.103857

Prospects of Circularity in Steel Industry: Mapping Through LCA Approach Hema Diwan and Seema Unnikrishnan

Abstract  Circular economy is a transition of linear business models to closed loop setups that imbibe the principles of environmental management. As global economies are gearing towards net zero targets and decarbonization, CE is a way forward that can help realize this, particularly applied to exhaustive industries. The Iron and Steel industry is one of the sectors that is the backbone of any economy. The sector, however, is highly resource intensive and environmentally damaging when operations and supply chain are considered. Imbibing the principles of CE and measuring the performance with life cycle assessment tools can be one of the approaches to align the core operations of steel industry towards sustainability. The chapter aims to do a perspective thinking on the iron and steel sector, its environmental impacts and the prospects of inducing circularity. CE can be seen as a way forward to align value chains towards sustainability when development is imperative and net zero targets holds ramifications for the material economy. Keywords  Steel · LCA · Circular economy · Redesign · Closed loop system

1 Introduction 1.1 Concept of Circular Economy (CE) Circular economy (CE), coined by Pearce and Turner, can be defined as a concept in which wastes are turned into secondary resources, using a technological/natural ecosystem feedback mechanism, so as to replenish the ecosystem with a constant H. Diwan (*) · S. Unnikrishnan National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai, India e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. S. Muthu (ed.), Life Cycle Assessment & Circular Economy, Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33982-0_2

35

36

H. Diwan and S. Unnikrishnan

pool of resources. CE is considered as a way forward to meet the SDG goal on Sustainable Consumption and Production (EMF, 2014). The circular economy (CE) concept rests on systems approach of “cradle-to cradle” in production and consumption systems. This calls for integration of sustainability principles of 5R, that is using reuse, recovery, recycling, reduction and refurbishment either at product, component or material level. This strategy aims at increasing the resource pool through closed loop concept, increasing resource efficiency. Thus, it helps in maximizing the value of raw materials and develop circular economy model (Lieder & Rashid, 2016; Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). The transition towards a circular economy (CE) is pivotal as it aims at dematerialization, reduced reduce resource consumption, emissions and waste generation. It becomes inevitable to assess the performance of the production and consumption system, with reference to various scenarios, for example: • Eco design vs. conventional design • Closed loop system vs. open chain –– Recycling vs. no recycling –– Reverse logistics This kind of benchmarking of environmental performance can be done using life cycle assessment (LCA) of supply chains. LCA is a concept and methodology which has gained momentum in mapping the performance of supply loops. It is a tool which is used to assess and measure the impacts of sustainability strategies resting on the concept of CE. While the concept is gaining momentum, it is imperative to do a performance assessment of closed loop mechanisms to understand the environmental gains vis a vis economic feasibility (Junya et  al., 2017; Xuan & Yue, 2016). Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool to assess the performance of CE interventions vis a vis the business as usual scenario. The impacts of CE strategies starting from design, manufacturing, logistics, use and disposal stage need to be evaluated on ecological and economic metrics to get an understanding on performance assessment of conventional versus transformed systems Burchart-Korol D (2013).

1.2 Life Cycle Thinking and Steel Sector (LCA) Steel, be it in construction/automotive or allied sectors, is one material which holds huge potential for embracing life cycle thinking. LCA is a scientific tool that assesses the present and potential impacts of products or processes at all stages of life cycle, from design to material extraction, manufacturing and final disposal. It also addresses the impacts of recycling, reusing, remanufacturing or refurbishing interventions (ISO, 2006). It studies the interaction between all the input/output flows in the system. The flows are defined as the input of materials (metals, nonmetals, energy and water) and release of emissions into air and discharges on land, along with by-products and co-products. These are the flows

Prospects of Circularity in Steel Industry: Mapping Through LCA Approach

37

which go into the production processes and finally are realised at the completion of the production cycle. The LCA methodologies are a part of the International Standards Organization (ISO 14040-44) series of standards. In this, ISO 20915 has come up with Life Cycle Calculation methodology for steel products. The standard is focussed to conduct LCA-related inventory studies of steel products. The databases available are suited to cradle to gate studies; also extending to end of the life products meant for recycling scrap steel (World Steel Association, 2010; EUROFER, 2017). LCA aims in evaluating the ecological impacts of these inputs/outputs in a production system on the ecosystem, human health and resources. This kind of assessment helps in garnering a life cycle view of impact of products/processes which can be used to adopt an approach which is least environmentally extrusive. Environmental impacts can be mapped at all stages of manufacture, product use and end-of-life (reuse, recycling or disposal) by modelling the resources input/output for products/processes. Life cycle inventories are published by the World Steel Association and other organizations (Worldsteel, 2021). The LCA system comprises of: 1 . Goal Setting: Defines the objectives and boundaries of the study. 2. Inventory Analysis: Gives a description of the material and energy flows of the product/process system. 3. Impact Assessment: The data from inventory analysis is assessed, characterized, normalized and weighted. The impact categories get detailed. 4. Interpretation: Considers analysis of results; review for decision-making (Figs. 1 and 2).

1.3 Integrating CE and LCA LCA is seen as one of the most inevitable tools which help in measuring the impacts of CE strategies. The pillars of CE viz. dematerialization of production/consumption systems, recyclability, reduction in emissions, etc. can all be measured through the LCA approach. It is inevitable to measure the performance of the systems to understand the environmental and economic feasibility of CE-related interventions; for this, LCA helps in achieving the goals of circulation in SCP pathways (Haupt & Hellweg, 2019). The coupling of CE and LCA can result in realizing the decarbonization goal of economies worldwide.

1.4 Steel Sector and Environmental Management The iron and steel industry is characterized by products that include sheets, pipes, tin plates, tubes and castings made of stainless steel, or an alloy of steel with titanium and other metals. The foundries are one of the key takers of iron and steel,

38

H. Diwan and S. Unnikrishnan Reduce Raw Material Extracon

Postconsumer Scrape

Steel Producon

Pre-consumer Scrape

Recycle

Scrape Collecon

Reuse Manufacturing Reuse and Remanufacturing

Use Phase

Energy

Chemicals

By Products

Fig. 1  Circularity in steel

Fig. 2  LCA. (Source: Think step)

casting various products made from iron and steel. Steel production occurs through two methods primarily, the conventional method, called basic oxygen furnace (BOF), which uses iron ore as input, and the electric arc furnace (EAF), which uses scrap steel as one of the input materials (D’costa, 1999). The production/upstream and downstream processes comprising the supply chain has environmental and social impacts. Pollutants like SOX, NOX, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAP) are the common by-products of the steel industry. CO, CO2, heavy metals, dust and soot are some of the other emissions from steel manufacturing. Waste streams comprising of slag and sludges are other solid wastes which need management (Adegoloye et  al., 2016) (Table 1).

Prospects of Circularity in Steel Industry: Mapping Through LCA Approach Table 1  Steel sector and impacts

39

Environment Air GHG Energy Water Waste water Hazardous waste Social EHS Supply chain Supply chain management

1.5 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Steel production is one of the significant emitters of GHG emissions due to the production technologies employed, which are basic oxygen furnace (BOF) and electric arc furnace (EAF), using iron ore and scrap steel as inputs, respectively (Zhang et al., 2012, 2019a, b; Feng Li et al., 2021). These processes lead to environmental impacts, climate change and global warming (Zhang et  al., 2012). For instance, use of inputs like electricity, fuel, molten iron, working medium and scrap steel has impacts on climate change, resources (soil, marine and terrestrial), human health and ecosystem quality (Xuan & Yue, 2017). These impacts can be mapped using the LCA approach to understand the key input impact driver, and further interventions to reduce the impact (Li et al. 2016). The steel production processes viz. normal production versus cleaner production, whereby scrap steel can be used in the input material mix – one of the CE strategies which can be benchmarked for impacts on the environment from the two technologies. Studies have shown that while scrap steel has the potential to reduce GWP, it has significant ecotoxicity-related impacts. The downcycling approach holds potential for steel and can serve as a secondary material in production processes. About 50% of Europe’s steel is made from the downcycling process. LCA can help in impact management by identifying the critical points in the production cycle and process optimizations and innovations in the production process, can lead to reducing these impacts. GHG emissions from fuel combustion and electricity consumption can be quantified with LCA software. Non-energy-related GHG emission quantification involving reactions in the production processes is another area which can be modelled using software’s like GABI and Simapro.

1.6 Energy The steel industry is one of the key users of energy, particularly primary energy in the form of fossil fuels used and energy purchased. Energy can also be characterized through fuel use, or as electricity, or embodied energy. This has impacts on GHG

40

H. Diwan and S. Unnikrishnan

emissions, leading to global warming and climate change. Energy-intense production results in indirect Scope 2 emissions. LCA tool can be used in quantifying the GHG emissions from processes like blast furnace, basic oxygen furnace and electric arc furnace. LCA can also be used to quantify the primary energy usage throughout the steel life cycle, including direct and indirect. It can be further used to understand the cumulative energy consumption (CEC) of the metallurgical processes starting from production of crude steel associated with energy use and CO2 emissions. This can help in identifying the best available technologies in the sector, leading to lowered impacts. Energy consumption of subprocesses along with GHG emissions can be calculated through embodied energy used in the type of raw material used (Zhang & Huang, 2017). This can help in rationalizing the alternative between production processes, fuel type used, decisions related to the costing of these alternative scenarios.

1.7 Water The steel industry is associated with significant use of water as a resource and has its impacts across the supply chain. The upstream impacts entail water consumption as a raw material in production processes and wastewater discharges in the ambient environment. The steel industry has regulatory and operational challenges related to water use, water quality and water scarcity owing to competing users for water. Water leads to significant supply-related disruptions as regards a stable water supply. In this, diffusion of technologies and processes aimed at optimizing water use are highly desirable, and the LCA tool comes handy in water footprint analysis. Water footprints assesses the steel supply chain, which can be undertaken to understand water-related impacts of the steel sector. Also, process water reuse and recycling can be assessed for minimizing water losses through water footprint studies.

1.8 Waste The steel sector generates a huge environmental burden in the form of hazardous waste. The major waste streams for the steel industry are slag, sludges and dust, ashes and other bulk waste. These have impacts, viz. ecotoxicity, marine toxicity, terrestrial toxicity, eutrophication and acidification (Rosenbaum et al. 2008). Industries can reduce hazardous and non-hazardous waste streams, in particular, and recycle where possible in the waste value chain. The sector possesses immense potential for reclamation, remediation, and related interventions. LCA methodologies can be used to identify the impact of waste streams like slag/sludges, etc. on ecological parameters like resource depletion, eutrophication, acidification, ecotoxicity and land use impacts.

Prospects of Circularity in Steel Industry: Mapping Through LCA Approach

41

1.9 Supply Chain The steel sector has considerable impacts on the supply chain, starting from resource extraction stage and raw material procurement stage. Iron ore processing is an extremely resource-intensive stage of supply chain, The impacts at this stage are not only environment related, but social impacts with respect to mining processes are observed, too. Production-related impacts are already detailed in the chapter related to air quality, water, GHG and waste generation. There exist opportunities for resource efficiency at various stages of the steel life cycle which can be modelled using LCA software tools. LCA applications at various stages of life cycle can serve to identify the best alternatives possible in comparison to business-as-usual scenario. Supply chain scenarios which can be modelled are logistics impact through rail or road, upstream and downstream impacts, impacts of processes during manufacturing and impact on climate change from change in technologies.

1.10 Health and Safety Health and safety is one area which has grave implications coming from the steel sector. Steel production processes present hazards to employees, contractual workforce, due to the high-risk operations involved across the supply chain. From the mining stage for extracting iron ore to the production stage, the social impacts related to health and safety concerns are high for the steel sector (Fig. 3). Accidents involved on the shop floor due to heavy machinery and high temperature operations are areas of concern. Social LCA can be carried out to understand the impact areas and provide management interventions. 1.10.1 Potential of CE for Steel Sector and Material Economy In the past century, annual extraction of materials has grown multifold, leading to an exponential increase in greenhouse emissions. Steel Sector, however, holds immense potential in arresting these emissions as Steel is a 100% recyclable resource, which

Upstream impacts

Producon Impacts

Downstream Impacts

Mining

Manufacturing

Distribuon

Logiscs

Fig. 3  Life cycle impacts

Processess

Disposal

42

H. Diwan and S. Unnikrishnan

can also serve as secondary resource while retaining all of its distinctive qualities. It is a “permanent” substance; and steel as a product can be reused, recovered, and recycled (Dunant et al., 2018). The sector also holds huge potential to recycle and reuse waste materials from steel manufacturing. Due to the rising resource crunch and restrictions, resource efficiency/productivity through this can be seen as an opportunity for decarbonizing steel sector. It is anticipated that the material intensity of GDP will decrease in the future due to the growing adoption of circular economy ideas by society and the business community, as well as the tightening of laws. Value chains in the steel sector are highly suited for several components of the circular economy concepts, such as co-product use and recycling (Cooper et  al., 2014). However, the steel sector will be further moulded by the wider adoption of circular economy ideas along the whole value chain. The steel sector will need to develop circular economy initiatives in light of this. The construction of a closed-­ loop system within its value chains will be one of the steel industry’s major responsibilities. 1.10.2 Circularity Interventions in the Steel Sector Reduce: Since 1960, the amount of energy and CO2 emitted per tonne of steel produced has decreased by approximately 50%. Production has been completely decoupled from CO2 emissions and energy use. The use of resources is decreased by better processes and better product design. High-tech steel can save six times as much CO2 in use than is emitted in manufacture. Using newer, higher grades of steel can minimize CO2 over the course of a product’s lifecycle by providing lighter, stronger parts and improving lifetime efficiency. Reuse: Steel products are durable and simple to put back into use. Steel components are frequently the most adaptable in items comprised of various materials. It is possible to utilize, reuse and remanufacture steel components, including building beams, cladding, automobile parts, home appliances and fasteners, without having to restart the manufacturing process. Remanufacturing reduces the demand for new components, resulting in a yearly reduction in the “primary” production of millions of tonnes of CO2. Designing a product should include specifications for things like sturdiness, reusability, reparability, deconstruction and recycling. A linear economic model must inevitably give way to a circular one that places a major focus on eco-design. This will make it easier and more affordable to reuse the parts. Recycle: The circular economy is supported by material recycling and steel recycling (BIR, 2017). Prior to being reprocessed, steel is separated from other materials and recovered from waste. The term for this is material recovery, and following recovery is recycling. To maintain scrap in a continuous cycle inside the circular economy, recycling must continue. The demand for scrap cannot be met by the supply. Beyond 2050, demand will continue to grow, which implies primary steel production will also be crucial. The routes used for producing p­ rimary and

Prospects of Circularity in Steel Industry: Mapping Through LCA Approach

43

secondary steel are complementary and interdependent. Each plays a crucial part in the circular economy (Broadbent, 2016). Retain: Steel’s by-products help other industries save on natural resources. In addition to producing important by-products that can replace natural resources in other industries and increase resource efficiency, steelmaking also produces process gases and ferrous slag. In place of fossil fuels and natural gas, process gases are utilized to generate power for home and industrial uses. There are numerous uses for ferrous slags, such as the manufacturing of fertilizer, cement and other building materials, resulting in annual savings of millions of tonnes of natural resources. The steel industry thus holds immense potential for cogeneration utilizing industrial by-products. Product life can be extended by maintenance, reuse and repair. 1.10.3 Innovations in Design: Eco-Design Design for the environment, encompassing design for reusability, recyclability, refurbishment and disassembly, is becoming critical to navigate the path towards circularity. Dematerialization: Use of technological upgradations in the manufacturing processes can result in resource efficiency using lesser input materials and energy, for example the smelt reduction process, which uses 20% less energy during steel production. Optimizing process parameters like temperature, heat and pressure through better designs is another way to mitigate impacts. • Easy to Disassemble and Recycle: Introducing Design for Environment techniques where the design is amenable to easy disassembly, reusability and recyclability. • With the help of existing processes, it is difficult to separate copper from steel. So it is required to change in design. • Use of Biomaterials: Changing material mix, without hampering the functionality, whether natural or a derivative. • Increasing Durability: Maximizing the useful life of steel through robust design, shape and material mix. • Design for Environment (DfE): Steel is the most recycled material on the planet; because of its magnetic properties, it is easily separated from other materials. • Lowering Emission and Waste: Products and production processes should be optimized to save material and fuel consumption across the supply chain. One of the ways is ensuring lesser scrap is generated in the manufacturing process. • Innovation: Innovation and development in the casting and rolling techniques can help in creating designs that are more resistant to corrosion, pressure, and extreme temperatures.

44

H. Diwan and S. Unnikrishnan

1.11 Innovations in the Steel Sector Low Carbon and Energy Efficiency: Since 1990, the steel sector has significantly reduced its CO2 emissions and improved its energy efficiency. The research, development, and innovation on the tasks of decarbonization and energy efficiency along the whole value chain, from steel production to manufacturing to the use phase and recycling, are largely responsible for this success. Applications of green hydrogen finds potential for steel sector also. Recovery of the Heat: Enormous amount of heat is lost during steel production. Heat recovery systems installed convert steam into electricity through a thermal power system. Integrated Intelligent Manufacturing: Smart factor concepts are increasingly growing supported by enabling technologies (KETs), and Artificial Intelligence techniques. Steel as a Building Material: Research is required into new steel grades, better building components and systems, composite structures and enhanced construction methods in order to fully use steel as a building material. The primary performance characteristics of steel for the built environment are health and safety, which are crucial for security and quality of life. Sustainable steel construction: where new steel can support increased material recycling and energy-efficient structures. Way Forward About 8% of the global emissions are accounted from the steel sector, and this holds opportunity for aligning the sector towards dicarbon pathways that can result in optimizing the process for efficiency in short term and innovations in long term. Steel is an input material for construction, manufacturing sector and one of the most amenable materials for reuse, recycling and remanufacturing. Thus, the concepts of CE including 5R, closed loop production and consumption, dematerialization, resource efficiency, eco-efficiency see realization in the steel sector. Efforts are needed to identify the areas of intervention, and LCA tools can be used to understand the hot spot areas of impact management.

References Adegoloye, G., Beaucour, A. L., Ortola, S., & Noumowe, A. (2016). Mineralogical composition of EAF slag and stabilised AOD slag aggregates and dimensional stability of slag aggregate concretes. Construction and Building Materials, 115, 171–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. conbuildmat.2016.04.036 BIR. (2017). World steel recycling in figures. Bureau of International Recycling. Broadbent, C. (2016). Steel’s recyclability 2016: Demonstrating the benefits of recycling steel to achieve a circular economy. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 21, 1658–1665. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-016-1081-1

Prospects of Circularity in Steel Industry: Mapping Through LCA Approach

45

Burchart-Korol, D. (2013). Life cycle assessment of steel production in Poland: A case study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 54, 235–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.04.031 Cooper, D.  R., Skelton, A.  C. H., Moynihan, M.  C., & Allwood, J.  M. (2014). Component level strategies for exploiting the lifespan of steel in products. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 84, 24–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2013.11.014 D’costa, A. P. (1999). The global restructuring of the steel industry—Innovations, institutions and industrial change. Routledge. ISBN 0415148278. Dunant, C. F., Drewniok, M. P., Sansom, M., Corbey, S., Cullen, J. M., & Allwood, J. M. (2018). Options to make steel reuse proftable: An analysis of cost and risk distribution across the UK construction value chain. Journal of Cleaner Production, 183, 102–111. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.02.141 EMF. (2014). Towards the circular economy—Accelerating the scale-up across global supply chains. Ellen McArthur Foundation. ESTEP-2016-ActivityReport-Final-2.pdf EUROFER. (2017). Steel, the backbone of sustainability in Europe. The European Steel Association. Feng Li, Mansheng Chu, Jue Tang, Zhenggen Liu, Jiaxin Wang, & Shengkang Li. (2021). Life-­ cycle assessment of the coal gasification-shaft furnace-electric furnace steel production process. Journal of Cleaner Production, 287(2021), 125075. Geissdoerfer, A., Savaget, P., Bocken, N. M. P., & Hultink, E. J. (2017). The circular economy – A new sustainability paradigm? Journal of Cleaner Production, 143, 757–768. Haupt, M., & Hellweg, S. (2019). Measuring the environmental sustainability of a circular economy. Environmental and Sustainability Indicators, (2019), 1–2, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. indic.2019.100005100005 https://www.eurofer.eu/about-­steel/learn-­about-­steel/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/mitsubishiheavyindustries/2018/12/11/these-­i nnovative­technologies-­are-­making-­the-­steel-­industry-­more-­efficient/?sh=74b48336b861 International Standards Organisation (ISO). ISO 14044:2006. (2006). Environmental management—Life cycle assessment—Requirements and guidelines. International Organization for Standardization. ISO 14040 ISO 14040:2006. Environmental management  – Life cycle assessment  – Principles and framework. ISO 14044 ISO 14044:2006-10. Environmental management  – Life cycle assessment  – Requirements and guidelines. Junya, S., Yasuhiro, Y., Misuzu, H., Ritsuki, A., & Takeshi, Y. (2017). Waste prevention for sustainable resource and waste management. Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management, 19(4), 1295–1313. Li, L., Lei, Y., & Pan, D. (2016). Study of CO2 emissions in China’s iron and steel industry based on economic input–output life cycle assessment. Natural Hazards, 81, 957–970. Lieder, M., & Rashid, A. (2016). Towards circular economy implementation: A comprehensive review in context of manufacturing industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 115, 36–51. Rosenbaum, R. K., Bachmann, T. M., Gold, S. K., Huijbregts, M. A. J., Jolliet, O., Juraske, R., Koehler, A., Larsen, H.  F., MacLeod, M., Margni, M., et  al. (2008). USEtox—The UNEP-­ SETAC toxicity model: Recommended characterisation factors for human toxicity and freshwater ecotoxicity in life cycle impact assessment. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 13, 532. World Steel Association. (2010). Sustainable steel  – Policy and indicators 2010. Sustainable Development Policy. Worldsteel. (2021). World Steel Association, 2021: 2021 LCI study report. Xuan, Y., & Yue, Q. (2016). Forecast of steel demand and the availability of depreciated steel scrap in China. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 109, 1–12. Xuan, Y., & Yue, Q. (2017). Scenario analysis on resource and environmental benefits of imported steel scrap for China’s steel industry. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 120, 186–198.

46

H. Diwan and S. Unnikrishnan

Zhang, F., & Huang, K. (2017). The role of government in industrial energy conservation in China: Lessons from the iron and steel industry. Energy for Sustainable Development, 39, 101e114. Zhang, B., Wang, Z., Yin, J., & Su, L. (2012). CO2 emission reduction within Chinese iron and steel industry: Practices, determinants and performance. Journal of Cleaner Production, 33, 167e178. Zhang, N. N., Xiao, J. S., Benard, P., & Chahine, R. (2019a). Single- and double-bed pressure swing adsorption processes for H2/CO syngas separation. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 44, 26405e26418. Zhang, Y., Yuan, Z.  W., Margni, M., Bulle, C., Hua, H., Jiang, S.  Y., & Liu, X.  W. (2019b). Intensive carbon dioxide emission of coal chemical industry in China. Applied Energy, 236, 540e550.

Circular Economy as a Way Forward Against Material Criticality: The Case of Rare Earth Elements in the Context of Sustainable Development M. Palle Paul Mejame, David King, and Yinghe He

Abstract Circular economy (CE) is promoted as a strategy with systematic solutions to the global economy and environmental issues surrounding material criticality, such as resource scarcity and waste reduction. Improvements in sustainable resource consumption practices like material efficiency, reuse, repairs, design for long life, recycling efficiency, etc. are promising CE strategies to improve the resource use efficiency of rare earth elements (REEs). However, this cannot be achieved without a broader consideration of environmental, social, economic, geological and technical aspects of the consumption of these metals. The sustainability and criticality of REEs can well be understood by critically examining the consumption of these metals from the perspective of sustainable development and its three pillars (environmental, social and economic), including the geological and technical aspects of these metals. An understanding of REEs consumption within the framework of sustainability provides a background for the implementation of CE strategies to achieve material resource efficiencies by closing material loops and minimising environmental and social impact. This study, therefore, employed a holistic and systematic approach to assessing the sustainability of REEs consumption with Australia as a case study. Based on the CE model, a sustainability framework followed by an implementation strategy to close the material loop and minimise the adverse impacts of resource shortages while achieving maximum environmental benefits was developed. These results are significant as they would allow the evaluation of existing resource efficiency strategies in REEs and make recommendations to improve sustainability outcomes in Australia, a strategy for global uptake. Keywords  Circular economy · Rare earth elements · Material criticality · Material use · Resource efficiency · Sustainability · Material efficiency · Life cycle impact analysis M. Palle Paul Mejame (*) · D. King · Y. He College of Science & Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. S. Muthu (ed.), Life Cycle Assessment & Circular Economy, Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33982-0_3

47

48

M. Palle Paul Mejame et al.

1 Introduction Circular economy (CE) is considered by many industrial economies as a strategy with promising systematic solutions to the global economy and environmental issues surrounding material criticality such as resource scarcity and waste reduction. It is regarded as an economic system with the principal aim being the eradication of waste and the unsustainable mining of virgin material resources (Domenech, 2014; European Commission, 2018; Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). In other words, it is a generative and restorative system where resource use and waste, emissions and energy output are minimised by systematically closing and reducing material and energy loops (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). This is a significant strategy for the challenge of REEs supply risk and criticality. REEs are a family of 17 metals that include 15 lanthanides, namely: cerium (Ce), lanthanum (La), neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), europium (Eu), terbium (Tb), promethium (Pm), dysprosium (Dy), erbium (Er), gadolinium (Gd), lutetium (Lu), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), samarium (Sm) and holmium (Ho), in addition to yttrium (Y) and scandium (Sc) (Balaram, 2019; Binnemans et al., 2013; Huleatt, 2019). These metals are major constituents of many advanced materials and applications. The renewable and energy efficiency sectors and the information and telecommunication industries are all heavily dependent on REEs (Gibson & Parkinson, 2011; Long et al., 2017; Van Gosen et al., 2014). These metals function as enablers for speed, performance, durability and low carbon emissions in these industries (Balaram, 2019; Goonan, 2011; Huleatt, 2019; Long et al., 2017; Reisman et al., 2013; Van Gosen et al., 2014). Due to their unique chemical and physical properties, REEs are heavily required in everyday applications, ranging from smart display screens, wind turbines and electric vehicles (Goonan, 2011) to solar cells, energy-­ efficient lighting, etc. (Balaram, 2019; Gibson & Parkinson, 2011; Goonan, 2011; Huleatt, 2019; Lynas Corporation, n.d.; Reisman et  al., 2013; U.S.  Geological Survey, 2020; Van Gosen et al., 2014). With the growing demand for low-carbon technologies in the renewable and energy-efficient sectors to support the transition to green economy and global environmental goals, the demand for REEs is anticipated to grow continuously (Balaram, 2019; Van Gosen et al., 2014). The alarming criticality of these metals due to the increasing demand and supply risks has attracted global attention. This calls for immediate action because shortages in the use of REEs in the above-mentioned environmentally friendly technologies will adversely affect the growth of the green economy and the transition to clean energy in general. Most previous studies on REEs sustainability have focused either on a single aspect of CE, such as recycling, the environmental and social impacts of its production or the political and economic disputes over the supply or distribution, and have not holistically examined this problem as a system (Alonso et al., 2012; Drost & Wang, 2016; Gaustad et al., 2011; Jowitt et al., 2018;McLellan et al., 2013, 2014; Wang et al., 2017) A holistic and systematic assessment of REEs material consumption particularly in the context of circularity within the sustainability pillars (economy, environment and society) is lacking an approach to economic growth that is in

Circular Economy as a Way Forward Against Material Criticality…

49

line with sustainable environmental and economic development. The current and future economic, environmental and social challenges are interlinked and must be addressed via an integrated approach (UNEP, 2015b). CE is a concept that complements the sustainable development goals (SDG) (Balanay & Halog, 2019; International Resource Panel, 2011; Reike et al., 2018). It is a sustainable development strategy that is linked particularly to SDG goal 12 of sustainable production and consumption (Reike et al., 2018). The objective of SDG goal 12 is to intensify efforts to reduce the use of services and scarce resources to produce products, whilst minimising the environmental impacts from the generation of waste and pollution over the life cycle of the services or products in order to not jeopardise the needs of future generations (UNEP, 2015a). The concept of CE provides a holistic framework to transit towards sustainable consumption and production patterns (UN sustainable development goal 12 strategy), and it is widely regarded as an alternative model to this strategy thereby contributing to sustainable development (Reike et al., 2018; United Nations Environment Programme, 2019). The CE concept challenges the prevailing economic take-make-­ consume-and-dispose patterns of the growth model against a sustainable future that focuses on positive society-wide benefits (Camilleri, 2019; MacArthur, 2017; Reike et al., 2018). Furthermore, its closed-loop and product-service systems could result in significant efficiencies in sustainable consumption and production of resources through waste management and the responsible use and reuse of materials in business and industry (Camilleri, 2019). CE as a holistic approach provides a comprehensive and systematic sustainability assessment of resource consumption, as it considers the whole life cycle of the material use, from raw material extraction through end-of-life (EoL) (Haque et al., 2014; John et al., 2016; McLellan et al., 2013, 2014) This can be achieved via a fusion of two vital CE tools, namely material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle impact assessment  (LCIA), to connect resource use to life cycle environmental impacts and an account of the interactions between people and the environment. (Balanay & Halog, 2019; Palle Paul Mejame et al., 2016). This study intends to propose a holistic and systematic approach based on the CE model in the context of sustainable development to examine the sustainability of REEs, a strategy to minimise the adverse impacts of material criticality while achieving ultimate environmental and society-wide benefits. This study uses the three key metrics for  resource efficiency (Beasley et  al., 2014; International Resource Panel, 2017; Mudgal et  al., 2012) in a sustainable development framework, namely, materials use, energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions indicators to assess the sustainable use of REEs in Australia. The main aim is to identify sustainable strategies to close the material loop, to reduce the supply risk impacts of these critical resources while minimising the potential environmental impacts associated with their consumption. To reach the objective of this study, the chapter starts by describing the theoretical framework and background underpinning the study, followed by the CE tools for sustainability assessment in the methodology section. The obtained result is discussed and a comprehensive REEs CE framework for criticality mitigation within a

50

M. Palle Paul Mejame et al.

sustainability framework is suggested. This is followed by a conceptual and practical model as a way forward for the implementation of the comprehensive CE strategy in the REEs industry to close material loops. The paper is structured into 4 major sections. Section 2 describes the applied methodology; the findings and discussion are presented in Sect. 3, while the conclusions and recommendations are drawn in Sect. 4.

2 Methods This section begins by introducing a CE framework for REEs set within the context of sustainable development, a novel strategy for resource efficiency, an approach mostly neglected by the current body of literature. The proposed framework underlines a comprehensive CE scheme for REEs criticality mitigation and the tools for its successful implementation in this industry. This is followed by a presentation of the CE tools for sustainability assessment, an analytic example.

2.1 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework for REEs Criticality Mitigation Any efforts towards mitigating REEs material criticality must be directed towards material efficiency (such as reuse, recycling, design for longer use, etc.). Efforts in improving material efficiency rely on systematic strategies that consider economic development that is in harmony with social and environmental growth. The three pillars of sustainable development (economic, environmental and social) go hand in hand. Any development towards implementation of CE and improvement in resource efficiency must critically consider this holistic perspective. Sustainability within the framework of mineral resources requires a state of a dynamic interplay between the environment and society (in a broad sense) that ultimately contributes positively to indefinite human development and universal wellbeing whilst not overdrawing on natural resources or irreversibly overburdening the environment (McLellan et al., 2013, 2014). A critical examination of REEs consumption from this perspective facilitates the implementation of sustainable CE strategies to achieve efficiencies in material resource consumption with widespread socio-environmental impact reductions (Palle Paul Mejame et al., 2022). To establish CE as a sustainability strategy for REEs within the framework of sustainable development, a comprehensive REEs CE framework for material criticality mitigation was developed. The proposed scheme underlines two major points of interest to consider when examining or integrating REEs within the sustainable development framework from a CE perspective: (1) sustainability and REEs material criticality; (2) REEs and sustainability management strategies in Australia.

Circular Economy as a Way Forward Against Material Criticality…

51

The first approach follows the widely used triple bottom line theory of the sustainable development framework concept of economy, the environment and society as an integrated system. The proposed framework suggests that economic prosperity must occur in harmony with social and environmental growth. This requires a closer look at those aspects that affect the sustainability of REEs environmentally, economically and socially as a prerequisite to successfully establishing a sustainable REEs future. This involves the examination of material criticality and sustainable strategies to reduce impacts. The environmental pillar addresses the sustainable mining and processing of REEs to reduce virgin material consumption, avoid and minimise environmental burdens, etc. The economic pillar looks at the efficient use of REEs in products and EoL to minimise waste and mitigate material criticality. The social pillar addresses people and sustainability actions to REEs use and involves the capacity and willingness for people to contribute to sustainability goals such as reuse and recycling for example, or actions to avoid and minimise society-­wide impacts and maintain community health. The second approach focuses on the analysis of existing strategies and policies that govern the consumption of REEs in Australia. It focuses on integrating the implementation of CE principles with REEs material resource management in the context of sustainable development. It involves strategies for mitigating REEs supply risks and waste management approaches to reduce material loss and environmental impacts. It underlines the fact that sustainability in REEs consumption is a combination of a set of strategic CE components in addition to recycling. This is particularly important as the improvement in recycling technique alone is not adequate in attaining sustainability in REEs, especially in the short run. This is because the majority of products, like wind turbines and electric vehicles, for example, with significant REEs content, have a long life expectancy. Thus, the quantity of EoL products available to be recuperated to complement virgin material input is limited in the short run (Jowitt et al., 2018; Rademaker et al., 2013; Zaimes et al., 2015). Sustainability in REEs against material criticality must therefore be regarded not only as a one-way strategy that solely relies on advancement in recycling technologies but as a holistic system that needs systematic improvement. Also, the current long life expectancy of these products should be regarded as an advantage, to give time to decision-makers, recyclers and other stakeholders to put strategies and processes for recycling in place. REEs consumption viewed from a CE perspective can contribute to all the pillars of sustainability in different time scales. The two approaches mentioned above are directly related to responsible consumption and production of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12). The approaches establish grounds to reinforce CE both as a sustainable development strategy and as a strategy for sustainability in REEs. Figure 1 shows REEs theoretical framework, the conceptual approach and CE tools for sustainability assessment.

52

M. Palle Paul Mejame et al.

Fig. 1  The theoretical framework, the conceptual approach and CE tools for sustainability assessment of REEs consumption

2.2 CE Tools for Sustainability Assessment, an Analytical Example CE as a holistic and systematic model provides a scientific picture of the tools and strategies necessary to evaluate and achieve sustainability end goals. Examples of such tools include material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle impact analysis (LCIA), as seen in Fig. 1. When combined, these tools provide a comprehensive and systematic assessment of material consumption (Palle Paul Mejame et al., 2022). In this study, MFA was used to evaluate REEs consumption in applications from primary material input to EoL through data compilation, while LCIA was used to analyse the material life cycle via characterisation factors obtained from Ecoinvent, enabling environmental impact assessment and policy and sustainability decision making. To associate REEs material use and the derived impacts, the environmental life cycle impact assessment was evaluated using three key metrics in a sustainable development framework, namely Material Use (MU), Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Cumulative Energy Demand (CED). The outcome of this investigation

Circular Economy as a Way Forward Against Material Criticality…

53

is significant to identify phases in the entire material life cycle of REE that need attention to advance resource efficiency, minimise waste and environmental burdens and close the material loop. The main goal is to connect economic activities to their impacts on the environment with the main objective to promote societal response to target these driving forces to minimise impacts (International Resource Panel, 2017; Palle Paul Mejame et al., 2020). For this study, five REEs were selected to narrow down the focus, namely: dysprosium (Dy), europium (Eu), neodymium (Nd), terbium (Tb) and yttrium(Y). These REEs were selected based on their critical index, economic significance, and supply risk because in the short run term they are more critical in terms of economic importance in green economic growth (higher demand in applications), supply risks and availability in other parts of the world (Bauer et  al., 2010, 2011; European Commission, 2017). The year 2019 was used as a base year for the study, for its most up-to-date data at the time of the investigation. More so, the following 2 years were economically disrupted in all parts of the globe by the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the goal is to introduce a sustainability framework that can be utilised to evaluate material use and impact over any given time. Using the above-cited metrics  (MU, GWP and CED), a material resource (REEs) use assessment and the determined environmental burden for impact mitigation were modelled in three steps: (1) To investigate the existing sustainability pattern governing REEs consumption in Australia, the primary material inputs of REEs consumption in applications and the derived environmental impacts were evaluated using IPPC and CED midpoint impact assessment methods in Eco-invent (Wernet et al., 2016). (2) To demonstrate the significance of CE sustainability strategies (e.g. recycling, we assessed the secondary material inputs of REEs consumption in applications, that is, recycling potential and the derived environmental impacts using the same LCIA methods cited above. Finally, to demonstrate the advantages of secondary material inputs over primary consumption from a resource management perspective, we performed an analysis of the benefits of CE resource efficiency strategies like recycling. This is a life cycle recycling impact reduction assessment strategy (United State Environmental Protection Agency, 2011). The approach is based on evaluating virgin (primary) material manufacturing against recycled (secondary) material inputs in consideration of the recycling efficiency factor (Grimes et al., 2008; United State Environmental Protection Agency, 2011). These strategies are significant to promote CE as a sustainable management model necessary to improve sustainability in REEs, to decouple natural resource use from economic prosperity, and hence mitigate material criticality.

3 Findings and Discussion This section aims to discuss further the impact and strategies of integrating REEs within the sustainable development framework from a CE perspective, as an approach for REEs material criticality mitigation. This is followed by a discussion

54

M. Palle Paul Mejame et al.

of the applied circularity tools for sustainability assessment and a practical implementation model as a way forward to close the material loop and advance REEs material efficiency.

3.1 REEs CE-Sustainability Framework for Criticality Mitigation This study aims to add value by setting the concept of REEs criticality and CE principles within the same context, a strategy for sustainability. An approach mostly neglected by the current body of literature. The study presents a comprehensive framework for REEs material criticality mitigation and practical implementation strategies. The proposed framework demonstrates a CE concept of REEs integrated within the sustainable development framework, as a way towards material circulation and sustainable REEs management. This framework underlines sustainability in REEs material consumption from a CE approach, which contributes to the three main pillars of sustainable development. In other words, to build a sustainable REEs future, we must first recognise the existing pattern of their consumption, and to do so we must take into consideration those aspects impacting the sustainability of REEs environmentally and socio-economically. Any efforts towards combating REEs material criticality must involve a systematic perspective that harmonises the socio-economic and environmental prosperity of the use of these metals, as illustrated in Fig. 2. The current and future economic, environmental and social challenges of REEs are interlinked and must be addressed through an integrated approach as described in the REEs CE framework. The following next two sections look at practical examples of CE as a tool for REEs management and the implementation strategies to move forward based on the proposed framework.

3.2 A Practical Example of CE Tools: Material Use of REEs, Life Impact Analysis and Recycling Potentials An investigation of REEs material use in Australia from a life cycle material flow perspective indicates a pattern of a take-make-consume-and-dispose system. This means that the consumption of REEs in Australia is solely dependent on primary material inputs. This is because Australia exports the majority of its EoL waste abroad for downstream recycling (Islam & Huda, 2019; Islam & Huda, 2020). In Australia, approximately 6 billion tonnes of metal content are found in the waste stream, with approximately AUD 2 billion a year in wealth from waste value lost due to landfill and the export of waste overseas for the downstream recycling process (Corder et al., 2015). Findings indicate a growing demand for these metals, especially in the clean energy sector of Australia, as seen in Fig.  3. The main

Circular Economy as a Way Forward Against Material Criticality…

55

Selected REEs consumption estimates(kt)

Fig. 2  REEs integrated CE framework within the context of sustainable development (1) The proposed framework underlines that social and economic prosperity occurs in harmony with the environment; (2) and to establish a sustainable REEs future, we require a closer look at those aspects impacting sustainability in REEs economically, socially and environmentally; (3) sustainability in REEs consumption from a CE perspective contributes to all the major pillars of SD. *SD sustainable development). (Developed from Palle Paul Mejame et al., 2022) 20.00 18.00 16.00 14.00 12.00 10.00 8.00 6.00 4.00 2.00 0.00

Low-emissions energy production_Magnets

Low-emissions energy usage_Battery alloys+Phosphors

Clean energy sectors 2017

2018

2019

Fig. 3  Trends in the selected critical REEs consumption in the clean energy sectors of Australia (2017, 2018, 2019) kt

56

M. Palle Paul Mejame et al.

applications of concern include phosphors, magnets and battery alloys used in the low emissions energy production and usage sectors with (34, 34 and 32% respectively) of the selected critical REEs (Nd, Dy, Eu, Y, Tb) consumption in the application. Y (in phosphors) and Nd (in magnets) constitute critical REEs with the highest demand in these clean energy sectors. These results are significant for Australia, as lately the management of critical metals has attracted the attention of the Australian government (Wang, P. & Kara, 2019). The growing demand for critical metals in the fast-­growing promising clean energy sectors (such as wind turbines and electric vehicles) is problematic (Wang & Kara, 2019). The fleet proportion of electric vehicles in Australia for example is projected to reach up to 75–100% by 2050 (Wang & Kara, 2019). Electric vehicles and wind turbines heavily depend on the rare-earth magnets sector. In the next 25 years, the demand for Nd for example is expected to rise to more than 2600% (Alonso et al., 2012). Adoption and implementation of criticality mitigation strategies to reduce supply risk, waste and material loss is therefore of paramount importance. One of the principal goals of CE is to gain a hold on material recycling and to harmonise socio-­ economic and environmental prosperity, a closed-loop system where resources are conserved and reintroduced into the life cycle at the EoL (Figs. 2 and 7). The findings from material use analysis reveal recycling to be a potential source for secondary REEs materials, which can complement the overall primary material consumption. The potential was higher for phosphors, magnets and ceramics (27, 26 and 23%, respectively), as seen in Fig. 4, with the highest demand resulting principally from Yt in phosphors and Nd in magnets. Consequently, efforts towards

REEs recycling potential (kt)

9.0 8.0 7.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 Nd

Dy

Eu

Y

Tb

Selected critical REEs in applications Magnets

Battery Alloy

Metallurgy

Auto Catalysts

Glass Additives

Phosphors

Ceramics

Others

Fig. 4  Recycling potentials of critical REEs in a given year (2019 in kt). Note: Nd (Neodymium), Dy (Dysprosium), Eu (Europium), Y (Yttrium), Tb (Terbium)

Circular Economy as a Way Forward Against Material Criticality…

57

Global Warmimg Potential and Reductions (Kg CO2 emissions-Eq/yr/1kt)

material criticality mitigation must be directed towards these applications with significant potential to offset supply risks. The recycling of REEs in waste streams is a significant area of global concern. It can help with some of the critical issues faced by these metals. For instance, it can help solve the so-called balance problem  (Binnemans et al., 2013). REEs are found together in a geological deposit. The mining of critical REEs, for example Nd generates an excess of the more abundant REEs, like La and Ce, causing what is known as the balance problem in the supply and demand market for REEs (Binnemans et al., 2013). Therefore, the recycling of Nd will reduce the extraction of this critical metal, leading to less overproduction of REEs (like La and Ce) for which the demand is lower (Binnemans et al., 2013). To avert over-surpluses of certain metals, the market demands for the different REEs have to equate to the natural abundance ratios of these elements as surpluses will lead to imbalances in the REEs market. Lowering the volume of REEs extracted cannot solve the overproduction (surpluses), as this can cause a shortage of less abundant (critical) REEs that are in high demand (Binnemans et al., 2013). Improvement in recycling technologies and infrastructure can also help reduce the overall environmental impact associated with primary REEs material consumption. For example, findings from this study reveal that the overall REEs consumption of secondary material inputs in applications will equally result in significantly lower CO2 emissions and cumulative energy demand potentials than from the equivalent of REEs generated for primary material inputs, as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, 1400.0 1200.0 1000.0 800.0 600.0 400.0 200.0 0.0 Nd

Dy

Eu

Y

Tb

Selected critical REEs Estimated REEs CO2 emissions potential from primary material inputs Estimated REEs CO2 emissions potential from secondary material inputs Esimated recycling emission reduction potential ( avoided CO2)

Fig. 5  Global Warming Potential and reductions from individual metals in a given year (2019 Kg CO2-Eq/yr./1kt)

Cumulative Energy Demand Potential and Reductions (MJ-Eq./yr./1Kt )

58

M. Palle Paul Mejame et al. 16000.0 14000.0 12000.0 10000.0 8000.0 6000.0 4000.0 2000.0 0.0 Nd

Dy

Eu

Y

Tb

Selected critical REEs Estimated REEs Cumulative Energy Demand Potential from Primary Material Inputs Estimated Cumulative Energy Demand Potential from Secondary Material Inputs Esimated Cumulative Energy Demand Potential Reductions/Environmental benefits (Energy savings)

Fig. 6  Cumulative Energy Demand Potentials and reductions for individual metals in a given year (2019 MJ-Eq./yr./1kt)

respectively. The result is significant to highlight the value of secondary material input in resource management to that of primary material use. The results from this investigation showed that the gross CO2 emissions for using REE primary material input in applications will fall from 2278.3 to 1253.0 Kg CO2-Eq/yr./1kt in the case of secondary material inputs. These findings, therefore, suggest that a shift from primary material dependency will not only lead to material savings but equally to a significant global warming reduction potential of CO2 emissions avoided, as cited above. The same outcome was recorded in the case of Cumulative Energy Demand Potential (CEDP). Improvements in the sustainable consumption and production of REEs is therefore expected to result in a wide range of environmental benefits compared to the current state-of-the-art primary production. The high primary CO2 emissions and energy consumption calls for the need for the development of recycling technologies and infrastructure in conjunction with other CE strategies for material criticality mitigation, as further analysed in the next section.

3.3 CE Strategies as a Way Forward for REEs Material Criticality Mitigation A holistic and systematic CE perspective is a necessity to support REEs material efficiency from a material life cycle viewpoint, closing the loop and reducing material loss. The REEs CE framework (Fig. 7) underlines vital strategies to determine

Circular Economy as a Way Forward Against Material Criticality…

59

Fig. 7  CE strategies as a way forward for REEs material criticality mitigation

the potential for various REEs waste streams for recovery and phases where strategies can be implemented to improve sustainability in REEs consumption. The approach considers that apart from the sole focus on improving EoL strategies (collection and recycling) for the consumption of REEs in Australia, the other components within the CE framework such as the manufacturing-oriented strategies are instrumental to achieving sustainability in REEs consumption (namely: long-­lasting design, maintenance, and repair, reuse, remanufacturing, and refurbishing of REEs resources to close the material loop) as seen in Fig. 7. The reason is that EoL CE strategies (such as recycling) are generally implemented with the sole purpose to transform wastes into resources for new products. Furthermore, recycling is proving to be a less feasible option at this time (short-term frame) due to the limited quantity of EoL products available to be reclaimed to complement virgin material consumption (Jowitt et al., 2018; Rademaker et al., 2013; Zaimes et al., 2015). The manufacturing CE strategies, on the other hand, are designed to advance the sustainable use of resources via life cycle engineering techniques such as design for easy reuse and recyclability, design for long life, repurpose, etc. (Wang & Kara, 2019), a complementing strategy for waste prevention and supply risk mitigation. The improvement

60

M. Palle Paul Mejame et al.

in REEs material efficiency is a combination of a set of strategic CE components in addition to recycling, as analysed below: Efforts to improve the recycling of REEs should be focused on improving policies to promote EoL metal collection and sorting and should encourage product designers to take recycling more seriously during the design process (CE manufacturing-­oriented strategies). For example, as seen in Fig.  7, the collection phase, which is regarded as a key mechanism for improving metal recycling,can be improved by: • Fomenting establishment of local and international collection points and markets in Australia; eco-designs and recycling structures to recall EoL products, reduce losses and eliminate export to third world countries. • Amendments to the Australian waste framework directives. For instance, the current Australian waste scheme (National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (NTCRS) only recognises old televisions, computer parts and printers as e-waste (Dias et al., 2018; Islam & Huda, 2019, 2020). These are just categories 2 and 6 of the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive (e-waste). No other regulation exists governing the management of EoL products found in the other e-waste categories 1,3, 4 and 5 (Dias et al., 2018; Islam & Huda, 2019, 2020). The bulk of these products end up in landfill and the ­remaining is collected as scrap (Dias et al., 2018; Islam & Huda, 2019). These categories (1, 3 and 4) constitute a great amount of renewable and green energy products which contain a high usage of REEs such as energy-efficient fluorescent lamps and photovoltaic panels. Other examples include air conditioners, CD players, refrigerators, cameras, headphones, washing machines, etc., which are not currently regulated under the Australia e-waste management program (NTCRS) (Dias et al., 2018; Islam & Huda, 2019). EoL solar PV panels are reported in recent studies to be the major e-waste streams in Australia (Mahmoudi et al., 2019). These are all applications with a significant amount of magnet content (Islam & Huda, 2019). Permanent magnets for instance make up the largest portion of REEs consumption in applications, with category 3 and 4 products, such as rechargeable batteries and phosphors being one of the fastest-growing markets for the metals (Statistica, 2019). • Incentivise the market for secondary materials (recycling of EoL products, pre-­ consumer products, tailings and industrial residues) by imposing fiscal levers (taxes) or by enforcing a minimum quantity of secondary materials to be used for the production of new products. For example, the implementation of compulsory producer take-back policies (such as the extended producer responsibility approach, a take-back system where EoL products are in the hands of the producers), consumer and recycler incentives, etc. Recycling can equally be improved with an innovative and environmentally friendly recycling system (long-term solutions). According to investigations led by prominent researchers in Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France, efficiency in dismantling (designed for easier disassembly and reuse), sorting, pre-processing and pyro-, hydro- and/or electrometallurgical processing

Circular Economy as a Way Forward Against Material Criticality…

61

methods combined with environmentally friendly and holistically sound recycling system can drastically improve recycling and recovery of REEs in the waste stream (Binnemans et al., 2013; Guyonnet et al., 2013, 2015). These researchers reported that the current focus on magnet scrap recovery business structures can be replaced with these high-tech recycling and environmentally friendly technologies (Binnemans et al., 2013; Guyonnet et al., 2015). Environmental accountability (data information) is another significant CE strategy that supports sustainability in REEs. The CE framework via its life cycle environmental accounting tools (material flow analysis and life cycle impact assessment) contributes to addressing the challenge of REEs recycling via the material life cycle accounting strategy. This is significant as comprehensive and systematic information on the life cycle of REEs material use is paramount to the understanding of material consumption and implementation of sustainable strategies to improve material efficiency. Life cycle assessment strategies, for instance, are beneficial to providing a technically sound and transparent assessment of metal recycling (Norgate, 2013). From a life cycle viewpoint, the benefits derived from metal recycling can be assessed in an approach that enables appropriate comparisons with other product systems or materials that do not have recycling loops (Norgate, 2013). Information from life cycle material flow accounting serves as a pivotal tool to tackle those phases in the material life cycle (like recycling) that need attention. Linking life cycle assessment and material flow analysis provides an analytical framework for a comprehensive assessment of material use and impact, raw material availability and metal availability in the waste stream, as demonstrated in this study. Thus, CE within a sustainability framework contributes to tackling the challenge of REEs resource scarcity to minimise socio-economic and environmental impacts. In summary, CE contributes to the sustainability of REEs through its regenerative, restorative and preservation strategies, a tool for short-term and long-term goals in combatting REEs supply risk. For example: • In the raw material phase: The preservation of materials, a restorative and regenerative ecosystem via sustainable mining strategies; for instance, recovery from mine tailings and industrial residues to avoid extra mining and the balance problem. • At the manufacturing and product use phase: The preservation of products and components through life cycle engineering strategies such as long-lasting designs of applications by extending product life, easy design for reuse and recyclability, repurposing and easy repairs for maintenance and remanufacturing. • In the EoL phase: The preservation of material and energy through reuse, remanufacture and innovative policies to promote and improve EoL collection, recycling and recovery of REEs.

62

M. Palle Paul Mejame et al.

4 Conclusion and Recommendations This study highlights the importance of REEs, their critical and strategic nature and the need to examine this pattern of material consumption from a holistic approach. Any efforts towards combatting REEs material criticality must consider a systematic perspective where priority is given to those phases that currently need attention, such as the design of long-lasting magnets, and phosphors, the repair or refurbishment of EoL products and improvement in their collection rate to enhance resource efficiency and close the material loop. This study aims to add value by setting REEs within the framework of CE and sustainability, a novel strategy for resource efficiency, an approach not common in the current body of literature. The proposed framework suggests the need for a comprehensive REEs CE scheme in a sustainable development context for criticality mitigation and a practical implementation strategy to close the material loop and enhance the sustainability of REEs consumption. The three pillars of sustainable development (economic, environmental and social) go hand in hand with any development towards implementation of CE and improvement in resource efficiency, which must critically consider this systematic perspective. This is because the current and future social, environmental and economic challenges faced by these metals are interlinked and must therefore be addressed through an integrated approach. In this current study, five REEs were selected for analysis due to their higher criticality index, importance to the green economy and supply disruption in a short time frame. Similarly, the framework of the study could be extended to the other REEs metals. Further research could also be extended to single REEs metals to narrow down the investigation to this specific element with an increasing research focus. In this way, more focus could be placed on individual metals analysis for material efficiency and sustainable consumption. For instance, studies on the recycling efficiency of an individual critical metal can be beneficial to the balance problem. Successful recycling of critical REEs, for example Nd, can reduce the oversupply of the more abundant REEs, like La, that need to be extracted in the mining process, because REEs are very often found together in one deposit. Excess supply of the less-required REEs creates an imbalance in the supply-demand ratio of REEs, offsetting the market value and natural balance (Binnemans et al., 2013). While this research focuses on sustainable REEs consumption in Australia to reduce environmental impacts, the framework of the study could also be extended to investigate the potential implication of the model in other countries. The framework can also be adapted to other industries to investigate sustainable material consumption for resource efficiencies. Also, WEEE (E-waste) is considered to be a crucial source of waste containing REEs (Islam & Huda, 2019, 2020). Further research is therefore needed to examine secondary material potential from waste electric and electronic equipment in Australia. Most of Australia’s e-waste is currently being exported to underdeveloped nations for downstream recycling (Islam & Huda, 2019, 2020). For Australia, the classification of WEEE under the NTCRS (National Television and Computer

Circular Economy as a Way Forward Against Material Criticality…

63

Recycling) scheme is limited to categories 2 and 6 only of the EU WEE Directive, and thus, the majority of the remaining EoL products are regarded as garbage ending up in landfill (Dias et al., 2018; Islam & Huda, 2019, 2020). It is worth noting that these EoL products in the neglected categories (1, 3 and 4) constitute a significant portion of green energy and renewable products containing high usage of REEs, for example photovoltaic panels and energy-efficient fluorescent lamps, that are not currently regulated in Australia under the NTCRS waste program (Dias et al., 2018; Islam and Huda, 2019). Approximately 6 billion tonnes of metal content is reportedly found in Australia’s waste stream, worth AUD 2 billion a year of wealth from waste value lost to landfill and the export of waste overseas for the downstream recycling process (Corder et  al., 2015). An extension of the WEEE Directive regarding EoL products in these other neglected categories is another vital area of concern. Tailings and industrial residues are equally considered to be potential sources of secondary materials that can supplement the primary extraction of REEs (Binnemans et al., 2013; Du & Graedel, 2011; Haque et al., 2014; Mudd et al., 2019). REEs tailings dumps in Australia are not new to the industry with several reports on heap deposits (Haque et al., 2014; Huleatt, 2019; Miezitis et al., 2011; Mudd et al., 2019). The tailings heap at Olympic Dam for example was reported to be a potentially significant source of REEs (Haque et al., 2014). This is an area of research that is far beyond the scope of this study but could be a good area for further investigation. Extraction from tailings is important not only to supplement primary material consumption but equally because they produce a lesser environmental burden (Binnemans et al., 2013). The mining of virgin REEs materials contains significant amounts of radioactive elements like uranium, thorium, and other toxic elements harmful to human health, including chemical liquids detrimental to the surrounding area (water, soil, groundwater, etc.) that could all be avoided (Balaram, 2019; Binnemans et  al., 2013; Eckelman & Chertow, 2009). The extent to which this might provide an answer to the criticality of these metals should be further explored. The REEs extraction and impact on human health around these mining zones in Australia could also be a potential area of further exploration to complement this study. In this way, other resource use indicators such as land use and water can be introduced to further investigate the impact on human health.

References Alonso, E., Sherman Andrew, M., Wallington Timothy, J., Everson Mark, P., Field Frank, R., Richard, R., & Kirchain Randolph, E. (2012). Evaluating rare earth element availability: A case with revolutionary demand from clean technologies. Environmental Science & Technology, 46(6), 3406–3414. https://doi.org/10.1021/es203518d Balanay, R., & Halog, A. (2019). 3  – Tools for circular economy: Review and some potential applications for the philippine textile industry. In S.  S. Muthu (Ed.), Circular economy in textiles and apparel (1st ed., pp. 49–75). Woodhead Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1016/B97 8-­0-­08-­102630-­4.00003-­0

64

M. Palle Paul Mejame et al.

Balaram, V. (2019). Rare earth elements: A review of applications, occurrence, exploration, analysis, recycling, and environmental impact. Geoscience Frontiers, 10(4), 1285–1303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2018.12.005 Bauer, D., Diamond, D., Li, J., McKittrick, M., Sandalow, D., & Telleen, P. (2011). Critical materials strategy. US Department of Energy. Retrieved from https://www.energy.gov/sites/ prod/files/DOE_CMS2011_FINAL_Full.pdf Bauer, D., Sandalow, D., Diamond, D., Li, J., McKittrick, M., & Telleen, P. (2010). Critical materials strategy. US Department of Energy. https://doi.org/10.2172/1000846. https://www. energy.gov/sites/prod/files/piprod/documents/cms_dec_17_full_web.pdf Beasley, J., Georgeson, R., Arditi, S., & Barczak, P. (2014). Advancing resource efficiency in Europe: Indicators and waste policy scenarios to deliver a resource efficient and sustainable Europe. European Environmental Bureau. https://makeresourcescount.eu/wp-­content/ uploads/2014/11/FINAL_Advancing-­Resource-­Efficiency-­in-­Europe_PUBL.pdf Binnemans, K., Jones, P.  T., Blanpain, B., Van Gerven, T., Yang, Y., Walton, A., & Buchert, M. (2013). Recycling of rare earths: A critical review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 51, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.12.037 Camilleri, M.  A. (2019). The circular economy's closed loop and product service systems for sustainable development: A review and appraisal. Sustainable Development, 27(3), 530–536. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1909 Corder, G.  D., Golev, A., & Giurco, D. (2015). “Wealth from metal waste”: Translating global knowledge on industrial ecology to metals recycling in Australia. Minerals Engineering, 76, 2–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2014.11.004 Dias, P., Bernardes, A. M., & Huda, N. (2018). Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) management: An analysis on the Australian e-waste recycling scheme. Journal of Cleaner Production, 197, 750–764. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.06.161 Domenech, T. (2014). Explainer: What is a circular economy? The Conversation. Retrieved Dec 27, 2019, from http://theconversation.com/explainer-­what-­is-­a-­circular-­economy-­29666 Drost, D., & Wang, R. (2016). Rare earth element criticality and sustainable management. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 2015 4th International Conference on Sensors, Measurement and Intelligent Materials, Shenzhen, China. 914–919. https://doi.org/10.2991/ icsmim-­15.2016.168 Du, X., & Graedel, T. E. (2011). Global in-use stocks of the rare earth elements: A first estimate. Environmental Science & Technology, 45(9), 4096–4101. https://doi.org/10.1021/es102836s Eckelman, M. J., & Chertow, M. R. (2009). Quantifying life cycle environmental benefits from the reuse of industrial materials in Pennsylvania. Environmental Science & Technology, 43(7), 2550–2556. https://doi.org/10.1021/es802345a European Commission. (2017). Study on the review of the list of critical raw materials critical assessment: Final report. Publications Office of the European Union. https://op.europa.eu/en/ publication-­detail/-­/publication/08fdab5f-­9766-­11e7-­b92d-­01aa75ed71a1 European Commission. (2018). Report on critical raw materials and the circular economy. Publications Office of the European Union. http://op.europa.eu/en/publication-­detail/-­/ publication/d1be1b43-­e18f-­11e8-­b690-­01aa75ed71a1/language-­en/format-­PDF Gaustad, G., Olivetti, E., & Kirchain, R. (2011). Toward sustainable material usage: Evaluating the importance of market motivated agency in modeling material flows. Environmental Science & Technology, 45(9), 4110–4117. https://doi.org/10.1021/es103508u Geissdoerfer, M., Savaget, P., Bocken, N. M. P., & Hultink, E. J. (2017). The circular economy – A new sustainability paradigm? Journal of Cleaner Production, 143, 757–768. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.048 Gibson, M., & Parkinson, I. (2011). Once ignored on the periodic table, don’t ignore them now: A rare earth element industry overview. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce World Markets. Goonan, T.  G. (2011). Rare earth elements- end use and recyclability: U.S. geological survey scientific investigations report (No. 5094). U.S.  Geological Survey. https://doi.org/10.3133/ sir20115094

Circular Economy as a Way Forward Against Material Criticality…

65

Grimes, S., Donaldson, J., & Cebrian Gomez, G. (2008). Report on the environmental benefits of recycling. Bureau of International Recycling. https://www.mgg-­recycling.com/wp-­content/ uploads/2013/06/BIR_CO2_report.pdf Guyonnet, D., Dubois, D., Escalon, V., Fargier, H., Rollat, A., Shuster, R., Ahmed, S. S., Tuduri, J., & Zylberman, W. (2013). Material flow analysis for identifying rare earth element recycling potentials in the EU-27. Paper presented at the Fourteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium, Sep 2013, Cagliari, Italy. 10 p. https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.3672.3844 Guyonnet, D., Planchon, M., Rollat, A., Escalon, V., Tuduri, J., Charles, N., Vaxelaire, S., Dubois, D., & Fargier, H. (2015). Material flow analysis applied to rare earth elements in Europe. Journal of Cleaner Production, 107, 215–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.04.123 Haque, N., Hughes, A., Lim, S., & Vernon, C. (2014). Rare earth elements: Overview of mining, mineralogy, uses, sustainability and environmental impact. Resources, 3(4), 614–635. https:// doi.org/10.3390/resources3040614 Huleatt, M.  B. (2019). Australian resource reviews: Rare earth elements 2019. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. https://doi.org/10.11636/9781925848441. International Resource Panel. (2011). Recycling rates of metals – International resource panel-­ UNEP: A status report. Retrieved 2019, from https://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/ recycling-­rates-­metals International Resource Panel. (2017). UNEP international resource panel: Assessing global resource use. A systems approach to resource efficiency and pollution reduction. UN Environment Programme. https://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/assessing-­global-­resource-­use Islam, M.  T., & Huda, N. (2019). E-waste in Australia: Generation estimation and untapped material recovery and revenue potential. Journal of Cleaner Production, 237, 117787. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.117787 Islam, M. T., & Huda, N. (2020). Reshaping WEEE management in Australia: An investigation on the untapped WEEE products. Journal of Cleaner Production, 250, 119496. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119496 John, B., Möller, A., & Weiser, A. (2016). Sustainable development and material flows. In H.  Heinrichs, P.  Martens, G.  Michelsen, & A.  Wiek (Eds.), Sustainability science: An introduction (1st ed., pp. 219–230). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-­94-­017-­7242-­6_18 Jowitt, S. M., Werner, T. T., Weng, Z., & Mudd, G. M. (2018). Recycling of the rare earth elements. Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 13, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. cogsc.2018.02.008 Long, K. R., Van Gosen, B. S., Verplanck, P. L., Seal, R. R., & Gambogi, J. (2017). Rare-earth elements: Chapter O of critical mineral resources of the United States—Economic and environmental geology and prospects for future supply. U.S.  Geological Survey. https://doi. org/10.3133/pp1802O Lynas Corporation. (n.d.). Digital technologies. Lynas Corporation. Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://www.lynascorp.com/products/how-­are-­rare-­earths-­used/digital-­technologies/ MacArthur, E. (2017). What is a circular economy? Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved Dec 27, 2019, from https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-­economy/concept Mahmoudi, S., Huda, N., Alavi, Z., Islam, M. T., & Behnia, M. (2019). End-of-life photovoltaic modules: A systematic quantitative literature review. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 146, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.03.018 McLellan, B. C., Corder, G. D., & Ali, S. H. (2013). Sustainability of rare earths—An overview of the state of knowledge. Minerals, 3(3), 304–317. https://doi.org/10.3390/min3030304 McLellan, B.  C., Corder, G.  D., Golev, A., & Ali, S.  H. (2014). Sustainability of the rare earths industry. Procedia Environmental Sciences, 20, 280–287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. proenv.2014.03.035 Miezitis, Y., Jaireth, S., & Hoatson, D.  M. (2011). The major rare-earth-element deposits of Australia: Geological setting, exploration, and resources. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/71820

66

M. Palle Paul Mejame et al.

Mudd, G., Werner, T., Weng, Z., Yellishetty, M., Yaun, Y., McAlpine, S., Skirrow, R., & Czarnota, K. (2019). Critical minerals in Australia: A review of opportunities and research needs. Geoscience Australia. https://doi.org/10.11636/Record.2018.051 Mudgal, S., Tan, A., Lockwood, S., Eisenmenger, N., Fischer-Kowalski, M., Giljum, S., & Brucker, M. (2012). Assessment of resource efficiency indicators and targets. Final report prepared for the European Commission, DG environment. BIO Intelligence Service, Institute for Social Ecology and Sustainable Europe Research Institute. https://doi.org/10.2779/5453 Norgate, T. (2013). Metal recycling: The need for a life cycle approach. CSIRO. https://doi.org/1 0.4225/08/584d94ce5f6ae. Palle Paul Mejame, M., Jung, D., Lee, H., Lee, D. S., & Lim, S. (2020). Effect of technological developments for smartphone lithium battery on metal-derived resource depletion and toxicity potentials. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 158, 104797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. resconrec.2020.104797 Palle Paul Mejame, M., Kim, Y.  M., Lee, D.  S., & Lim, S. (2016). Effect of technology development on potential environmental impacts from heavy metals in waste smartphones. Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management, 20(1), 100–109. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10163-­016-­0548-­2 Palle Paul Mejame, M., King, D., Banhalmi-zakar, Z., & He, Y. (2022). Circular economy: A sustainable management strategy for rare earth elements consumption in Australia. Current Research in Environmental Sustainability, 4, 100157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. crsust.2022.100157 Rademaker, J.  H., Kleijn, R., & Yang, Y. (2013). Recycling as a strategy against rare earth element criticality: A systemic evaluation of the potential yield of NdFeB magnet recycling. Environmental Science & Technology, 47(18), 10129–10136. https://doi.org/10.1021/ es305007w Reike, D., Vermeulen, W. J. V., & Witjes, S. (2018). The circular economy: New or refurbished as CE 3.0?—Exploring controversies in the conceptualization of the circular economy through a focus on history and resource value retention options. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 135, 246–264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.08.027 Reisman, D., Weber, R., Mckernan, J., & Northeim, C. (2013). Rare earth elements: A review of production, processing, recycling, and associated environmental issues. Environmental Protection Agency. https://cfpub.epa.gov/si/si_public_record_report.cfm?dirEntryId=251706 &Lab=NRMRL Statistica. (2019). REE share of consumption worldwide by end use 2018. Statista. Retrieved Jan 6, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/604190/ distribution-­of-­rare-­earth-­element-­consumption-­worldwide-­by-­end-­use/ U.S.  Geological Survey. (2020). Mineral commodity summaries 2020. U.S.  Geological Survey. https://doi.org/10.3133/mcs2020 UNEP. (2015a). Sustainable consumption and production global edition. A handbook for policymakers. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. https://sdgs.un.org/publications/ sustainable-­consumption-­and-­production-­global-­edition-­handbook-­policymakers-­17936 UNEP. (2015b). Sustainable consumption and production indicators for the future SDGs. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. https://sdgs.un.org/publications/ sustainable-­consumption-­and-­production-­indicators-­future-­sdgs-­18025 United Nations Environment Programme. (2019). Circular economy & the sustainable management of minerals and metal resources. UN Environment. Retrieved Jan 16, 2020, from http://www.unenvironment.org/events/un-­environment-­event/ circular-­economy-­sustainable-­management-­minerals-­and-­metal-­resources United State Environmental Protection Agency. (2011). A quantification method for determining emission reduction factors due to recycling in California. US EPA. Retrieved 2/8/2016 2016, from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:67FR-ynyedIJ:www.arb. ca.gov/cc/protocols/localgov/pubs/recycling_method.pdf+ & cd=1 & hl=en & ct=clnk & gl=kr

Circular Economy as a Way Forward Against Material Criticality…

67

Van Gosen, B. S., Verplanck, P. L., Long, K. R., Gambogi, J., & Seal, R. R. (2014). The rare-earth Elements—Vital to modern technologies and lifestyles: U.S. geological survey fact sheet (No. 3078). U.S. Geological Survey. https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20143078. Wang, P., & Kara, S. (2019). Material criticality and circular economy: Necessity of manufacturing oriented strategies. Procedia CIRP, 8, 667–672. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2019.01.056 Wang, X., Yao, M., Li, J., Zhang, K., Zhu, H., & Zheng, M. (2017). China’s rare earths production forecasting and sustainable development policy implications. Sustainability, 9(6), 1003. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su9061003 Wernet, G., Bauer, C., Steubing, B., Reinhard, J., Moreno-Ruiz, E., & Weidema, B. (2016). The ecoinvent database version 3 (part I): Overview and methodology. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 21(9), 1218–1230. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-­016-­1109-­6 Zaimes, G. G., Hubler, B. J., Wang, S., & Khanna, V. (2015). Environmental life cycle perspective on rare earth oxide production. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 3(2), 237–244. https://doi.org/10.1021/sc500573b

Building a Sustainable Future: A Circular Economy–Based Leasing Model for Affordable Housing in Malaysia, Evaluated by Life Cycle Assessment Mohd Zairul

Abstract  The innovative leasing strategy for affordable housing based on the circular economy offers a promising solution for sustainable housing that can minimize the environmental impact of the construction industry. To evaluate the environmental impact of this model and the housing units it provides, the authors suggest the use of life cycle assessment (LCA), which can identify potential environmental impacts across the entire life cycle of the building materials. By applying LCA, the leasing model can ensure that the housing units are genuinely sustainable from the extraction of raw materials to the end-of-life disposal or recycling. The authors propose an innovative leasing model based on the circular economy, which maximizes the value of materials in products through reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling. The study presents a conceptual framework for a new flexible housing business model, called flexZhouse, which aims to provide more affordable and adaptable housing options in the future housing market. Although still in the early stages of conceptual development, flexZhouse serves as a proof of concept for the new business model. However, the study does not cover the process of acquiring land or requesting planning approval, focusing instead on the lifecycle chain of mass home building. Keywords  Life cycle assessment · Circular economy · Affordable housing · Sustainable housing · Housing Malaysia · Leasing model

M. Zairul (*) Department of Architecture, Faculty of Design & Architecture, UPM Serdang, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia Cyber Lab Generation, Institute of Social Sciences, UPM Serdang, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. S. Muthu (ed.), Life Cycle Assessment & Circular Economy, Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33982-0_4

69

70

M. Zairul

1 Introduction Mass customisation is a business approach used by housing developers to increase value generation and gain a competitive advantage by delivering a product diversity that suits customers’ wants while keeping costs and delivery times within market expectations (Hentschke et  al., 2022). However, individual demands and preferences of end users must be met in architecture to ensure a successful design since mass customization housing has long been criticized for residents’ dissatisfaction (Raposo & Eloy, 2020). Housing preferences and customisation are more common, and lifestyle changes have recently made personalization more necessary (Hentschke et al., 2014), standard designs produced by house companies are less appealing to buyers of homes (Noguchi, 2003). On the other hand, personalisation in housing is sometimes linked to extra expenses that could perhaps drive up the cost of a home (Barlow et al., 2003). It can be difficult to physically adapt existing dwellings, which often results in a large number of debris and environmental burdens (Zairul, 2019). Additionally, due to changes in human needs, certain spaces in the house could eventually become outdated. Since the industrial revolution, housing has been produced utilising a linear system of manufacture, take, and discard, which has resulted in resource scarcity, resource depletion, waste, environmental harm, and climate change (Stahel, 2016). Current and projected trends indicate that demand for natural resources will triple by 2050 (Macarthur, 2015), highlighting the need for sustainable and resource-­ efficient housing solutions. Furthermore, in today’s housing market, typical rental agreements provide limited room for expansions and modifications when the option of home ownership is practically out of reach for first-time homebuyers (Zairul et al., 2017). Customers’ marginal options to “grow” and “shrink” with the house and a higher probability to satisfy their future spatial requirements were the results of current physical dwelling scenarios. (Zairul et al., 2019). Due to the rigidity of the current housing, users have moved to new areas to satisfy their changing needs. The house should be a long-­ lasting product with the capacity to upgrade and downgrade when the purpose of housing changes from providing shelter to fulfilling a variety of activities. The property will be upgraded by each succeeding occupant to accommodate their evolving needs and preferences. Therefore, a practical solution should provide for flexibility in the leasing alternatives of the homeowners as well as the actual requirements of the unit shell. Instead, housing is just the beginning; one of the next problems is providing housing that satisfies the unique demands of families (Raposo & Eloy, 2020). How a corporation or home developer generates money for its business determines whether it can offer customers housing at a reasonable price (Zairul et al., 2017). If the maker of the dwelling could take advantage of economies of scale and recurring payments, the price of the home might be reduced (Zairul, 2019). In this chapter, the concept of affordability is put forth, and we demonstrate how a business could save production and manufacturing costs by prolonging the useful lives of its products.

Building a Sustainable Future: A Circular Economy–Based Leasing Model…

71

To find a solution, we, therefore, examined what affordability meant by developing a new BM (business model) that would provide a substitute for affordable housing to the market. However, the solution had to suggest a cutting-edge BM approach, one that would give cutting-edge leasing, to transform housing into straightforward and cost-effective products (Zairul & Geraedts, 2015). According to this new strategy, the company’s revenue will be dependent on its housing inventory and services (Zairul et  al., 2017). This chapter was inspired by a circular economy strategy and logistics streams that emphasise product quality and quality control and management, improving after-sales and customer satisfaction, by using prefab house production. Creating an innovative leasing idea based on the circular economy principle for the house components would be one method to lower the cost of this innovation. The idea behind innovative leasing is that the manufacturers or house developers will agree to lease the housing components to the potential buyers. Throughout the term of the contract, the quantity, calibre, or size of housing components grows in tandem with the customers’ financial capacity (Zairul et al., 2017). Finally, the purchaser gets unlimited power to customise the residential property, providing them the advantages of “ownership.” It enables the housing component to be rented by the customer and allows the unit to be flexible in accordance with the demands imposed on it. Additionally, this new tenure will encourage a long-term partnership with the housing association or producer and a successful business plan for a long-­ term partnership. By remodelling and recycling the parts, the housing producer will also lower its production costs. The innovative leasing business model (BM) provides more design alternatives for mass housing, financial solutions for new clients through creative leasing, and higher product quality through an industrialization strategy in response to the problems the housing sector is facing. The new business model also advises implementing the circular economy’s guiding principles as part of its plan to provide clients with cutting-edge leasing (Zairul et al., 2018). By fusing the concept of prefab housing production with cutting-edge leasing, motivated by circular economy concepts, this chapter contributes to the scientific community. Few studies have yet particularly addressed the integration of flexible housing with the circular economy. As a result, this chapter closes a knowledge gap in the field of prefab housing and provides a solution to the challenges it has highlighted.

2 Literature Review The word “flexibility” was initially used to characterise the shifting social home structures and lifestyles in the Netherlands in the 1980s. The ability to modify floor plans to meet changing needs is another definition of flexibility. The changes basically require creating gaps in the concrete wall to make place for new spaces by putting up or taking down walls (Benros & Duarte, 2009). The idea of infill and support introduced in this chapter was inspired from Habraken (1987, 2003) and

72

M. Zairul

Sumter et al. (2015). The concept attempts to differentiate between two categories of flexible housing: support and infill. Later, it was specified as having a non-­ detachable support and a removable, readily reconfigurable infill (Habraken, 2003). According to the study, a user’s capacity to mix both elements can result in useful solutions and provide them the flexibility to adapt to changing demands and potential future goals. According to a theory proposed by Barlow and Childerhouse (2003), the housing industry may benefit from the mix of standardisation and personalisation elements. According to a poll carried out in Hong Kong, both public and private developers chose a traditional layout to offset the expense and practicality of the elaborate design (Wong, 2010). However, it has been argued in the past that the typical layout designed by housing developers has led to greater complexities and is unable to satisfy the varied needs of residents or home buyers (Sullivan & Chen, 1997). Furthermore, Wong (2010) stated that tenants will end up renovating their homes after receiving their house keys. Additional changes have wasted essential resources, components, energy, time, and, most significantly, cash and manpower. However, according to this study, industrialised housing strategies based on a circular economy can help to ease these concerns by allowing for customised design possibilities to match individual demands (Wong, 2010). Customers in Japan have the option of personalising dwelling types, floor layouts, external and interior aspects, and finishes and fittings. Personalization has recently gained popularity, particularly in developing countries (dos S. Hentschke et al., 2022; Kendall, 2012). According to this chapter, flexible housing should be able to absorb new technology as it becomes available and should be able to change with the changing needs of the population. The adaptability of the housing system should also permit a full conversion of the building’s usage from housing to another purpose. Moving from one location to another is another possibility made possible by flexibility. But it was noted that a number of difficulties would prevent housing from becoming more personalised, such as the concern over third parties’ unsold customised homes. Second, future property value is a source of worry. Third, lengthy development timelines are a challenge. Fourth, planning regulations and building codes are subject to restrictions. And fifth is an undetermined construction expense (Zairul et al., 2019). The study that supports housing customisation in the literature is extensive, according to the chapter. Examples include prefabricated, modular houses, factory-­ built homes, timber IBS, drywall partitions, and volumetric IBS. (Nawi et al., 2018; Zairul, 2021; Zairul et  al., 2019). The study’s emphasis is therefore on flexible, modular homes that are also flexible in terms of configuration. As a result, the chapter’s introduction begins with a few definitions of flexible housing. Schneider and Till (2006) define flexible design in housing as (1) the ability to change the layout based on the owner’s preferences, (2) the ability to include new technologies, (3) the ability to adjust to occupancy levels, and (4) the ability to change the building’s use to something else or adaptable use. Another feature is added in this case by the research: the flexible housing should be able to (5) move to new places by “adding” and “removing” components and (6) adapt to evolving user demands over time.

Building a Sustainable Future: A Circular Economy–Based Leasing Model…

73

Another way to define adaptability housing is the ability of the building to change to meet the demands of the occupant (Safarzadeh, 2012). In order to be flexible, anything must also be sensitive to both the environment and its users. Advancement from the Open Building (OB) group’s well-established basis allowed to outline some of the characters portrayed by “agile architecture.” The three categories of (1) spatial flexibility, (2) functional flexibility, and (3) aesthetic flexibility are explored through the notion of agile and adaptable as a stimulating mechanism (Fig. 1). The concept encourages the use of open buildings and flexible designs to develop technical proficiency that can be supported by expert teams and cutting-edge technologies. Another definition of flexibility in different contexts includes the words responsive and adaptable. However, we contend that the user’s satisfaction should be the only factor considered when defining flexibility. As a result, there must also be some limitations. To summarise, flexible housing is defined as housing that can adapt to changing user needs. It provides the choice and potential to select different home arrangements based on current and future demand, as well as the ability to modify the structure to meet future needs. The chapter’s concept of flexibility includes three aspects: (1) users, (2) design, and (3) structure. Flexibility towards users refers to the options that flexible home design provides to them. Flexibility towards design allows for the selection of various design options and accessories for aesthetic purposes. Flexibility towards structure refers to the structure’s adaptability through advanced mechanisms and technologies. This adaptability is assisted by advances in understanding and methodologies (Zairul et al., 2017).

Fig. 1  Integrative agility framework. (Safarzadeh, 2012)

74

M. Zairul

3 Theoretical Framework In this chapter, we explore how flexible housing can increase the availability of affordable housing. It is recognized that flexible housing relies on support from various factors, especially in the production field. The chapter notes that the flexibility of the housing units involves pre-fabrication, installation instead of traditional construction methods, convenient delivery, and a strong emphasis on meeting the needs of the customer (Till et al., 2006). In this section, Assuming the history and present canon of the characteristics, this chapter attempts to connect theories already in existence in related domains. Any departure from accepted understandings must be supported and explained. The next chapter discusses consumer satisfaction with housing services. According to several experts, several industries have made it a goal to develop an economy that is more focused on the needs of the customer. A house is also the biggest investment a person will ever make in their lifetime. It serves as a place where family members can congregate, socialise, and get close. It is also a financial, social, emotional, and physical investment (Zairul et al., 2017). Therefore, it is essential that the house be built in accordance with the needs of the final consumers. In the service sector, the idea of customer happiness was formed. Customers should be given new and distinctive architectural designs since studies in the service business have revealed a strong association between customer happiness and inclination to use the same service provider again (Kaur Sahi et al., 2017). Such is drawing inspiration from many Western nations and fusing styles to add variety. Additionally, brand loyalty from happy customers benefits businesses (Mokhlesian & Holmén, 2012; Sullivan & Chen, 1997; Wong, 2010). There is a noticeable gap in interactions between customers and suppliers in the present housing market. Consequently, this weakens consumer brand loyalty in the housing construction industry (Barlow & Childerhouse, 2003). Additionally, the importance of location in choosing a new home may reduce people’s loyalty to one particular housing provider. The chance to improve customer happiness and boost market share has recently gained popularity. It contradicts the normal approach in which house developers buy a plot of land and create a standard design. Customers today are aware of their rights and expect a distinct style that reflects their way of life (Daud et al., 2012). According to the study, the concept of personalisation is thought to be the solution to customer pleasure. Personalization is described as altering or assigning products and services according on the needs and requirements of the client (Manuel Schoenwitz et al., 2013). Kendall (2012) found that prefabrication of housing was viewed as a process of mass customization (dos S. Hentschke et al., 2022; Hentschke et al., 2014; Piroozfar et al., 2012). Zairul et al. (2019) found that market demands could only be met if the housing industry adopted an industrialised and appropriate manufacturing concept. The chapter does point out that there might be issues if the house were to assume complete personalization. This would necessitate a fundamental adjustment in the housing supply in terms of client access to design. Sufian and Rahman (2008) highlighted that the use of such tactics for products used in

Building a Sustainable Future: A Circular Economy–Based Leasing Model…

75

building houses has limitations, especially if the products are extensively personalised. Accordingly, we contend that flexibility can also mean making a decision from a set of possibilities, as proposed by (Schoenwitz, 2014). This chapter has already emphasised the need for creative leasing to support the flexible approach financially. This section makes an attempt to include the circular economy in the idea of flexible housing. The following elements help us distinguish between the old model and our new business model. The performance economy characteristics served as a model for the circular economy’s component design (Stahel, 2016). The building’s revolutionary new leasing programme includes the following (Table 1): 1. Value propositions 2. Liability 3. Payment 4. Work sequence 5. Property rights 6. Benefits for clients 7. Client disadvantages 8. Marketing strategy 9. The notion of value

3.1 Value Propositions Value propositions outline the benefits a company gives its clients. Some additionally had the capacity to personalise and reflect the message as well as the interactions and activities between the client and the service provider (MacKenbach et al., 2020; Manninen et al., 2018). This study is concentrated on offering services with the aim of value propositions for client selection and satisfaction. The chapter suggests that the category should incorporate consumer–manufacturer interactions during the early stages of product design as well as the customer’s option to acquire product information and tailor it to their specific requirements.

3.2 Liability Customer responsibility for physical harm brought on by the product’s hazard. Liability in the housing sector can be created by product defects, building defects, and product maintenance and care. In this instance, the new IFH must prioritise providing high-quality services during its tenure. As a result, liability may be a prevalent feature of it.

76

M. Zairul

Table 1  The comparison of housing models

Value propositions Liability

Ownership model Rental model Housing unit. Services

Faulty construction.

Property maintenance

Hybrid model Housing unit.

Creation and maintenance of the building. Payment Amount due for Monthly Monthly the property rights payments are due transfer. and property rights are transferred. Work Extended supply Not relevant Extended supply sequence chain, numerous chain, numerous participants, stakeholders, decentralised, decentralised, frequently and frequently generated in manufactured in sequence. sequence. Property rights Buyer is liable The landlord Prior to property and has property retains transfer, property rights. ownership of the rights remain property. with the financiers. Benefits for Ownership; Able to leave Financial clients Customers are when necessary; adaptability, entitled to a little ownership, and potential value commitment. customers’ right rise. to a future value rise.

New business model (Flexible + circular economy) Customer satisfaction and services. Service quality.

Payment is expected proportionately and upon completion of the services.

Local production allows for the storage, resale, recycling, reproduction, and remodelling of goods. The infill suppliers retain ownership and have options regarding property rights. High design freedom in the new model, minimal technical knowledge required, able to relocate as necessary, flexibility when it comes to payment terms. Disadvantages Standardized There are no Standardized Have no claim to for clients design; No cost modification design, free of potential guarantee; the option, no rights charge assurance, appreciation in value. cost of to potential and long-term renovations was value growth, mortgage frequently higher; and no commitment. long-term ownership The cost of mortgage rights. renovations was commitment. frequently higher. Marketing Promotion, Housing Promotion, Loyal customer. strategy sponsorship, and authority. Sponsorship, and advertising. Advertising The notion of High exchange Over a At the point of Over a lengthy value rate for a short long-term usage selling, there is a period of time, term at the point period, constant great short constant utilisation of sale. utilisation values exchange value. values.

Building a Sustainable Future: A Circular Economy–Based Leasing Model…

77

3.3 Payment The new innovative flexible home lease offers a pro-rata and cumulative amount when the manufacturer performs the service, in contrast to the conventional ownership model (rental and hybrid). It provides numerous payment alternatives, both online and manually. Aside from the monthly payment, the emphasis is on paying for what you use.

3.4 Work Sequence The steps and procedures involved in its functioning are described by the work sequence. Frequently, the work sequence for a conventional ownership model involves several players throughout a very time-consuming and difficult task from beginning to end. As a result, for this new model, researchers are investigating the process of labour that may be generated locally, as well as products that can be stored and restocked. The use of semi­skilled labourers from within the country rather than foreign labour.

3.5 Property Rights Most people still place a high emphasis on property rights and ownership. As a result, research is looking into the possibility of lowering the price of the property by transferring property rights to the manufacturers for the new innovative leasing. For devoted customers, there is a buy option, though.

3.6 Benefits for Clients All models certainly have advantages. People prefer ownership because it gives them the ultimate right to the property and the potential for increased property value. The rental model may be a great solution for someone with a short commitment because they do not want to be involved with financiers. There appears to be a similar benefit with ownership for the hybrid model. However, the chapter proposes that for the new creative lease, clients have a lot of design flexibility, don’t need a lot of technical know-how, may move in or out as time permits, and can pay according to one’s ability rather than a one-size-fits-all solution.

78

M. Zairul

3.7 Disadvantages for Clients Every model has drawbacks. For instance, the hybrid and ownership models both produce identical design, and renovation expenditures are typically more expensive. The mortgage system requires a bigger commitment with ownership. Contrarily, in a rental model, the renter has no right to alter or change the home’s physical layout. Tenants are required to move to a new or larger site to satisfy the changing needs as their socioeconomic situation changes or when a family is added. The largest drawback for the new creative leasing, however, would be the lack of a right to a potential increase in value.

3.8 Marketing Strategy If the housing developer has a good track record, the standard ownership model and marketing strategy work well together. But not every house developer employs the same team for every project. The method is, therefore, practically unsustainable. Additionally, promotional strategies for most ownership and the hybrid model include newspaper advertising and marketing brochures. To inform potential customers about the products and give them a chance to experience the real benefits of living in the same home, the new creative leasing suggests customer services and display homes.

3.9 Central Notion of Value At the point of sale, the hybrid model and current ownership result in a high short-­ term exchange value. Market value, inflation, and a number of other factors influence the housing values. Nevertheless, the long-term utilisation period is where the value of the new, novel leasing model is derived. The research captures some of the factors that can support our claims and our proposal for industrialised flexible housing by adhering to the idea of innovative leasing for a new business model. Based on the prior discussion, the study creates a table that lists the qualities of the new home concept as follows(Zairul et al., 2017):

4 Conceptual Framework Costs are high across the supply chain in the present linear house production strategy. This encompasses the initial stages of construction (design development, the bidding process, authority approval, and planning approval), the actual

Building a Sustainable Future: A Circular Economy–Based Leasing Model…

79

construction (construction and sales), as well as the handover and the period during which defects are liable (maintenance). Additionally, it is typical for a variety of expenses to be spent throughout the course of the project. A life cycle assessment (LCA)-based circular economy leasing model for housing, on the other hand, can offer a more sustainable solution. By considering the entire life cycle of the housing units, from production to disposal, the costs and benefits can be viewed in a circular manner, with the potential for long-term cost savings and reduced environmental impact. The traditional business model concludes with the potential for existing projects to be demolished or renovated. For every project they produce, the developer or the provider must either excite the business or re-start the life cycle chain. The sector is also renowned for its extreme fragmentation and one-off character. It separates design from production, resulting in several problems and needless flaws brought on by conventional procurement (Chinowsky, 2009). In the case of a new business model for flexible housing, the research advises flexible, off-site production as well as more adaptable approaches in the product’s production and supply chain. The flexible housing assumptions and circular economy would require a substantial initial investment. The chapter does, however, also indicate the potential long-term returns on investment for the business. The new housing concept is anticipated to establish a “loop” of advantages built on the company’s recurrent goods and services. The new business model’s primary components will be productivity and support for the sustainable and cradle-to-cradle ideologies in its day-to-day operations. The idea of incorporating flexible housing into the circular economy, however, needs further in-depth examination and involves several factors that are important for the costs and advantages. The analysis needs more research on the following topics: physical and human resources, construction materials, authority submission fees and requirements, cost of land development, fees for consultants and contractors, and potential benefits from the analysis’ core activities. The challenges with the linear economy and how the depletion of material resources has caused an economic slump and an expensive housing stock were previously connected to the creative leasing. Conventional methods of producing house products have resulted in enormous waste and losses of renewable resources. Here, creative leasing has introduced a distinct BM that establishes a sustainable loop of the lifetime chain and offers potential homebuyers a better choice in the shape of the new idea of “ownership” of a home. The paradigm of long-term (rental) revenue for the housing producer has altered due to the new idea of home ownership, and the housing producer is now in charge of the product, including risk and waste cost. In other words, the housing maker will be accountable for its own deeds (Fig. 2). The new idea of home ownership has altered the paradigm so that the housing producer now relies on long-term (rental) income and is now accountable for the product, including waste costs and risk. Simply put, the housing producer will be accountable for its own behaviour. The corporation will place a strong emphasis on customer happiness and sales in the new, cutting-edge leasing BM model. The recurring payments from leasing and maintenance activities will generate most of the company’s income. The following suggestion is to implement usage charges based on the elements of the company’s

80

M. Zairul

value propositions

single unit/ studio unit

target customers young starters/ single occupants

key resources manufacturing facilities, marketing office, customer service centre, trucks, machines, factory, storage

partnership sanitary fittings

kitchen suppliers

short commitment person double unit young family

duplex unit

designers, marketing, engineers, labours, technicians

services / utility

cost structure marketing and manufacturing resources

channel & network showroom,

logistics, installation, equipments

customer service establish relationship with the customers throughout the tenureship e.g. free consultancy the freedom to change design with flexible payment

easy relocation with free moving cost all-inclusive package for hassle-free term of payment

durable products, exciting design and long lifespan products

company

monthly fees according to the period for services provided and unit used

exhibition social medias, internet platform

revenue streams recurring money from leasing product and service and economy of scale

wardrobe & built-in

key activities prefabricated housing, producing module units, services for customers financial advisor / consultancy

the continuity of the business depends on the innovation of the new products, design and attractive financial offers

relocation, refurbishment, moving services

Fig. 2  The conceptual framework for flexZhouse business model. (Source: Zairul, 2017)

prepared package. For the housing component, the flexZhouse BM switches to a new skill that promotes a long-lasting product. Value generation is projected to be generated through satisfied customers rather than significant revenues. This is possible by making wise use of energy, resources, and a high-quality housing element. In this situation, the consumer will benefit from peace of mind, satisfaction with the goods, and a long-term connection with the business. From a business perspective, this strategy will benefit from the decrease in resource consumption-investment and, concurrently, enhance their revenues. In connection with that, the flexZhouse BM helps to lessen the carbon footprints left behind by conventional housing building and advances the cause of sustainability in the local housing market (Fig. 3). It is initially recommended that the government take the lead and launch the project by purchasing the site and funding the building of the edifice. The building will subsequently be built by the government’s housing agency in the chosen or targeted location that has the potential to benefit from the plan. Afterwards, the government will issue a request for proposals for constructing infill housing units, and the selected suppliers will be responsible for building and executing the concept on the property. Prospective tenants will rent the housing units or components and must return them to the housing producer once they vacate. The minimum lease term for the unit must be at least 12 months, and renters must agree to provide a minimum of 2 months’ notice prior to moving out, as stipulated in the original contract. In the case of a module change, the tenant will be required to give the suppliers three months’ notice before the change. The maintenance business chosen by the

Building a Sustainable Future: A Circular Economy–Based Leasing Model… how it works?

less natural resource input

step 1 move in

single unit

studio unit

step 2 move out

less waste

no further waste is produced, all products used must have the possibility of recycling and remodelling and have a long time span

the production will reuse the existing material and spend on the refurbishment of stock not on new resources

make order

81

remodelling, refurbish

single unit step 3 new customer move in

Prefab company

stock

the number of stock will depend on the number of slots, therefore there will be no issue of overloading stock

double unit

new unit

LEASING CONTRACT

after remodelling, refurbish

Min hold of the unit - 12 months Tenant agree for relocation but with minimum 2 months for notification in advance by the prefab company Tenant need to inform prefab company 3 months (at least) in advance to change module unit

STOCK MANAGEMENT The prefab company will hold the existing stock of modular unit

value

The value of the skeleton and the value of the infrastructure of the building can be maintained on the long-time basis

Infill produced by prefab company, own by the company, flexible rental according to users financial capability

All maintenance,complaints, services of the unit will be addressed to the prefab company All maintenance of the general services, common area, public utility will be addressed by the appointed maintenance company

The value of the infill can be maintained through the ownership of the unit, this will lower cost based on the lower natural resource input at the same time reduces the production of waste

Building shell constructed by shared equity from the government with minimal rental

year

Fig. 3  The conceptual lifecycle chain framework for flexZhouse business model. (Source: Zairul, 2017)

company providing the infill will oversee all maintenance of the general services, communal areas, and public utilities. According to this framework, the monthly financial obligation of users should be based on their ability to pay and conform to the 30 percent income criterion. The funds will be allocated to cover expenses related to the building’s construction, infill, and maintenance. The business’s life cycle demonstrates the circular economy’s potential by renovating and upgrading existing units/modules for subsequent customers. To sum up, our aim is to introduce an innovative business model and a method of providing affordable housing options that are adaptable in design and accessible to Malaysia’s middle-income demographic. Along with delivering high-quality housing, our objective is to simplify the administrative procedures associated with housing (Fig. 4).

5 A Way Forward In a nutshell, this chapter has presented a conceptual blueprint for creative leasing in the housing sector utilizing circular economy principles. Future research should focus on technical aspects such as building specifications, available technologies, and unit transportation mechanisms to fully execute this plan. Such analyses will

82

M. Zairul suppliers

government responsible for the construction of the shell

T

K

B

S

prefab company providing consultation on spaces required for each customer according to needs and financial capabilities

3 open tender

the shell will be constructed in modular to allow for additional units in the future

customer allow customising their needs for spaces

responsible for the appointment of the manufacturer

Responsible for providing zero cost for moving packages are all-inclusive*

users

government

the company will responsible for the monthly rental for shell+ infill +maintenance

make order

2

prefab company

construct shell

stock remodelling, refurbish

infill

1

supply

shell/ structure

acquire land services

4 appoint maintenance company maintenance company responsible for maintenance of the shell, common area, rubbish collection responsible for the maintenance of the services,common ‘tap point’ for services responsible for the elevator services and cleanliness of the compound area

Fig. 4  The conceptual supply chain for flexZhouse business model. (Source: Zairul, 2017)

help determine unit costs and market prices for production. Furthermore, significant technological support, new skill acquisition, and technology transfer from other countries may be necessary to implement this concept. Skilled and semi-skilled workers will also require training and education on the new technology to effectively operate the new business model. For flexZhouse, adopting new strategies for the supply chain cycle and drawing on implementation tactics used by Japanese homebuilders may also be necessary. This chapter has addressed three essential technical issues  – technical specifications, available technology, and mechanisms  – that are crucial for determining the feasibility and effectiveness of flexZhouse. It should be noted that this study provides a general overview of the new technology and its potential benefits for flexZhouse. Future research must delve into specific details, such as the required machinery, equipment, facilities, and operating systems for implementing the flexZhouse business model. To develop a sustainable market for the new system, it is also important to focus on innovative strategies. Moreover, it is crucial to raise awareness in the market about the new technology and how it can address current challenges. The plan must also consider the sustainability factors emphasized in government policies. In order to achieve economies of scale, it is crucial to spread out the supply network throughout a bigger market. Involving SMEs and subcontractors in the partnership can help dispel the myth that the flexZhouse is an expensive product and reduce the issues brought on by the influx of unskilled foreign labour into the nation.

Building a Sustainable Future: A Circular Economy–Based Leasing Model…

83

Industry officials have expressed concern, meanwhile, regarding the technology, the shift in working practices, and the expertise needed to manage such a novel system. At first, the operation will need time, money, and additional resources. Current housing developers who might not be willing to adapt their current practices may also be resistant to the new way of doing things. Sourcing skilled workers from outside may also add to their daily operations. Despite these challenges, some investments will be necessary to achieve a successful business. The financial implications can create the biggest obstacle and initial investment is also necessary to help the business generate profits in a feasible timeframe. In order to make the logistics of delivering the units to the site easier, it is crucial to locate the plant in a suitable area that is closer to major highways during the initial stages of operation. The flexZhouse will be modelled after an automobile production line, with the housing units being made off-site and delivered to the appropriate place once they are complete. The units will then be returned to the factory for refurbishment and remanufacturing. The technical and operational expertise needed to run the flexZhouse as well as the financial difficulty of persuading financial institutions to finance the project – which has no analogues anywhere in the world – are the key barriers to its deployment.

6 Conclusion The chapter introduces flexZhouse, a new business model designed to alleviate Malaysia’s lack of affordable housing for young families. The methods for acquiring land or requesting planning clearance are not covered by the research, which instead focuses on the chain of events that make up the life cycle of a mass housing construction. Life cycle assessment (LCA) can be used to assess the environmental impact of the housing units throughout the course of their full life cycle in order to guarantee the sustainability of the proposed business model. The introduction of flexZhouse indicates a fundamental transformation of the housing sector, and the suggested business model advances the goal of the government to offer future residents more inexpensive housing options. By incorporating LCA into the evaluation process, the flexZhouse model can ensure that the housing units are not only flexible and of good quality but also sustainable. This will provide customers with peace of mind and assurance that they are investing in a housing unit that is both affordable and environmentally responsible. Overall, the flexZhouse business model presents an alternative way for young Malaysians to own their homes by offering flexible options right from the beginning of the purchasing process. By incorporating LCA into the evaluation process, the model can ensure that the housing units are truly sustainable and contribute to a more circular economy.

84

M. Zairul

References Barlow, J., & Childerhouse, P. (2003). Choice and delivery in housebuilding: Lessons from Japan for UK housebuilders. Building Research & Information, December 2012, 37–41. Barlow, J., Childerhouse, P., Gann, D., Hong-Minh, S., Naim, M. M., & Ozaki, R. (2003). Choice and delivery in housebuilding: Lessons from Japan for UK housebuilders. Building Research and Information, 31(2), 134–145. https://doi.org/10.1080/09613210302003 Benros, D., & Duarte, J. P. (2009). An integrated system for providing mass customized housing. Automation in Construction, 18(3), 310–320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2008.09.006 Chinowsky, P.  S. (2009). Construction planning, programming and control. Construction Management and Economics, 27(12), 1269–1270. https://doi.org/10.1080/01446190903365624 Daud, M. M. N., Hamzah, H., Adnan, Y. M., & Sengupta, U. (2012). Examining the potential for mass customisation of housing in Malaysia. Open House International, 37(1), 16–27. dos S.  Hentschke, C., Echeveste, M.  E. S., & Ribeiro, J.  L. D. (2022). Method for capturing demands for housing customisation: balancing value for customers and operations costs. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 37(1), 311–337. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10901-­021-­09838-­9 Habraken, J. N. (1987). The control of complexity. Places, 26, 217–220. Habraken, N. (2003). Open Building as a condition for industrial construction. International Journal on Automation and Robotics in Construction, 3, 37–42. Hentschke, C., Formoso, C., Rocha, C., & Echeveste, M. (2014). A method for proposing valued-­adding attributes in customized housing. Sustainability, 6(12), 9244–9267. https://doi. org/10.3390/su6129244 Kaur Sahi, G., Sehgal, S., & Sharma, R. (2017). Predicting customers recommendation from co-creation of value, Customization and Relational Value. Vikalpa, 42(1), 19–35. https://doi. org/10.1177/0256090916686680 Kendall, S. H. (2012). YourSpaceKit: off-site prefabrication of integrated residential fit-out (Issue 2). Ball State University. Macarthur, E. (2015). Circular economy. Ellen Macarthur Foundation. https://doi. org/10.1038/531435a MacKenbach, S., Zeller, J. C., & Osebold, R. (2020). A roadmap towards circularity – Modular construction as a tool for circular economy in the built environment. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 588(5). https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-­1315/588/5/052027 Manninen, K., Koskela, S., Antikainen, R., Bocken, N., Dahlbo, H., & Aminoff, A. (2018). Do circular economy business models capture intended environmental value propositions? Journal of Cleaner Production, 171, 413–422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.10.003 Mokhlesian, S., & Holmén, M. (2012). Business model changes and green construction processes. Construction Management and Economics, 30(September), 37–41. Nawi, M.  N. M., Abdullah, C.  S., Ramli, N.  A., Zalazilah, M.  H., & Bahauddin, A.  Y. (2018). Load-bearing masonry technology: Success factors and challenges of implementation in the Malaysian construction industry. International Journal of Technology, 9(8), 1561. https://doi. org/10.14716/ijtech.v9i8.2757 Noguchi, M. (2003). The effect of the quality-oriented production approach on the delivery of prefabricated homes in Japan. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 18, 353–364. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOHO.0000005759.07212.00 Piroozfar, P., Altan, H., & Popovic-Larsen, O. (2012). Design for sustainability: A comparative study of a customized modern method of construction versus conventional methods of construction. Architectural Engineering and Design Management, 8(1), 55–75. https://doi. org/10.1080/17452007.2012.650935 Raposo, M., & Eloy, S. (2020). Customized housing design tools to enable inhabitants to co-­ design their house. Proceedings of the International Conference on Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe, 1, 67–76. https://doi.org/10.52842/conf. ecaade.2020.1.067

Building a Sustainable Future: A Circular Economy–Based Leasing Model…

85

Safarzadeh, G. (2012). Agility, adaptability + appropriateness: Conceiving, crafting & constructing an architecture of the 21st century. Enquiry A Journal for Architectural Research, 9(1), 35–43. Schneider, T., & Till, J. (2006). Flexible housing: Opportunities and limits. Architectural Research Quarterly, 9(02), 157. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1359135505000199 Schoenwitz, M. (2014, May). Aligning product and process to customer needs in prefabricated house building. Cardiff University. Schoenwitz, M., Gosling, J., Naim, M., & Potter, A. (2013, September). How to build what buyers want- unveiling customer preferences for prefabricated homes. Arcom.Ac.Uk, pp. 435–444. Stahel, W.  R. (2016). The circular economy. Nature, 531(7595), 435–438. https://doi. org/10.1038/531435a Sufian, A., & Rahman, R. A. B. (2008). Quality housing: Regulatory and administrative framework in Malaysia. International Journal of Economics and Management, 2(1), 141–156. Sullivan, B., & Chen, K. (1997). Design for tenant fitout: A critical review of public housing flat design in Hong Kong. Habitat International. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0197-­3975(97)00061-­1 Sumter, S.  R. S.  R., Valkenburg, P.  M. P.  M., Baumgartner, S.  E. S.  E., Peter, J., & Van Der Hof, S. (2015). Development and validation of the multidimensional offline and online peer victimization scale. Computers in Human Behavior, 46, 114–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. chb.2014.12.042 Till, J., Schneider, T., Jeremy, T., & Tatjana, S. (2006). Flexible housing: The means to the end. Arq. Architectural Research Quarterly, 9(3–4), 287. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1359135505000345 Wong, J. J. F. (2010). Factors affecting open building implementation in high density mass housing design in Hong Kong. Habitat International, 34(2), 174–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. habitatint.2009.09.001 Zairul, M. (2019). Exploring circular economy concept in affordable housing project : A case study on the flexzhouse IBS housing business model. Malaysia Architecture Journal, 1(1), 21–32. Zairul, M. (2021). The recent trends on prefabricated buildings with circular economy (CE) approach. Cleaner Engineering and Technology, 4(November 2020), 100239. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.clet.2021.100239 Zairul, M., & Geraedts, R. (2015). New business model of flexible housing and circular economy. Open Building, 44(23), 0–11. Zairul, M., Bin Mohd Noor, M. Z., & Zairul, M. (2017). FlexZhouse: New business model for affordable housing in Malaysia. In A+BE architecture and the built environment (Vol. 2, Issue 2). A+BE Architecture and the Built Environment. https://doi.org/10.7480/abe.2017.2 Zairul, M., (Hans) Wamelink, J.  W. F., Gruis, V.  H., Heintz, J.  L., Nasir, N.  M., Wamelink, J. W. F. H., Gruis, V. H., & Heintz, J. L. (2018). The circular economy approach in a flexible housing project: A proposal for affordable housing solution in Malaysia. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7(4.28), 287–293. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i4.28.22596 Zairul, M., Azli, M., Jamil, M., Azlan, A., & Ismail, I. S. (2019). Automation In IBS: The readiness of Malaysians towards the new concept of volumetric IBS. Design + Built, 1, 1–12.

Alternatives to Improve the Management of Agricultural Plastics Within the Framework of Circular Economy Francisco José Castillo-Díaz, Ana Batlles-delaFuente, María J. López-­Serrano, and Luis J. Belmonte-Ureña

Abstract  The environmental impact caused by the ever-more extended use of plastics has resulted in the serious pollution of terrestrial and marine ecosystems, thus becoming an issue of global concern. In this context, and in order to fight against micro and nanoplastics for being considered as some of the most relevant polluters, the European Union is regulating to foster circular economy. This transition towards a more sustainable economy is being developed within the framework of Agenda 2030 for reaching Sustainable Development Goals. On this basis, the EU has developed a specific and unified strategy focused on reducing and eliminating negative externalities where the key role of agriculture for being considered as an important source of plastic waste has been underlined. The importance of the farming sector deserves special attention since more than 60% of its total production relies on plastics and any limitation may jeopardize food security and supply. Against this background, the target of this research is to identify the main research areas while evaluating alternatives to agricultural plastics in order to promote sustainable food production based on circular economy. To reach this goal, a bibliometric analysis has been carried out, where a sample of 2043 papers was analyzed. Results show the growing interest of the scientific community in this F. J. Castillo-Díaz (*) Department of Agronomy, Research Centre CIAIMBITAL, University of Almería, Almería, Spain e-mail: [email protected] Department of Economy and Business, Research Centre CIAIMBITAL, University of Almería, Almería, Spain A. Batlles-delaFuente · L. J. Belmonte-Ureña Department of Economy and Business, Research Centre CIAIMBITAL, University of Almería, Almería, Spain e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] M. J. López-Serrano Department of Economics, Business and Statistics, Palermo University of Studies, Palermo, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. S. Muthu (ed.), Life Cycle Assessment & Circular Economy, Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33982-0_5

87

88

F. J. Castillo-Díaz et al.

research field while establishing the need of investing in biopolymers able to replace plastic in cultivation techniques and packaging, both known as the main microplastics pollutants. Furthermore, microorganisms that may synthesize bioplastics and biodegradable plastics are seen as feasible alternatives that despite drawbacks may reduce the environmental burden of traditional plastics, thereby contributing to improving their life cycle. The implementation of the alternatives that stand out in this research will enhance the accomplishment of current and future environmental objectives and strategies furthered by the EU. Keywords  Circular economy; plastic alternatives; agriculture; packaging; biopolymers; biodegradable.

1 Introduction Petrochemical plastics have become one of the most consumed materials worldwide. Plastic consumption has multiplied 230 times since the 1950s for being an economical, moldable, and waterproof material that has a high strength-to-weight ratio (OECD, 2022c). So much so that in 2021, the global consumption of plastic polymers was more than 460 million tons (OECD, 2022b). In agriculture, plastic polymers may help to improve the productivity, quality, and food safety of agricultural products (Marín-Guirao et al., 2016; Le Moine & Ferry, 2019). In this context, it has to be underlined the fact that 60% of agricultural production depends on plastic, and this is the reason why the agricultural sector demanded 6.1 Mt. of plastics in 2017. By 2030, it is estimated this consumption worldwide will be 9.4 Mt. It is also estimated that horticulture will spend 84.7% of the plastic polymers used in the primary activity. Therefore, the life cycle of these products must be expanded (Le Moine & Ferry, 2019). Plastic can be identified in a wide variety of inputs commonly used in agricultural activity, such as: trellising elements, agrochemical containers (phytosanitary products and fertilizers), collection containers and transport to transformation centers, irrigation, auxiliary equipment for the application of phytosanitary products, soil padding, plastic cover and bands of greenhouse cultivation models, and food packaging. Plastic polymers for agricultural use are mainly composed of high- and low-density polyethylene and polypropylene (Sayadi-Gmada et al., 2019; Duque-­ Acevedo et al., 2020a, b, c, d; Castillo-Díaz et al., 2021, 2022a, b; Corbacho-Vargas et al., 2021; Sundqvist-Andberg & Åkerman, 2021). Greenhouse agriculture is a farming model that demands a large amount of inputs made from plastic (Sayadi-Gmada et al., 2019; Castillo-Díaz et al., 2021; Corbacho-­ Vargas et  al., 2021). Spain is the European territory that concentrates the largest number of greenhouse crops, mainly in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Rabobank, 2017; MAPA, 2021). In this area, sheltered agriculture has high productivity and 80% of the fruits and vegetables obtained are exported to Central and

Alternatives to Improve the Management of Agricultural Plastics Within the Framework…

89

Northern Europe during the winter months. This production model offers high socioeconomic sustainability with annual revenues at the provincial level of more than 2000 million euros (Valera-Martínez et  al., 2014; Honoré et  al., 2019; Giagnocavo, 2020). For this reason, agricultural plastic not only makes it possible to safeguard food security but also increases the wealth of the territories.

1.1 Negative Externalities of Plastic In 2021, more than 22 million tons of macro- and microplastics were released into the environment (OECD, 2022a). The negative externalities caused by plastic mainly affect the quality of aquatic ecosystems, although they also extend to terrestrial ones (OECD, 2022c). Marine and oceanic ecosystems have registered heavy contamination with micro and nanoplastics (Amelia et al., 2021; Dahl et al., 2021), new conglomerate formations composed of fractions of plastics and rocks (De-la-Torre et  al., 2021) or through internal infestation with microplastics or toxic substances in marine animals (e.g., cetaceans, mussels, and sea urchins) that can lead to physiological imbalances or death of the animal (Hennicke et al., 2021; Eisfeld-pierantonio et al., 2022; Romdhani et  al., 2022). The main emission sources are previously contaminated continental water or treated and untreated wastewater from treatment plants (Dahl et al., 2021; Franco et al., 2021). Agricultural regions, mainly where greenhouse agricultural systems are found, increase the concentration of plastic particles in marine ecosystems that are close to natural channels, as a result of discharges that originate in the environment (Dahl et al., 2021). Another source of pollution is fishing gear, oxodegradable plastic, and single-use plastic (European Parliament and Council of the European Union, 2019). Food packaging also makes use of large amounts of nonreusable plastic (Corbacho-Vargas et al., 2021). Terrestrial ecosystems have also expressed negative externalities, such as the contamination of agricultural soils, the emission of greenhouse gases during their degradation, and the internal infestation of food animals (Wilson et al., 2018; Beriot et al., 2021; Zhang et al., 2022). These situations described can move plastic particles downstream in the food chain. Against this background, particles from food packaging must also be considered. It is estimated that humans consume between 39,000 and 52,000 particles of micro- and nanoplastics annually through food (Cox et al., 2019). The situation has alarmed the international community. Nanoplastics have been described as materials capable of interacting with cell membranes (Bochicchio et  al., 2017). Plastic polymers also act as vectors of toxic substances, both due to the accumulation of these during the useful life of the material and the chemical compounds that are added in the form of additives to improve the plastic quality during its manufacture (Amelia et al., 2021; Pop et al., 2021). One of these additives is bisphenol A (BPA), which acts as an endocrine disruptor (Pop et al., 2021). The health alert caused the BPA compound to be replaced by bisphenol s (BPS) and bisphenol f (BPF).

90

F. J. Castillo-Díaz et al.

Nevertheless, the effects caused by BPS or BPF were similar to those by BPA, and the use of alternative additives did not solve the problem (Rochester & Bolden, 2015).

1.2 Initiatives to Reduce the Consumption of Plastics The harmful effects caused by plastic on the environment and human and animal health have led to various actions to correct the situation. Efforts have intensified since the agreement reached by the UN Member States on the 2030 Agenda to implement sustainable development on a global scale (UN, 2015). The European Union has framed this change in an economic model based on the circular economy, replacing the current economic system that is based on “extract, produce and waste” with one that aims to reduce the demand for inputs, reuse byproducts, recycle waste, and repair the damage caused to the environment, favoring, among other things, the extension of the life cycle of supplies (Kalmykova et al., 2018; European Comission, 2020; López-Serrano et al., 2020; Castillo-Díaz et al., 2021, 2022a, b; Batlles-­delaFuente et al., 2022; Zhu et al., 2022). The European Union has published a specific strategy for the circular management of plastic and has prohibited the use of oxo-degradable and single-use plastics, which affects the agri-food system (European Commission, 2018b; European Parliament and Council of the European Union, 2019). The expansive consumption of food and beverages outside the home favors the generation of disposable plastics. In this context, it is expected that in the upcoming years, eating away from home will continue to grow, further exacerbating the problem (European Commission, 2018b). Global reuse of agricultural plastics is expected to increase in order to expand the material life cycle (Le Moine & Ferry, 2019). Nevertheless, the volatility of oil prices may contract the demand for recycled byproducts and affect this issue (Castillo-Díaz et al., 2021, 2022a, b). Also, an expansive growth has originated, in the context of searching for environmentally friendly production, alternatives based on the principles of the circular economy for sustainable food production (Galdeano-Gómez & Céspedes-lorente, 2004; Marín-­Guirao et  al., 2016, 2022; Batlles-delaFuente et al., 2022; Del-Aguila-Arcentales et al., 2022). Alternative polymers have been identified from natural substances that allow industrial composting and biodegradation of the material (Sayadi-Gmada et  al., 2019; Duque-Acevedo et al., 2020a, b, c, d; Castillo-Díaz et al., 2021; CorbachoVargas et al., 2021; Marín-Guirao et al., 2022). In this regard, various lines of research have been generated around the generation of alternatives to produce agricultural plastic while implementing sustainability in the agricultural sector, and their identification is of great interest. The objective set out in this research was to evaluate the scientific production and the main lines of research generated around the development of alternatives to agricultural plastic within the framework of circular economy.

Alternatives to Improve the Management of Agricultural Plastics Within the Framework…

91

2 Materials and Methods 2.1 Method and Bibliometric Variables In this study, a biometric analysis was carried out to evaluate the scientific literature generated on alternatives to plastic used in agriculture. With this method, representations can be observed in space of how the study variables are related (i.e., documents, disciplines, authors, and keywords) (Small, 2019). The results obtained from this analysis are quantifiable (Zhang et  al., 2017). The main parameters used in previous research are scientific production, field of knowledge, authorship regime, nationality, number of citations, H-Index, and the Scimago Journal Rank (SJR) impact factor (Duque-Acevedo et al., 2020a; Donthu et al., 2021; Batlles-delaFuente et al., 2022; Herrera-Franco & Caicedo-Potos 2022; Herrera-franco et al., 2022).

2.2 Database and Analyzed Sample The search was carried out using the Scopus database, as it is considered the most complete international directory of scientific journals, books, and conference proceedings that have undergone peer review (Elsevier, 2022; FECYT, 2022). Keywords were selected based on previous research (Castillo-Díaz et al., 2021, 2022a, b). The terms used in the bibliometric analysis search equation are identified in Fig. 1. For the analysis, the data series ranging from the first publication to the last completed calendar year (i.e., 1969–2021) were used, obtaining a total of 2930 records. The search criteria were limited to articles, book chapters, and books to obtain a sample free of duplicate works (Batlles-delaFuente et al., 2022). The final sample had a size of 2043 documents. Finally, the complete database was downloaded in RIS and CVS format, and the database was normalized with the Science Mapping Analysis Tool (SciMAT) to avoid errors due to the singular and plural of the words, abbreviations, hyphens, or signature of the authors. The variables used in the study were the number of documents, totals, number of citations, type of documents, areas of knowledge, countries, most prolific authors, and keywords. The analysis was combined with a mapping of the co-authorship regime of authors and countries and co-occurrence of keywords with the VOSviewer tool (Eysenbach, 2006; Bar-Ilan, 2008; Duque-Acevedo et al., 2020a, b, c, d; Donthu et al., 2021; Batlles-delaFuente et al., 2022). Bibliometric software was also used to obtain a collaboration map (Aria and Cuccurullo, 2017). Some authors have recommended this tool for being able to build bibliometric maps that facilitate the study of the relationships that exist between authors, countries, and keywords (Eck et al., 2010). The study of the literature was divided into four periods, based on the quotient (C) made between the annual production and the average annual production: period 1969–1993 (C ≤ 0.1), period 1994–2006 (0.1