The circular economy and resource use reduction: A case study of long-term resource efficiency measures in a medium manufacturing company

Manufacturers are often identified as agents of change to conserve resources. The circular economy is the paradigm of the societal operation model that aims to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation through a system of efficiency measures. However, a growing body of literature reported the failure of efficiency measures to conserve energy and resources in the current socio-economic environment. Several complex compensatory mechanisms called the rebound effect were reported to offset efficiency gains and resulted in higher resource use.

In this paper, we addressed the lack of data on the microeconomic one-company rebound effect investigation by presenting the case study of a medium manufacturer from the US that implemented energy, water and material efficiency measures. While the company qualified as a top-performing “circularity developer” according to the published self-assessment questionnaire, it retained its linear business model. Energy efficiency and renewable energy measures resulted in a short-term rebound effect of 161% or backfire. In the long term, the rebound effect of 25% was calculated. The drivers and barriers that the company encountered when implementing efficiency measures were identified. In conclusion, it was found that the system focused exclusively on efficiency was incapable of conserving resource use and delivering on CE decoupling promise. Wider societal acceptance of sufficiency measures was suggested to improve resource-saving capacity in manufacturing.