Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Resources, Conservation & Recycling journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/resconrec Full length article A total life cycle cost model (TLCCM) for the circular economy and its application to post-recovery resource allocation Ryan Bradley ⁎ , I.S. Jawahir, Fazleena Badurdeen, Keith Rouch Institute for Sustainable Manufacturing (ISM), University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA ARTICLE INFO keywords: Life cycle costing Circular economy Sustainability Sustainable manufacturing Closed-loop Recycling ABSTRACT The consumerism-driven, consumption-based linear economy is leaving a trail of economic, environmental, and societal challenges in its wake. The Circular Economy, a new economic framework, can be combined with the 6R-based elements of sustainable manufacturing in order to relieve these challenges by establishing a closed- loop material flow. To realize this ideal state, a total life cycle cost model (TLCCM) is needed to serve as the primary engineering economic model. Therefore, a framework for such a model is presented that aims to aid stakeholders in making decisions regarding all aspects of the product life cycle. It is intended that these sta- keholders use this model in order to challenge the status quo of costly “green”-centric decisions and demand innovation in the overall process in order to realize a net positive total life cycle cost benefit alongside a balanced Triple-Bottom-Line (TBL). To illustrate how the TLCCM can be applied, an application is explored that uses the model to determine post-recovery resource allocation into three closed-loop streams (Recycling, Remanufacturing, and Reusing). An outlook for future research is then presented. 1. Introduction Consumerism, the underlying basis that has driven the global economy since the Industrial Revolution, is inherently flawed and poses significant economic, environmental, and societal risks for current and future generations. Looking back to early civilizations, the foundation for modern-day consumerism originated as a solution for eliminating scarcity and inequality in hierarchical societies (Stearns, 2001; Glennie, 1998; Brundtland Commission, 1987; Schor, 1998). This rise of con- sumerist thought was embedded in the idea that consuming more would blur the lines in an archetypal classed-based civilization. It would soon be latched on to as the sole solution for driving political, economic, and technological progress. Consequently, humanity would be plagued with the lingering perception of “Consumption = Progress”. Industrial leaders would exploit this speculation even further and with the aid of the Industrial Revolution and globalization, a global eco- nomic system would be formed based on a linear model of taking re- sources, creating goods, selling those goods to consumers, and the consumers disposing of those goods. Over the next several decades, there would be great focus on Reducing waste throughout production systems, otherwise what would become known as lean manufacturing. Great industrial leaders such as Henry Ford and Taiichi Ohno would greatly transform the face of manufacturing and usher in monumental waste elimination across various industries (Ford and Crowther, 2005; Ohno, 1988). However, up until the late 1900s, all focus was on the economics. It was not until the “Green” movement when consumers, industrial leaders, and poli- ticians became interested in the environmental and societal impacts that were directly associated with manufacturing. It was at this time when the concept of Reusing and Recycling started to take hold across many manufacturing operations (Florida, 1996). However, the flaw in this concept was the very ignorance behind the economics of entirely sacrificing cost for the environmental and societal benefit. Fast forward to today, the 21st century economy is now demanding further innovation and it shows that achieving sustainable value in manufacturing requires yet another transformation from a 3R (United Nations Environment Programme, 2005) to a 6R foundation; a trans- formation where the emphasis is not singularly on economics or on environmental and societal aspects, but where it is on the “Triple- Bottom-Line”, or the combination of the economy, environment, and society in one. By extending the original 3Rs of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle to a 6R concept, with the addition of widespread Recovery of materials, Remanufacturing of products, and Redesigning legacy tech- nology, there arises a defined methodology known as Sustainable Manufacturing (Hall, 2011). This 6R concept can be coupled with the new waves the “Circular Economy (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2012)” concept is making in the sociopolitical space to offer a technical foundation for industry implementation (Jawahir and Bradley, 2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.01.017 Received 1 February 2017; Received in revised form 12 December 2017; Accepted 15 January 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: ryan.bradleyky2014@uky.edu (R. Bradley). Resources, Conservation & Recycling xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx 0921-3449/ © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Please cite this article as: Bradley, R., Resources, Conservation & Recycling (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.01.017