IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jworld/v3y2021i1p1-26d707468.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Circular Economy Development in the Construction Sector in Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Roope Husgafvel

    (Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems, Aalto University, FI-00076 Espoo, Finland)

  • Daishi Sakaguchi

    (Department of Human Care Engineering, Faculty of Health Science, Nihon Fukushi University, Handa 4750012, Japan)

Abstract

The circular economy (CE) is about a system-level change towards sustainability, and it aims at keeping products, components, and materials at their highest utility and value at all times, covering both technical and biological cycles. This study aimed at exploring, discovering, describing, and synthesizing the characteristics of CE development in the construction sector in Japan based on the perspectives of sectoral organizations and focusing on the following themes: (1) sustainable production; (2) sustainable consumption; (3) creation and maintenance of value in a CE; (4) CE innovations; (5) CE of material and energy use; (6) technological, economic, and social barriers to CE; (7) CE guidance; and (8) specific CE aspects in the construction sector. This study applied a qualitative research approach, including a questionnaire survey as the specific method. This study addressed a gap in the research and helps to improve understanding of the CE development priorities based on the perspectives of organizations operating in or related to the construction sector in Japan. The findings indicate that the priority CE development focus areas in the construction sector in Japan encompass, for example, the use of sustainable and renewable raw materials; consumer awareness; and the design, use, and manufacturing of sustainable, recyclable, reusable, and repairable products, components, and materials. The barriers to CE that need to be overcome encompass, for example, the lack of general knowledge about circular economy opportunities and of seeing the “big picture” as well as issues related to economic benefits and the development of CE and sustainability-oriented products, components, and materials. Particularly important CE aspects in the construction sector include the maintenance of existing buildings; sustainability and the long-life cycles of products, components, and materials; CE-oriented product design; and sustainability criteria and cooperation between parties covering the whole life cycle of construction.

Suggested Citation

  • Roope Husgafvel & Daishi Sakaguchi, 2021. "Circular Economy Development in the Construction Sector in Japan," World, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-26, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jworld:v:3:y:2021:i:1:p:1-26:d:707468
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/3/1/1/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/3/1/1/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carmen Díaz-López & Alessandra Bonoli & María Martín-Morales & Montserrat Zamorano, 2021. "Analysis of the Scientific Evolution of the Circular Economy Applied to Construction and Demolition Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-22, August.
    2. H.-Ping Tserng & Cheng-Mo Chou & Yun-Tsui Chang, 2021. "The Key Strategies to Implement Circular Economy in Building Projects—A Case Study of Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Ilaria Giannoccaro & Gaia Ceccarelli & Luca Fraccascia, 2021. "Features of the Higher Education for the Circular Economy: The Case of Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-25, October.
    4. Deborah Sumter & Jotte de Koning & Conny Bakker & Ruud Balkenende, 2021. "Key Competencies for Design in a Circular Economy: Exploring Gaps in Design Knowledge and Skills for a Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-15, January.
    5. Kai Xue & Md. Uzzal Hossain & Meng Liu & Mingjun Ma & Yizhi Zhang & Mengqiang Hu & XiaoYi Chen & Guangyu Cao, 2021. "BIM Integrated LCA for Promoting Circular Economy towards Sustainable Construction: An Analytical Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-21, January.
    6. Pedro Nuñez-Cacho & Jaroslaw Górecki & Valentín Molina-Moreno & Francisco A. Corpas-Iglesias, 2018. "What Gets Measured, Gets Done: Development of a Circular Economy Measurement Scale for Building Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-22, July.
    7. Pilar Mercader-Moyano & Paula Porras-Pereira & Carlos Levinton, 2021. "Circular Economy and Regenerative Sustainability in Emergency Housing: Eco-Efficient Prototype Design for Subaşi Refugee Camp in Turkey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-35, July.
    8. Luz Elba Torres-Guevara & Vanessa Prieto-Sandoval & Andres Mejia-Villa, 2021. "Success Drivers for Implementing Circular Economy: A Case Study from the Building Sector in Colombia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-17, January.
    9. Malin zu Castell-Rüdenhausen & Margareta Wahlström & Thilde Fruergaard Astrup & Carl Jensen & Anke Oberender & Pernilla Johansson & Eirik Rudi Waerner, 2021. "Policies as Drivers for Circular Economy in the Construction Sector in the Nordics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-18, August.
    10. Kirsten van Dam & Luca Simeone & Duygu Keskin & Brian Baldassarre & Monia Niero & Nicola Morelli, 2020. "Circular Economy in Industrial Design Research: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-19, December.
    11. Hossain, Md. Uzzal & Ng, S. Thomas & Antwi-Afari, Prince & Amor, Ben, 2020. "Circular economy and the construction industry: Existing trends, challenges and prospective framework for sustainable construction," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    12. Alan Murray & Keith Skene & Kathryn Haynes, 2017. "The Circular Economy: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Concept and Application in a Global Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(3), pages 369-380, February.
    13. Kamali, Mohammad & Hewage, Kasun, 2016. "Life cycle performance of modular buildings: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1171-1183.
    14. Deborah Sumter & Jotte de Koning & Conny Bakker & Ruud Balkenende, 2020. "Circular Economy Competencies for Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-16, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nuo Zhang & Qi Han & Bauke de Vries, 2021. "Building Circularity Assessment in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Industry: A New Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-21, November.
    2. Xianhai Meng & Simran Das & Junyu Meng, 2023. "Integration of Digital Twin and Circular Economy in the Construction Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-14, September.
    3. Lukas Alexander Benz, 2022. "Critical Success Factors for Circular Business Model Innovation from the Perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, May.
    4. Patricia Guarnieri & Lucio Camara e Silva & Fazli Haleem & Augusto Bianchini & Jessica Rossi & Brian Vejrum Wæhrens & Sami Farooq & Edgar Reyes & André Luiz Nascimento Reis & Barbara de Oliveira Vieir, 2022. "How Can We Measure the Prioritization of Strategies for Transitioning to a Circular Economy at Macro Level? A New Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-31, December.
    5. Alessia Romani & Valentina Rognoli & Marinella Levi, 2021. "Design, Materials, and Extrusion-Based Additive Manufacturing in Circular Economy Contexts: From Waste to New Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-23, June.
    6. Mateusz Wielopolski & Willem Bulthuis, 2023. "The Better Building Initiative — a Collaborative Ecosystem Involving All Stakeholders as Catalyst to Accelerate the Adoption of Circular Economy Innovations in the Construction Sector," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 719-733, June.
    7. Sultan Çetin & Catherine De Wolf & Nancy Bocken, 2021. "Circular Digital Built Environment: An Emerging Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-34, June.
    8. Ewa Mazur-Wierzbicka, 2021. "Towards Circular Economy—A Comparative Analysis of the Countries of the European Union," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-25, May.
    9. Rocio de la Torre & Bhakti S. Onggo & Canan G. Corlu & Maria Nogal & Angel A. Juan, 2021. "The Role of Simulation and Serious Games in Teaching Concepts on Circular Economy and Sustainable Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-21, February.
    10. Soni, Vivek & Gnekpe, Christian & Roux, Mélanie & Anand, Rashmi & Vann Yaroson, Emilia & Kumar Banwet, Devinder, 2023. "Adaptive distributed leadership and circular economy adoption by emerging SMEs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    11. Luca Adami & Marco Schiavon, 2021. "From Circular Economy to Circular Ecology: A Review on the Solution of Environmental Problems through Circular Waste Management Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-20, January.
    12. Qianqian Chen & Wenzhu Liao, 2022. "Collaborative Routing Optimization Model for Reverse Logistics of Construction and Demolition Waste from Sustainable Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-28, June.
    13. Tina Wiegand & Martin Wynn, 2023. "Sustainability, the Circular Economy and Digitalisation in the German Textile and Clothing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-30, June.
    14. Davide Bruno & Marinella Ferrara & Felice D’Alessandro & Alberto Mandelli, 2022. "The Role of Design in the CE Transition of the Furniture Industry—The Case of the Italian Company Cassina," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-20, July.
    15. Durán-Romero, Gemma & López, Ana M. & Beliaeva, Tatiana & Ferasso, Marcos & Garonne, Christophe & Jones, Paul, 2020. "Bridging the gap between circular economy and climate change mitigation policies through eco-innovations and Quintuple Helix Model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    16. Patricia van Loon & Luk N. Van Wassenhove & Ales Mihelic, 2022. "Designing a circular business strategy: 7 years of evolution at a large washing machine manufacturer," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 1030-1041, March.
    17. Millar, Neal & McLaughlin, Eoin & Börger, Tobias, 2019. "The Circular Economy: Swings and Roundabouts?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 11-19.
    18. Pengen Mai & Steven James Day, 2023. "Persuading Reluctant Customers: The Online Marketing Communications of Car Sharing Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-18, December.
    19. L. Rocchi & L. Paolotti & C. Cortina & F. F. Fagioli & A. Boggia, 2021. "Measuring circularity: an application of modified Material Circularity Indicator to agricultural systems," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, December.
    20. Daozhi Zhao & Jiaqin Hao & Cejun Cao & Hongshuai Han, 2019. "Evolutionary Game Analysis of Three-Player for Low-Carbon Production Capacity Sharing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-20, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jworld:v:3:y:2021:i:1:p:1-26:d:707468. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.