Circular Economy in the AEC Industry
This article is based on a panel discussion held on March 12, 2021, focusing on the circular economy within the European region and was moderated by Kritika Kharbanda, who is an MDes Energy & Environment student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Sustainability Engineer at Henning Larsen Architects, and co-founder of Cardinal LCA. The panel was strategically planned with eminent individuals from the Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) industry. It included Björn Appelqvist, the Head of Waste Management and Site Solutions Department at Ramboll, and an active member of the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) since 2006 more than 20 years of experience in the waste management sector. The second panelist was Torben Kulasingam, currently a senior engineer at Ramboll, who successfully represented Denmark and Ramboll at UNLEASH - Innovation lab for SDGs. Torben also emphasized circularity through his master's thesis called 'Conceptualization of livability, using Rambøll as a case'. The final panelist was Duncan Lithgow, a passionate building designer at Ramboll, with Design for Disassembly as the major propaganda. He is currently developing a community to gain information around the open standards for disassembly and material passports, proposing buildingSMART Data Dictionary (bSDD) as the solution.
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Trade Policy for the New International Economic Order: A Sustainable Development Model for Trade in the Midst of International Protectionism and Decentralization
by Katrin Kuhlmann, Chantal Line Carpentier, Negin Shahiar, Tara Francis, and Ana María Garcés Escobar
Changes in the international economic order have brought to the forefront two divergent trends in global trade that will continue to play out over the course of 2020. On one end, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is facing significant reforms following the U.S. Administration’s decision to block new Appellate Body judges.
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Fashion: A Critical Force for Circularity
by Christina Mahjouri and Jordan Taylor Sloan
The fashion industry is a complex, global supply chain heavily utilizing fast and low-cost production. The ‘fast fashion’ business model originated in the 1980s when fashion brands and retailers started selling designer-inspired, low-cost fashion products in chain stores across the United States and Europe (a). The success of this model has resulted in negative environmental and societal impacts, including pollution, forced labor, and large quantities of textile waste. This paper provides an overview of the current state of the industry, emerging trends within the industry, and a proposal for how three critical roles can make the fashion industry a force for circularity.
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Optimizing profitability through maximizing materials efficiency
by Kezi Cheng & Peter Christensen
As we continue to advance towards producing optimal quantities at lower costs, higher speeds, with faster delivery times, we should also consider waste output (including end-of-life products) as a critical area for optimizing profitability. Here, we discuss several key factors surrounding material circularity that make it difficult to optimize for profitability. We suggest that in order to close the gap between profitability and maximum materials efficiency, it is necessary to create a careful balance between material demand, material recovery, and product lifetime. Looking to the future, we highlight select recent advances ranging from fundamental academic research to promising startups and commercial developments paving the way to profitability through material circularity. Our discussion is focused around the major components of a circularity ecosystem: economics, research, industry, and policy.
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EU circular economy – a global affair
by Marianne Kettunen, Institute for European Environmental Policy
The shift to a circular economy in the EU will not be sustainable by default. It will only be so if it reflects the implications both within and outside the EU.
As the recent global saga of plastic waste recycling illustrates, if not carefully thought through, the EU’s internal policies can lead to adverse impacts outside the EU, including negative environmental and social impacts on developing countries.
On the other hand, several positive developments are also possible. For example, an EU-led push to implement clear and appropriately stringent product standards and criteria to support circularity can lead to the elevation and standardisation of circular economy related standards globally.
Ensuring sustainability of circular economy actions on a global scale requires cooperation between three key policy domains: circular economy, trade and development cooperation. The science-policy community has an important role to play in facilitating the dialogue between these different domains.
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Zero Waste System: Rebuilding Capital for a Circular Economy
by Monica Wilson, Edel Garingan and Mariel Vilella, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
Innovative zero waste projects in the public and private sectors provide an important opportunity to build local circular economies while avoiding serious environmental harm from plastic pollution and waste disposal. The number of zero-waste city projects is growing in Asia, and these projects require access to flexible, smaller-scale financing with low or no interest. Yet traditional development capital for waste systems is frequently misaligned with these effective zero waste approaches. To have a greater social and environmental impact, donors and lenders will need to adapt to the needs of cities and others developing circular economy solutions.
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Circularity Advantages the Built Environment
by Grey Lee and Adam Mitchell-Heggs
The built environment, or the human made environment, is the space that we live, work, and recreate on a day-to-day basis. From being born in hospitals, learning in schools, working in offices, and living at home, almost all human activities are concentrated into different structures within the built environment. Globally, the construction industry generated $1.39T in revenue in 2018 according to Deloitte within a total built real estate valuation of $200T, based on research done by Savills. Despite being the basis of our daily livelihoods, the construction, maintenance, use, and demolition of our built environment is one of the most important sectors from the perspective of resource consumption, and waste generation.
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Circular Economies: Polling on Zero Waste
by Avery Wendell and Siddarth Shrikanth
As circular economy and zero-waste initiatives gather steam, where does the public stand on these issues? Through original polling conducted by Data for Progress, Avery Wendell and Siddarth Shrikanth highlight evidence of growing awareness and support for such initiatives. They suggest that that in an era of growing polarisation, waste reduction and circular economy efforts could have the potential for unusual bipartisan appeal.
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Lean, Green Construction: Manufacturing Buildings as a Way Forward
by Tze Ni Yeoh
The construction sector has an outsized impact on the world’s resources, accounting for 40% of global energy use, 30% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, and produces up to 40% of annual solid waste.
Can wider adoption of green construction methods be both competitive for the private sector and have the ability to reduce its carbon footprint? This article explores several conditions which could optimise its economic, social and environmental gains.
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