Micro-level measurement of the circularity of organizations: the Italian innovative standardized approach applied to a public sector case study:

Paola Vola; Giorgio Cantino; Lorenzo Gelmini

doi:10.13135/2704-9906/7155

Paola Vola University of Eastern Piedmont https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3751-5193
Giorgio Cantino University of Eastern Piedmont https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5281-088X
Lorenzo Gelmini Università del Piemonte Orientale

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13135/2704-9906/7155

Keywords: Circular economy, Circularity measurement, Metrics, Standards, Public organizations, Lifecycle

Abstract

This study analyses the implementation of a circularity measurement methodology at the University of Piemonte Orientale (UPO) in the early stages of the development of the UNI1608856 project “Measuring circularity - Methods and indicators for measuring circular processes in organisations, the first attempt to assess an organisation’s circularity under a standardized framework in an Italian University. The single-case study examines the organisation’s framework implementation, followed by an in-depth discussion of the phenomenon under study. The circularity measurement metrics applied to the UPO case have been extracted from a draft standard prepared by the Italian standardization body (UNI). The UPO case study considers the draft's general propositions with a focus on the metrics related to the management of human resources, assets, policy, and sustainability. Some useful insights emerge from the critical analysis of the norm proposal, both regarding adopting different types of measures and implementing the circularity measurement in terms of the organisation’s readiness to collect data for the metrics. As this study deals with a new framework applied to a public Organisation, several issues come to light. The first implementation of UNI1608856 allows discussion of the effective measurement of circularity at the micro level and how an organisation’s managerial processes need to evolve to provide the data required to measure circularity.

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