The implementation of circular economy in the Portuguese natural stone sector

• Autor(a) principal: Klünter, Hans Ricardo
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/21446
• topic: Education and economic development; Sustainable development; Nonrenewable resources; Sustainability; Recycling - Circular economy

This Pedagogical Case project was created from an initial case study in a medium enterprise from the ornamental stones industry. The observation and perception of ornamental/natural stones sector processes, from extraction to processing, brought new approaches on the case. Thus, a decision was taken to develop a Pedagogical Case Study hoping to give an understanding of resource scarcity, sustainability, circular economy and the natural stone production. After introducing the terminology and basic concepts the Portuguese natural stone manufacturer Solancis is presented to underline its exemplary position of environmentally responsible operation. Key elements are highlighted and based on current research in the fields of environmental impact analysis of life cycle assessments and the construction sector with building information modelling in order to propose an innovative business strategy in the natural stone industry. Resulting benefits can be observed in all three dimensions of sustainability and guide to overcome the current challenges of implementing the concept. Energy intensive processes such as the quarrying could be smoothed through circular economy and lower environmental impacts, lower costs and benefit the surrounding communities. The burdens currently are the standardization of the natural stone products and designing them for reuse, consumer behaviour and awareness regarding environmental impacts of products. Penetrating an untouched gap in the market and the resulting marketable image of the products in connection with the necessity of turning the business towards circular economy to ensure long-term sustainable production, which is not dependable on a depleting resource fortifies the potential and necessity of this strategy.