Implementation of Circular Material Flows: Challenges and Opportunities when Reusing Components at a Swedish Luminaire Manufacturing Company
2024 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE credits
Student thesis
Sustainable development
Sustainable Development
Abstract [en]
With the escalating scarcity of raw materials, the significance of material recovery and circular economy has become more pronounced than ever. This thesis will investigate the implementation of circular material flows on an organizational level, aiming to mitigate the environmental impact. Furthermore, it examines the influencing impacts of environmental and economic aspects, respectively, and what opportunities and challenges can be associated withsuch implementation. Through a combination of interviews and action research, both qualitativeand quantitative data were received. The authors realized a matrix of combined methods for analyzing the economic and environmental data to present the findings of the action research and emphasize the influential impacts. The results demonstrate a practical investigation by implementing reused material at a luminaire manufacturing company and analyzing the environmental and economic aspects. The findings of the action research show that manufacturing has a critical impact on the internal economic and environmental aspects. The results from interviews and action research address theidentified challenges and opportunities for the processes of implementing reused material. This study contributes partly through the frameworks developed for concept evaluation based on economic and environmental aspects that can be used in future concept evaluations. It also contributes to the ongoing sustainable development within the luminaire industry. The findings can further be used for the development of circular material implementation strategies for the collaborating company. Moreover, the thesis work will contribute to the overall enhancement of the implementation of circular material flows by utilizing reused components and materials.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2024. , p. 83
Keywords [en]
Circular, Sustainable, Material flow, Input-Output, Reuse, By-products
National Category
Materials Engineering Environmental Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-66409OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hj-66409DiVA, id: diva2:1905297
External cooperation
Fagerhults Belysning
Supervisors
Examiners
2024-11-182024-10-132025-10-13Bibliographically approved