Circular economy (TEK680) is a 7.5 credit course given in study period 1 by the division of Environmental Systems Analysis (ESA) at Chalmers University of Technology.

Location

The majority of the course is given on campus as non-recorded live lectures without online availability with the exception of some exercises and invited lectures online in Zoom (links on course page in Canvas). 

Contact details

Examiner: Associate professor Maria Ljunggren, maria.ljunggren@chalmers.se, 031-772 2132

Course secretary: PhD candidate Harald Helander, harald.helander@chalmers.se

Teaching staff:

• Adam Mallalieu (AM), Product Development, adammal@chalmers.se
• Adeline Jerome (AJ), Environmental Systems Analysis, adeline.jerome@chalmers.se
• Árni Halldórsson (AH), Service Management and Logistics, arni.halldorsson@chalmers.se
• Erik Sundin (ER), Manufacturing Engineering, Linköping University, erik.sundin@liu.se
• Harald Helander (HH), Environmental Systems Analysis, harald.helander@chalmers.se
• Lars Almefelt (LA), Product Development, lars.almefelt@chalmers.se
• Maria Ljunggren (ML), Environmental Systems Analysis, maria.ljunggren@chalmers.se
• Mudit Chordia (MC), Environmental Systems Analysis, mudit@chalmers.se
• Oskar Rexfeldt (OR), Design & Human Factors, rex@chalmers.se

Real case lecturers:

Evalena Blomqvist, Godsinlösen; Gustav Hedström, Houdini Sportswear; Linnea Petersson, Volvo Cars; Fabrice Mathieux, Joint Research Centre, European Commission.

Aim

The course aims to provide students with a rich understanding of the opportunities and limitations of transitioning to a more resource-efficient and circular economy. Drawing from multiple disciplines, including engineering, management and sustainability sciences, students gain knowledge on underlying principles and visions as well as theory and tools that support the formulation and assessment of resource-efficient and circular strategies. By exploring real-world examples, students synthesize and apply the knowledge gained.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to):

• Describe historic and future projections of natural resource use and associated sustainability challenges
• Describe visions and underlying principles of various approaches to resource-efficiency and circular economy
• Critically discuss the implications of increased resource-efficiency and circularity for sustainable development
• Account for actors, their options, drivers and barriers for transitioning to a more resource-efficient and circular economy
• Account for resource-efficient and physical circular strategies, their potential benefits and drawbacks

• Formulate strategies towards increased resource-efficiency and circularity based on relevant theories, methods and tools from multiple disciplines
• Assess strategies towards increased resource-efficiency and circularity based on relevant theories, methods and tools from multiple disciplines.

• Communicate orally and in writing the knowledge and skills acquired

Content

A more circular economy is suggested as an essential contribution to a more sustainable, low carbon, resource-efficient and competitive economy. Strategies over the full life cycle – from product design and raw material extraction to use, reuse, repair, remanufacturing and recycling – are suggested as ways of maintaining the value of products, materials and resources for as long as possible. This may, in addition, create new opportunities for and requirements on business, users and policy across various stages of the value chain. The course aims to provide a rich understanding of the circular economy, its opportunities and limitations as well as concrete examples of current circular practice. It covers theory, methods and tools from industrial ecology, product design, production engineering, value chain management and policy, presented in the context of the circular economy. Designed for students of various disciplinary backgrounds, it aims to encourage students to combine previous and new knowledge into a comprehensive understanding of the circular economy.

Theme 1 presents roots, rationales and core elements of resource-efficiency and a circular economy. Applying a systems perspective, both physical resource flows and actors are traced over the life cycle, including options for and implications of change. Modules in this theme are Industrial ecology, Value chain management and Public policy.

Theme 2 addresses in more detail product design and development, use and circular strategies such as durability, reuse, repair, remanufacturing and recycling. Modules in this theme are Circular strategies, Product design and development and User perspective.

Theme 3 aims for synthesis and application of the course content. It runs in parallel with the others and explores real-world examples of resource-efficient and circular solutions while gradually introducing knowledge from Themes 1 and 2. The modules are Project and Real cases of circular economy.

Theme 0: there are specific course prerequisites on basic university-level knowledge in environmental science or environmental engineering. For students in need of revising such knowledge some support can be found in four narrated mini lectures available on the course page: Planetary boundaries part 1 and 2, Models of sustainability and The engineer and sustainability (each around 7 minutes). It is highly recommended to study these films before or early in the course, especially for students that follow other master programmes than Industrial ecology.

Organisation

The course is comprised of a series of lectures given by lecturers from various disciplines and by invited guests from industry and authorities. There are six major stand-alone exercises while shorter ones are integrated in the lectures. A project will be conducted in multi-disciplinary groups. Lectures, exercises, project instructions as well as some literature is published on the course website.

The majority of lectures, exercises and final project seminars (compulsory) will be held on campus as non-recorded live lectures without online availability. Some invited lectures and exercises will be held online (see syllabus). The weekly project supervision is held on campus or online as agreed upon by the student group and its supervisor.

Communication

The communication outside schedule will mainly be conducted through Canvas. Announcements from teachers will be made through Canvas. For contacting the teachers, use the e-mailing function in Canvas. Questions that are of more general interest can be asked in Discussions in Canvas. There is a mobile app for Canvas.

Literature

The complete collection of articles and reports is listed at the end of this page. Most are available electronically at Chalmers library or through google scholar and should be retrieved by the students themselves. Some literature not otherwise available is found on the course page in Canvas. All lectures (including guests’) are part of the course requirements.

Examination and compulsory elements

The examination of the course is comprised of an individual written exam and a group project.

The final course grade is determined by the exam and the group project, with a maximum of 60 credits to the exam and 40 credits to the project. The maximum summarized credits are 100, based on which the final course grade is set. Requirements for final course grades 3/4/5 are 60/70/85 credits. Details on the project grading are presented in Project instructions.

The following activities are compulsory: all project hand ins, attendance at one of the project seminars (October 19) and individual assessment of project group peers (see separate document Project instructions). All compulsory activities must be attended or completed before the course can be passed.

Schedule

W	Day	Date	Time*	Location	Module	Action	Teacher	Literature
1	Monday	Aug 29	8-10	HA3	Introduction		ML	1-5
			10-12	HA3	Industrial ecology		ML
	Wednesday	Aug 31	10-12	HC1	Circular strategies		ML	11
			13-15	HC1	Industrial ecology		ML	6-9
			15-17	HC1	Industrial ecology: exercise and Project: overview		ML, AJ, HH, MC
2	Monday	Sep 5	8-10	HA3	Circular strategies		ML	12
			10-12	HA3/Zoom	Circular strategies		ES	13
	Wednesday	Sep 7	10-12	HC1	Product design and development		LA
			13-14	HC1	Real cases: Godsinlösen		EB, ML
			14-17	HC1	Project: Introduction (14-15), Supervision (15-17) (ca 15 minutes/group)		ML, AJ, HH, MC
3	Monday	Sep 12	8-10	HA3	Product design and development		LA	14-15
			10-12	HA3	User perspective		OR	16
	Wednesday	Sep 14	10-12	Zoom	User perspective: exercise		OR
			13-15	Zoom	User perspective: exercise		OR
			15-17	HC1	Project: Project pitch (15-16), Supervision (16-17) (ca 10 minutes/group)	Pitch	ML, AJ, HH, MC
	Friday	Sep 16	13.00		Project: Hand in of revised pitch and time plan	Hand in
4	Monday	Sep 19	8-12	HA3	Industrial ecology		ML	10
	Wednesday	Sep 21	10-12	HC1	Industrial ecology		ML
			13-15	ED, EE	Product design and development: exercise		LA, AM
			15-17	HC1	Project: Supervision (ca 15 minutes/group)		ML, AJ, HH, MC
5	Monday	Sep 26	8-11	HA3	Value chain management		AH	17-19 tbc
			11-12	HA3/Zoom	Real cases: Houdini sportswear		GH, ML
	Wednesday	Sep 28	10-12	HC1	Value chain management		AH
			13-15	HC1	Value chain management: exercise		AH
			15-17	HC1	Project: Supervision (ca 15 minutes/group)		ML, AJ, HH, MC
6	Monday	Oct 3	8-11	HA3	Public policy		ML	20-21
			11-12	HA3/Zoom	Real cases: European Commission Joint Research Centre		FM, ML	22
	Wednesday	Oct 5	10-12	HC1	Public policy		ML	23
			13-14	HC1	Real cases: Volvo Cars		LP, ML
			14-15	HC1	Public policy		ML
			15-17	HC1	Project: Supervision (ca 15 minutes/group)		ML, AJ, HH, MC
7					Few scheduled activities this week. Project work is suggested.
	Monday	Oct 10	8-12	Zoom	Project: project supervision (voluntary)		ML, AJ, HH, MC
	Wednesday	Oct 12	17.00		Project: Hand in of project report	Hand in
8	Monday	Oct 17	8-12	HA3	Summary: final exercise and course summary		ML, AJ, HH, MC	24
			17.00		Project: Hand in of peer assessment of draft report	Hand in
	Wednesday	Oct 19	8-10	HC1	Project: Project seminar I	One	ML, AJ, HH, MC
			10-12	HC1	Project: Project seminar II	seminar is	ML, AJ, HH, MC
			13-15	HC1	Project: Project seminar III	compulsory	ML, AJ, HH, MC
			15-17	HC1	Project: Project seminar IV		ML, AJ, HH, MC
	Thursday	Oct 20	17.00		Project: Hand in of final project report	Hand in
	Friday	Oct 21	12.00		Project: Hand in of individual assessment of group peers	Hand in
		Oct 24	PM		Original exam
		Jan 3	PM		Make-up exam 1
		Aug 16	PM		Make-up exam 2

* NB Morning lectures start on the hour, afternoon lectures 15 minutes past, all are 45 minutes. tbc = to be confirmed

Modules: Introduction, Industrial ecology, Circular strategies, Product design and development, User perspective, Value chain management, Public policy, Project, Real cases, Summary

Teachers: Adam Mallalieu (AM), Adeline Jerome (AJ), Árni Halldórsson (AH), Erik Sundin (ES), Harald Helander (HH), Lars Almefelt (LA), Maria Ljunggren (ML), Mudit Chordia (MC), Oskar Rexfelt (OR)

Real case lecturers: Eva-Lena Blomqvist (EB) Godsinlösen, Gustav Hedström (GH) Houdini sportswear, Linnea Petersson (LP) Volvo Cars, Fabrice Mathieux (FM) European Commission’s Joint research Centre

TimeEdit

Literature

Module	Note: Numbering refers to first time introduced in lectures, see schedule. NOTE page numbers
Intro	1. Stahel, W. R. (2016). The circular economy. Nature News, 531(7595), pp 435-438. (Chalmers lib.) 2. Benton, D., Hazel, J. and Hill, J. (2014) The guide to the circular economy. Capturing value and managing material risk, Oxford: DoSustainbility, pp 17-55. (Canvas) 3. Kirchherr, J., Reike, D., & Hekkert, M. (2017). Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 127, pp 221-232. (Chalmers lib.) 4. Blomsma, F., & Brennan, G. (2017). The emergence of circular economy: A new framing around prolonging resource productivity. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 21(3), NOTE only pp 606-610. (Chalmers lib.) 5. European Environment Agency (2020) Resource efficiency and the circular economy in Europe 2019 – even more from less, EEA report no 26/2019, NOTE: only Executive summary, pp. 10-11 (Canvas)
IE	6. IRP (2019). Global Resources Outlook 2019: Natural Resources for the Future We Want. Implications for business leaders. International Resource Panel. United Nations Environment Programme. Nairobi, Kenya. NOTE only pp 17-25 (Canvas) 7. UNEP and IRP (2020). Sustainable Trade in Resources: Global Material Flows, Circularity and Trade. Fact sheet. United Nations Environment Programme. Nairobi, Kenya (Canvas) 8. Sonderegger, T., Dewulf, J., Fantke, P., de Souza, D. M., Pfister, S., Stoessel, F., Verones, F., Vieira, M., Weidema, B. & Hellweg, S. (2017). Towards harmonizing natural resources as an area of protection in life cycle impact assessment. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 22(12), NOTE only Section 2, pp. 1914-1915. (Chalmers lib.) 9. European Commission (2020) Communication from the Commission to the European parliament, the Council and European Economic and social Committee and the Committee of the regions. Critical Raw Materials Resilience: Charting a Path towards greater Security and Sustainability COM/2020/474 final (Canvas) 10. Jerome, A., Helander, H., Ljunggren, M. and Janssen, M., 2022. Mapping and testing circular economy product-level indicators: a critical review. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 178, p.106080-106093. (Chalmers lib.)
CS	11. Böckin, D., Willskytt, S., André, H., Tillman, A.M. and Söderman, M.L., 2020. How product characteristics can guide measures for resource efficiency—A synthesis of assessment studies. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 154, p.104582. (Chalmers lib.) 12. Graedel, T. E., Allwood, J., Birat, J. P., Buchert, M., Hagelüken, C., Reck, B. K., Sibley, S. F. & Sonnemann, G. (2011). What do we know about metal recycling rates?. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 15(3), 355-366. (Chalmers lib.) 13. Sundin E. and Bras B. (2005) Making Functional Sales Environmentally and Economically Beneficial through Product Remanufacturing. Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 13, Issue 9, pp 913-925. (Chalmers lib.)
PD	14. Bakker, C.A., den Hollander, M.C., van Hinte, E. and Zijlstra Y. (2016) Products that last: product design for circular business models, excerpt pp 83-107 (Canvas) 15. Carlsson, S., Mallalieu, A., Almefelt, L. and Malmqvist, J., 2021. Design for longevity-a framework to support the designing of a product's optimal lifetime. Proceedings of the Design Society, 1, pp.1003-1012 (Canvas).
UP	16. Selvefors, A., Rexfelt, O., Renström, S., & Strömberg, H. (2019). Use to use – A user perspective on product circularity. Journal of Cleaner Production, 223, 1014-1028. (Canvas)
VC	17. Blackburn, J.D., Guide Jr., V.D.R., Souza, G.C. & Van Wassenhove, L.N. (2004), Reverse Supply Chains for Commercial Returns, California Management Review, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 6-22. (Chalmers lib.) 18. Lüdeke‐Freund, F., Gold, S. and Bocken, N. M. (2019), A Review and Typology of Circular Economy Business Model Patterns. Journal of Industrial Ecology, vol 23, pp. 36-61. (Chalmers lib.) 19. Gatenholm, G., Halldórsson, Á. and Bäckstrand, J. (2021), Enhanced circularity in aftermarkets: logistics tradeoffs, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management (Chalmers lib.)
PP	20. Peck et al (2019) Circular economy – sustainable materials management, NOTE only sections 4.3-4.5 (Canvas) 21. European Commission (2020) Communication from the Commission to the European parliament, the Council and European Economic and social Committee and the Committee of the regions. A new Circular Economy Action Plan For a cleaner and more competitive Europe. COM/2020/98 final (Canvas) 22. Mathieux, F., Ardente, F. and Bobba, S., 2020. Ten years of scientific support for integrating circular economy requirements in the EU ecodesign directive: Overview and lessons learnt. Procedia CIRP, 90, pp.137-142 (Chalmers lib.) 23. European Environment Agency (2020) Resource efficiency and the circular economy in Europe 2019 – even more from less, EEA report no 26/2019, NOTE only pp. 120-130 (Canvas)
Summary	24. Corvellec, H., Stowell, A.F. and Johansson, N., 2022. Critiques of the circular economy. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 26(2), pp.421-432 (Chalmers lib.)
Theme 0	There are course prerequisites on basic university-level knowledge in environmental science and environmental engineering. For students in need of revising such knowledge, some support can be found in the four narrated mini lectures (all around 7 minutes each): Planetary boundaries part 1 and 2, Models of sustainable development, The engineer and sustainability, content: Ulrika Palme, ESA, narrator: Anna Nyström Claesson, ESA (Canvas)