Industrial Circular Economy Research Articles

CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN TERMS OF THE CLOSED-CYCLE ECONOMY

The current stage of development of the agricultural industry is characterized by high rates of automation of production processes. In this regard, the problem of rationalizing the process of distributing agricultural resources and organizing the production chain with added value is becoming more acute. An effective solution to this problem can be a closed-cycle economy model. This model can contribute to the rational use of resources, reduce production losses, and, as a result, improve the quality of products and their volumes. It is necessary to develop a general plan for the implementation of the main postulates of the closed-cycle economy in agriculture, gradually implement the circular economy strategy and include new industrial circular economy in the process of modernization of a particular branch of agriculture. In some areas of agriculture, a cycle of production systems should be established as soon as possible. With the basic implementation of new industrial technologies and industrial development, as well as the stability of the reserves of social resources, it is necessary to steadily increase the new cycle of industrialization in agriculture.

Public actors and their diverse roles in eco-industrial parks: A multiple-case study

The roles of public actors in promoting the industrial circular economy is uncharted, despite sustainable actions often resulting from collaboration between these actors and private actors. This study therefore illuminated (1) what roles public actors take on in the operation of an eco-industrial park (EIP) and (2) how these roles occur within the actor structure of an EIP? Correspondingly, the research conducted two qualitative case studies on EIPs where public entities are essential actors and analyzed these public spaces via the qualitative content analysis of primary and secondary data. Study 1 extensively analyzed 20 EIP cases around the world. The analysis uncovered six roles played by public actors in EIPs: operator, organizer, financer, supporter, policymaker, and regulator. Study 2 involved a longitudinal exploration of four national EIP cases, an examination of identified roles, and an ecosystem visualization mapping of what positions public actors can assume in an EIP. The research contributes to the literature primarily through the identification of roles, which show how public actor involvement in EIPs can be multifaceted and crucial in successfully operating an EIP. The research also offers new insights and a model of public actor roles in EIPs, serving as a tool for these actors to self-reflect and understand the functions that they can serve in aiming for sustainable EIP operations.

Public Agency in Changing Industrial Circular Economy Ecosystems: Roles, Modes and Structures

Value creation in the circular economy (CE) is a result of co-creation. In the industrial context, the theme of collaboration has been studied extensively on a company-to-company basis, but related public agency remains unexplored. Still, circular actions happen in societal contexts where public actors and logics are constantly present, enabling the change toward more sustainable actions. For systematic discovery of the topic, the following research questions are considered: (a) What roles can a public actor have in an industrial CE ecosystem? (b) What are the relationship modes a public actor can have? (c) In what kind of actor structures may the roles and modes occur? The study relies on two multiple case studies in the international (Study 1) and Finnish eco-industrial parks (Study 2) contexts. The results are based on qualitative content analysis conducted with both primary and secondary data. As a result, six distinct roles—operator, organizer, financer, supporter, policymaker, and regulator—and two modes—facilitative and dirigiste—for public agency in industrial CE ecosystems were identified. The roles depict the concrete means used by public actors whereas the modes depict the characteristics of these actions. Finally, exemplar organization models for the recognized roles and modes in industrial CE ecosystems were examined. The study provides insights into how public actors can contribute to sustainability transitions among their territories and helps practitioners to better understand the premises for public–private interaction.

An Integrated Measurement of the Efficiency of China’s Industrial Circular Economy and Associated Influencing Factors

Since the 1990s, the notion of a circular economy has been developing globally; countries all over the world have been considering the development of a circular economy as an important means of achieving sustainable development. As the development of an industrial circular economy can help promote the efficient recycling of resources, it is an important starting point for industrial transformation and upgrading, and represents a key factor that will lead to the development of a circular economy in China. China’s varying provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) have successively implemented circular economy practices in the industrial field. The research object of the present study is 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the control of central government (Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Tibet were not included owing to lack of data). Through the integration of geographic information systems (GIS) technology and the spatial analysis model, data envelopment analysis (DEA) model, and Tobit regression model, a measure model and index system are constructed, in order to carry out a multi-angle comprehensive study integrating the efficiency evaluation, spatial analysis, and influencing factors analysis of China’s industrial circular economy. It is an important innovation, and an important contribution to the existing research system. The conclusions are as follows: (1) In general, the overall level of China’s industrial circular economy’s efficiency was not high, and there was still a lot of room for improvement. The integrated efficiency of the industrial circular economy in the eastern region was relatively high, followed by that in the western region, and the lowest level in the middle region. (2) The efficiency of China’s industrial circular economy displayed obvious spatial aggregation characteristics at the provincial level, including clear spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity. High-value aggregation areas were mainly distributed in the eastern coastal areas, and low-value aggregation areas were concentrated and contiguously distributed in the middle and western inland areas. (3) The four elements of economic level, openness to the outside, government regulation, and industrialization aggregation each impose a significant positive impact on the efficiency of China’s industrial circular economy, which can promote its efficiency. The level of industrialization exerts a significant negative impact on the efficiency of the industrial circular economy, which hampers its improvement. The impact of technological innovation on the efficiency of the industrial circular economy is not statistically significant.

Assessing industrial circular economy performance and its dynamic evolution: An extended Malmquist index based on cooperative game network DEA

This paper aims to investigate efficiency performance and the dynamic evolution of industrial circular economy (ICE). We first employ the cooperative game network data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure the overall efficiency, subsystem efficiency, and factor efficiency of the ICE system. Then, an extended Malmquist index (EMI) method is proposed to identify the dynamic evolution of efficiency performance over time. Unlike the standard Malmquist index method, the proposed EMI method can finally decompose the EMI of the ICE system into the square root of the product of four dynamic indicators of efficiency change and the technological progress of subsystems, providing more details and dominants underlying EMI in the ICE system. The evaluation results of China's Yangtze River Delta region over 2012–2017 show that overall efficiency of the ICE system presents obvious disparity across cities and subsystems. Besides, it is found that EMI of the ICE system presents a V-shaped fluctuation and is mainly dominated by the environmental treatment (ET) subsystem. The decline of EMI of the ICE system early in the sample period (2013–2014) is caused by serious efficiency deterioration of the ET subsystem, while its rise at the end of sample period (2016–2017) is due to the technological progress of the ET subsystem.

Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is reused: structural design for a circular economy

Structural designers’ efforts to reduce environmental impacts traditionally consist of developing systems that minimise material quantities or use low-impact materials. A third strategy is currently (re)emerging: the reuse of structural components over multiple service lives and in new layouts. Still in its infancy, this circular economy strategy disrupts structural design practice in many ways: rather than manufacturing components after the design of a system, the system is synthesised from a given stock of reclaimed components; versatility, reversibility and transformability become hard requirements for all loadbearing systems and components; costs, performance and environmental assessments span multiple service lifecycles. There is consequently a sudden lack of expertise, design tools, technological solutions and relevant metrics. This article contextualises the effects of the circular industrial economy upon structural design practice and reviews recent and future developments in the field.

Circular Economy of Resource-Based Industries in Coastal Cities and the Influence on Sustainable Development

Li, X.; Bao, J.; Sun, J., and Wang, J., 2019. Circular economy of resource-based industries in coastal cities and the influence on sustainable development. In: Li, L.; Wan, X., and Huang, X. (eds.), Recent Developments in Practices and Research on Coastal Regions: Transportation, Environment and Economy. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 98, pp. 96–99. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.The resource-based industry is the pillar industry for resource consumption and economic development in China, and the circular economy of the resource-based industries in coastal cities requires efficient recycling of coastal natural resources and the development of an industrial circular economy as its core content. This article uses the circular economy of resource-based industries in coastal cities as its research object and provides an in-depth discussion of the strategy and layout of circular-economy industries to achieve sustainable economic development. The research results show that developing a circular economy for resource-based industries in coastal cities is in line with the concept of resource-saving development, and it also meets the requirements of sustainable development. To extend the life cycle of resource-based cities, we must adopt a circular economy and adjust resource use and transform industrial enterprises and their policies. This article provides a theoretical basis for the sustainable development of resource-based industries within coastal cities.

A spatio-temporal perspective of China's industrial circular economy development

The circular economy pattern is the key to solve the contradiction between industrial development and resource protection. Based on the principle of the “3Rs” of the circular economy (reduction, reuse, and resource utilization), and combined with the characteristics of industrial and provincial circular economy development from the perspective of material flow analysis, this study constructs an evaluation index system of industrial circular economy in China's provinces. A combination of the global entropy and the coefficient of variation methods is used to calculate the comprehensive index of industrial circular economy development. Furthermore, this study analyzes the development of China's provincial industrial circular economy from the two dimensions of time and space. The results show that China's industrial circular economy developed rapidly during the Eleventh and Twelfth Five-Year Plan periods. Resource output, resource consumption, and resource reuse and waste disposal have improved over time, but the outlook for emissions of major pollutants is not optimistic. China's industrial circular economy has significant spatial correlation and obvious regional differences, since the development of the circular economy requires a large amount of capital input, and the capacity of capital input fundamentally depends on the regional economic situation. Therefore, the spatial agglomeration pattern of China's industrial circular economy is roughly the same as that of China's economic development. Eastern China has the fastest development, followed by the central and northeast regions, while the western region, especially the northwest, lags the other regions.

A Study of the Industrial Circular Economy Using an Essence Analysis Model

The concept of a circular economy can be applied to different business fields. The development of the existing industrial cycles with an overemphasis on economic development and the twisting concept of a circular economy, has limited any substantial contribution of the circular economy to environmental resources. In some cases, resources are even being consumed to create resource recycling. This puts a greater burden on the environment. To gain an understanding of the actual value of a circular economy to the environment and resources, an “Essence Analysis Model” has been used in this study. This combines sustainable development issues in a multi-faceted and multi-leveled analysis of the industrial circular economy model to guide its development more directly towards fundamentals. An analysis of the results of the “Essence Analysis Model” was used to find and change the original strategy, and develop a means of improving the circular economy model. The results of the study make an essential contribution to the sustainable development of environmental resources and the reduction of greenhouse gas emission.

Industrial Sustainability and the Circular Economy as Counterparts to the Self-referral Mechanics of Natural Law: Part I—A Theoretical Foundation

In Maharishi Vedic Science, the self-referral mechanics of Natural Law are considered fundamental to any complete understanding of nature’s functioning, since Natural Law is understood to be the unmanifest (i.e., non-physical) home of all the laws of nature and the unbounded source of order and intelligence responsible for creating and guiding the physical universe. This proposition is recognizable in modern scientific theories of the ‘unified field’. Moreover, the circular structure and self-referral loops of Natural Law are said to underlie and guide every level of a manifest hierarchy. Among the hallmarks of industrial sustainability are its emphasis on harnessing renewable energy and recycling principles, both designed to limit the impact of polluting activities on the environment and to improve commercial performance. To circumvent the so-called ‘take, make, dispose’ linear economic mentality of the past, contemporary industry has also begun embracing models of circular economy, in which materials and energy are circulated and cascaded through the economic system, with waste either minimized, reused or eliminated altogether. The self-referential nature of recycling and the cascading circularity of circular economies thus bear a prima facie similarity to how Natural Law is structured and functions in continuous self-referral loops. For that reason, in this Part I of a two-part series of research papers, we explore the fundamental nature of industrial sustainability and circular economy, showing them to be counterparts to the self-referral feedback mechanism of Natural Law as described in Maharishi Vedic Science.

Industrial Sustainability and the Circular Economy as Counterparts to the Self-Referral Structure of Natural Law: Part II – A Global Case Study

Part I of this two-part series of research papers identified the theoretical foundations of industrial sustainability and circular economy in the structure of Natural Law, as explained by Maharishi Vedic Science. Part I showed that all levels of a manifest hierarchy are governed by self-referral and self-interacting feedback loops, and maintained that the circular economic model represents a counterpart to the self-referral mechanics of Natural Law and is therefore more in accord with Natural Law than the standard linear ‘take, make, dispose’economic model, which is unsustainable due to its attitude to and management of energy and other resource portfolios, waste and end-of-life products.This Part II explores the self-referral structure of Natural Law in the context of one of the world’s largest industrial hazardous wastes: alumina refinery residue or ‘red mud’. The paper examines how this solid waste residue, which is generated at a rate of more than 120 million tonnes each year, can: a) be incorporated into a sustainable, circular economic model in order to reduce waste and improve productivity; and b) be reused or repurposed as either a feedstock to other industrial and municipal processes, such as concrete and cementitious product manufacture, agriculture and mine site rehabilitation, or, if such reuse applications generate other forms of waste, how these, too, can enter further cascading circular economies through beneficial reuse. I propose that a long-term economic and environmental benefit from alumina refinery residue can be liberated when its reuse is based on the principles of self-referral and self-interacting feedback loops as described by Maharishi Vedic Science, and suggest that the deep-rooted commercial, human and environmental risks posed by this industrial waste stream can be minimized or even eliminated through a circular approach to waste management, thereby leading to a more sustainable economic future for the world.

Tying product reuse into tying arrangements to achieve competitive advantage and environmental improvement

Established understandings of ecological systems highlight patterns of simplified material composition and production systems matched to efficiently cycle natural materials. Applied to industrial systems, significant opportunity is revealed to emulate this ecological perspective in pursuit of greater industrial efficiency. By capturing and preserving the value of embodied energy and operational function in today’s complex products through forms of product reuse, firms can leverage these insights to create efficient business models and operational systems that support a more circular industrial economy. In this article, we introduce a systems perspective approach that combines economic and environmental assessment methods to explore how firms can gain competitive advantage by implementing circular product reuse, leveraging business strategy and Circular Economy policy laws. Using the consumer printing sector as a case study, we explore this possibility in the specific context of the structure-conduct-performance approach for tied markets (SCP-TM), demonstrating how by remanufacturing their own products, the original manufacturer (OM) may leverage extended producer responsibility (EPR) durable product take-back legislation (individual producer scheme) to maintain profitability, while providing environmental improvement in both printer and cartridge markets. We also illustrate how a durable product take-back requirement implemented as a collective scheme in the printer market, may result in decreased economic welfare in the tied inkjet cartridge market; a result of which policy makers may not be aware without considering the SCP-TM approach.

Adaptive remanufacturing for multiple lifecycles: A case study in office furniture

Remanufacturing has achieved viability in a diversity of industrial markets as a means to both maintain the value of products and minimize waste. From carpet tiling to manufacturing robots, a wide range of goods have presently established supply and consumer networks that support remanufacturing, and thus offer a point of entry into a more circular industrial economy. Based on this performance, it is reasonable to expect that remanufacturing can in some cases be made an iterative endeavor; that existing networks may be leveraged to create additional lifecycles for previously remanufactured goods at net environmental and economic gain over virgin production. This case study identifies and explores factors of Davies Office, Inc. (Davies) remanufacturing processes for office furniture that affect the economic and environmental practicality of creating multiple remanufacturing cycles. Specifically, we use Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to estimate the impacts of multiple remanufacturing cycles and how these are affected by “adaptive remanufacturing,” a neologism to describe the use of an end-of-life (EOL) product core to create a similar, but non-identical product. LCA results suggest that adaptive remanufacturing is both an environmentally preferable and economically viable business strategy. Specifically, the ability to update, reconfigure, and customize previously obsolete products to meet present market demands enables lifecycle extension beyond what is achievable with traditional remanufacturing. In this, the study posits that such adaptive remanufacturing techniques not only expand the potential environmental benefits of remanufacturing, but enhances the long-term economic viability of remanufacturing in durable product markets.

Assessment of the industrial circular economy in Shizuishan City

Assessment of the industrial circular economy in Shizuishan City

Comprehensive Utilization of Coal Resources Based on Industrial Circular Economy

Industrial circular economy is based on industry chain and realized through the coordination of upstream and downstream, with the purpose of comprehensive utilization of coal and other byproducts. This paper analyzes the circular economy development mode from the perspective of industry (industrial cycle economy), with Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group as an example, which constructs Ningdong coal base mainly based on coal industrial circular economy. Its experiences provide certain reference for coal industry and other interrelated industries.

The Study on Recovery Vehicle Scheduling Problem of Industrial Waste Recycling

In recent years, china are paying attention to the development of the circular economy and the ecological industrial parks, industry, as the industry of the largest emissions of industrial waste, the circular economy is more concern by people. The recovery transport process of industrial waste recycling is the important part of the industrial circular economy, reasonable scheduling solution is the effective means to improve the recovery and processing speed of industrial wastes and make the cost of recycling lower. In this paper, through analysis and research the recovery transport links of industrial waste recycling, points out that the vehicle scheduling problem of industrial waste recycling is the scheduling problem combined full load with not-full load, and for this problem, build vehicle scheduling optimization model, use ant colony optimization algorithm to solve it, and that achieved good results.