This study investigates under which circumstances increases in circularity through the reuse of use-phase-intensive electrical and electronic equipment lead to environmental benefits. We combine dynamic material flow analysis (dMFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) to assess a Circular Economy strategy toward its environmental sustainability on midpoint and endpoint levels. The hybrid approach measures long-term implications of policy decisions in multiple impact categories and shows the need to comprehensively evaluate Circular Economy activities. We apply the approach to the strategy of setting reuse targets in a case study on washing machines in Germany. As a consequence of a reuse target, the product portfolio changes over time. The resulting stocks and flows are calculated in a dMFA, and attributed with the respective LCA-based environmental impacts. We present cumulated impacts between 2015 and 2050 for scenarios with different reuse targets for 18 midpoints and three endpoints of the impact assessment method ReCiPe 2016, and the cumulative energy demand. The latest proposal of a 5% reuse target results in average impact reductions of 1% compared to “business as usual.” An increase of reuse up to 87% results in an average impact reduction of 9%, ranging from an increase of 1% (water consumption) to a decrease up to 26% (land use). This shows that even high reuse rates only have a limited leverage on reducing environmental impacts and that it is therefore necessary to include detailed environmental assessments in a holistic evaluation of Circular Economy activities. This article met the requirements for a gold-gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges.

中文翻译：

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增加循环性是否会导致环境可持续性？：德国洗衣机再利用案例

本研究调查了在哪些情况下通过重复使用使用阶段密集型电气和电子设备来增加循环性，从而带来环境效益。我们结合动态物质流分析 (dMFA) 和生命周期评估 (LCA) 来评估循环经济战略在中点和终点水平上的环境可持续性。混合方法在多个影响类别中衡量政策决策的长期影响，并表明需要全面评估循环经济活动。在德国洗衣机的案例研究中，我们将该方法应用于设定再利用目标的策略。作为重用目标的结果，产品组合随时间变化。由此产生的存量和流量在 dMFA 中计算，并归因于各自基于 LCA 的环境影响。我们针对影响评估方法 ReCiPe 2016 的 18 个中点和三个端点的不同再利用目标的情景，以及累积能源需求，呈现了 2015 年至 2050 年之间的累积影响。与“一切照旧”相比，5% 的再利用目标的最新提议平均减少了 1% 的影响。再利用率增加高达 87% 导致平均影响减少 9%，范围从增加 1% (用水量）减少高达 26%（土地使用）。这表明即使高再利用率对减少环境影响的影响也很有限，因此有必要在循环经济活动的整体评估中纳入详细的环境评估。本文满足了http://jie.click/badges 上描述的金-金JIE数据开放徽章的要求。