SpringerLink
Log in

Life Cycle Thinking and Circular Economy

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Circular Economy and Policy

  • 345 Accesses

Abstract

Lice cycle thinking is an operational framework able to prevent burden shifting among stakeholders in the market as well as in the value chain. Life cycle thinking is useful to ponder the consequences in environmental, social, and economic effects of a product throughout all its life. It denotes a set of tools able to improve and evaluate circular economy strategies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
EUR 29.95
Price includes VAT (Thailand)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
EUR 85.59
Price includes VAT (Thailand)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
EUR 99.99
Price excludes VAT (Thailand)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free ship** worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • GaBi education: Handbook for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): Using the GaBi education software package. http://www.gabi-software.com/fileadmin/gabi/tutorials/tutorial1/GaBi_Education_Handbook.pdf

  • Garfi, M., Flores, L., & Ferrer, I. (2017). Life cycle assessment of wastewater treatment systems for small communities: Activated sludge, constructed wetlands and high rate algal ponds. Journal of Cleanin Production, 161, 211–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghisellini, P., Ripa, M., & Ulgiati, S. (2017). Exploring environmental and economic costs and benefits of a circular economy approach to the construction and demolition sector. A literature review. Journal of Cleaning Production, 178, 618–643.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giorgi, S., Lavagna, M., & Campioli, A. (2019). LCA and LCC as decision-making tools for a sustainable circular building process. In IOP conference series: Earth and environmental science, 296, SBE19 - resilient built environment for sustainable Mediterranean countries.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guinée, J. B., & Lindeijer, E. (Eds.). (2002). Handbook on life cycle assessment: Operational guide to the ISO standards. Berlin, Germany.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guinée, J. B., Heijungs, R., Huppes, G., Kleijn, R., de Koning, A., van Oers, L., Wegener Sleeswijk, A., Suh, S., Udo de Haes, H., de Bruijn, H., van Duin, R., Huijbregts, M. A. J., & Gorrée, M. (2001). Handbook on life cycle assessment: Operational guide to the ISO standards. Kluwer Academic Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haupt, M., & Zschokke, M. (2017). How can LCA support the circular economy?-63rd discussion forum on life cycle assessment, Zurich, Switzerland, November 30. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 22(5), 832–837. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-017-1267-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helander, H., Petit-Boix, A., Leipold, S., & Bringezu, S. (2019). How to monitor environmental pressures of a circular economy. An assessment of indicators. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 23, 1278–1291. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12924

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ISO 14040. 2006. Environmental management: Life cycle assessment; principles and framework.

    Google Scholar 

  • ISO 14044. 2006. Environmental management: Life cycle assessment; requirements and guidelines.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kloepffer, W. (2003). Life-cycle based methods for sustainable product development. Editorial for the life cycle management (LCM). Section in Int J LCA, 8, 157–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kloepffer, W. (2008). Life cycle sustainability assessment of products. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 13(2), 89–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kloepffer, W., & Renner, I. (2007). Life-cycle based sustainability assessment of products. In S. Schaltegger (Ed.), Environmental Management Accounting for Cleaner Production.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kovacic, I., & Zoller, V. (2016). Building life cycle optimization tools for early design phases. Energy, 92, 409–419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larsena, V. G., Tollin, N., Sattrup, P. A., Birkved, M., & Holmboe, T. (2022). What are the challenges in assessing circular economy for the built environment? A literature review on integrating LCA, LCC and S-LCA in life cycle sustainability assessment, LCSA. Journal of Building Engineering, 50, 104203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lemann, A. Finkbeiner, M, Broadbent, C. and Balzer, R.T. (2016). Policy options for life cycle assessment deployment in legislation. , Sonneman G., Margni M (edts) Life cycle management, Springer, pp. 213-224

    Google Scholar 

  • Lonca, G., Muggéo, R., Imbeault-Tétreault, H., Bernard, S., & Margni, M. (2018). Does material circularity rhyme with environmental efficiency? Case studies on used tires. Journal of Cleaning Production, 183, 424–435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.02.108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morsy, K. M., Mostafa, M. K., Abdalla, K. Z., & Galal, M. M. (2020). Life cycle assessment of upgrading primary wastewater treatment plants to secondary treatment including a circular economy approach. Air, Soil and Water Research, 13, 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niero, M., & Hauschild, M. Z. (2017). Closing the loop for packaging: Finding a framework to operationalize circular economy strategies. Procedia CIRP, 685–690.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niero, M., & Kalbar, P. P. (2019). Coupling material circularity indicators and life cycle-based indicators: A proposal to advance the assessment of circular economy strategies at the product level. Resource Conservation, and Recycling, 140, 305–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.10.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pauer, E., Wohner, B., Heinrich, V., & Tacker, M. (2019). Assessing the environmental sustainability of food packaging: An extended life cycle assessment including packaging-related food losses and waste and circularity assessment. Sustainability, 11, 925. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11030925

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peña, C., Civit, B., Gallego-Schmid, A., Druckman, A., Caldeira- Pires, A., Weidema, B., Mieras, E., Wang, F., Fava, J., Milài Canals, L., Cordella, M., Arbuckle, P., Valdivia, S., Fallaha, S., & Motta, W. (2021). Using life cycle assessment to achieve a circular economy. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 26, 215–220. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-020-01856-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rigamonti, L., & Mancini, E. (2021). Life cycle assessment and circularity indicators. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 26, 1937–1942.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, M., Allen, S., & Coley, D. (2020). Life cycle assessment in the building design process - a systematic literature review. Building and Environment, 185.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez, C., & Ciroth, A. (2013). GaBi databases in open LCA: Update of datasets and LCIA methods. https://www.openlca.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/GaBi-databases-in-openLCA_user-document.pdf

  • Sonderegger, T., Berger, M., Alvarenga, R., Bach, V., Cimprich, A., Dewulf, J., Frischknecht, R., Guinée, J., Helbig, C., Huppertz, T., Jolliet, O., Motoshita, M., Northey, S., Rugani, B., Schrijvers, D., Schulze, R., Sonnemann, G., Valero, A., Weidema, B. P., & Young, S. B. (2020). Mineral resources in life cycle impact assessment-part I: A critical review of existing methods. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 25, 784–797. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-020-01736-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNEP-SETAC, guidelines for social life cycle assessment of products. (2009).

    Google Scholar 

  • Zang, Y., Li, Y., Wang, C., Zhang, W., & **ong, W. (2015). Towards more accurate life cycle assessment of biological wastewater treatment plants: A review. Journal of Cleaning Production, 107, 676–692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Catania, Catania, Italy

    Sebastiano Patti

Authors
  1. Sebastiano Patti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Patti, S. (2023). Life Cycle Thinking and Circular Economy. In: Circular Economy and Policy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43324-5_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation