What should be recycled: An integrated model for product recycling desirability

This research was focused on developing a new scientific approach for prioritising recycling of end-of-life products in a circular economy. To date, product complexity based on the mixture of materials has been used as a predictor of what gets recycled. While the separation of materials that make up a product has been modelled as a measure of product complexity, this does not taken into account the benefits and considerations in recycling products. In this paper, a new agenda and approach to prioritise the recycling of products was developed based on a recycling desirability index. The material mixing complexity measure was inverted into a simplicity index and then extended by modelling the security index for the mix of materials and the technological readiness level of recycling technologies. The extended model is proposed as an integrated measure of the desirability of recycling end-of-life products. From this analysis, an apparent recycling desirability boundary, enabling products to be prioritised for recycling, was developed. This model and analysis can be used as an information source in developing policies and product recycling priorities

The augmented unified localizable crisis scale

Trying to predict whether a crisis or emergency event is going to occur is a challenge, but attempting to do so without a quantifiable scale makes the task a virtual mission impossible. A crisis scale is also needed to perform effective post-crisis analysis. The extant scales, however, are inadequate. To address these issues, we developed the unified localizable crisis scale, but it only partially fulfills the prerequisites for effective emergency response and management. Among the features of the augmented unified localizable crisis scale that exploits the use of a critical emergency surface and a scheme for predicting when and how events can lead to emergency scenarios to improve forecasts about and responses to emergencies. Applicable to the measurement of any type of emergency or crisis, be it a natural or human-made event, the scale also enables users to compare dissimilar crisis events. This is of tremendous social value when, for example, the emergency responses to several regional or national emergencies need to be managed in parallel. In such situations, emergency response management teams can use the scale to evaluate the magnitudes and trajectories of the co-occurring emergencies, which will enable them to prioritize resource allocation and to take commensurate managerial actions. The efficacy and efficiency of the crisis scale is illustrated with several examples spanning local to national events