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Performance indicators for a circular economy: A case study on post-industrial plastic waste

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  • Huysman, Sofie
  • De Schaepmeester, Jonas
  • Ragaert, Kim
  • Dewulf, Jo
  • De Meester, Steven

Abstract

A linear economy approach results in many environmental challenges: resources become depleted and end up as waste and emissions. One of the key strategies to overcome these problems is using waste as a resource, i.e. evolving toward a circular economy. To monitor this transition, suitable indicators are needed that focus on sustainability issues whilst taking into account the technical reality. In this paper, we develop such an indicator to quantify the circular economy performance of different plastic waste treatment options. This indicator is based on the technical quality of the plastic waste stream and evaluates resource consumption by using the Cumulative Exergy Extraction from the Natural Environment (CEENE) method. To illustrate the use of this new indicator, it was applied in a case study on post-industrial plastic waste treatment. The results show that the indicator can be a very useful approach to guide waste streams towards their optimal valorization option, based on quality of the waste flow and the environmental benefit of the different options.

Suggested Citation

  • Huysman, Sofie & De Schaepmeester, Jonas & Ragaert, Kim & Dewulf, Jo & De Meester, Steven, 2017. "Performance indicators for a circular economy: A case study on post-industrial plastic waste," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 46-54.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:120:y:2017:i:c:p:46-54
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.01.013
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Toniolo, Sara & Mazzi, Anna & Niero, Monia & Zuliani, Filippo & Scipioni, Antonio, 2013. "Comparative LCA to evaluate how much recycling is environmentally favourable for food packaging," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 61-68.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Chhimwal, Madhukar & Agrawal, Saurabh & Kumar, Girish, 2023. "Markovian approach to evaluate circularity in supply chain of non ferrous metal industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    3. Rita Lopes & Rui Santos & Nuno Videira & Paula Antunes, 2021. "Co-creating a Vision and Roadmap for Circular Economy in the Food and Beverages Packaging Sector," Circular Economy and Sustainability,, Springer.
    4. Stotz, Philippe Maurice & Niero, Monia & Bey, Niki & Paraskevas, Dimos, 2017. "Environmental screening of novel technologies to increase material circularity: A case study on aluminium cans," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 96-106.
    5. Andreas Mayer & Willi Haas & Dominik Wiedenhofer & Fridolin Krausmann & Philip Nuss & Gian Andrea Blengini, 2019. "Measuring Progress towards a Circular Economy: A Monitoring Framework for Economy‐wide Material Loop Closing in the EU28," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 23(1), pages 62-76, February.
    6. Chin, Hon Huin & Varbanov, Petar Sabev & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Kravanja, Zdravko, 2023. "Novel circularity and sustainability assessment of symbiosis networks through the Energy Quality Pinch concept," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    7. Marie Kampmann Eriksen & Anders Damgaard & Alessio Boldrin & Thomas Fruergaard Astrup, 2019. "Quality Assessment and Circularity Potential of Recovery Systems for Household Plastic Waste," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 23(1), pages 156-168, February.

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