Summary
In a circular economy (CE), the economic and environmental value of materials is preserved for as long as possible by keeping them in the economic system, either by lengthening the life of ...the products formed from them or by looping them back in the system to be reused. The notion of waste no longer exists in a CE, because products and materials are, in principle, reused and cycled indefinitely. Taking this description as a starting point, the article asks which guiding principles, design strategies, and methods are required for circular product design and to what extent these differ from the principles, strategies, and methods of eco‐design. The article argues that there is a fundamental distinction to be made between eco‐design and circular product design and proceeds to develop, based on an extensive literature review, a set of new concepts and definitions, starting from a redefinition of product lifetime and introducing new terms such as presource and recovery horizon. The article then takes Walter Stahel's Inertia Principle as the guiding principle in circular product design and develops a typology of approaches for Design for Product Integrity, with a focus on tangible durable consumer products. The newly developed typology contributes to a deeper understanding of the CE as a concept and informs the discussion on the role of product design in a CE.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
As the circular economy (CE) concept gains growing popularity among consumers and producers, small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly look for ways to reorganize their offering and ...operations to integrate into the CE. This study examines the impact of (a) circular eco‐innovations and (b) external funding available for CE activities on the growth of European SMEs using a data set of 5,100 SMEs across 28 European countries in 2016. Findings reveal that a significant threshold investment (i.e., higher than 10% of revenues) into circular eco‐innovations is required for SMEs to benefit from investing into the CE. Moreover, the majority of circular eco‐innovations fail to boost the growth rates of SMEs, with the exception of investments into eco‐design innovations. Although traditional forms of debt and grant finance targeted to CE activities are found to have no or negative impact on the growth of SMEs, equity finance (i.e., angel and venture capital investments) contributes positively to their growth. The study offers insights into the lower levels of SME engagement in the CE as well as policy implications for improving engagement.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Eco‐innovation and eco‐design strategies are associated with firms' innovation capabilities. Moreover, they may impact on access to public subsidies and on financial performance. In this respect, the ...agri‐food industry is especially vulnerable, because in general, this sector has less experience of technological innovation, and managers are more likely to be averse to such projects. On the other hand, the board may promote a proactive environmental approach to defend the interests of investors and other stakeholders, taking the view that these strategies reduce the environmental impact of the firm's products and its production processes and are therefore beneficial. Our study aim is to identify the profile of directors who may be favourable to eco‐design and eco‐innovation strategies, focusing on the traits of independence, gender diversity and environmental specialisation. The results obtained, from a dependence model based on panel data supplied by 321 agri‐food companies for the period 2002–2017 (unbalanced panel data with 4878 observations), show that independent directors play a crucial role in implementing eco‐innovation and eco‐design projects. However, neither the diversity nor the specialisation of directors is a significant factor in this regard.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Display omitted
•Eco-friendly e-paper derived entirely from recycled newspaper.•e-paper made conductive with polyaniline (PANi) functionalization.•Devices showcase impressive energy production ...capabilities on touch interactive.•e-paper explored as a flexible, wide-range pressure sensor with high sensitivity.•Tech integration allows IoT-ready sensors with wireless modules.
This study focuses on developing multifunctional electronic paper (e-paper) using a low-cost recycling method to minimize the usage of critical raw materials. The e-paper is designed for various smart applications, such as mechano-responsive energy harvesters and pressure sensors. The emphasis is on adopting an eco-friendly approach by utilizing cellulose extracted from used newspapers, which would otherwise have been discarded. The formulated e-paper contains 100 % recycled cellulose fibers, unlike the more commonly used recycled paper, which contains around 70 % of recycled cellulose and 30 % of new pulp. The recycled paper (RP) was functionalized using polyaniline (PANi), resulting in a conductive e-paper, capable of generating electric current through a charge transfer mechanism at the PANi-Cellulose/electrode interface layer. The resulting devices demonstrate satisfactory energy production, with output voltage ranging from 16.8 to 20.25 V, output current ranging from 0.9 µA to 1.75 µA, and power density ranging from 0.18 to 0.35 Wm−2. The mechanical impulses generated by the device can successfully light up several LEDs in series. Additionally, the e-paper was investigated as a flexible, paper-based pressure sensor. The fabricated device exhibited excellent sensitivity, fast response time, and a wide detection range from 25 Pa to 12.25 kPa. The sensitivity of the pressure sensors achieved 4.21 kPa−1 within a low range of 0–1 kPa and approximately 0.008 kPa-1for a broader pressure range (2 – 12.25 kPa). Additionally, the durability of the pressure sensing devices has undergone rigorous testing, surpassing 2000 cyclic tests.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
This paper presents an integrated eco-design decision-making (IEDM) methodology that is formed using three stages: life cycle assessment, an eco-design process (Eco-Process) model and an enhanced ...eco-design quality function deployment process. All product sustainability considerations are conducted within a special eco-design house of quality. This brings together the analysis of factors relating to manufacturing processes, product usage and end-of-life strategy. The concentration of environmental considerations in one place insures that product sustainability is central to any design development and that the implications of change are fully identified and justified. The IEDM methodology utilises of a set of Eco-Process parameters and their associated relationships to allow users with complementary knowledge to enter and access information in a timely and controlled manner. They are then able to contribute their expertise to support decisions with the aim of providing more sustainable products. An application of the approach is presented in the context of a case study considering the redesign of a single-use medical forceps. The materials and production methods used are investigated with a view to quantifying their environmental impact. The resulting IEDM methodology can be seen to be widely and easily applicable.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Environmental policy has paid more and more attention to the impact of products and their life cycle, by establishing goals to be reached very shortly. Decisions at the design stage have a ...significant impact on the downstream activities, easing or making them difficult, although these take place at a very later time. The paper presents an approach to include in the traditional design process environmental sustainability aspects next to functional and economic drivers. Its novelty stands in the support for companies to structure the acquired knowledge about sustainability; recently a growing number of industrial companies faced the environmental question, and now the problem is not related to the absence of environmental data, but to its effective capitalization and related scarce strategies to support and improve it. The method, starting from the company’s data and information, identifies the best strategies to simplify and effectively support the decision-making process. In this way, it not only allows the designers to take advantage of the information coming from product life cycle phases but also it makes possible to lower the environmental impact of a product through their decisions. The output of the method consists of charts, maps, and graphical materials; using them designers can compare, in environmental terms, design alternatives. Different combinations can be analyzed and interpolated to select the best design combinations. The implementation in an industrial case of the method and its output allow its applicability and validation. Starting from environmental data collected by the company over the years, usually used by the marketing department, a critical review has been carried out to derive, from them, useful tools to be used during design choices.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Display omitted
•Eco-design of a highly efficient Cr(VI) adsorbent with bimodal micro-/mesoporous structure.•Green synthesis approach utilizing Sorghum waste as a sustainable silica source for the ...adsorbent.•A one-pot synthesis method led to homogeneously distributed adsorption sites on the MI-Cl-FDU-12.•MI-Cl-FDU-12 demonstrated a high adsorption capacity of 416.9 mg g-1 at 313 K for Cr(VI)•MI-Cl-FDU-12 adsorbent revealed excellent regeneration performance by six consecutive cycles.
This paper presents an eco-design approach to the synthesis of a highly efficient Cr(VI) adsorbent, utilizing a positively charged surface mesoporous FDU-12 material (designated as MI-Cl-FDU-12) for the first time. The MI-Cl-FDU-12 anion-exchange adsorbent was synthesized via a facile one-pot synthesis approach using sodium silicate extracted from sorghum waste as a green silica source, 1-methyl-3-(triethoxysilylpropyl) imidazolium chloride as a functionalization agent, triblock copolymer F127 as a templating or pore-directing agent, trimethyl benzene as a swelling agent, KCl as an additive, and water as a solvent. The synthesis method offers a sustainable and environmentally friendly approach to the production of a so-called “green” adsorbent with a bimodal micro-/mesoporous structure and a high surface area comparable with the previous reports regarding FDU-12 synthesis. MI-Cl-FDU-12 was applied as an anion exchanger for the adsorption of toxic Cr(VI) oxyanions from aqueous media and various kinetic and isotherm models were fitted to experimental data to propose the adsorption behavior of Cr(VI) on the adsorbent. Langmuir model revealed the best fit to the experimental data at four different temperatures, indicating a homogeneous surface site affinity. The theoretical maximum adsorption capacities of the adsorbent were found to be 363.5, 385.5, 409.0, and 416.9 mg g−1 at 298, 303, 308, and 313 K, respectively; at optimal conditions (pH=2, adsorbent dose=3.0 mg, and contact time of 30 min), surpassing that of most previously reported Cr(VI) adsorbents in the literature. A regeneration study revealed that this adsorbent possesses outstanding performance even after six consecutive recycling.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
PDF
