MUTUAL STRENGTHENING BETWEEN THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND LIFE CYCLE TOOLS

Abstract

Introduction:
To respond to the objectives of the 2030 Agenda, consumption and production patterns are required to stop being linear and switch to the circular economy (CE) model. The circularity of the flows of materials and resources must be measurable and can be supported by life cycle tools for decision-making, which allow the evaluation of the environmental, social, and cost impacts of products or services.
Objective:
To show that life cycle tools and circularity indicators reinforce each other, to achieve a more sustainable production and consumption model.
Materials and Methods:
A search for publications between 2018 and 2022 was carried out, which integrated Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Cost (LCC), and Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) methodologies with circularity indicators. They were analyzed by classifying them according to the Circularity of Materials Indicators (CMI), Analysis of Material Flow (AMF) and others.
Results and Discussion:
Circularity indicators have limitations in terms of material recycling quality factors, environmental aspects, and standardization, which is why they require LCA, LCC, and S-LCA. For their part, these methodologies require indicators to guarantee the degree of circularity of the alternatives evaluated and recommended as best.
Conclusions:
The application of life cycle tools and circularity indicators made it possible to verify that they are complementary and mutually reinforcing, which results in evaluations that comply with the pillars of sustainability.