Objetivo
Increasing rates of consumption and disposal result in products that arrive to their end-of-use stage while retaining economic value and suitable for reuse and recycling. Although theoretically promising, relatively few circular supply loops are self-sustaining in practice. This evidence raises the question of why voluntary economically viable product end-of-use management network of agents that are involved in such activities (i.e. recycler, remanufacturer, consumer, collector, etc.) are not operating on a large scale yet. In response, I argue that such networks are complex systems and not well understood as yet. Therefore, in this research I propose to advance the knowledge and understanding of how such networks of product end-of-use (EoU) agents emerge and evolve in response to market conditions, regulation, and changes in each other’s corporate strategy. I propose to combine industrial ecology and operations management concepts using agent-based models with data from the U.S. and Israel as a tool to examine environmental and economic performance patterns of each agent and the overall network (i.e. the market). The socio-economic rationale for this research is the need for better understanding how to design product EoU collection and processing networks in order to increase dramatically the economic and environmental efficiency of such systems. This research is valuable to policy makers formulating and revising product EoU regulations and to the different EoU agents looking to gain competitive advantage while complying with regulations. It combines methods from the industrial ecology and management disciplines and such interdisciplinary approach to a very timely manner problem aligns well with the work program goals. The researcher had partnered with multiple researchers and industrial contacts to collaborate on this research; these relationships will enable her to disseminate the findings and turn them into applied solutions.
Ámbito científico
Convocatoria de propuestas
FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG
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Régimen de financiación
MC-IRG - International Re-integration Grants (IRG)Coordinador
69978 Tel Aviv
Israel