Digital Twins and Their Role in the Circular Economy

Digital twins can play a key role in advancing the circular economy. They enable the monitoring, simulation, and optimisation of resources, processes, and products across their lifecycle. They provide insights into waste generation, product performance, and resource usage which can facilitate recycling, remanufacturing, and material reuse.
 
As the adoption of digital twins and other key technologies—such as AI, blockchain, and robotics—increases, so too will the viability of the circular economy, eventually disrupting and replacing linear business models.
 
The role of digital twins in the circular economy
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Digital twins are software representations of assets, processes, people, objects, and places used to understand, predict, and optimise performance to achieve improved business outcomes. Digital twins can be used across various aspects of the circular economy framework to reduce and manage waste, optimise resources, and increase reuse. They can help simulate real-life scenarios and their outcomes, allowing for better decision-making across different aspects of the circular economy framework.
 
Sustainable manufacturing

Using digital twins, manufacturers can create digital replicas of their manufacturing equipment, production lines, and products, which can help them monitor sustainability key performance indicators (KPIs) such as water use, energy consumption, and waste management. As digital twins mature, manufacturers can incorporate production and sustainability metrics in a single digital twin to create a single source of truth, which can help track the entire production process and energy consumption, leading to greater efficiency and cost savings.


​Source: Verdict