Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used frequently as a decision support tool for evaluating different design choices for products based on their environmental impacts. A life cycle usually comprises several phases of varying timespans. The amount of emissions generated from different life cycle phases of a product could be significantly different from one another. In conventional LCA, the emissions generated from the life cycle phases of a product are aggregated at the inventory analysis stage, which is then used as an input for life cycle impact assessment. However, when the emissions are aggregated, the temporal variability of inventory data is ignored, which may result in inaccurate environmental impact assessment. Besides, the conventional LCA does not consider the environmental impact of circular products with multiple use cycles. It poses difficulties in identifying the hotspots of emission-intensive activities with the potential to mislead conclusions and implications for both practice and policy. To address this issue and to analyze the embedded temporal variations in inventory data in a CE context, the paper proposes calculating the emission intensity for each life cycle phase. It is argued that calculating and comparing emission intensity, based on the timespan and amount of emissions for individual life cycle phases, at the inventory analysis stage of LCA offers a complementary approach to the traditional aggregate emission-based LCA approach. In a circular scenario, it helps to identify significant issues during different life cycle phases and the relevant environmental performance improvement opportunities through product, business model, and supply chain design.

Plastic waste poses a critical challenge in the healthcare sector due to its predominant reliance on a linear “make-use-dispose” model, where plastics are typically incinerated or landfilled. This study examines Swedish healthcare waste management practices, encompassing Swedish and EU regulatory frameworks, hospital protocols, disinfection methods, and recycling processes. A key barrier to recycling healthcare plastic waste (HCPW) is the uncertainty surrounding effective decontamination. To overcome this, the paper proposes a circular solution involving on-site microwave-assisted disinfection and shredding, followed by chemical recycling through pyrolysis. This approach considers operational, legal, and technological landscapes and underscores the need for a multidisciplinary solution to enable the transition. This paper also presents a stakeholder collaboration and value capture matrix, identifying the shared value in collaboration among key stakeholders, including hospitals and healthcare service providers, on-site disinfection machine manufacturers, waste management firms, and chemical recycling companies, to advance recycling and foster a circular economy for HCPW.

Circular Economy (CE) promotes trading functions of a product as a service instead of selling the product in conventional ways. For a product like a baby stroller, the function means ensuring mobility with infants without needing to own a stroller. This approach of acquiring functions only when needed opens up the possibility to share the same products with multiple users. For a manufacturer that has built its business on a conventional sales model over the decades, this shift may be too radical. Therefore, for the manufacturers, it is important to understand consumer perceptions of the service-oriented business model before entering this unknown territory. To develop a thorough understanding of consumer perceptions of leasing a stroller instead of buying one, a survey among 200 parents in Stockholm is conducted. The survey brings out quantitative results such as 39% of respondents are open to leasing and identifies key influencing factors such as convenience and environmental image that play a key role for the remaining 61% of respondents to choose leasing. This research concludes that a large number of consumers are open to leasing if a high level of service and environmentally sustainable strollers are offered at a competitive price.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used frequently as a decision support tool for evaluating different design choices of products based on their environmental impacts. A life cycle usually comprises several phases of varying timespan. The amount of emissions generated from different life cycle phases of a product could be significantly different from one another. In conventional LCA, the emissions generated from the life cycle phases of a product are aggregated at the inventory analysis stage, which is then used as an input for life cycle impact assessment. However, when the emissions are aggregated, the temporal variability of inventory data is ignored, which may result in inaccurate environmental impact assessment. Besides, the conventional LCA does not consider the environmental impact of circular products with multiple use cycles. It poses difficulties in identifying the hotspots of emission-intensive activities with the potential to mislead conclusions and implications for both practice and policy. To address this issue and to analyse the embedded temporal variations in inventory data in a CE context, the paper proposes to calculate the emission intensity for each life cycle phase. It is argued that calculating and comparing emission intensity, based on the timespan and amount of emissions for individual life cycle phases, at the inventory analysis stage of LCA offers a complementary approach to the traditional aggregate emission-based LCA approach. In a circular scenario, it helps to identify significant issues during different life cycle phases and the relevant environmental performance improvement opportunities through product, business model and supply chain design.