A Metric for Quantifying Product‐Level Circularity

By M. Linder, Steven Sarasini, Patricia van Loon. 2017

404 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Circularity metrics are useful for empirically assessing the effects of a circular economy in terms of profitability, job creation, and environmental impacts. At present, however, there is no standardized method for measuring the circularity of products. We start by reviewing existing product‐level metrics in terms of validity and reliability, taking note of theoretically justified principles for aggregating different types of material flows and cycles into a single value. We then argue that the economic value of product parts may constitute a useful basis for such aggregation; describe a set of principles for using economic value as a basis for measuring product circularity; and outline a metric that utilizes this approach. Our recommendation is to use the ratio of recirculated economic value to total product value as a circularity metric, using value chain costs as an estimator. In order to protect value chain actors’ sensitive financial data and facilitate neutrality regarding outsourcing or insourcing, we suggest a means to calculate product‐level circularity based on sequential approximations of adding one product part and activity at a time. We conclude by suggesting potential avenues for further research, including ways in which the proposed metric can be used in wider assessments of the circular economy, and ways in which it may be further refined.

Subfields: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Marketing, Strategy and Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d0b48bca35f7cf039d0b0a66727ec92d223342a7

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Citations in the corpus

Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions (2017, background): “(C2C), a concept the CE concept particularly builds on (Linder et al., 2017).”
The Emergence of Circular Economy: A New Framing Around Prolonging Resource Productivity (2017, background): “…recycling, downcycling, and cascading: There are no well-established means to distinguish between these strategies quantitatively or conceptually, yet circular metrics are already being put forward (i.e., EMF and Granta 2015; Linder et al. 2017), leading different assessments to be incomparable.”
A Critical Review of Academic Approaches, Methods and Tools to Assess Circular Economy at the Micro Level (2020, background): “Reference [13] summarizes these reasons by referring to the idiom “what gets measured gets managed” (p.”
Assessing scaling effects of circular economy strategies: A case study on plastic bottle closed-loop recycling in the USA PET market (2020, background): “, 2016), economic value (Linder et al., 2017) or other physical dimensions such as the exergy (Dewulf et al.”
A taxonomy of circular economy indicators (2018, methodology): “Indeed, CE models and implementations are usually performed at three systemic levels (Acampora et al. 2017; Linder et al. 2017; Ghisellini et al. 2016).”
Macroeconomic, social and environmental impacts of a circular economy up to 2050: A meta-analysis of prospective studies (2021, background): “Currently, governments are increasingly interested in monitoring the performance of circularity interventions (Geng et al., 2012; Linder et al., 2017; Mayer et al., 2018).”
Targets for a circular economy (2020, background): “However, Rethink has a wider connotation, because it includes the re-elaboration/reconceptualisation of ideas, dynamics, processes, concepts, uses, and post uses of a product (e.g. Clift and Allwood, 2011; Andrews, 2015; Kristensen et al., 2016; Linder, 2017).”
Evaluating the Environmental Dimension of Material Efficiency Strategies Relating to the Circular Economy (2018, methodology): “Two summaries of material efficiency tools were recently published [10,11].”
A Systematic Literature Review of Bio, Green and Circular Economy Trends in Publications in the Field of Economics and Business Management (2018, background): “Categories Journals Authors/Year of Publication Consumer behaviour Business Strategy and the Environment Mustonen et al., 2016 and Hinnen et al., 2017 Ecological Economics Bauwens et al., 2017; Yadav and Pathak 2017 International Journal of Green Economics Widihasta 2013; Pratiwi 2013; Taufique et a”