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Unit of study_

CHNG5009: Digital Circular Economy

Key global drivers impacting our environment and urban living include population growth expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, and increasing affluence, which will see the tripling of global consumption of natural resources. Current patterns of production and consumption described as the linear "take-make-dispose" model are unsustainable, in contrast to the circular economy model described as the "reduce-reuse-recycle" which seeks to preserve upstream natural resources (energy and materials), optimise manufacturing processes that reduce generation of irreversible waste. The Circular Economy sets the foundations for engineering resource efficient, sustainable technologies and driving sustainable manufacturing, required to bring deep cuts in environmental damage driven by a growing and more affluent global population. Circular economy is an emerging paradigm in environmental management being adopted by organisation around the world to facilitate more efficient resource utilisation, while creating new economic opportunity in a digital age.

Code CHNG5009
Academic unit Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
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None
Corequisites:
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None
Prohibitions:
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SUCH3009

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. Understand the foundations of the circular economy and its key principles, and chronological relations it to neighbouring sustainability concepts.
  • LO2. Appreciate that data and digital science are key enablers to transition circular economy
  • LO3. Investigate digital and computational tools, technologies and approaches to ‘design out’ waste in the circular economy
  • LO4. Investigate computational circular design for products and manufacturing processes
  • LO5. Identify digital circular economy practices to remodel business and plan organisational transformation for competitive advantage
  • LO6. Reflect critically upon the circular economy concept