Material Criticality and Circular Economy: Necessity of Manufacturing Oriented Strategies

Material criticality has attracted global attention due to the increasing material demand and supply risks. Meanwhile, Circular Economy (CE) has been promoted as a solution to global challenges such as resource scarcity, waste reduction. Hence, many industrial economies are proposing CE as one pivotal strategy related to addressing material criticality. Although the CE requires a life-cycle view, the current practices of CE are mainly implemented from end-of-life (EoL) perspective, which has been criticized for its limitations. Therefore, based on the dynamic material flow analysis, this study aims to address the challenges of implementing EoL-oriented strategies in mitigating material criticality and highlight the necessities and benefits of implementing Manufacturing-oriented strategies as a response. A critical material case is provided to demonstrate the necessity of implementing CE with a manufacturing-oriented view.