The circular economy: New or Refurbished as CE 3.0? — Exploring Controversies in the Conceptualization of the Circular Economy through a Focus on History and Resource Value Retention Options
TLDR
In this article, the authors take a focus on the historical development of the concept of circular economy and value retention options (ROs) for products and materials aiming for increased circularity and conclude that policymakers and businesses should focus their efforts on realization of the more desirable, shorter loop retention options, like remanufacturing, refurbishing and repurposing, yet with a view on feasibility and overall system effects.Abstract:
Over the last decade, the concept of the circular economy has regained attention, especially related to efforts to achieve a more sustainable society. The ‘revival’ of the circular economy has been accompanied by controversies and confusions across different actors in science and practice. With this article we attempt at contributing to advanced clarity in the field and providing a heuristic that is useful in practice. Initially, we take a focus on the historical development of the concept of circular economy and value retention options (ROs) for products and materials aiming for increased circularity. We propose to distinguish three phases in the evolution of the circular economy and argue that the concept – in its dominant framing – is not as new as frequently claimed. Having established this background knowledge, we give insights into ‘how far we are’ globally, with respect to the implementation of circularity, arguing that high levels of circularity have already been reached in different parts of the globe with regard to longer loop value retention options, such as energy recovery and recycling. Subsequently, we show that the confusion surrounding the circular economy is more far reaching. We summarize the divergent perspectives on retention options and unite the most common views a 10R typology. From our analyses, we conclude that policymakers and businesses should focus their efforts on realization of the more desirable, shorter loop retention options, like remanufacturing, refurbishing and repurposing – yet with a view on feasibility and overall system effects. Scholars, on the other hand, should assist the parties contributing to an increased circular economy in practice by taking up a more active role in attaining consensus in conceptualizing the circular economy.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions
TL;DR: In this paper, the circular economy is most frequently depicted as a combination of reduce, reuse and recycle activities, whereas it is oftentimes not highlighted that CE necessitates a systemic shift.
Journal ArticleDOI
Conceptualizing the Circular Economy: An Analysis of 114 Definitions
TL;DR: The findings indicate that the circular economy is most frequently depicted as a combination of reduce, reuse and recycle activities, whereas it is oftentimes not highlighted that CE necessitates a systemic shift, which may eventually result in the collapse of the concept.
Journal ArticleDOI
Waste Mismanagement in Developing Countries: A Review of Global Issues.
TL;DR: The main impacts due to waste mismanagement in developing countries are reviewed, focusing on environmental contamination and social issues, and the activity of the informal sector in developing cities was also reviewed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Circular economy indicators: What do they measure?
Gustavo Longaray Moraga,Sophie Huysveld,Fabrice Mathieux,Gian Andrea Blengini,Luc Alaerts,Karel Van Acker,Steven De Meester,Jo Dewulf +7 more
TL;DR: A classification framework to understand what indicators measure is proposed and none of the analysed indicators focuses on the preservation of functions.
Journal ArticleDOI
Targets for a circular economy
TL;DR: In this paper, a framework based on 10 common circular economy strategies (i.e. recover, recycling, repurpose, remanufacture, refurbish, repair, reuse, reduce, rethink, refuse) is applied to scrutinise the selected targets.
References
More filters
Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: "Our Common Future"
Saleh A. Al-Athel,Lamine Mohammed Fadika,Istvan Lang,Ma Shijun,Margarita Marino de Botero,Nagendra Singh,Paulo Noqueira-Nato,Shridath S. Ramphal,William D. Ruckelshaus,Mohamed Sahnoun,Vladimir E. Sokolov +10 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a table of table of tables of this article : Table of Table 1.3.1.1-3.2.0.1]
Journal ArticleDOI
The Circular Economy – A new sustainability paradigm?
Martin Geissdoerfer,Martin Geissdoerfer,Paulo Savaget,Nancy Bocken,Nancy Bocken,Erik Jan Hultink +5 more
TL;DR: This article conducted an extensive literature review, employing bibliometric analysis and snowballing techniques to investigate the state of the art in the field and synthesise the similarities, differences and relationships between both terms.
Journal ArticleDOI
Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability
Thomas Dyllick,Kai Hockerts +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss how the concept of sustainable development has evolved over the past three decades and particularly how it can be applied to the business level and describe the three types of capital relevant within the corporate sustainability: economic, natural and social capital.
Journal ArticleDOI
A review on circular economy: the expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems
TL;DR: In this paper, un estudio en donde se proporciona una revision extensa de la literatura de las two ultimas decadas, con el proposito de captar las principales caracteristicas y perspectivas of la CE (Economia circular): origenes, principios basicos, ventajas and desventajas, Modelado e implementacion of CE in los diferentes niveles (micro, meso, and macro) in todo el world.
Journal ArticleDOI
Quantitative models for reverse logistics: A review
Moritz Fleischmann,Jacqueline M. Bloemhof-Ruwaard,Rommert Dekker,Erwin van der Laan,Jo van Nunen,Luk N. Van Wassenhove +5 more
TL;DR: This article subdivides the recently emerged field of reverse logistics into three main areas, namely distribution planning, inventory control, and production planning, and discusses the implications of the emerging reuse efforts.