Micro-level measurement of the circularity of organizations: the Italian innovative standardized approach applied to a public sector case study: Micro-level measurement of the circularity of organizations

Paola Vola; Giorgio Cantino; Lorenzo Gelmini

doi:10.13135/2704-9906/7155

Authors

Paola Vola University of Eastern Piedmont https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3751-5193
Giorgio Cantino University of Eastern Piedmont https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5281-088X
Lorenzo Gelmini Università del Piemonte Orientale

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13135/2704-9906/7155

Keywords:

Circular economy, Circularity measurement, Metrics, Standards, Public organizations, Lifecycle

Abstract

This study analyses the implementation of a circularity measurement methodology at the University of Piemonte Orientale (UPO) in the early stages of the development of the UNI1608856 project “Measuring circularity - Methods and indicators for measuring circular processes in organisations, the first attempt to assess an organisation’s circularity under a standardized framework in an Italian University. The single-case study examines the organisation’s framework implementation, followed by an in-depth discussion of the phenomenon under study. The circularity measurement metrics applied to the UPO case have been extracted from a draft standard prepared by the Italian standardization body (UNI). The UPO case study considers the draft's general propositions with a focus on the metrics related to the management of human resources, assets, policy, and sustainability. Some useful insights emerge from the critical analysis of the norm proposal, both regarding adopting different types of measures and implementing the circularity measurement in terms of the organisation’s readiness to collect data for the metrics. As this study deals with a new framework applied to a public Organisation, several issues come to light. The first implementation of UNI1608856 allows discussion of the effective measurement of circularity at the micro level and how an organisation’s managerial processes need to evolve to provide the data required to measure circularity.

References

Accenture Strategy (2015), “Gaining an edge: growth, innovation and customer value from the circular economy”, available at https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-circular-economy-gaining-edge (accessed 20 April 2022).

Allwood, J.M., Ashby, M.F., Gutowski, T.G. and Worrell, E. (2011), “Material efficiency: a white paper”, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 55 No. 3, pp. 362-381.

An, V., Maarten, C. and Veronique, V.H. (2018), “Indicators for a circular economy”, available at https://vlaanderen-circulair.be/en/summa-ce-centre/publications/indicators-for-a-circular-economy (accessed 20 April 2022).

Bakker, C., Wang, F., Huisman, J. and Den Hollander, M. (2014a), “Products that go round: exploring product life extension through design”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 69, pp. 10-16.

Bakker, C.A., Den Hollander, M.C., Van Hinte, E. and Zijlstra, Y. (2014b), Products that Last: Product Design for Circular Business Models. TU Delft Library, Deft.

Balanay, R. and Halog, A. (2016), “Charting policy directions for mining’s sustainability with circular economy”, Recycling, Vol. 2, pp. 219–231.

BSI (2017), “Framework for implementing the principles of the circular economy in organizations - guide”, available at https://www.thenbs.com/PublicationIndex/documents/details?Pub=BSI&DocID=317511 (accessed 20 April 2022).

Carencotte, F., Geldron, A., Villeneuve, J. and Gaboriau, H. (2012), “Economie circulaire et recyclage des métaux”, Geosciences, Vol. 15, pp. 64–71.

Cayzer, S., Griffiths, P. and Beghetto, V. (2017), “Design of indicators for measuring product performance in the circular economy”, International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, Vol. 10 No. 4-5, pp. 289-298.

CGRi (2020), “The circularity gap report 2020”, available at https://www.circularity-gap.world/2020 (accessed 20 April 2022).

CIRAIG (2015), “Circular economy: a critical literature review of concepts”, Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec, Quebec City, QC, Canada.

Corona, B., Shen, L., Reike, D., Carreón, J.R. and Worrell, E. (2019), “Towards sustainable development through the circular economy. A review and critical assessment on current circularity metrics”, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 151, pp. 104498.

Cui, T., & Zhang, J. (2018). Bibliometric and review of the research on circular economy through the evolution of Chinese public policy. Scientometrics, 116(2), 1013-1037.

De Wit, M., Hoogzaad, J., Ramkumar, S., Friedl, H. and Douma, A. (2018), “The circularity gap Report: an analysis of the circular state of the global economy”, available at https://pacecircular.org/sites/default/files/2020-01/Circularity%20Gap%20Report%202018_0.pdf (accessed 20 April 2022).

Eisenhardt, K.M. (1989), “Building theories from case study research”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 532-550.

Eisenhardt, K.M. and Graebner, M.E. (2007), “Theory building from cases: opportunities and challenges”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 25–32.

EMF (2013a), “Towards the circular economy Vol. 1: an economic and business rationale for an accelerated transition”, available at https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/towards-the-circular-economy-vol-1-an-economic-and-business-rationale-for-an (accessed 20 April 2022).

EMF (2013b), “Towards the circular economy Vol. 2: opportunities for the consumer goods sector”, available at https://emf.thirdlight.com/link/coj8yt1jogq8-hkhkq2/@/preview/1?o (accessed 20 April 2022).

EMF (2014), “Towards the circular economy Vol. 3: accelerating the scale-up across global supply chains”, available at https://emf.thirdlight.com/link/t4gb0fs4knot-n8nz6f/@/preview/1?o (accessed 20 April 2022).

EMF (2015), “Material circularity indicator”, available at https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/material-circularity-indicator (accessed 20 April 2022).

EU (2015), COM2015 “Closing the loop – an EU action plan for the circular economy”, available at https://www.eea.europa.eu/policy-documents/com-2015-0614-final (accessed 20 April 2022).

Franco, N.G., Almeida, M.F.L. and Calili, R.F. (2021), “A strategic measurement framework to monitor and evaluate circularity performance in organizations from a transition perspective”, Sustainable Production and Consumption,

Vol. 27, 1165–1182.

Geng, Y., Fu, J., Sarkis, J. and Xue, B. (2012), “Towards a national circular economy indicator system in China: An evaluation and critical analysis”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 216–224.

Ghisellini, P., Cialani, C. and Ulgiati, S. (2016), “A review on circular economy: The expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 114, pp. 11–32.

Grossi, G., Biancone, P. P., Secinaro, S., & Brescia, V. (2021). Dialogic accounting through popular reporting and digital platforms. Meditate Accountancy Research, 29(7), 75-93.

Hatfield-Dodds, S., Schandl, H., Newth, D., Obersteiner, M., Cai, Y., Baynes, T., ... and Havlik, P. (2017), “Assessing global resource use and greenhouse emissions to 2050, with ambitious resource efficiency and climate mitigation policies”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 144, pp. 403-414.

Iacovidou, E., Velis, C.A., Purnell, P., Zwirner, O., Brown, A., Hahladakis, J., ... and Williams, P. T. (2017), “Metrics for optimising the multi-dimensional value of resources recovered from waste in a circular economy: a critical review”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 166, pp. 910-938.

Ilic, D., Eriksson, O., Odlund, L., and Aberg, M. (2018), “No zero burden assumption in a circular economy”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 182, pp. 352–362.

Janik, A. and Ryszko, A. (2019), “Circular economy in companies: an analysis of selected indicators from a managerial perspective”, Multidisciplinary Aspects of Production Engineering, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 523-535.

Jawahir, I.S. and Dillon, O.W. (2007), “Sustainable manufacturing processes: new challenges for developing predictive models and optimization techniques”, Proceedings of the First International Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing. Montreal, Canada.

Jia, F., Yin, S., Chen, L. and Chen, X. (2020), “The circular economy in the textile and apparel industry: a systematic literature review”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 259, pp. 120728.

King, A.M., Burgess, S.C., Ijomah, W. and McMahon, C.A. (2006), “Reducing waste: repair, recondition, remanufacture or recycle?”, Sustainable Development, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 257-267.

Kirchherr, J., Reike, D. and Hekkert, M. (2017), “Conceptualizing the circular economy: an analysis of 114 definitions”, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 127, pp. 221-232.

Klein, N., Ramos, T. B., & Deutz, P. (2020). Circular economy practices and strategies in public sector organizations:

An integrative review. Sustainability, 12(10), 4181.

Kristensen, H.S. and Mosgaard, M.A. (2020), “A review of micro level indicators for a circular economy–moving away from the three dimensions of sustainability?”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 243, pp. 118531.

Lieder, M. and Rashid, A. (2016), “Towards circular economy implementation: a comprehensive review in context of manufacturing industry Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 115, pp. 36–51.

Linder, M., Sarasini, S. and van Loon, P. (2017), “A metric for quantifying product‐level circularity”, Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 545-558.

Massaro, M., Secinaro, S., Dal Mas, F., Brescia, V., & Calandra, D. (2021). Industry 4.0 and circular economy: An exploratory analysis of academic and practitioners' perspectives. Business Strategy and the Environment, 30(2), 1213-1231.

MGI (2015), “Europe’s circular economy opportunity”, available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability/our-insights/europes-circular-economy-opportunity (accessed 20 April 2022).

Moraga, G., Huysveld, S., Mathieux, F., Blengini, G.A., Alaerts, L., Van Acker, K., ... and Dewulf, J. (2019), “Circular economy indicators: what do they measure?”, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 146, pp. 452-461.

Netherlands Enterprise Agency (2020), “Circular Economy & SDGs: How circular economy practices help to achieve the sustainable development goals”, available at https://circulareconomy.europa.eu/platform/sites/default/files/3228_brochure_sdg_-_hch_cmyk_a4_portrait_-_0520-012.pdf (accessed 20 April 2022).

Pauliuk, S. (2018), “Critical appraisal of the circular economy standard BS 8001: 2017 and a dashboard of quantitative system indicators for its implementation in organizations”, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 129, pp. 81-92.

Pauliuk, S., Kondo, Y., Nakamura, S. and Nakajima, K. (2017), “Regional distribution and losses of end-of-life steel throughout multiple product life cycles. Insights from the global multiregional MaTrace model”, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 116, pp. 84-93.

Potting, J., Hanemaaijer, A., Delahaye, R., Ganzevles, J., Hoekstra, R. and Lijzen, J. (2018), “Circular economy: what we want to know and can measure. Framework and baseline assessment for monitoring the progress of the circular economy in the Netherlands”, PBL Policy Report, 3217.

Potting, J., Hekkert, M.P., Worrell, E. and Hanemaaijer, A. (2017), Circular Economy: Measuring Innovation in the Product Chain (No. 2544). PBL Publishers.

Reike, D., Vermeulen, W.J. and Witjes, S. (2018), “The circular economy: new or refurbished as CE 3.0? Exploring controversies in the conceptualization of the circular economy through a focus on history and resource value retention options”, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 135, pp. 246-264.

Rincón-Moreno, J., Ormazábal, M., Álvarez, M.J. and Jaca, C. (2021), “Advancing circular economy performance indicators and their application in Spanish companies”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 279, pp. 123605.

Rodriguez-Anton, J.M., Rubio-Andrada, L., Celemín-Pedroche, M.S. and Alonso-Almeida, M.D.M. (2019), “Analysis of the relations between circular economy and sustainable development goals”, International Journal of Sustainable

Development & World Ecology, Vol. 26 No. 8, pp. 708–720.

Roos Lindgreen, E., Salomone, R. and Reyes, T. (2020), “A critical review of academic approaches, methods and tools to assess circular economy at the micro level”, Sustainability, Vol. 12 No. 12, p. 4973.

Ruggieri, A., Braccini, A.M., Poponi, S. and Mosconi, E.M. (2016), “A meta-model of inter-organisational cooperation for the transition to a circular economy”, Sustainability, Vol. 8 No 11, pp. 1153.

Saidani, M., Yannou, B., Leroy, Y. and Cluzel, F. (2017), “How to assess product performance in the circular economy? Proposed requirements for the design of a circularity measurement framework”, Recycling, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 6.

Saidani, M., Yannou, B., Leroy, Y., Cluzel, F. and Kendall, A. (2019), “A taxonomy of circular economy indicators”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 207, pp. 542-559.

Sassanelli, C., Rosa, P., Rocca, R. and Terzi, S. (2019), “Circular economy performance assessment methods: a systematic literature review”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 229, pp. 440–453.

Schroeder, P., Anggraeni, K. and Weber, U. (2019), “The relevance of circular economy practices to the sustainable development goals”, Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 77–95.

Sihvonen, S. and Ritola, T. (2015), “Conceptualizing ReX for aggregating end-of-life strategies in product development”, Procedia Cirp, Vol. 29, pp. 639-644.

UNEP (2006), “Circular economy. An alternative model for economic development”, available at https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/27541847/circular-economy-unep (accessed 20 April 2022).

Walzberg, J., Lonca, G., Hanes, R., Eberle, A., Carpenter, A. and Heath, G.A. (2021), “Do we need a new sustainability assessment method for the circular economy? A critical literature review”, Frontiers in Sustainability, Vol. 1, pp. 620047.

Willskytt, S., Böckin, D., André, H., Ljunggren Söderman, M. and Tillman, A.M. (2016), “Framework for analysing resource-efficient solutions”, available at https://publications.lib.chalmers.se/records/fulltext/245234/local_245234.pdf (accessed 20 April 2022).

Yin, R.K. (2017), Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods. Sage Publications, Los Angeles, CA.

Micro-level measurement of the circularity of organizations: the Italian innovative standardized approach applied to a public sector case study