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 two guest lectures online in Zoom (see schedule and links on course page in Canvas).

Contact details

Examiner: Associate professor Maria Ljunggren, maria.ljunggren@chalmers.se
Course secretary: Harald Helander, harald.helander@chalmers.se

Teaching staff:
Adeline Jerome (AJ), Environmental Systems Analysis, adeline.jerome@chalmers.se
Alina Ridderstad (AR), Environmental Systems Analysis, alinar@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
Maria Ljunggren (ML), Environmental Systems Analysis, maria.ljunggren@chalmers.se
Oskar Rexfeldt (OR), Design & Human Factors, rex@chalmers.se

Guest lecturers:
Jelena Olsson (JO), Volvo Cars; Gustav Hedström (GH), Houdini Sportswear; Evalena Blomqvist (EB), Godsinlösen; Fabrice Mathieux (FM), 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 circular economy
• Critically discuss the implications of an increased circular economy for sustainable development
• Account for actors, their options, drivers and barriers for transitioning to a more circular economy
• Account for circular strategies, their potential benefits and drawbacks
• Formulate strategies towards an increased circular economy based on relevant theories, methods and tools from multiple disciplines
• Assess strategies towards an increased circular economy 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 natural resources for as long as possible. This may, in addition, create new opportunities for and requirements on business, users and policy makers across various stages of the life cycle. 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 environmental systems analysis, industrial ecology, industrial design, production engineering, supply 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 share and combine previous and new knowledge into a comprehensive understanding of the circular economy.

Theme 1 Material systems presents roots, rationales and core elements of resource-efficiency and a circular economy. Applying a systems perspective, physical resource flows are traced over the life cycle, including options for and implications of change through circular strategies such as durability, reuse, repair, remanufacturing and recycling. Modules in this theme are Circular strategies and Material resources.

Theme 2 Actors also applies a systems perspective over resource life cycles, focusing on options for and implications of circular strategies for actors such as users, companies and authorities. Modules in this theme are Users, Value chains and Public policy.

Theme 3 Synthesis and application 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 Introduction and summary, Project and Current cases.

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 eight 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, project supervision 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 schedule below).

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 free and 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 comprises 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 the document Project instructions (will be made available in Canvas).

The following activities are compulsory: all project hand ins, attendance at one of the project seminars (October 16) 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

TimeEdit

Course literature