Translating the Circular Economy into the Australian Context Geraldine Brennan, CMOS Interdisciplinary Workshop, UTS, 9 th September 2014
WORKSHOP AGENDA Timing Activity Facilitators Welcome & Introduction Prof. Sue Benn 10:00-10:10 Overview of the UK EPSRC Centre for Industrial Geraldine Brennan 10:20-10:40 Sustainability's current research and problematization of the Circular Economy. 10:40-11:00 Q&A 11:00-11:15 World Café Round #1: Dr Robert Perey What does CE mean in the Australian context? Dr Melissa Edwards Geraldine Brennan 11:15-11:30 Sharing Insights with Group 11:30-11:45 World Café Round #2: What does CE mean from our different disciplinary perspectives? 11:45-11:55 Sharing Insights with Group Next Steps & Close Prof. Sue Benn 11:55-12:00
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY • 3 rd Year Doctoral Researcher from Imperial College London. • Supervised by Dr Mike Tennant. • Funded by UK EPSRC Centre for Industrial Sustainability, a collaboration between Cambridge University, Cranfield University, Imperial College London and Loughborough University. • & by Climate-KIC, one of three Knowledge and Innovation Communities set up by the European Institute of Innovation & Technology in 2010.
CHALLENGE LED RESEARCH: MANUFACTURING CONTRIBUTES TO PROBLEM & SOLUTION
KEY IDEAS IN INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY (IE) EXPLORING SOME OF THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
KALUNDBORG: ESTABLISHED IN 1970 By-product exchange between firms at production process level analogous to trophic flows in biological food webs. Image Source: Ecodecision , Spring 1996: 20 [Online] http://newcity.ca/Pages/industrial_ecology.html
REFRAMING WASTE AS A RESOURCE: DEVELOPING CO-PRODUCTS Source: Bocken (2012) Circle Economy Workshop / SustainValue 2012 Wissington Site: See www.britishsugar.co.uk
INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY & INDUSTRIAL SYMBIOSIS SUCCESSES CRITIQUE Efficiency gains…. BUT • Since 1970s there are • creates lock-in of practices over 60 examples (Chertow & that produce waste instead Ehrenfeld, 2012) of design out waste in the • Tianjin Economic first place (Oldenburg & Geiser (1997) Technological Development cited in (Boons et al., 2011)) Area (TEDA), China - 81 • entrenches ‘sup -optimal technologies’ (O’Rourke et al., 1996 ) inter-firm symbiotic relationships (Shi et al,. 2010) • Under emphasises social • Beyond material factors in transformation of industrial systems exchanges to include • sharing of infrastructure Limited to production process level from and information (Deutz & Gibbs, perspective of individual 2008) businesses rather than overall strategy
SOME OF THE INFLUENTIAL THINKERS Thinkers Concepts/ Level of Application Frameworks (1862) Peter Lund Simmonds By-product exchanges Industrial System (1966) Kenneth Boulding The spaceship "closed- Industrial System economy" Industrial “metabolism” (1969) Robert Ayres & Allen Industrial System Kneese Industrial “ecosystem” (1989) Robert Frosch & Nicholas Industrial System Gallopoulous (1984) Walter Stahel Circular or loop economy through Product Design product-life extension. (1993) Paul Hawken Circular economy, restorative Community economy. (1996) Thomas Graedel Earth system ecology. Industrial System (1997) Janine Benyus Biomimicry Design. Product Design Coined term ‘up - cycling’ and (1998; 2010) Enterprise Development Gunter Pauli Blue Economy. (2002; 2007 & 2013) Michael Cradle to Cradle Design Product Design Braungart & William McDonough Framework. Distinction between technical and biological “nutrients”. Source: Tennant, Brennan and Blomsma, 2015/Forthcoming
IDEAS DISCUSSED IN LITERATURES ACROSS DISCIPLINES JOURNALS TERMS/AREAS • Journal of Industrial Ecology • Industrial ecology • Journal of Cleaner Production • Urban metabolism • Resources, Conservation and • Clean technology Recycling • Cleaner production • Environmental Science & Technology • Closed-loop supply chains • American Chemical Society • Recycling • International Journal of • Reverse logistics Production Research • Remanufacturing • International Journal of Production Economics • Product service systems • Manufacturing & Service Operations Management Predominantly engineering although Human Geography is another discipline also looking at waste as a resource.
EXTENDING IE TO THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY? Applying IE Throughput principles to Model – products and take, make, component as waste well as process level
$$$ OPPORTUNITY FOR EU & GLOBE? • Estimate EU could save up to US$630 per annum (EMF, 2012) • Latest report – could generate more than $1trn (£600bn) a year for the global economy by 2025 (EMF, 2014) • Also see New Dynamic: Effective business in a circular economy (2014) Image Source: Towards a Circular Economy Report (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2012:58)
CURRENT PRODUCTION SYSTEM EXTRACT , USE, DISPOSAL Source: RSA The Great Recovery – Systems for a Circular Economy Business motivation to shift to circular systems in developed economies: Resource Security Mitigating Material Supply Risks Mitigating Resource Price Volatility
GREY LITERATURE Gunther Pauli Walter Stahel Michael Braungart & William McDonough
WALTER STAHEL: “THE PRODUCT LIFE FACTOR” (1984) • Product life extension activities: • Re-Use • Repair • Reconditioning • Remanufacturing • Requires: • Designing products for longevity • Designing products for Source: Walter Stahel & Michael Braungart disassembly Ellen MacArthur Foundation • Circular Economy 100 Summit 2013 Designing products so they can be remanufactured • & addressing planned Tension: Speed of product innovation vs obsolescence design for circularization of materials
CRADLE TO CRADLE (C2C) (Braungart & McDonough 2002; 2007; 2013) Image Source: Hansan, K. (2012) Introduction to the Cradle to Cradle Design Paradigm , Ellen MacArthur Foundation Webinar 28/03/2012 Critique: Doesn’t address the pace of flows ( Bakker et al., 2010)
THE BLUE ECONOMY & MATERIAL CASCADES Emphasises: • Emulating natural ecosystems • Cascading nutrients between the five kingdoms (L. Margulis) • Creating value from every cascade • Creating multiple cash flows • Working with what is locally available • Enterprise development in local communities • Key principle: ‘substituting something with nothing ’ • See Farming Mushrooms on Coffee Waste Case Study Critique: Harder to create beneficial cascades with technical or non-biological materials. Source: Pauli (2010) The Blue Economy
TAKE HOME…. 1) Circular economy is aspirational • Thermodynamically impossible to create a “zero - waste” closed loop economy (Clift & Allwood, 2011) 2) Distinction between biological systems and industrial systems • Biological ecosystems are not closed as is envisaged for industrial systems • Loops in natural systems extend over spatial and temporal scales (Tennant, Brennan & Blomsma, 2015 Forthcoming) • Certain linkages can result in lock-in of sub-optimal technologies (O’Rourke et. al., 1996 ) 3) Energy flows as important as material flows • energy required to re-process components/materials or goods (O’Rourke et al., 1996 ) therefore pace of flows is important (Bakker et al, 2010) • energy required in use-phase of products needs to also be considered! (Gutowski et al, 2011). 4) Rebound potential • energy and material savings in one area have the potential to lead to an increase in economic growth and increased consumption in another. 5) Context is important • May not always be beneficial to adopt a product life extension strategy if new energy efficient product available and majority of impact is in use phase (Gutowski et al, 2011). • Efficiency activities have a role to play. We take a critical approach to CE and view it as part of a broader approach to sustainable resource management.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY RESEARCH @
DOCTORAL RESEARCH ON THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY My Research Fenna Blomsma Yuan Tao • Extension of the concept of material and How to understand & Policy support energy flows in use ‘circularity’ as a mechanisms industrial ecology to basis for Innovation for Industrial Symbiosis: social systems A comparative study • Exploring symbolic between flows that characterise UK and China organizational relationships. Contact: Contact: f.blomsma12@imperial.ac.uk Contact: yt289@cam.ac.uk geraldine.brennan09@imperial.ac.uk
CIRCULARITY THINKING & MAKING SENSE OF IE FROM AN ORGANIZATIONAL PERSPECTIVE* Papers under development which critique and unpack various flavours of ‘circularity’ - Emphasising critical thinking about strategies and trade offs geraldine.brennan09@imperial.ac.uk associated with ‘ going circular ’ - To support organizational decision making related to implementing circular systems f.blomsma12@imperial.ac.uk *Abstracts presented at Gordon Research Conference on Industrial Ecology 2014
REDRESS is a 2 year collaborative project funded by the TSB competition ‘Supply Chain Innovation Towards A Circular Economy’. Lead Researcher: Dr Nancy Bocken (nmpb2@cam.ac.uk) Image Source: (2011) Clothing Rags, by Sherry Thal, Flickr
Circulareconomy toolkit.org *Developed by Jamie Evans and supervised by Dr. Nancy Bocken (nmpb2@cam.ac.uk)
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