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Displaying 1 - 25 of 156

From Principles to Practice: Product Design Foundations for a Circular Economy

January 23, 2025
Author(s)
Buddhika Hapuwatte, Noah Last, Sami Karsli, Gaurav Aher, Katherine Morris, Vincenzo Ferrero
A circular economy moves from the current linear model of production and consumption, i.e., the take-make-use-dispose model, to one that uses resources efficiently, avoids pollution, and creates triple bottom line (i.e., economic, environmental, and social

A Systems-Based Framework for Product Circularity Assessment

January 7, 2025
Author(s)
Gisele Bortolaz Guedes, Junwon Ko, Fazleena Badurdeen, I.S. Jawahir, Katherine Morris, Vincenzo Ferrero, Ardeshir Mashhadi, Ryan Bradley
One of the key aspects of Circular Economy (CE), particularly when focusing on the product level, lies in its emphasis on designing products to facilitate the circulation of resources and maximize value throughout their entire lifecycle. To effectively

Transitioning Towards Circular Consumer Electronics Products

November 13, 2024
Author(s)
Junwon Ko, Gisele Bortolaz Guedes, Fazleena Badurdeen, I.S. Jawahir, Katherine Morris, Vincenzo Ferrero
The adoption of Circular Economy (CE) practices is continuing to gain momentum, driven by its potential to promote efficient use of resources, maximize the value of materials and products, and mitigate issues such as resource scarcity, environmental

The U.S. Plastics Recycling Economy: Current State, Challenges, and Opportunities

October 30, 2024
Author(s)
Douglas Thomas, Joshua D. Kneifel, David Butry
This report builds upon NIST AMS 100-48 (Thomas 2022), which examined the economics of increased circularity in the economy, focusing on the processes, forces, and decision making that result in an unsustainable economy. This report further discusses the

Towards Sustainable Electronics: Exploring IC Reuse for Circular Economy Transformation

August 22, 2024
Author(s)
Nowell Stoddard, Lisa Paterson, Mark Schaffer, Tom Etheridge, Nehika Mathur, KC Morris, Lise Laurin, Amos Ncube
This perspective paper addresses the importance of responsible end of life (EOL) management of integrated circuits (ICs or chips), with a particular focus on the possibility of IC reuse as an avenue to address the high impacts of chip manufacturing and the

A Standards-Guided Approach for Formalizing Product Circularity Assessment Metrics

August 19, 2024
Author(s)
Junwon Ko, Sandwana Sneethan, Gisele Bortolaz Guedes, Fazleena Badurdeen, I.S. Jawahir, Buddhika Hapuwatte, KC Morris
The industrial transition towards a more sustainable Circular Economy (CE) emphasizes the need for products that align with CE principles and robust methods for assessing their circularity performance. However, ambiguities between metrics vs. indicators

A Critical Analysis of Circular Product Attributes and Limitations of Product Circularity Assessment Methods

May 29, 2024
Author(s)
Junwon Ko, Gisele Bortolaz Guedes, Fazleena Badurdeen, I.S. Jawahir, KC Morris, Vincenzo Ferrero, Buddhika Hapuwatte, Ryan Bradley, Ardeshir Mashhadi
The Circular Economy (CE) has been proposed as a strategy to promote the efficient use of resources, maximizing the benefits derived from materials and products through value recovery strategies, and minimizing waste generation. However, ambiguity remains

Life-Cycle Analysis Datasets for Regionalized Plastic Pathways

February 1, 2024
Author(s)
Taemin Kim, Pahola Benavides, Joshua Kneifel, Kate Beers, Zifeng Lu, Troy Hawkins
The carbon intensity (CI) of producing five different resins – polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) – in four different international regions –

Standards as Enablers for a Circular Economy

June 30, 2023
Author(s)
KC Morris, Vincenzo Ferrero, Buddhika Hapuwatte, Noah Last, Nehika Mathur
A successful transition to a circular economy (CE) will require global participation, but the path to that transition will follow many unique routes depending on local situations. The transition must have rigorous technical underpinnings and well-conceived

Optimizing Product Life Cycle Systems for Manufacturing in a Circular Economy

April 26, 2023
Author(s)
Buddhika Hapuwatte, Nehika Mathur, Noah Last, Vincenzo Ferrero, Maya Reslan, KC Morris
Global population growth and increasing resource scarcity are necessitating sustainable manufacturing and circular economy (CE) practices. These practices require the decisions made at each product life cycle (PLC) stage consider sustainability and

Adapting Consumer Product Design to the Circular Economy

August 14, 2022
Author(s)
Vincenzo Ferrero, Buddhika Hapuwatte, KC Morris
Abstract Transition to a Circular Economy (CE) will be facilitated by information transfer between life cycle stages, and, particularly, the transition can be accelerated at the product design stage where the decisions have impact throughout the life cycle

Refocusing the Barriers to Sustainability for Small and Medium Manufacturers

February 14, 2022
Author(s)
Xavier R. Escoto, Demsas Gebrehewot, KC Morris
Sustainable manufacturing practices are a necessary component of sustainable development. Current practices in a linear economy—produce, consume, discard—will not be sufficient to sustain humanity over the long term. At the same time manufacturing is
Displaying 1 - 25 of 156