Comparative assessment of Circularity indicators. The case of Reusable Plastic Crates

Session
TU.2.E || Tools, Metrics and Labels for a Circular Economy

Authors
Batlle-Bayer, Laura; Bala, Alba; Fullana-i-Palmer, Pere

Abstract
Comparative assessment of Circularity indicators. The case of Reusable Plastic Crates Laura Batlle-Bayer1, Alba Bala1, Pere Fullana-i-Palmer1 1UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle Assessment and Climate Change, ESCI-UPF, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Passeig Pujades 1, 08003, Barcelona, Spain The transformation of business towards circular models is considered as the key step towards sustainable production and consumption of goods (European Commission, 2020). The principles of circularity are to maintain products and materials in use as much as possible, to minimize waste ending up to landfill and to enhance energy and material recovery. In the past years, many methods and indicators have been developed to measure circularity (Moraga et al., 2019; Saidani et al., 2019), but none has been recognized as the ultimate method. Facing the challenge for practitioners to select the right indicators, this study aims to compare the performance of different circularity indicators and apply it to the case study of reusable plastic crates (RPCs) for fruit and vegetable distribution in Spain. Concerning RPCs, previous work has researched the environmental benefits of RPCs compared to the single-use alternatives (Abejón et al., 2020), but none has assessed their circularity. Abejón, R., Bala, A., Vázquez-Rowe, I., Aldaco, R., Fullana-i-Palmer, P., 2020. When plastic packaging should be preferred: Life cycle analysis of packages for fruit and vegetable distribution in the Spanish peninsular market. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 155. European Commission, 2020. Circular Economy Action Plan. The European Green Deal. Moraga, G., Huysveld, S., Mathieux, F., Blengini, G.A., Alaerts, L., Van Acker, K., de Meester, S., Dewulf, J., 2019. Circular economy indicators: What do they measure? Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 146, 452–461. Saidani, M., Yannou, B., Leroy, Y., Cluzel, F., Kendall, A., 2019. A taxonomy of circular economy indicators. J. Clean. Prod. 207, 5