IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i3p1040-d483679.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental Trade-Offs of Downcycling in Circular Economy: Combining Life Cycle Assessment and Material Circularity Indicator to Inform Circularity Strategies for Alkaline Batteries

Author

Listed:
  • Edis Glogic

    (Life Cycle Assessment and Sustainable Chemistry (ISM – CyVi), University of Bordeaux, 33405 CEDEX Talence, France)

  • Guido Sonnemann

    (Life Cycle Assessment and Sustainable Chemistry (ISM – CyVi), University of Bordeaux, 33405 CEDEX Talence, France)

  • Steven B. Young

    (Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada)

Abstract

The application of circularity strategies to improve resource use and recovery should be considered with their potential impacts on the environment. Their effectiveness could be evaluated by combining the material circularity indicator (MCI) and life cycle assessment (LCA) methods. Environmental trade-offs may be underestimated for some strategies given that the loss of material quality with recycling has not been captured within the methodological framework of MCI. The current study demonstrates how significantly this limitation may influence the trade-offs in a case study. The methods are applied to several scenarios for the circularity improvement of alkaline batteries. The joint interpretation of MCI and LCA scores is carried out using waterfall charts and normalized indicator scores. Results suggest that improving circularity generally reduces environmental impacts, although there is large variability among two sets of values. For example, an increase of MCI score by 14% for two recycling scenarios translates to a small reduction of impacts in one case (0.06–1.64%) and a large reduction in another (9.84–56.82%). Observations from the case study are used to discuss the design and scope of MCI use and its combining with LCA. Lastly, we draw on the opportunities of the new comparative approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Edis Glogic & Guido Sonnemann & Steven B. Young, 2021. "Environmental Trade-Offs of Downcycling in Circular Economy: Combining Life Cycle Assessment and Material Circularity Indicator to Inform Circularity Strategies for Alkaline Batteries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-12, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1040-:d:483679
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1040/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1040/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Trevor Zink & Roland Geyer & Richard Startz, 2016. "A Market-Based Framework for Quantifying Displaced Production from Recycling or Reuse," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 20(4), pages 719-729, August.
    2. Marcus Linder & Steven Sarasini & Patricia Loon, 2017. "A Metric for Quantifying Product-Level Circularity," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 21(3), pages 545-558, June.
    3. Roland Geyer & Brandon Kuczenski & Trevor Zink & Ashley Henderson, 2016. "Common Misconceptions about Recycling," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 20(5), pages 1010-1017, October.
    4. Stuart Walker & Nick Coleman & Peter Hodgson & Nicola Collins & Louis Brimacombe, 2018. "Evaluating the Environmental Dimension of Material Efficiency Strategies Relating to the Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-14, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michael Saidani & Harrison Kim, 2022. "Nexus Between Life Cycle Assessment, Circularity, and Sustainability Indicators—Part I: a Review," Circular Economy and Sustainability,, Springer.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xavier Tanguay & Gatien Geraud Essoua Essoua & Ben Amor, 2021. "Attributional and consequential life cycle assessments in a circular economy with integration of a quality indicator: A case study of cascading wood products," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(6), pages 1462-1473, December.
    2. John Ryter & Xinkai Fu & Karan Bhuwalka & Richard Roth & Elsa Olivetti, 2022. "Assessing recycling, displacement, and environmental impacts using an economics‐informed material system model," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(3), pages 1010-1024, June.
    3. Erik Roos Lindgreen & Roberta Salomone & Tatiana Reyes, 2020. "A Critical Review of Academic Approaches, Methods and Tools to Assess Circular Economy at the Micro Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-27, June.
    4. Alexandra Barón Dorado & Gerusa Giménez Leal & Rodolfo de Castro Vila, 2022. "Environmental policy and corporate sustainability: The mediating role of environmental management systems in circular economy adoption," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(4), pages 830-842, July.
    5. Pablo Piñones & Ivan Derpich & Ricardo Venegas, 2023. "Circular Economy 4.0 Evaluation Model for Urban Road Infrastructure Projects, CIROAD," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-32, February.
    6. Anna Schulte & Daniel Maga & Nils Thonemann, 2021. "Combining Life Cycle Assessment and Circularity Assessment to Analyze Environmental Impacts of the Medical Remanufacturing of Electrophysiology Catheters," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-22, January.
    7. Figge, Frank & Thorpe, Andrea Stevenson & Givry, Philippe & Canning, Louise & Franklin-Johnson, Elizabeth, 2018. "Longevity and Circularity as Indicators of Eco-Efficient Resource Use in the Circular Economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 297-306.
    8. Balint Horvath & Miriam Bahna & Csaba Fogarassy, 2019. "The Ecological Criteria of Circular Growth and the Rebound Risk of Closed Loops," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-15, May.
    9. Cris Garcia-Saravia Ortiz-de-Montellano & Yvonne Meer, 2022. "A Theoretical Framework for Circular Processes and Circular Impacts Through a Comprehensive Review of Indicators," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 23(2), pages 291-314, June.
    10. Alexandra Barón & Rudi de Castro & Gerusa Giménez, 2020. "Circular Economy Practices among Industrial EMAS-Registered SMEs in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-25, October.
    11. A. Kulakovskaya & C. Knoeri & F. Radke & N. U. Blum, 2023. "Measuring the Economic Impacts of a Circular Economy: an Evaluation of Indicators," Circular Economy and Sustainability,, Springer.
    12. Jaime Sánchez-Ortiz & Vanesa Rodríguez-Cornejo & Rosario Del Río-Sánchez & Teresa García-Valderrama, 2020. "Indicators to Measure Efficiency in Circular Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-15, June.
    13. Laura Bonacorsi, 2020. "Measuring circularity: a critical analysis of some relevant indicators," Reports, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, December.
    14. L. Rocchi & L. Paolotti & C. Cortina & F. F. Fagioli & A. Boggia, 2021. "Measuring circularity: an application of modified Material Circularity Indicator to agricultural systems," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, December.
    15. Michael Saidani & Alissa Kendall & Bernard Yannou & Yann Leroy & François Cluzel, 2019. "Closing the loop on platinum from catalytic converters: Contributions from material flow analysis and circularity indicators," Post-Print hal-02094798, HAL.
    16. Jeff Mangers & Meysam Minoufekr & Peter Plapper & Sri Kolla, 2021. "An Innovative Strategy Allowing a Holistic System Change towards Circular Economy within Supply-Chains," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-17, July.
    17. Karan Bhuwalka & Randolph E. Kirchain & Elsa A. Olivetti & Richard Roth, 2023. "Quantifying the drivers of long‐term prices in materials supply chains," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(1), pages 141-154, February.
    18. Saja Kosanović & Mirjana Miletić & Ljubo Marković, 2021. "Energy Refurbishment of Family Houses in Serbia in Line with the Principles of Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-14, May.
    19. Marta Negri & Alessandra Neri & Enrico Cagno & Gabriele Monfardini, 2021. "Circular Economy Performance Measurement in Manufacturing Firms: A Systematic Literature Review with Insights for Small and Medium Enterprises and New Adopters," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-27, August.
    20. Claudia Durán & Fredi Palominos & Raúl Carrasco & Eduardo Carrillo, 2021. "Influence of Strategic Interrelationships and Decision-Making in Chilean Port Networks on Their Degree of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-17, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1040-:d:483679. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.