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Environmental Trade-Offs of Downcycling in Circular Economy: Combining Life Cycle Assessment and Material Circularity Indicator to Inform Circularity Strategies for Alkaline Batteries

Author

Listed:
  • Edis Glogic

    (Life Cycle Assessment and Sustainable Chemistry (ISM – CyVi), University of Bordeaux, 33405 CEDEX Talence, France)

  • Guido Sonnemann

    (Life Cycle Assessment and Sustainable Chemistry (ISM – CyVi), University of Bordeaux, 33405 CEDEX Talence, France)

  • Steven B. Young

    (Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada)

Abstract

The application of circularity strategies to improve resource use and recovery should be considered with their potential impacts on the environment. Their effectiveness could be evaluated by combining the material circularity indicator (MCI) and life cycle assessment (LCA) methods. Environmental trade-offs may be underestimated for some strategies given that the loss of material quality with recycling has not been captured within the methodological framework of MCI. The current study demonstrates how significantly this limitation may influence the trade-offs in a case study. The methods are applied to several scenarios for the circularity improvement of alkaline batteries. The joint interpretation of MCI and LCA scores is carried out using waterfall charts and normalized indicator scores. Results suggest that improving circularity generally reduces environmental impacts, although there is large variability among two sets of values. For example, an increase of MCI score by 14% for two recycling scenarios translates to a small reduction of impacts in one case (0.06–1.64%) and a large reduction in another (9.84–56.82%). Observations from the case study are used to discuss the design and scope of MCI use and its combining with LCA. Lastly, we draw on the opportunities of the new comparative approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Edis Glogic & Guido Sonnemann & Steven B. Young, 2021. "Environmental Trade-Offs of Downcycling in Circular Economy: Combining Life Cycle Assessment and Material Circularity Indicator to Inform Circularity Strategies for Alkaline Batteries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-12, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1040-:d:483679
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Roland Geyer & Brandon Kuczenski & Trevor Zink & Ashley Henderson, 2016. "Common Misconceptions about Recycling," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 20(5), pages 1010-1017, October.
    2. Stuart Walker & Nick Coleman & Peter Hodgson & Nicola Collins & Louis Brimacombe, 2018. "Evaluating the Environmental Dimension of Material Efficiency Strategies Relating to the Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-14, March.
    3. Trevor Zink & Roland Geyer & Richard Startz, 2016. "A Market-Based Framework for Quantifying Displaced Production from Recycling or Reuse," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 20(4), pages 719-729, August.
    4. Marcus Linder & Steven Sarasini & Patricia Loon, 2017. "A Metric for Quantifying Product-Level Circularity," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 21(3), pages 545-558, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Anna Luthin & Marzia Traverso & Robert H. Crawford, 2024. "Circular life cycle sustainability assessment: An integrated framework," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 28(1), pages 41-58, February.
    2. Michael Saidani & Harrison Kim, 2022. "Nexus Between Life Cycle Assessment, Circularity, and Sustainability Indicators—Part I: a Review," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 1143-1156, September.

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