Does recycling equal decoupling? A Business Model-LCA case study of a novel recycling service for tissue products, on two different markets
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master's Thesis
Master's Thesis
Program
Industrial ecology (MPTSE), MSc
Publicerad
2024
Författare
Sivengård, Fabian
Solér , Björn
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Circular business models are commonly assumed to facilitate the transition to a more circular and sustainable economy (Böckin et al., 2022). However, the actual environmental performance of these business models is seldom properly assessed. Therefore, Böckin et al. (2022) introduced the methodology of business model life cycle assessment (BM-LCA), which serves to quantitatively assess and compare the environmental impacts of business models themselves.
Previous studies employing the BM-LCA methodology have examined circularity and servitisation in business models, and explored the potential for business model innovation, but call for further applications of the method (Baumann, 2023; Goffetti et al., 2022). In this study, BM-LCA is applied to investigate a novel closed-loop recycling service for a single-use tissue product, deployed by a multinational hygiene products company. The aim is to assess the potential of the recycling service to lead to decoupling of environmental impact from the economic performance of the company’s business models around the given tissue product.
The study considers four different business model scenarios on the German and Swedish markets respectively, based on the actual production and business models in these markets. The study frames different scales of the recycling loop, firstly, the theoretical scenario of 100% closed-loop recycling, and secondly, the recycling service’s maximal practically feasible capacity in Germany of 20%. The third scenario represents the linear production from externally purchased recovered waste paper, while the fourth represents the linear production from 100% fresh wood based fibre.
The study considers two impact categories, Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Forest Area. The impact assessment and sensitivity analysis cater for concluding that the recycling service contributes to decoupling of the total environmental impact (taking both impact categories into account) from economic performance, compared to the linear business model scenarios. The decoupling potential is unambiguous with regards to the forest area impact category. The 100% recycling loop scenario also has the lowest GWP impact score, but the difference to the second and third scenario is marginal. In fact, the second scenario (20% recycling loop) has slightly higher GWP impact than the third scenario, in which there is no closed-loop recycling. This offers some ambiguity regarding the decoupling potential of the recycling service with regards to GWP impact.
The study explores the environmental hotspots of the business models scenarios and how they differ between markets. In Sweden, the greatest share of the GWP impact derives from upstream production, while on the German market, the hotspot is the production processes themselves. A sensitivity analysis of specific market parameters shows that the environmental performance of the circular business model scenarios is highly dependent on i.e. revenue margins, energy prices, electricity mix and waste management system.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Life cycle assessment , Business model , Circular business model , Tissue product , Market analysis