A framework to open the black box of the use phase in circular economy life cycle assessments: The case of shell jacket reuse

Life cycle assessments of circular economy measures (CE LCA) of consumer products have been criticized for oversimplifying important aspects of the use phase such as user behavior and rebound effects, limiting our understanding of the environmental performance of circular economy measures. This study tests the usefulness of a framework designed to facilitate accounting for such aspects, by applying the framework to a case study of reuse of shell jackets enabled by premium secondhand outdoor stores. Methods for collecting use phase data were user surveys and interviews with store managers. Using the framework on this case study generated several novel insights which are interesting in themselves and as inputs to CE LCA. For instance, secondhand shell jackets have a significantly lower frequency of use during their first use span compared to the second and to shell jackets in the linear reference scenario. This implies that reuse in this case does not function as a mere use extension of otherwise similar use phases as is commonly assumed. The generation of such insights, which hitherto have been lacking in CE LCAs, points to the usefulness of the framework as a tool for opening the black box of the use phase in CE LCAs to improve understanding of the environmental performance of circular economy measures.

Automated summary

Life cycle assessments of circular economy measures often oversimplify important aspects of the use phase, limiting our understanding of their environmental performance. This study tests a framework designed to account for user behavior and rebound effects, using a case study of secondhand shell jackets. Applying the framework generated novel insights that can improve future assessments and understanding of circular economy measures.