Developing Adequate Communication of Waste Footprints of Products for a Circular Economy—A Stakeholder Consultation

Rafael Laurenti, Michael Martin and Åsa Stenmarck
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Rafael Laurenti: IPD Integrated Product Development, ITM School of Industrial Engineering and Management, KTH Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm. Brinellvägen 83, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Michael Martin: IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute. Valhallavägen 81, 114 27 Stockholm, Sweden
Åsa Stenmarck: IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute. Valhallavägen 81, 114 27 Stockholm, Sweden

Resources, 2018, vol. 7, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: Relatively few consumers are conscious of the waste generated in the course of producing the goods that they consume, although most are aware of the amount of waste they dispose of. This article reports on a small-scale survey (N = 28) among stakeholders aimed at developing adequate communication of preconsumer waste footprints of consumer goods in the context of the circular economy. Life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioners and consumers assessed five methodological details of an approach for calculating and communicating a product waste footprint (PWF). Most of the respondents expressed that the guidelines described in the proposed PWF methodology are good enough for the purposes of differentiating waste and byproducts, and defining which material flow shall be accounted for. Some LCA practitioners declared that the proposed streamlined method may not be adequate for conveying the environmental significance of waste types. The respondents also expressed that the PWF concept would be primarily useful and/or needed for consumers and government, and in the contexts of improving environmental awareness of consumers, environmental policy making, visualizing waste flows in a circular economy, and improving resource efficiency in industry, and less useful/needed in a business-to-business context. The PWF has been successfully used by diverse stakeholder groups in Sweden mostly to promote sustainable production and consumption across society. A notable example is the ‘invisible waste’ (#invisiblewaste) campaign of the Swedish Waste Management Association (Avfall Sverige). The concerns of the LCA experts have therefore not held true. The symbolic power and parsimony of the PWF concept appears to be effective in sensitizing consumers towards waste issues so that circular economy strategies beyond recycling are possible to be fully realized.

Keywords: waste; consumer awareness; product waste footprint; circular economy; life cycle assessment; method development; consumer goods; stakeholder consultation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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