Chunhui Li

Circulation of Substances: Analysis of Logistics

To clarify the concept of mankind’s flow of material, this chapter will explore how material flows in the human socio-economic system and how the flow may be managed and optimized. Through the discussion in the previous chapters, we find that there are different environmental problems in different regions, and different environmental problems involve different types of substances. The natural circulation process of different material types and the process of human flow are also different. Beginning with the simplest material, scientific research is often performed with the principle of “simple and complex”; therefore, this chapter selects a simple substance. Based on their relationship with modern social and economic development and the resources and environment of this type of material, we select metal substances as the representative material for this topic.

Circular Economy and Sustainable Development Enterprises

This textbook systematically addresses why and how Circular Economy should be developed and practiced by employing a Discussion and Research (D&R) teaching method. This method allows us to show the whole process of academic research, from formulating the key questions, to methodology design, and ultimately to conclusions and applications. In addition, the suggested class discussions and group homework provide good opportunities for participant cooperation and exchange. In this textbook, all chapters and sections are intended to answer specific scientific key or sub-key questions, while all chapters are also internally structured logically and systematically, from question to final conclusion. This textbook may help to boost student performance in science and research and was selected for inclusion in the 13th Five-Year planning teaching materials for regular higher education in China.

Circulation Flow of Material: Fixed-Point Logistics Analysis

There are two representative methods of material flow analysis: the tracking method that focuses on the material particle and the fixed-point method that focuses on a particular region. The previous chapter explored the tracking method of logistics analysis. This chapter will focus on the fixed-point method combined with the Yale University logistics analysis framework to study the evolution of its scientific research process.

Value Flow of a Circular Economy

The anthropogenic flow of material was thoroughly discussed in Chaps. 4 through 6; specifically, the basic process of material circular flow was analyzed to obtain the basic laws of ecological efficiency, circulation rate, yield change, and other parameters that change during the circular flow process.

Cyclic Flow of Material: Concepts and Classifications

Resource shortages and environmental deterioration are primarily attributed to the disturbance caused by human activities beyond the natural capacity, and the primary purpose of human activity is to satisfy the material and cultural demands of people, which means that the primary object of human activity is “material.” By using material resource processing, transformation, transportation, and other social and economic activities, the service goal of human demands can be satisfied. Therefore, improvement of resources and the environment should first focus on the “material” flow. What is the flow of material? What are the basic laws of material flow? How can we assess the flow state of material? How can we optimize and manage material? These issues are the theoretical basis for the circular economy development and will be discussed separately in the next three chapters.

Assessment of Environmentally Friendly Enterprises

In the previous chapters, we have discussed a method to evaluate the environmental performance of the product (or service) provided by an enterprise, specifically, the product LCA method, and we have also discussed methods to avoid poor sourcing methods for the environmental performance of the product (or service), namely to perform eco-design for each element of the product or service and its entire life cycle.

Circular Economy Guarantee System

In the previous chapters, we defined the pattern of a circular economy, including the type of flow relationship that material energy and value should have and the type of implementation method to apply to different scales ranging from enterprise to region; all of these become important objectives when implementing a circular economy.

Enterprise Environmental Management

From the previous discussion, we know that a sustainable development enterprise should be able to constantly provide high-quality services to society and receive economic benefits during the service process and, simultaneously, continuously improve environmental quality during its business activities. Under the existing environment “bottleneck,” the improvement of environmental performance should be especially emphasized in the enterprise’s development; therefore, an environmentally friendly enterprise becomes the key emphasis during this stage of an enterprise’s improvement.

Sustainable Development Enterprise

From the analysis in the previous chapters, it can be observed that a circular economy has a complex structure and its economic component has an enterprise as the minimum independent accounting and basic work unit.

Sustainable Development Management

Because many natural resources are limited and the environmental quality of many areas is poor, environmental management is still very necessary.