- United Kingdom
Mangesh Gharfalkar
Teesside University, School of Science and Engineering, Department Member
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Measuring is the first step towards improving. In the context of environmental sustainability, measuring resource efficiency (RE) and/or resource effectiveness (RE) could be the key to reducing consumption of scarce natural resources,... more
Measuring is the first step towards improving. In the context of environmental sustainability, measuring resource efficiency (RE) and/or resource effectiveness (RE) could be the key to reducing consumption of scarce natural resources, waste generation and resultant environmental degradation. This research aims to identify existing RE ‘measures’ and/or ‘indicators’ (REMIs), identify gaps or areas for improvement and develop a new indicator of ‘operational resource effectiveness’ (ORE) suitable for manufacturing supply chains. Most research on the analysis of existing REMIs focuses on qualitative analysis. This paper analyses thirty REMIs using a set of quantitative criteria that are grouped into six categories: Namely, a) Social, b) Technical; c) Environmental d) Economic e) Political and f) Suitability-Feasibility-Scope-of-Measurement. The quantitative analysis clearly points towards the absence of a hypothesised REMI that captures both, ‘resource consumption’ and ‘waste generation’ using 100% operational data in its measurement. A conceptual framework for the development of a new Gate2Gate and Cradle2Gate ORE indicator based on easily available operational data is proposed. The framework is based on the circularity principles of the “5Rs of Resource Effectiveness” comprising of replacement, reduction, recovery, rectification and return. The new ORE indicator is likely to assist decision makers to understand where ‘recoverable’ resources are wasted and initiate action to reduce or recover waste.
Research Interests: Natural Resources, Sustainability Indicators, Sustainable Development, Key Performance Indicators, Environmental Sustainability, and 8 morePerformance indicators, Indicators, Resource efficiency, Ecological Indicators, Material resource efficiency, Economics of Resource Efficiency, Manufacturing Performance Indicators, and Resource Use Efficiency
Increasing pressure on economic actors has produced a degree of standardization and commensuration of carbon emissions reporting and an increasing amount of comparable data is in the public domain. We have recently developed a method for... more
Increasing pressure on economic actors has produced a degree of standardization and commensuration of carbon emissions reporting and an increasing amount of comparable data is in the public domain. We have recently developed a method for interpreting this data-set to produce a league table of sustainability performance: actors are ranked according to a Performance Score comparing actual performance to the ideal direction of change of the underlying (environmental and economic) parameters, allowing direct and meaningful comparison between actors of quite different natures. The league table is applied to investigate links between emissions performance and both financial performance and the quality of voluntary disclosure of carbon performance data. Using emissions data for FTSE350 companies – publically available via the Carbon Disclosure Project – we analyze correlations between company league table performance and, on the one hand, relative share price movement and, on the other, po...
Research Interests:
Earth’s natural resources are finite. To be environmentally sustainable, it may not only be necessary to use them ‘efficiently’ but also ‘effectively’.While Gharfalkar et al. (2015)consider ‘repair’, ‘recondition’, ‘refurbish’ and... more
Earth’s natural resources are finite. To be environmentally sustainable, it may not only be necessary to use them ‘efficiently’ but also ‘effectively’.While Gharfalkar et al. (2015)consider ‘repair’, ‘recondition’, ‘refurbish’ and ‘remanufacture’ to be ‘reuse’ options, not all researchers agree. Also, there is lack of clarity between the different options that are likely to be challenging for both; the policy makers who formulate policies aimed to encourage ‘reuse’ of ‘waste’ products and for decision makers to initiate appropriate action for recovering ‘reusable resources’ from ‘waste streams’.This dichotomy could result into more ‘waste’ to landfill. Asystematic review of literature is conducted tounderstand whetherinconsistencies and/orlack of clarityexist between the definitions or descriptions of identified‘reuse’ options. The review confirms existence of inconsistencies such as the omission of one or more of identified options from ‘reuse’ (23%) andlack of clarity between opti...
Research Interests:
Increasing pressure on economic actors has produced a degree of standardization and commensuration of carbon emissions reporting and an increasing amount of comparable data is in the public domain. We have recently developed a method for... more
Increasing pressure on economic actors has produced a degree of standardization and commensuration of carbon emissions reporting and an increasing amount of comparable data is in the public domain. We have recently developed a method for interpreting this data-set to produce a league table of sustainability performance: actors are ranked according to a Performance Score comparing actual performance to the ideal direction of change of the underlying (environmental and economic) parameters, allowing direct and meaningful comparison between actors of quite different natures. The league table is applied to investigate links between emissions performance and both financial performance and the quality of voluntary disclosure of carbon performance data. Using emissions data for FTSE350 companies – publically available via the Carbon Disclosure Project – we analyze correlations between company league table performance and, on the one hand, relative share price movement and, on the other, po...
Research Interests:
Earth's natural resources are finite. To be environmentally sustainable, it may not only be necessary to use them 'efficiently' but also 'effectively'. While we consider 'repair', 'recondition',... more
Earth's natural resources are finite. To be environmentally sustainable, it may not only be necessary to use them 'efficiently' but also 'effectively'. While we consider 'repair', 'recondition', 'refurbish' and 'remanufacture' to be 'reuse' options, not all researchers agree. Also, there is lack of clarity between the different options that are likely to be challenging for both; the policy makers who formulate policies aimed to encourage 'reuse' of 'waste' products and for decision makers to initiate appropriate action for recovering 'reusable resources' from 'waste streams'. This dichotomy could result into more 'waste' to landfill. A systematic analysis of peer reviewed literature is conducted to understand inconsistencies and/or lack of clarity that exist between the definitions or descriptions of identified `reuse' options. This article proposes a 'hierarchy of reuse optio...
Research Interests:
Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify and analyse existing resource efficiency (RE) and resource effectiveness measures and indicators (REMIs); and second, to identify gaps and develop a new indicator of... more
Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify and analyse existing resource efficiency (RE) and resource effectiveness measures and indicators (REMIs); and second, to identify gaps and develop a new indicator of “operational resource effectiveness” (OREft) suitable for manufacturing units. Design/methodology/approach Research methodology consists of three stages: gap identification, development and testing. Through review of academic literature, 40 REMIs are identified and analysed. A survey of manufacturers is carried out to validate the hypothesis and seek inputs on the development of the new indicator. The proposed indicator is tested by comparing OREft index of two manufacturing units with each other, with resource intensity per unit (RIPU), waste intensity per unit (WIPU) and with four other REMIs. Findings Analysis of 40 REMIs clearly points towards the absence of a hypothesised REMI. In total, 78 per cent of manufacturers surveyed in north England substanti...
Research Interests:
Measuring is the first step towards improving. In the context of environmental sustainability, measuring resource efficiency (RE) and/or resource effectiveness (RE) could be the key to reducing consumption of scarce natural resources,... more
Measuring is the first step towards improving. In the context of environmental sustainability, measuring resource efficiency (RE) and/or resource effectiveness (RE) could be the key to reducing consumption of scarce natural resources, waste generation and resultant environmental degradation. This research aims to identify existing RE ‘measures’ and/or ‘indicators’ (REMIs), identify gaps or areas for improvement and develop a new indicator of ‘operational resource effectiveness’ (ORE) suitable for manufacturing supply chains. Most research on the analysis of existing REMIs focuses on qualitative analysis. This paper analyses thirty REMIs using a set of quantitative criteria that are grouped into six categories: Namely, a) Social, b) Technical; c) Environmental d) Economic e) Political and f) Suitability-Feasibility-Scope-of-Measurement. The quantitative analysis clearly points towards the absence of a hypothesised REMI that captures both, ‘resource consumption’ and ‘waste generation’ using 100% operational data in its measurement. A conceptual framework for the development of a new Gate2Gate and Cradle2Gate ORE indicator based on easily available operational data is proposed. The framework is based on the circularity principles of the “5Rs of Resource Effectiveness” comprising of replacement, reduction, recovery, rectification and return. The new ORE indicator is likely to assist decision makers to understand where ‘recoverable’ resources are wasted and initiate action to reduce or recover waste.
Research Interests: Natural Resources, Sustainability Indicators, Sustainable Development, Key Performance Indicators, Environmental Sustainability, and 8 morePerformance indicators, Indicators, Resource efficiency, Ecological Indicators, Material resource efficiency, Economics of Resource Efficiency, Manufacturing Performance Indicators, and Resource Use Efficiency
Earth’s natural resources are finite. To be environmentally sustainable, it may not only be necessary to use them ‘efficiently’ but also ‘effectively’. While Gharfalkar et al. (2015) consider ‘repair’, ‘recondition’, ‘refurbish’ and... more
Earth’s natural resources are finite. To be environmentally sustainable, it may not only be necessary to use them ‘efficiently’ but also ‘effectively’. While Gharfalkar et al. (2015) consider ‘repair’, ‘recondition’, ‘refurbish’ and ‘remanufacture’ to be ‘reuse’ options, not all researchers agree. Also, there is lack of clarity between the different options that are likely to be challenging for both; the policy makers who formulate policies aimed to encourage ‘reuse’ of ‘waste’ products and for decision makers to initiate appropriate action for recovering ‘reusable resources’ from ‘waste streams’. This dichotomy could result into more ‘waste’ to landfill. A systematic review of literature is conducted to understand whether inconsistencies and/or lack of clarity exist between the definitions or descriptions of identified ‘reuse’ options. The review confirms existence of inconsistencies such as the omission of one or more of identified options from ‘reuse’ (23%) and lack of clarity between options (59%). This paper proposes a ‘hierarchy of reuse options’ that plots the relative positions of identified ‘reuse’ options vis-à-vis five variables, namely work content, energy requirement, cost, performance and warranty. Recommendations are made on how to incentivize original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to ‘remanufacture’. Finally, an alternative ‘Type II Resource Effective Close-loop Model’ is suggested and a conceptual ‘Type II/2 Model of Resource Flows’ that is restricted to the use of environmentally benign and renewable resources is introduced. These suggestions are likely to help decision makers to prioritise between ‘reuse’ options, drive resource effectiveness and also environmental sustainability. Further research is required to propose alternative definitions.
Research Interests:
Increasing pressure on economic actors has produced a degree of standardization and commensuration of carbon emissions reporting and an increasing amount of comparable data is in the public domain. We have recently developed a method for... more
Increasing pressure on economic actors has produced a degree of standardization and commensuration of carbon emissions reporting and an increasing amount of comparable data is in the public domain. We have recently developed a method for interpreting this data-set to produce a league table of sustainability performance: actors are ranked according to a Performance Score comparing actual performance to the ideal direction of change of the underlying (environmental and economic) parameters, allowing direct and meaningful comparison between actors of quite different natures. The league table is applied to investigate links between emissions performance and both financial performance and the quality of voluntary disclosure of carbon performance data. Using emissions data for FTSE350 companies – publically available via the Carbon Disclosure Project – we analyze correlations between company league table performance and, on the one hand, relative share price movement and, on the other, position in the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index. We have found no detectable indication of a link between carbon emissions performance (as measured by position in the league table) and either the quality of carbon disclosure or the financial performance of a company. The lack of linkage between carbon performance and either disclosure of share price may be due to a number of reasons: paucity of data/small effect sizes (it may be too early to see the effects); immaturely established causal mechanisms (it may be too early for the effects to manifest); share price and disclosure are not strongly related to emissions performance.
Research Interests:
Loss of recoverable resources in linear resource flow systems is likely to contribute to the depletion of natural resources and environmental degradation. The 'waste hierarchy' in the European Commission's latest Waste... more
Loss of recoverable resources in linear resource flow systems is likely to contribute to the depletion of natural resources and environmental degradation. The 'waste hierarchy' in the European Commission's latest Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC (WFD2008) makes recommendations on how to address this issue. The WFD2008 is analysed in this work for its adequacy in ensuring return of 'recoverable waste' as a 'resource' into the productive system. Despite the release of guidance documents by the DG Environment, DEFRA and WRAP UK on the interpretation of key provisions of the WFD2008, lack of clarity still exists around the WFD2008 'waste hierarchy'. There is also an overlap between measures such as 'prevention' and 'reduction', 'preparing for reuse' and 'reuse' and lack of clarity on why the measure of 'reuse' is included in the WFD2008 definition of 'prevention'. Finally, absence of the measures of…