A Bi-dimensional Assessment
to Measure the Performance of Circular
Economy: A Case Study of Tires
End-of-Life Management
Geoffrey Lonca, Romain Muggéo, Hugue Tétreault-Imbeault,
Sophie Bernard and Manuele Margni
Abstract Although circular initiatives emerge around the world, the process of
decoupling the economic activity from resource consumption and environmental
impacts is far of being achieved. The concept of circular economy embodies the
opportunity to reconcile an improved resource use while reducing the environmental footprint. Appropriate assessment metrics and methodologies are needed to
identify potential trade-off between these 2 sides of a single coin. In this paper, we
apply the Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to
analyse tires end-of-life strategies aiming at improving the circular flow of all tire
materials. Results reveal re-treading is interesting to produce trade-offs on environmental impacts while re-grooving offers a fully decoupled strategy that improves
material circularity avoiding environmental burdens. Further improvements should
integrate environmental assessment as well as economic factors to link micro scale
to macro scale contributions to sustainable development.
1 Introduction
Decoupling the economic activity from any form of social and ecological degradation is gaining recognition as a universal condition to increase—or at least
maintain—social welfare throughout generations (e.g. [1]). Since the idea of a
sustainable development appeared, it gave birth to some concepts related to more
G. Lonca (&) Á H. Tétreault-Imbeault Á M. Margni
Department of Chemical Engineering, CIRAIG, École Polytechnique
de Montréal, PO Box 6079 Stn. Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3A7, Canada
e-mail: geoffrey.lonca@polytml.ca
R. Muggéo
Centre de Technologies de Ladoux, M.F.P Michelin, 23 place des Carmes Déchaux,
Clermont-Ferrand 63040, France
S. Bernard
Department of Mathematical and Industrial Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal,
PO Box 6079 Stn. Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3A7, Canada
© The Author(s) 2018
E. Benetto et al. (eds.), Designing Sustainable Technologies,
Products and Policies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66981-6_4
33
to Measure the Performance of Circular
Economy: A Case Study of Tires
End-of-Life Management
Geoffrey Lonca, Romain Muggéo, Hugue Tétreault-Imbeault,
Sophie Bernard and Manuele Margni
Abstract Although circular initiatives emerge around the world, the process of
decoupling the economic activity from resource consumption and environmental
impacts is far of being achieved. The concept of circular economy embodies the
opportunity to reconcile an improved resource use while reducing the environmental footprint. Appropriate assessment metrics and methodologies are needed to
identify potential trade-off between these 2 sides of a single coin. In this paper, we
apply the Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to
analyse tires end-of-life strategies aiming at improving the circular flow of all tire
materials. Results reveal re-treading is interesting to produce trade-offs on environmental impacts while re-grooving offers a fully decoupled strategy that improves
material circularity avoiding environmental burdens. Further improvements should
integrate environmental assessment as well as economic factors to link micro scale
to macro scale contributions to sustainable development.
1 Introduction
Decoupling the economic activity from any form of social and ecological degradation is gaining recognition as a universal condition to increase—or at least
maintain—social welfare throughout generations (e.g. [1]). Since the idea of a
sustainable development appeared, it gave birth to some concepts related to more
G. Lonca (&) Á H. Tétreault-Imbeault Á M. Margni
Department of Chemical Engineering, CIRAIG, École Polytechnique
de Montréal, PO Box 6079 Stn. Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3A7, Canada
e-mail: geoffrey.lonca@polytml.ca
R. Muggéo
Centre de Technologies de Ladoux, M.F.P Michelin, 23 place des Carmes Déchaux,
Clermont-Ferrand 63040, France
S. Bernard
Department of Mathematical and Industrial Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal,
PO Box 6079 Stn. Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3A7, Canada
© The Author(s) 2018
E. Benetto et al. (eds.), Designing Sustainable Technologies,
Products and Policies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66981-6_4
33