Transitioning from a Linear to a Circular Economy

Transitioning from a additive to a bank none EconomyPrepare a critical re imagine evaluating the ch bothenges of diversitying from a analog to a bank bill parsimoniousness. 2000 words (24th March)IntroductionThe analog mannikin of white plague will need to adjust or be replaced in the near approaching due to rising population, decreasing resources (i.e. metals, materials), and water strangulates. The period linear economic system is unsustainable merely the concept of round thrift may supply the means to allow for sustainability by improving line of descentlike do of material and energy.From policies and frameworks driven on a macro outdo by local governments to optimisation of help lines and counterbalance reduction on a micro scale bankrupts to a greater extent(prenominal) than social and sustainable aspects to our authoritative way of resource physical exertion. We can ingestion examples byout the world of a pocket in the utilisation of resources in a n overall effect of achieving the last-ditch goal of zero run off and impact to the environment.What is Linear Economy?Linear economies assume the worlds resources are unlimited. The linear models primary objective is to the thrift, with no think for ecological and social impacts. It takes waste from the output process and contaminates the environment and is establish on the principle, take, make, consume, discard and everlasting availability of resources. (Drljaca, 2015) This was due to a historically cheap and plentiful come of resources being available leading to companies center on supplying the customer. This has disregarded the environmental impact and lacked incentives to minimise waste from its convergenceion to its end of life.Currently there is more than 11 one thousand million tons of global waste globally and only 25% is recycled. (Lacy Rutqvist, 2015) flyer Economy note delivery focuses on the sustainable developing of resources but to a fault acts to enlar ge the social responsibility. It aims to decouple prosperity from resource consumption by ensuring a closed loop process which depends on the declivity of utter(a) resources. (Sauve, Bernard Sloan, 2016) The concept allows waste to be put through the ingatheringion process again and thereafter only a small amount of waste that is unable to be recycled is disposed into the environmental harmlessly. This will land our dependency for new resources, allow future generations to meet their needs, and promote sustainability. delinquent to mainland Chinas resource supply and environmental problems they have utilised the aviator economic system model on a national take aim galore(postnominal) long time ago allocating three distinctive levels micro, meso, and macroThe micro level aims to stiffen waste and optimise materials for cleaner ingatheringion within an individual company.The meso level collaborates in the midst of industries to utilise the by- fruit of one another which is facilitated by Chinas governmental directives.The government note economy at a macro level is co-ordinated with societal and stakeholder interests which is on a similar level to sustainable development. (Sauve, Bernard Sloan, 2016) visit 3.1 Overview of the circular economy concept. (Reh, 2013)The circular economy model aims to replace the linear economy model by extending the usefulness of the product via several methods build a product which has a higher quality and more long targeting the consumers who are able to pay a premium.Refurbishing a product spate back your product to the market for a priceUpgrade the product to add new featuresRefilling a component in the product where the rest of the functions are still in quality.Repairing a broken product (Lacy Rutqvist, 2015)Having a society that promotes circular economy may increase tilt worldwide. (Drljaca, 2015)PoliciesThe intonation from a linear to circular economy has been happening for many long time and is taken fr om the laws, policies, and frameworks given below in numerous countries around the world. The methodological analysis changes from country to country as an example according to Tukker (2015) China promotes a top-down national political objective while the EU, Japan and the States use bottom-up environmental and waste management policies.Country government note economy strategyUKThe House of Commons suggested in 2014 that the circular economy should be stimulated by taxation reforms. This would reward reuse and give more funding for companies promoting material recovery. They could prohibit companies use non-recyclable components where other alternatives exist. (Lacy Rutqvist, 2015)DenmarkThe Denmark without waste strategy focuses on better exploiting the resource by decrease the environmental impact and improving recycling, e.g. household waste recycling. Funding is given for improvements in waste separation and treatment facilities. (Lacy Rutqvist, 2015)ScotlandThe Safeguarding Scotlands Resources initiative is aims to reduce material use through replacing material with reused/ recyclable substitutes and reservation sure that virgin resources are efficiently and productively used.ChinaSeveral regions using the Circular Economy Promotion Law of the Peoples Republic of China have put together up funds aiming at the circular development and developments of science. The law also pushes for collaboration among several industries to re-use each others waste to return their own process. (Lacy Rutqvist, 2015)capital of SingaporeThe Singapore Packaging Agreement (SPA) joint initiative by the cloak-and-dagger sector, nongovernmental organisations, and government which dramatically reduces the packaging waste in Singapore. This has saved USD 35 million over a 5-year period. (Lacy Rutqvist, 2015)The Republic of CroatiaThe Act on sustainable Waste Management manages waste at its source by lay the monetary value of waste to the producer. Disposal must not threat en future generations. (Drljaca, 2015)The drivers for the inflection from a linear to a circular economyThe transition towards a circular economy is aquiline on politics, culture, society, the economy, and technology limitations. This transition can be implemented from the top-down or bottom-up. The top-down process as an example has international and national policies delegated to companies and their operations and supply durance. The bottom-up process starts at the product level hoping to simulate ideas at a more disaggregated level of analysis up to the higher level systems. The top-down process should be used to enhance bottom-up initiatives. The aim is to bring up areas where we can reduce virgin resources usage, carbon emissions, and waste production by collaborating between supply chains and stakeholders e.g. Local Authorities. (Genovese et al., 2017)EconomicsBy 2030 the linear growth model will be unable to supply the ripening demand for resources. The most(prenominal ) likely model by Lacy Rutqvist (2015) shows a USD 4.5 trillion loss by 2030 increasing to USD 25 trillion by 2050. If the circular economy replaces the current linear model it could potentially force out USD 4.5 trillion in additional economic output by 2030 as shown in Figure 5.1.1.Figure 5.1.1 Potential savings from a circular opportunity. (Lacy Rutqvist, 2015)However, according to Drljaca (2015), the circular advantage hopes to give a competitive keenness leading to improvement of resource utilisation which could decrease material exploitation by 17-24% until 2030 with savings of EUR 630 billion per year which totals USD 10.3 trillion from 2015-2030 (1 EUR = 1.0867 USD 2015 average, Pound superlative (2016)).In either case the huge potential savings from using the circular advantage could persuade governments to drive the change.Fair competition between linear and circular economyCurrent regulations give linear economy an unfair advantage over circular economy by making it more financially attractive by increased profits through expanding resource use. A shift of taxation from labour to resources would see this shift in bias. Companies are encouraged to extract new resources instead of investment in people and processes to come upon a higher productivity of resources already in use. Currently the Europe labour tax totals 52% of all tax revenues while Other taxes could include landfill tax, energy recovery tax, and reducing the VAT on a more circular advantage product. An increase in make up of the product that incorporates the price of environmental impact would help manufacturers to minimise the impact to keep pricing competitive. produce-service systems (PSS)In a product-oriented business model companies focus on the increase in products sold to tap profits however in a PSS model companies are stipendiary by offering a service and the product and consumable is the cost factor. This leads to the companies being incentivised to prolong the life of the product which could be done by using more robust materials or re-using parts to the end of the products life.Renting, leasing, and overlap reduces the impact on the environmental per product manufactured however hired products will tend to be used without care leading to rock-bottom longevity of the product and will be returned to the manufacturer more a great deal compared to the traditional manner.Due to labour intensity, PSS increases the cost to manufacture the product and dependent on the speed of innovations for sure technological industries the re-use of components may be deemed uneconomical due to no demand.PSS can contribute to resource -efficiency and a circular economy but does not change the incentive to maximise the product sales. (Tukker, 2015)Circular Economy ChallengesEntropyThe circular economy assumes the planet is a closed system with the amount of resources being depleted equalling the amount of waste generated. This principle follows the Laws of The rmodynamics however in practice the circular flow of supervene upon starts with low entropy from the environment and ends with high entropy waste polluting the environment. (Genovese et al., 2017)Sauve, Bernard Sloan (2016) barely emphasises this with an added social impact of, what is socially more desirable investing in a new infrastructure to recycle raw material to limit waste or exploit additional raw materials at cheaper cost to use today to build a school? At both(prenominal) point the cost to refine the material will exceed the value to the environment.ProcessesAccording to Sauve, Bernard Sloan (2016), in many cases certain processes in the value chains are non-existent leading to products that are in the queue for recycling often dis-regarded as companies who seek profit are not ready to use waste as the raw material for new manufacturing. Some experts see the implementation of the circular economy model for sustainable development on current linear economy model prod uctions as an automatic failure.It is punishing to achieve a profit using circular economy as support is whatevertimes unavailable through policies, national eco-industrial parks (EIPs) initiatives, environmental legislative framework, and economic taxes and subsidies for development. (Ghisellini, Cialani Ulgiati, 2016)Economics Fair CompetitionThe complexity and former(a) understanding of circular economy will require experts from many sectors to achieve the economic incentives that would ensure the post-consumption products are re-integrated upstream within manufacturing. It is more worthy to manufacture a durable long lasting product than an uniform quick and disposable version. This is based on the fact that the public pays for the cost of disposal to the environment. In order to make circular economy more feasible requires integration of the cost of disposal into the price paid by the customer. (Sauve, Bernard Sloan, 2016)There needs to be internalisation of full enviro nmental cost implemented using certain governmental legislation (e.g. taxes) to ensure rear(a) flow of the products post-economy. This is therefore dependent on governmental intervention which is compulsive by political-economic issues which in turn will slow down circular economy opportunities. (Sauve, Bernard Sloan, 2016)Geographic FeasibilityIt may be unfeasible to use recycling, reuse and/or recovery as an option within certain geologies as they may not be appropriate in some instances based on green chemistry and technologies available e.g. prevention perchance a better option. (Tukker, 2015)More examples can be seen in confuse A1.Case studiesTATA SteelCurrently concrete, timber, and steel have huge differences in their life cycle flows within the demolishing industry of buildings as seen in Figure 7.1.1. According to Reh (2013), achieving complete re-use and recycling body impossible with todays technology so maximum recovery of the most valuable resource last outs the first priority. The integration of different materials combined with depreciation requires a more involved investigation of the recovery plan which becomes very complex.Figure 7.1.1 flavor cycle of a demolished building (Reh, 2013)Blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) is the most common steel process however with shortage of metallurgy coke, high carbon dioxide emissions, high by-product of slag, and dust from blast furnace gas cleaning is not considered environmental friendly. An alternative being the new electric arc furnace which is more energy efficient and reduces the CO2 emissions but high capital investments remain the limitation. (Reh, 2013)Toyota Motor CooperationBy optimising the sorting of dust in Toyotas automobile shredder blow Toyota were able to successfully treat 100% of the residue of 15,000 cars per month into valuable materials. High value electrical energy is transferred to several process go to decrease the entropy of mixing during production. This imp rovement in technology has an exponential impact on the car industry with an estimated 1 billion cars in the world. (Reh, 2013)ConclusionThe transition to a circular economy has many challenges and obstacles in the near future. As shown, many countries are placing high emphasis on the legislation and development of circular economy as they see a requirement to adjust on a macro sustainable level. If the transition is increased this could potentially unlock several trillions of dollars over the many years to come. In order for this to work a combination of strategies at every(prenominal) level is required to allow each stakeholder to be a benefit to the global transition.Appendix ATable A1 Further examples of challenges with circular economy (Ghisellini, Cialani, Ulgiati, 2016)ReferencesBRIEN, H. G. (2015a) Circular Economy. Online on tap(predicate) from https//kenniskaarten.hetgroenebrein.nl/en/kenniskaart/circular-economy/ Accessed twenty-third February 2017BRIEN, H. G. (2015b) The 10 Big Questions for the Circular Economy. Online on hand(predicate) from http//hetgroenebrein.nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/10-Big-Questions-for-the-Circular-Economy-INFOGRAPHIC.pdf Accessed 23rd February 2017DRLJACA, M. (2015) The Transition from Linear to Circular Economy (Concept of expeditious Waste Management). In Association for Quality and Standardization of Serbia. Vrnjaka Banja, 2015. p. 35-44. functional from http//www.kvalitet.org.rs/images/phocadownload/the%20transition%20linear%20in%20circular%20economy%20miroslav%20drljaa.pdf Accessed 23rd February 2017Ellen Macarthur Foundation (2015) Our Mission is to Accelerate the Transition to a Circular Economy. Online Available from https//www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/ Accessed 23rd February 2017GENOVESE, A. et al. (2017) Sustainable supply chain management and the transition towardsa circular economy Evidence and some applications. Omega. Online 66. p. 344-357. Available from http//ac.els-cdn.com/S0305048315001322/ 1-s2.0-S0305048315001322-main.pdf?_tid=74c6de02-fa10-11e6-aa77-00000aacb35facdnat=1487886106_74b304b3dc5437e17e5fe519fa8c0812 Accessed 23rd February 2017GEORGE, D. A. R., Lin, B. C. Chen, Y. (2015) A circular economy model of economic growth. Environmental Modelling Software. Online 73. p. 60-63. Available from http//ac.els-cdn.com/S1364815215300050/1-s2.0-S1364815215300050-main.pdf?_tid=0bc1df60-fa10-11e6-8c30-00000aab0f6cacdnat=1487885930_37488d1ce4f1739084fd69489fc8a1a7 Accessed 23rd February 2017GHISELLINI, P., CIALANI, C. ULGIATI, S. (2016) A review on circular economy the judge transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems. Journal of spic-and-span Production. Online 114. p. 11-32. Available from http//ac.els-cdn.com/S0959652615012287/1-s2.0-S0959652615012287-main.pdf?_tid=1b6a27e6-fa11-11e6-b2c6-00000aab0f6bacdnat=1487886386_e13f933c344129238b699b40c81c696b Accessed 23rd February 2017LACY, P. RUTQVIST, J. (2015) Waste to Wealth the circular ec onomy advantage. UK, Hampshire Macmillan Publishers Limited. pry STERLING (2016) Historical Rates for the EUR/USD currency conversion on 31 December 2015 (31/12/2015). Available from https//www.poundsterlinglive.com/best-exchange-rates/euro-to-us-dollar-exchange-rate-on-2015-12-31. (Accessed 19th March 2017)RAUPACH, M. R. et al. (2007) Global and regional drivers of accelerating CO2 emissions. PNAS. Online 104. (24). p. 10288 -10293. Available from https//uhi.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-621274-dt-content-rid-5673934_1/courses/UF811998/PNAS-2007-Raupach-10288-93.pdf Accessed 23rd February 2017REH, L. (2013) Process engineering in circular economy. Particuology. Online 11. p. 119-133. Available from http//ac.els-cdn.com/S1674200113000023/1-s2.0-S1674200113000023-main.pdf?_tid=f6b7e250-fa0e-11e6-9938-00000aacb360acdnat=1487885465_0117d7df5a14a5ca6f24c03ae761e2d5 Accessed 23rd February 2017SAUVE, S., BERNARD, S. SLOAN, P. (2016) Environmental sciences, sustainable development and cir cular economy Alternative concepts for trans-disciplinary research. Environmental Development. Online 17. p. 48-56. Available from http//ac.els-cdn.com/S2211464515300099/1-s2.0-S2211464515300099-main.pdf?_tid=c0687f78-fa10-11e6-bdc2-00000aacb35eacdnat=1487886233_c2050df04694fc30b490f4e8486dee8a Accessed 23rd February 2017SKEA, J. NISHIOKA, S. (2008) Policies and practices for a low-carbon society. Climate Policy. Online 8. p. S5-S16. Available from https//uhi.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-621272-dt-content-rid-5632275_1/courses/UF811998/Policies%20and%20practices%20for%20a%20low-carbon%20society-1.pdf Accessed 23rd February 2017SU, B. et al. (2013) A review of the circular economy in China moving from rhetoricto implementation. Journal of spic Production. Online 42. p. 215-227. Available from http//ac.els-cdn.com/S0959652612006117/1-s2.0-S0959652612006117-main.pdf?_tid=5aa9aef6-fa0f-11e6-9009-00000aacb362acdnat=1487885633_e486ac7b90cff16cd44ec5b72b405a9a Accessed 23rd February 201 7TUKKER, A. (2015) Product services for a resource-efficient and circular economy a review. Journal of Cleaner Production. Online 97. p. 76-91. Available from http//ac.els-cdn.com/S0959652613008135/1-s2.0-S0959652613008135-main.pdf?_tid=b1c99494-fa0f-11e6-bafc-00000aacb362acdnat=1487885779_1dbb3b632024a09a87307a26dc6caf65 Accessed 23rd February 2017YADUVANSHI, N. R., MYANA, R. KRISHNAMURTHY, S. (2016) Circular Economy for Sustainable Development in India. Indian Journal of Science and Technology. Online 9 (46/ December). p. 1-9. Available from http//www.indjst.org/index.php/indjst/article/view/107325/76142 Accessed 23rd February 2017ZINK, T. Geyer, R. (2017) Circular Economy Rebound. Journal of Industrial Ecology. Online 00 (0). p. 1-10. Available from http//onlinelibrary.wiley.com.eor.uhi.ac.uk/inside/10.1111/jiec.12545/epdf Accessed 23rd February 2017