EcoDesign for Circular Value Creation: Volume I

Fuel cells (FCs) are power-supply devices that efficiently convert input fuel from chemical to electrical energy. Polymer electrolyte membrane FCs (PEMFCs) are used for co-generation systems and FC vehicles because they can be used at room temperature. In the future, PEMFCs will be used in small-scale applications such as mobile batteries and electrically power-assisted bicycles (E-bikes). This study focuses on the use of FC electrically power-assisted bicycles (H-bike). The use of FCs in mobility applications requires an additional power source. Li-ion batteries are the most commonly used chemical rechargeable batteries. However, they gradually deteriorate through repeated charging and discharging. In addition, the high frequency of battery replacement due to degradation is a critical factor increasing their environmental impacts. Their increased environmental impacts during production and use are expected to contribute to higher product prices in the future.This study focuses on degradation and fuel consumption, which are operational issues for H-bikes equipped with FC systems and metal hydride tanks during shared-used urban cycling. Among the multiple degradation factors, we focus on the degradation caused by the operating conditions and changes in the equipment configuration. First, the operating conditions are set up using various driving data obtained from actual measurements, and the degradation is evaluated by simulation using actual and experimental data. Thereafter, the environmental impact is determined based on an LCA. Finally, referring to the international standards for environmental impact indicators, a comparison with existing E-bikes is performed to quantitatively demonstrate the superiority of introducing H-bikes.

As one of the means to realize a sustainable society, fuel cell applications using hydrogen as an alternative fuel are being studied. Hydrogen can be synthesized from biomass feedstock, a renewable resource. For instance, fuel cells efficiently convert sewage sludge and wood chips into electrical energy. Two main types of fuel hydrogen storage technologies exist high pressure and liquefaction. However, these methods require additional measures regarding the energy necessary for compression or liquefaction and the system’s safety.On the other hand, hydrogen storage using metal hydride is being introduced because it can operate safely under a relatively average temperature and pressure atmosphere, depending on the type of alloy. Other features include high volumetric energy density and weight density, suitable for systems requiring no weight constraints and space-saving. In metal hydride, hydrogen storage, and release are caused by reversible equilibrium reactions. The hydrogen release reaction is endothermic and requires additional heat to maintain a sufficient hydrogen release rate. However, due to the low thermal conductivity of the hydrogen storage alloy, the amount of heat transferred from the surrounding environment to the hydrogen storage alloy tank is usually insufficient to match the amount of heat required by the reaction rate corresponding to the hydrogen release rate needed for the fuel cell stack. Therefore, the temperature inside the tank decreases due to the endothermic heat of the reaction heat. As a result, the equilibrium reaction stops because the hydrogen supply rate to the fuel cell drops, which may cause the fuel cell to stop. One way to solve this problem is to use an external heat source to make the hydrogen storage container hot. Therefore, as a solution to improve the system’s performance, using the exhaust heat dissipated through the fuel cell cooling system is considered one of the attractive means that does not require additional systems.This research group focuses on the fact that no weight limit and space is saved that can take advantage of the advantages of the metal hydride and is researching the thermal management of a small-scale system that combines a storage alloy tank mounted on the assisted fuel cell bike (H-bike) that runs on a fuel cell including the configuration and the geometric design. In this study, we experimented with a small, air-cooled fuel cell (300 W) combined with multiple small self-made tanks (diameter 30 mm, length 30 mm). In addition, we examined the thermal characteristics of the cover around the tank as thermal management to improve emission performance. At this time, the conditions necessary for maintaining the tank’s internal temperature were estimated, and the conditions required for mounting on H-bike were examined.

It is important to promote the reuse of products in order to create a circulating society. For this purpose, the management of products and parts is necessary not only at their manufacturing stage but also throughout their entire life cycle, including use, collection, and disposal. To achieve this, we are developing a part agent system. The part agent system assigns a dedicated network agent to each product and part. The agent moves on the network, following the corresponding product or part in the real world. It retains and collects information on the product or part, including the lifecycle, manufacturing information, current status, and operation history. Based on the information, the part agent advises the user in making decisions regarding the maintenance of the product or part.In this study, we focus on the workload of the module as a value related to the deterioration and environmental load of the module. The part agent monitors the workload of the corresponding module, determines the appropriate replacement of the module based on communication and negotiation with other part agents, and generates advice to the user on the replacement. In this paper, we describe a scheme applied to a modularized manipulator, propose a method for a part agent to replace modules based on the joint workload of the manipulator, show some early simulation results, and discuss the issues with the method.

The pursuit of sustainability is fundamentally impacting the way companies develop new products across the world. Life cycle design (LCD) is believed to be a promising approach to the realization of a sustainable production and consumption system. Within the methodology framework of LCD, comprehensive and systematic considerations of different aspects (e.g., product, process, service) of the product development are required, as well as the holistic optimization of the whole life cycle (i.e., close the loop). Thus, cross-organizational collaboration is believed to be essential, but challenging for LCD. Conflict in collaboration is a key factor hindering the effective implementation of product lifecycle design: the differences in corporate strategy, interest demands, and technological level among stakeholders involved in product life cycle design, as well as the special “competition-cooperation” relationship between them, result in many obstacles in LCD collaborations. The introduction of environmentally friendly product attributes can disrupt the optimized balancing of existing product system functionality, performance, and cost, leading to conflicts between new and existing attributes. This study aims to develop a knowledge repository for conflict management in LCD collaboration and to facilitate collaborative eco-design practices of complex mechatronic product (i.e., manufacturing equipment, construction machinery, vehicles). An ontology-based representation of conflict typology and conflict-resolving process in life cycle design collaborations are first proposed, which enable the structuring and standardization of related data, the storage of such data in a computer-processable manner, and generation of conflict management case knowledge. Descriptive features of conflict management case are defined in accordance to the ontology model, based on which the similarity between case and case queries is calculated using the nearest neighbor method and case retrieval is realized based on the calculated similarity. With the proposed ontology model, a cloud-based and micro-service architectured conflict-managing knowledge repository system prototype is then developed, which provide the benefits of low-cost deployment, better accessibility and easy maintenance.

The EU commission has announced amendments to ecodesign from Directives to Regulations. This ecodesign regulation includes expanding the scope of targets from existing ErP (Energy-related Products) to physical products placed on the market, which adds requirements for product performance and information. In particular, among these requirements, information on environmental impacts is also required, and the LCA methodology is used to derive such environmental impact information, and EPD is a representative certification system. EPD is a global standard, an environmental label for Type III (ISO 14025), which can evaluate environmental performance across products based on LCA. These environmental labels are an effective way for corporations to provide clear and reliable information to consumers, and corporations need to establish various business systems and processes to respond quickly to international change. To this end, EPD-Norge and IGSC developed an EPD certified auditor program curriculum to train manpower, and established an “Internal Audit Process” through such trained internal auditing experts. Through the established “Internal Audit Process,” the environmental performance of a corporation’s products can be directly calculated, and its own internal auditing can also be participated before the certification auditing. Through this process, the product’s EPD certification acquisition period can be shortened by 1 month, and EPD information that can be used internationally can be calculated and disclosed through internal calculations.

Mobile Off-Grid Architecture (MOA) has been developed with solar-powered systems as the self-electric power supply facility in desired places. For the effective utilization of MOA abilities, it is necessary to verify MOA movability and the advantages of solar system operation. The purpose of our research is to verify the effects of the method of movability usage of the MOA with its solar cell system contributing to energy efficiency. Our prototype MOA had been field-tested for its electrical power generation on the four equinoxes and solstices of the 24 solar terms in the solar year 2022–2023. We operated it manually, rotating to obtain the optimum direction for adjusting the sunlight depending on the sun’s movement, with changes in the azimuth angle and elevation angle of each of the four seasons in the solar year. As a result of the rotation, the measurement power generation values for the wall solar cell at the summer solstice of 2022, the winter solstice of 2022, and the equinox of 2023 were approximately 1.9, 1.3, and 1.3 times the estimated values, respectively, compared to the scenario where the solar cell was fixed facing south without rotation. In conclusion, the movability usage of our MOA with a wall solar cell tilted at an angle of 90° through rotation is more effective than fixed south, especially in the summer solstice.

Cities are places of consumption for a variety of consumer products. At the same time, they are places of value creation and provide several potentials for manufacturing companies, as for instance proximities to their customers. With a production site located in urban environment it is possible to fulfill further demands of the urban system besides just providing goods to fulfil the needs of citizens. An urban factory may provide urban functions, such as education, innovation or waste disposal, which are generally provided by city authorities today. As “neighbors,” factories can raise interest and fulfill needs of their urban surrounding actors along the whole life cycle of products manufactured in urban area. In order to make use of the outlined potentials, the product design must be adapted to the demands of the urban environment. For this purpose, it is necessary to identify not only the requirements of customers but also those that arise due to the proximity between the place of production and the place of consumption to fulfill further urban needs. This work aims at developing a design methodology that integrates requirements oriented at fulfilling urban functions into the product design along its life cycle. As a first step, urban functions and needs are identified. Then, the life cycle-oriented design methodology is developed to integrate the functional requirements into the design process. Within the methodology, strategies and design principles are defined for each product life cycle stage in order to fulfill urban functions. A case study is used to apply the methodology and derive specific design strategies as examples.

For consumers, it is not always clear how to be more sustainable. They find it difficult to buy more sustainable fashion and do not use their clothing long enough. Eco-labels have great potential to guide consumers into more sustainable behavior. The purpose of this paper is to understand how eco-label design and communication can be used to make more sustainable choices and extend the life of fashion products through repair, maintenance, and reuse. A survey (n = 307) was conducted to investigate the respondent’s reaction to different label designs and their reaction to quality, maintenance, repair and second hand. We learn that labels have indeed a great potential in informing people about sustainability aspects (environmental, ethical, and local). When acquiring new clothing, a traceability tag is the most effective way to persuade the end-user, a label that should provide them mainly with information on materials and quality. For secondhand, an additional focus should lie on hygiene quality assurance. Next to that, labels for clothing in use should focus on care instructions (maintenance) and opportunities for qualitative repair (repair). This research provides us with more in-depth insights for design and communication opportunities. Future research is needed to understand consumers’ quality perception, mediators and moderators in consumers’ purchase reactions, how resale value is determined, where and how to introduce repair and how washing instructions should be re-designed.

The fashion industry has set SDG 12, “Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns,” as a transformation goal, promoting the concept of “cradle-to-cradle design” by using urban mining to recycle precious metal materials and combining packaging design as a product to reduce environmental impact and create a sustainable and friendly circular economy model.This study explores the possibility of developing sustainable jewelry through the combination of a green packaging reuse design and a circular economy. First, through literature review and expert interviews, the strategies for a green packaging reuse design and a circular economy model for sustainable jewelry will be established, including “packaging design and material selection,” “establishing the concept of recycling and circular economy with consumers,” and “achieving a sustainable economy.” Then, a survey will be conducted among female consumers aged 19–30 in Taiwan to investigate their willingness to purchase sustainable jewelry. Through analyzing the needs, psychology, and behavior of the jewelry consumer group, a people-oriented green packaging reuse design, and circular economy strategy and design guidelines will be proposed.

This paper aims to extend the limitations of the biomaterials field to be applied in the art/design field. Nowadays, art installations mean a pile of plastics and toxins in the atmosphere. However, have you ever thought of creating installations from bio-based natural microorganisms? The previous research in the past decade have shown clear hope in using mycelium in the design field. This study documents an experimental study to create art installations from the mycelium of reishi mushroom species belonging to the genus Ganoderma. We will go through creating the mycelium mixture and molding it then finally baking it. Furthermore, we will discuss the adequate growing parameters and the best culture media for its growth. First, we will use malt, yeast, and glucose culture media and then compare it to the flour cornstarch mixture. We concluded that the flour and cornstarch mixture had better and faster results. In conclusion, our findings indicate the accessibility of using mycelium in art installations and that it has several advantages over the plastic ones in terms of sustainability and creating a zero-waste society.

This paper reports on the practical application of a recently developed design tool, Shame Cues, which is a card deck created to help designers understand, reflect upon, and discuss social concepts related to shame and other self-conscious emotions. It consists of 64 cards divided into 16 categories, explaining how shame manifests itself in society and through concepts such as awkwardness, guilty pleasures, euphemisms and taboos. The tool has been tested in various workshops and for different contexts, mainly concerning social challenges focusing on stigma and taboos. Changing the focus toward sustainability, this paper reports on applying Shame Cues in the context of waste disposal and littering. While Design for Sustainable Behaviour provides a rich repertoire of design strategies to stimulate sustainable practices, scrutinizing the user research that has informed these littering cases reveals that aspects of shame, guilt, and hedonistic motivations have received limited attention. Addressing sustainable behaviour through a “shame lens” may lead to different insights about the suitability of Design for Sustainable Behaviour strategies and open for more empathic approaches rather than forceful ones. For this case study, the tool was made available to professional designers and design researchers without prior focused attention on shame as part of user research. The workshop was recorded and analysed, and the results were jointly discussed. This allowed for conclusions on two levels, considering both theme and method. Firstly, how can using the shame perspective inform the design process and expand the solution space in the context of littering? Secondly, what is the learning potential for designers when encouraged to look through a “shame lens”, in comparison to the default situation of applying design for sustainable behaviour strategies in which shame does not play an explicit role?

Household waste management is considered as part of the municipal waste where it contributes to a large amount to municipal solid waste (MSW). It is crucial to identify the existing waste management behavior of the household to make adjustment and process improvement to achieve sustainable waste management. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine the behavior and factors that influence community behavior in managing household waste in rural areas particularly in Kampung Sungai Midin, Kuching, Sarawak. The study focuses on physical environment as well as social and cultural aspects. This study employed both quantitative and qualitative approach. Quantitative data were collected by using questionnaire and analyzed using IBM SPSS Version 24.0 while qualitative data were collected through face-to-face structured interviews, semi-structured interview, and observation. These interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. The survey method involved 75 respondents, selected based on convenience sampling method. The findings show that respondents’ behavior was highly influenced by physical environment (57.6%) and moderately influenced by social and cultural aspects (42.4%). The physical features of the river as well as the condition and characteristics of some houses built on stilts along the riverbank could be seen as a means of easing the household waste. Furthermore, lack of facilities is one of the barriers that hinders them from practicing waste segregation and recycling. Low social interaction affects the intention of community to engage in sustainable household waste management. There are no individuals or groups who can motivate community to manage their waste with the sustainability concept. In this context, technology advancement should not be viewed as the only means for waste management but an effective solid waste management requires active public involvement, awareness and acceptance at all level of societies. To inspire the community’s sense of “mottainai,” motivation for waste reduction and recycling should be done continuously with coordination from various stakeholders (both public and private sectors) with common vision and shared goals in support of sustainable growth. Provision of waste management facilities is also vital as well as incentive mechanism to promote 3R initiative among the community. Hence, a bottom-up approach together with top-down approach is essential in enhancing community’s sustainable behavior in waste management.

Smart technologies have become increasingly integrated into people’s daily lives. Therefore, understanding the factors that influence their social acceptance is becoming crucial. This study compares findings from existing studies on the social acceptance of smart technologies with the recent developments in the field gathered through interviews with stakeholders from the industry. Although respondents agree with the literature’s findings, especially on perceived value, the order of importance of trust in the technology, ease of use, and customers’ personalities are context based. The identified differences between the two sources are as follows: (1) hedonic motivation and technology readiness were only emphasized by the literature; (2) customer partnership/relationship and customer readiness were only emphasized by some respondents; and (3) the importance of innovativeness was highly valued by the literature but poorly rated by the respondents both as an influencing factor and indicator of acceptance of the technology.

Malaysia has one of the highest plastic packaging consumptions among Southeast Asian countries. However, the amount of plastic pollution and the lack of capacity to manage plastic waste effectively has led Malaysia to adopt a mandatory EPR for plastic packaging in 2026. Under the federalised and privatised system of solid waste management in Malaysia, policy challenges and opportunities in implementing the said EPR were discussed and analysed. Documents and reports between the years 2007 and 2021 endorsed by government agencies, brand owners and associations were used and analysed using thematic analysis. Data from survey feedbacks from consumers were also analysed to supplement the discussion. Even though there are many gaps in this area, only legislation and institutional components were discussed in this study. Findings from the consumer survey showed that 95.4% of the respondents were supportive of the implementation of EPR programme and 80.3% agreed for it to be carried out on a mandatory basis. However, the federalisation system and related Act only covers certain states in Malaysia and therefore insufficient to support the establishment of a nationwide EPR policy. Referring to federal, state, and local governments’ structure of governance, there is separation and overlapping of powers between these agencies portraying a disjointed approach in managing solid waste, thus creating grey areas in certain aspects of solid waste management. This sparked concerns among producers, brand owners and relevant NGOs especially in the view of implementing a mandatory EPR. In conclusion, the existing legislations and institutional set-up form a solid foundation for an adoption of EPR policy in Malaysia. However, harmonisation and streamlining of these elements, having a clearly defined roles of the stakeholders and taking consumer behaviours into policy considerations are vital in ensuring the effectiveness and positive impacts of EPR for sustainable plastic packaging management in Malaysia.

The exponential growth in electric vehicles (EV) sales has created a challenge of managing the amount of end of life (EOL) EV lithium-ion batteries (EV LiBs) expected in the future. Using these batteries for second-life battery applications (SLB) can potentially prolong the use phase of the batteries and delay recycling. The SLB has paved way for new value chain structures and emergence of new business models integrating sustainability at their core. This study investigates the current SLB value chain structures and the associated sustainable business models (SBM) present in the Norwegian market. The results show two distinct SLB value chain structures, and a typology of associated SBMs. However, there are various SBM barriers that need to be addressed to make SLB viable and sustainable. The study thus discusses various strategies that can be used to overcome these barriers.

The European Union (EU) has recently presented several new legal proposals for promoting ecodesign and product labeling. The aim is to harmonize national practices and rules in the EU, to regulate issues like product lifetime and repairability in a more comprehensive way, to introduce new tools like digital product passports, and to introduce labeling schemes for repairability and durability. In parallel, the EU has proposed rules to regulate green claims and ecolabeling schemes to effectively address greenwashing. In this paper, we outline these rules, and discuss the challenges emerging for new eco-labeling schemes. We further discuss the challenges for a proposed new scheme for circular products: Certified to LAST.

The purpose of this study was to examine strategies for the smooth implementation of Digital Transformation (DX) in municipalities using two approaches. First, a model of local DX adoption was developed by exploring factors that influence Acceptance of local DX by platform users. Second, the relationship between local DX and community satisfaction was clarified for sustainable local development. It suggests that basically, Interest in UI/UX was important in the model. By advancing this research, we will contribute to business transformation and the addition of new value in the public sector.

In this study, we analyzed business proposals of three technologies possessed by the manufacturing industry related to the plating process by adopting Future Design. We conducted a business proposal workshop from the two standpoints of the current generations and the Imaginary Future Generations (IFGs) to discuss business strategies for future social issues. Then, the differences between the two generations were analyzed by using a 5-point scale questionnaire, focusing on the four categories of “individual,” “technology,” “company,” and “society.” We found that while the current generations considered solutions to immediate technological issues, the IFGs showed other viewpoints in terms of technological expansion methods and globalization, which were not proposed in the current generations. We also looked into the words in the workshop and analyzed the changes in the content between the two generations. While the current generations were concerned only with “individual” and “company,” the IFGs thought not only about “individual” and “company” but also about “society” and “company.” The results of the questionnaire showed an overall increase in points for the questions focusing on “society,” “company,” and “technology” when the IFGs were adopted. In addition, the questions that focused on “individual” indicated that the IFGs considered the impact of “individual” perspectives and actions on “society,” “company,” and “technology,” which was not considered by the current generations. These results suggested that a business proposal that introduces the viewpoints of future generations adopting Future Design is effective for the technology possessed by the company.

This chapter presents environmental, social, and governance (ESG) categories distilled from five major compliance standards and proposes a framework for assessing them across an organization’s strategic, tactical, and operational layers. The use of change management and participatory design approaches to facilitate the integration of ESG considerations into an organization’s decision-making processes is also investigated. This chapter explores ESG implementation through the lens of participatory design to identify opportunities for employees to contribute to an organization’s ESG strategy, across different organizational levels and functions. Results from a study conducted with a medium-sized global information technology company show the potential of participatory approaches for implementing ESG and highlight the importance of creating consensus and promoting open spaces for sharing information as the first step toward successful ESG implementation.

In recent years, the world has been affected by climate change, so countries have set net-zero carbon emission goals and reduced greenhouse gas emissions through carbon reduction policies. In 2022, Taiwan will amend the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act, adding the 2050 net zero carbon emission target into the law. Taiwan’s greenhouse gas emissions caused by electricity production account for more than 60%. Therefore, Taiwan’s energy department is actively planning a low-carbon energy path, including expecting to replace coal-fired power plants with natural gas power plants and to increase the proportion of natural gas power plants to 50% of power generation in 2025. It is expected that by 2050, natural gas power plants can be combined with hydrogen energy and CCUS technology to achieve the zero-emission goal of natural gas power plants, and with renewable energy power generation to achieve the goal of net zero carbon emissions in electricity.For this reason, this study expects to evaluate the impact of natural gas power plants on the national economy under the net-zero path. Although there are previous literatures evaluating the cost-effectiveness of thermal power plants in Taiwan, the time is long, and Taiwan’s low-carbon energy path and net-zero carbon have not been considered. Therefore, this study will use the input–output model to analyze the economic impact of changes in natural gas prices in the future under the transformation of electricity from coal to natural gas in Taiwan, so as to assist the Taiwan government to examine the suitability of the future low-carbon energy transition. This study can therefore contribute to foster the natural gas power plants in Taiwan with both characteristics of net-zero transition and sustainable innovation.

Originating from years of economic instability, a recent positive development of the Cambodian economy is leading to a rising number of registered vehicles, mainly motorcycles. With this rise, the demand for spare parts is also increasing significantly. Differing from other countries, where a share of the spare parts is covered by remanufactured parts, there is no remanufacturing alternative to new parts available in Cambodia. As such, little is known about the Cambodian remanufacturing market. Therefore, this research aims to explore the awareness of motorcycle users in Cambodia of remanufactured parts as an alternative to new spare parts. To fulfil the aim, data from 491 Cambodian motorcycle users were collected and analyzed through structured interviews and online surveys. The main findings conclude that a vast majority of the Cambodian motorcycle users are aware of the remanufacturing alternatives to new spare parts, but in many cases the perception is negative, and the new parts are seen as superior to remanufactured parts.

The realization of a fully circular economy has become a crucial aspect of the European Union’s climate aspirations. In this regard, end-of-life product recovery and recycling play a critical role in preserving the economic value embedded in products. Effective information sharing between product manufacturers and recyclers is therefore necessary for identifying existing pain points and opportunities for improving the product design and recovery processes with respect to circularity. However, the common motivations and information needs for establishing collaborations between the aforementioned stakeholders are currently unclear. To this end, we present the methodology and results from a survey-based study performed in the EU-funded CircThread project that investigated (1) common motivations to foster collaboration between recyclers and product manufacturers and (2) desired production information exchange between these stakeholders with regards to product end-of-life disassembly. Two separate survey designs were distributed among five recyclers and five product manufacturers to address the above questions. Results show that the main motivation for seeking collaborations was to enable product manufacturers to decrease costs and for recyclers to establish a new source of revenue. However, the lack of product lifecycle information and information-sharing structures poses a significant challenge toward fostering profitable collaborations. The paper ends with a discussion on how the EU CircThread platform and the design of Digital Product Passports could overcome the identified information gaps and reduce the barriers for industrial circular transition.

Plastic recycling plays a vital role in mitigating the environmental impact of plastic waste. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a powerful tool for evaluating the environmental performance of recycling processes, relying on accurate and transparent life cycle inventory (LCI) data. However, LCI data collection in plastic recycling poses challenges, particularly in regions with limited data availability and diverse co-products. This paper addresses the need for improved LCI data collection by proposing a thermal-based allocation method for electricity consumption in plastic recycling processes. The method considers resin-specific thermal properties during the pelletizing process and offers a more realistic estimation of resource consumption. A case study conducted in Malaysia focused on four resin types—PP, HDPE, LDPE, and LLDPE—demonstrated the effectiveness of the allocation method. The findings revealed that the conventional assumption of equal electricity consumption for all resins resulted in significant overestimation for some resins, leading to inaccurate assessments of environmental impacts. In contrast, the proposed thermal allocation method provided resin-specific estimates, improving the accuracy of electricity consumption estimation and subsequent impact assessments. The results of this study contribute to enhancing the accuracy and transparency of LCI data collection in plastic recycling processes. By considering resin-specific thermal properties, LCA practitioners can obtain more reliable estimates of electricity consumption, leading to improved assessments of environmental impacts. The study highlights the importance of standardized guidelines and approaches in LCA reference documents to ensure efficient and consistent LCI data collection.

Malaysia is one of the largest palm oil producers in the world. In 2022, 5.67 million hectares of oil palm plantations in Malaysia produced 18.4 million tons of crude palm oil (CPO). Empty fruit bunches (EFB), palm kernel shells (PKS), mesocarp fibers (MF), boiler ash, and palm oil mill effluent (POME) are examples of solid and liquid biomass waste produced by the palm oil mill sector in vast amount. These biomass wastes can be used not only as a nutrient-rich resource for the production of organic fertilizer for plantations but also as a feedstock for renewable energy in alternative management. In this study, input–output management for sustainable waste production of two different palm oil mills production capacity in Terengganu is evaluated and tracked using material flow analysis. The results showed that the empty fruit bunches (EFB) were the largest potential solid biomass in terms of quantity and energy generated compared to other waste, which is generated from fresh fruit bunches (FFB) around 22% (3300 ton/month) for mill 1 and 20% (1583 ton/month) for mill 2, respectively The empty fruit bunches were returned to the plantation as additional fertilizer to reduce input costs under conventional management, but there are several alternative management options for empty fruit bunches that provide additional benefits to oil mills. The results also showed that palm oil mills have already self-managed their energy consumption derived from palm kernel shells and mesocarp fiber. All production of 750 ton/month PKS and 2190 ton/month MF from mill 1 and 474 ton/month PKS and 1187 ton/month MF from mill 2 were used for boiler steam generator. Meanwhile, POME is treated before it is applied to land as fertilizer or discharged into rivers. As more and more of the palm oil mill biomass is utilized, a symbiotic relationship develops where “waste” becomes an input to other industries known as by-products. This leads to a zero-waste route for the palm oil industry, especially toward achieving sustainable biomass waste management. In conclusion, this study recommends various options for alternative biomass wastes utilization to contribute to the sustainable palm oil production, which is important to the economic growth and sustainable development of Malaysia.

Each year, improperly managing the world’s plastic waste raises a hidden environmental threat. As a result, efforts on smart technologies for waste collection, such as route optimization, smart bins based on artificial intelligence (AI), and real-time monitoring software, as well as the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) system, have become a future consensus for improving plastic waste recycling. In this study, we built a database of smart waste collection and processing technologies for plastic waste recycling. We categorized them into the following categories: monitoring dashboards and applications for waste management, smart bins, sorting robotics, and take-back vending machines. We analyze the data with the Japanese technology readiness assessment (J-TRA) approach. The results demonstrate that the monitoring dashboard and application are relatively more mature than the smart bin and sorting robots. Improving the smart bin readiness level might be the first key step to enable the rest of the technologies to advance into more collective applications.

This chapter proposes a novel framework for the development of computational and data-enhanced tools to support urban industrial symbiosis integrating perspectives from engineering, urban planning, and design. The framework serves as a basis for the conceptual development of a research demonstrator that supports the identification, analysis, and design of the interactions between different urban (sub)systems. The framework aims to facilitate synergetic exchanges between different urban systems to increase resource efficiency, reduce waste, and provide societal, environmental, and economic benefits.

The majority of aircraft engine life cycle assessment (LCA), and more generally aeronautical products, focuses on the use, the extraction of raw materials, and the manufacturing phases. This focus seems logical since they represent a priori the most significant sources of impacts on the environment. The maintenance phase is usually overlooked and roughly modeled. However, it is precisely relevant as aircraft engines are high-value products, and airlines strive to maintain their engines to last the longest as possible.The maintenance phase can be considered as an additional life cycle for the product. It implies a vast diversity of swapped parts and repairs. The detailed LCA modeling would be an intricate analysis that would require huge work of inventory. Nevertheless, one has to tackle this objective, as LCA tends to be a reference methodology not only for environmental disclosure but also for eco-design activities for the aeronautical sector.This chapter proposes a methodology to model the overall maintenance of an aircraft engine throughout its whole life for LCA purposes. This model applies to the whole engine or parts of it. A generic flow diagram of maintenance in workshops has been built based on industrial experience. Then the simplifications of the model, required to make it viable, are introduced. The feasibility is evaluated with a use case on the repair of a specific engine part. Finally, this chapter proposes a discussion about the limits related to the assumptions, the simplifications, and the areas of improvement.

The reduction of the global environmental impact has been established as an overall responsibility of our time. In this context, the regulatory requirements, specifically the EU proposal for a new Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and Digital Product Passports, are becoming stricter. Companies that want to place physical goods on the EU market need to prepare for more specific reporting and wider scopes of monitoring their environmental impact. In this context, Digital Twins enable the representation and analysis of data and information of specific assets, e.g., products. This chapter focuses on applying the concept of Digital Twins of products to address the new regulatory requirements and depict an accurate environmental impact of an individual product along its lifecycle. First, the authors present relevant personas and user stories as well as the concept at a technical level, focusing on the underlying functional diagram, system architecture, IT infrastructure, and data modeling. Finally, insights from industrial applications of the concept within the automotive industry and the production of an orthosis with bio-based material are discussed. It is shown that the industrial application still faces challenges with regard to standardized cross-company data exchange as well as the interconnection of heterogeneous IT systems for data provisioning. At the same time, the potential of integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the creation of Digital Twins for monitoring the environmental impact of an individual asset is emphasized.

Cross-border electronic commerce (CBEC) is an essential contributor to global economic development as it opens up a global digital market for both production and consumption ends. However, CBEC inevitably poses threats to environmental sustainability because of the intensified carbon footprints through the convoluted and prolonged logistics processes for exporting and importing parties. While various CBEC logistics fulfillment operations (e.g., direct shipment or consolidated shipping; by sea or air freight; via free trade zone or not) have caused different environmental impacts, little is known about the environmental impacts of CBEC businesses, especially those impacts under different modes of CBEC logistics operations. This study contributes to this gap by developing a conceptual framework that dissects the processes of the CBEC logistics operations and assesses their carbon footprints throughout these processes. This chapter reports on an in-depth literature review that informs the conceptual framework that not only evaluates the environmental impacts of CBEC logistics but also enables comparisons of carbon footprints under different modes of logistics operations through scenario analysis. The proposed conceptual framework also illustrates the overall distribution of environmental impacts across CBEC operations. In general, this study is one of the earliest studies that focus on sustainability in CBEC. Theoretically, this study advances the knowledge of optimally managing the carbon footprints of various logistics operations modes in the CBEC context. Practically, this information can help CBEC business leaders to set the organization’s environmental strategic directions. The proposed framework also provides CBEC practitioners (e.g., suppliers, third-party logistics service providers, and platforms) with a comprehensive guideline to improve production and operation patterns and move toward greener strategies of business and operations management. Furthermore, and from a consumer perspective, the findings may inform future research on behavioral science to explore consumers’ willingness to comprise efficiency for environmentally-friendly alternatives. In these ways, this study on sustainability in CBEC logistics aims to contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).

In the current years, the artificial intelligence (AI) technique has been utilized for waste management due to its higher accuracy. Understanding the future disposal demand of wastewater (WW) and sludge generation accurately is essential for WW treatment and sludge management. This study proposed an AI-based approach to predict the daily demand for WW and generation amounts of sludge, demonstrated for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. A machine learning approach was developed to predict the daily disposal amounts of WW and generation amounts of sludge based on the daily records from a WW treatment plant. In the validation process, the monthly-mean accuracy of the predicted disposal amounts of WW for the last month of 2020 was about 98.0% (predicted by the Medium Gaussian SVM model). Meanwhile, the monthly-mean prediction accuracy of the sludge generation in the same period was increased from about 83.1% to 84.7% by using the proposed approach. The proposals on future applications were made for WW treatment, e.g., optimizing the personnel arrangement, procurement of chemicals, and prediction of the sludge generation. For sludge management, our proposals were made from future treatment plans and recovery of resources and energy aspects. This study demonstrated that the AI technique is helpful for waste management.

To cope with challenges influenced by population aging and workforce insufficiency, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics have been considered to improve productivity in the recycling industry. To understand the challenges in recycling better, we analyzed five mixed constructional waste recycling factories in Tokyo areas and nine kinds of sorting robots implemented worldwide. Research showed that sorting waste by materials is the hardest part of automated recycling; this activity still relies on the worker’s ability in Japan. Also, today’s waste sorting technology is still insufficient to replace manual sorting due to sorting accuracy problems and the inability to sort waste under unclear conditions. This research tries to figure out the ideal characteristic of waste recognition AI’s training data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the AI training process. Three characteristics tested in this research are “quantity of the targeted object,” “presence of shadows,” and “whole/partial appearance.”

In response to the transformation towards Industry 5.0, there is a growing call for manufacturing systems that prioritize environmental sustainability, alongside the emerging application of digital tools. Extended Reality (XR) — including Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR)—is one of the technologies identified as an enabler for Industry 5.0. XR could potentially also be a driver for more sustainable manufacturing: however, its potential environmental benefits have received limited attention. This paper aims to explore the current manufacturing applications and research within the field of XR technology connected to the environmental sustainability principle. The objectives of this paper are two-fold: (1) Identify the currently explored use cases of XR technology in literature and research, addressing environmental sustainability in manufacturing; (2) Provide guidance and references for industry and companies to use cases, toolboxes, methodologies, and workflows for implementing XR in environmental sustainable manufacturing practices. Based on the categorization of sustainability indicators, developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the authors analyzed and mapped the current literature, with criteria of pragmatic XR use cases for manufacturing. The exploration resulted in a mapping of the current applications and use cases of XR technology within manufacturing that has the potential to drive environmental sustainability. The results are presented as stated use-cases with reference to the literature, contributing as guidance and inspiration for future researchers or implementations in industry, using XR as a driver for environmental sustainability. Furthermore, the authors open up the discussion for future work and research to increase the attention of XR as a driver for environmental sustainability.

In the transition to circular economy, resource efficiency (RE) is at the intersection of environmental competitiveness and economic growth. However, studies found that industrial companies are struggling to use RE methods in daily operations as part of performance management beyond demonstrations in research projects. Both academia and industry need a better understanding about RE solutions in terms of their usability: production systems must be able to supply and manage good quality data. To close the knowledge gap, this chapter presents a feasibility study with a truck manufacturer focusing on processes to manufacture metal frame beam vehicle chassis. The feasibility study started both qualitatively and quantitatively with process mapping, material flow modelling, and energy efficiency analysis. The chapter presents findings from exploring and discussing data availability and quality to meet essential requirements for RE assessments. Besides proposing improvement actions to the case company, the chapter also recommends manufacturers perform a factory data evaluation before gathering additional data and working on specific RE indicators. Future collaborative studies with more manufacturers will help develop generalizable guidelines for factory data evaluation to support resource efficiency studies and sustainable manufacturing.

Continuous productivity improvement is an essential target in the manufacturing industry, and two key approaches to improving labor productivity are reducing costs and increasing value added. This study focuses on increasing value added by improving labor productivity, specifically through craftsmanship. Craftsmanship is based on slow manufacturing and contributes to the well-being of workers and sustainability. The study proposes a method for analyzing the pattern of importance of customer requirements by considering a combination of manufacturing skills and automation technologies. The method consists of three steps: introducing the Skill–Technology Index, making a quality function deployment matrix, and calculating and analyzing the importance pattern of customer requirements. The proposed method was applied to a glass manufacturer, and the calculated result was not significantly different from the pattern of the current importance of customer requirements set by the company. In future work, the proposed method will be improved to find the appropriate balance of craftsmanship and automation technology.

Flexible manufacturing technologies are gaining importance in recent years to produce a wide variety of geometries cost-effectively and eco-friendly. Reconfigurable tooling is one such technology that has the potential to replace costly dedicated tools with discrete pins that can be configured to the desired part shape by adjusting them locally. In the present work, a comprehensive review of reconfigurable tooling used in various manufacturing processes is presented, and challenges that need to be addressed to utilize it in the circular manufacturing context are emphasized. In addition, the beneficial role of component-specific cushion design on the tooling cost and maintenance is discussed.

Multi-material joints consisting of aluminium joined with a higher strength metal such as steel, titanium or copper enable the production of hybrid products utilizing the strength of both metals, at the same time achieving a lower weight and design flexibility. However, upon recycling, the separation of the two metals into the original base metal constituents is a major challenge since cross-contamination between different metals can degrade the recycling possibilities. This chapter discusses possible solutions and methods for the automated disjoining of multi-material joints by the application of fracture strain, utilizing the differences in mechanical properties between the base materials and the nature of the intermetallic phases to separate the materials. The chapter exemplifies the method for steel–Al and Cu–Al welds, including results from laboratory experiments showing how this method can ensure a separation with minimum iron contamination, and suggest how the disjoining using fracture strain can be automated.

Biological Transformation (BT) in manufacturing, also referred to as biologicalization, describes the new paradigm to converge technical, digital, and biological systems to promote sustainability-optimized product and production systems and, thus, meet the current challenges regarding sustainability and resilience. The project BioFusion 4.0 strives to refine Industry 4.0 by integrating biological principles, materials, and organisms. Therefore, relevant principles of Biological Transformation have been identified and classified as a taxonomy. However, there is a strong need for guidance regarding how to apply those principles in the manufacturing industry. Thus, a method to systematically align BT principles with specific technological problems was developed and tested by conducting a workshop series with six technology experts from applied research and industry. The method is based on an iterative top-down approach and follows four basic steps: (1) Characterizing the technological problem functionally and precisely, yet in a universal non-specialist language (including its framework, requirements, and state of development), (2) finding analogies from biology which match the characteristics of the established technical problem without contradiction, (3) identifying suitable biological solution strategies for these specific cases, and (4) abstracting those strategies into technological modes of action by means of the predefined BT principles. This chapter describes the method in detail, gives instructions for applying it, and discusses the central findings of the workshop series on utilizing principles of Biological Transformation for innovating product development.