Industry 4.0 and Circular Economy: Towards a Wasteless Future or a Wasteful Planet?

by Anders Waage Nilsen, Antonis Mavropoulos

Length: 448 pages
Edition: 1
Language: English
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 2020-11-16
ISBN-10: 1119699274
ISBN-13: 9781119699279
Sales Rank: #1428902 (See Top 100 Books)

How the marriage of Industry 4.0 and the Circular Economy can radically transform waste management—and our world

Do we really have to make a choice between a wasteless and nonproductive world or a wasteful and ultimately self-destructive one? Futurist and world-renowned waste management scientist Antonis Mavropoulos and sustainable business developer and digital strategist Anders Nilsen respond with a ringing and optimistic “No!” They explore the Earth-changing potential of a happy (and wasteless) marriage between Industry 4.0 and a Circular Economy that could—with properly reshaped waste management practices—deliver transformative environmental, health, and societal benefits. This book is about the possibility of a brand-new world and the challenges to achieve it.

The fourth industrial revolution has given us innovations including robotics, artificial intelligence, 3D-printing, and biotech. By using these technologies to advance the Circular Economy—where industry produces more durable materials and runs on its own byproducts—the waste management industry will become a central element of a more sustainable world and can ensure its own, but well beyond business as usual, future. Mavropoulos and Nilsen look at how this can be achieved—a wasteless world will require more waste management—and examine obstacles and opportunities such as demographics, urbanization, global warming, and the environmental strain caused by the rise of the global middle class.

Explore the new prevention, reduction, and elimination methods transforming waste management
Comprehend and capitalize on the business implications for the sector
Understand the theory via practical examples and case studies
Appreciate the social benefits of the new approach

Waste-management has always been vital for the protection of health and the environment. Now it can become a crucial role model in showing how Industry 4.0 and the Circular Economy can converge to ensure flourishing, sustainable—and much brighter—future.

Cover
Table of Contents
Foreword by Ad Lansink
Foreword by Dimitris Kaliampakos
Foreword by Erik Solheim
Series Preface
Preface
About the Authors
About the Graphic Designer
Endorsements
Glossary
    REFERENCES
Acronyms
Chapter 1: The End of Business as Usual
    1.1 THE TRILLION‐DOLLAR QUESTION
    1.2 THE FUTURE IS WARMER, URBANIZED, POLLUTED, AND RESOURCE‐HUNGRY
    1.3 IT CAN'T HAPPEN AGAIN
    1.4 IT'S ABOUT PEOPLE, NOT WASTE
    1.5 ABOUT THIS BOOK
    REFERENCES
Chapter 2: Understanding Industry 4.0
    2.1 THE FOUR INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONS
    2.2 INDUSTRY 4.0
    2.3 MORE WITH LESS AND THE REBOUND EFFECT
    2.4 RADICAL SOLUTIONS TO DIFFICULT PROBLEMS
    REFERENCES
Chapter 3: Un(mis)understanding Circular Economy
    3.1 A GLOBAL TREND
    3.2 CIRCULAR ECONOMY COMES FROM OUR PAST
    3.3 WHAT IS A CIRCULAR ECONOMY?
    3.4 FROM GOOD INTENTIONS TO SCIENCE
    3.5 CIRCULARITY IS NOT SUSTAINABILITY
    3.6 THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
    3.7 THE END OF GROWTH AS WE KNOW IT
    3.8 CIRCULAR ECONOMY FOR WHOM?
    3.9 IT'S HUGE, SYSTEMIC, UNCERTAIN BUT URGENTLY NEEDED
    REFERENCES
Chapter 4: Redefining Resources andWaste
    4.1 IND4.0 REDEFINES RESOURCES
    4.2 REDEFINING THE TERM “WASTE”
    4.3 WASTE HIERARCHY: UPGRADED OR OBSOLETE?
    4.4 SORRY, RECYCLING IS NOT CIRCULAR ECONOMY
    4.5 WASTE MANAGEMENT GOES BEYOND WASTE
    4.6 FINAL SINKS DURING THE ANTHROPOCENE
    4.7 CIRCULARITIES FOR MATERIALS‐ LINEARITIES FOR PEOPLE
    REFERENCES
Chapter 5: Waste Management 4.0
    5.1 PERCEPTIONS AND REALITY
    5.2 HARDWARE IN WASTE MANAGEMENT
    5.3SOFTWARE IN WASTE MANAGEMENT
    5.4 SELECTED CASE STUDIES
    5.5 THE VALUE OF OPENNESS
    REFERENCES
Chapter 6: Towards the Digitalization of the Waste Industry
    6.1 FROM WASTE MANAGEMENT TO RESOURCE INNOVATION
    6.2 LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
    6.3 EXPLORATION VERSUS EXPLOITATION
    6.4 FROM DIGITALIZATION TO NEW BUSINESS MODELS
    6.5 DEMOCRATIZING TECHNOLOGY
    REFERENCES
Chapter 7: The Rise of a NewScience
    7.1 THE RISE OF URBAN INFORMATICS
    7.2 ISLANDS OF INFORMATION IN OCEANS OF BIG DATA
    7.3 THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON
    7.4 FROM CITIES AS MACHINES TO CITIES AS ORGANISMS
    7.5 CIRCULAR ECONOMY: DIGITIZED OR DEAD
    REFERENCES
Chapter 8: Stairway to Heavenor Highway to Hell?
    8.1 CIRCULAR ECONOMY OR SPACE RACE?
    8.2 CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND IND4.0 AS ESSENTIALLY CONTESTED CONCEPTS
    8.3 SQUEEZING IND4.0 – UNDERMINING CIRCULAR ECONOMY
    8.4 GOVERNANCE IS THE KEY – CITIES ARE THE LOCK
    8.5 BEYOND BUSINESS AS USUAL OPTIMIZATION
    8.6 ENVIRONMENTAL INCREMENTALISM? NO, THANKS
    8.7 IND4.0 MEETS THE HORSE MANURE CRISIS
    8.8 NO SANITATION = NO SUSTAINABILITY
    8.9 ASK SISYPHUS THE TRILLION‐DOLLAR QUESTION
    REFERENCES
Epilogue: The Future Starts with You
Epilogue: Towards Irreversible Wastelands
Index
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