Infographic showing the theorized origin of the chemical elements that make up the human body
Astrochemistry is the study of the abundance and reactions of molecules in the universe, and their interaction with radiation. The discipline is an overlap of astronomy and chemistry. The word "astrochemistry" may be applied to both the Solar System and the interstellar medium. The study of the abundance of elements and isotope ratios in Solar System objects, such as meteorites, is also called cosmochemistry,
while the study of interstellar atoms and molecules and their
interaction with radiation is sometimes called molecular astrophysics.
The formation, atomic and chemical composition, evolution and fate of molecular gas clouds is of special interest, because it is from these clouds that solar systems form.
History
As
an offshoot of the disciplines of astronomy and chemistry, the history
of astrochemistry is founded upon the shared history of the two fields.
The development of advanced observational and experimental spectroscopy has allowed for the detection of an ever-increasing array of molecules
within solar systems and the surrounding interstellar medium. In turn,
the increasing number of chemicals discovered by advancements in
spectroscopy and other technologies have increased the size and scale of
the chemical space available for astrochemical study.
Observations of solar spectra as performed by Athanasius Kircher (1646), Jan Marek Marci (1648), Robert Boyle (1664), and Francesco Maria Grimaldi (1665) all predated Newton's 1666 work which established the spectral nature of light and resulted in the first spectroscope. Spectroscopy was first used as an astronomical technique in 1802 with the experiments of William Hyde Wollaston, who built a spectrometer to observe the spectral lines present within solar radiation. These spectral lines were later quantified through the work of Joseph von Fraunhofer.
Spectroscopy was first used to distinguish between different materials after the release of Charles Wheatstone's 1835 report that the sparks given off by different metals have distinct emission spectra. This observation was later built upon by Léon Foucault, who demonstrated in 1849 that identical absorption and emission lines result from the same material at different temperatures. An equivalent statement was independently postulated by Anders Jonas Ångström in his 1853 work Optiska Undersökningar, where it was theorized that luminous gases emit rays of light at the same frequencies as light which they may absorb.
This spectroscopic data began to take upon theoretical importance
with Johann Balmer's observation that the spectral lines exhibited by
samples of hydrogen followed a simple empirical relationship which came
to be known as the Balmer Series. This series, a special case of the more general Rydberg Formula developed by Johannes Rydberg in 1888, was created to describe the spectral lines observed for hydrogen.
Rydberg's work expanded upon this formula by allowing for the
calculation of spectral lines for multiple different chemical elements. The theoretical importance granted to these spectroscopic results was greatly expanded upon the development of quantum mechanics, as the theory allowed for these results to be compared to atomic and molecular emission spectra which had been calculated a priori.
History of astrochemistry
While radio astronomy
was developed in the 1930s, it was not until 1937 that any substantial
evidence arose for the conclusive identification of an interstellar molecule – up until this point, the only chemical species known to exist in
interstellar space were atomic. These findings were confirmed in 1940,
when McKellar et al. identified and attributed spectroscopic
lines in an as-of-then unidentified radio observation to CH and CN
molecules in interstellar space. In the thirty years afterwards, a small selection of other molecules
were discovered in interstellar space: the most important being OH,
discovered in 1963 and significant as a source of interstellar oxygen, and H2CO (formaldehyde), discovered in 1969 and significant for being the first observed organic, polyatomic molecule in interstellar space
The discovery of interstellar formaldehyde – and later, other
molecules with potential biological significance, such as water or carbon monoxide – is seen by some as strong supporting evidence for abiogenetic
theories of life: specifically, theories which hold that the basic
molecular components of life came from extraterrestrial sources. This
has prompted a still ongoing search for interstellar molecules which are
either of direct biological importance – such as interstellar glycine, discovered in a comet within the Solar System in 2009 – or which exhibit biologically relevant properties like chirality – an example of which (propylene oxide) was discovered in 2016 – alongside more basic astrochemical research.
One particularly important experimental tool in astrochemistry is spectroscopy through the use of telescopes to measure the absorption and emission of light
from molecules and atoms in various environments. By comparing
astronomical observations with laboratory measurements, astrochemists
can infer the elemental abundances, chemical composition, and
temperatures of stars and interstellar clouds. This is possible because ions, atoms,
and molecules have characteristic spectra: that is, the absorption and
emission of certain wavelengths (colors) of light, often not visible to
the human eye. However, these measurements have limitations, with
various types of radiation (radio, infrared, visible, ultraviolet etc.) able to detect only certain types of species, depending on the chemical properties of the molecules. Interstellar formaldehyde was the first organic molecule detected in the interstellar medium.
Perhaps the most powerful technique for detection of individual chemical species is radio astronomy, which has resulted in the detection of over a hundred interstellar species, including radicals and ions, and organic (i.e. carbon-based) compounds, such as alcohols, acids, aldehydes, and ketones. One of the most abundant interstellar molecules, and among the easiest to detect with radio waves (due to its strong electric dipole moment), is CO (carbon monoxide). In fact, CO is such a common interstellar molecule that it is used to map out molecular regions. The radio observation of perhaps greatest human interest is the claim of interstellar glycine, the simplest amino acid, but with considerable accompanying controversy. One of the reasons why this detection was controversial is that although radio (and some other methods like rotational spectroscopy) are good for the identification of simple species with large dipole moments, they are less sensitive to more complex molecules, even something relatively small like amino acids.
Moreover, such methods are completely blind to molecules that have no dipole. For example, by far the most common molecule in the universe is H2 (hydrogen gas, or chemically better said dihydrogen),
but it does not have a dipole moment, so it is invisible to radio
telescopes. Moreover, such methods cannot detect species that are not in
the gas-phase. Since dense molecular clouds are very cold (10 to 50 K
[−263.1 to −223.2 °C; −441.7 to −369.7 °F]), most molecules in them
(other than dihydrogen) are frozen, i.e. solid. Instead, dihydrogen and
these other molecules are detected using other wavelengths of light.
Dihydrogen is easily detected in the ultraviolet (UV) and visible ranges
from its absorption and emission of light (the hydrogen line). Moreover, most organic compounds absorb and emit light in the infrared (IR) so, for example, the detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars was achieved using an IR ground-based telescope, NASA's 3-meter Infrared Telescope Facility atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii. NASA's researchers use airborne IR telescope SOFIA and space telescope Spitzer for their observations, researches and scientific operations. Somewhat related to the recent detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars. Christopher Oze, of the University of Canterbury in New Zealand
and his colleagues reported, in June 2012, that measuring the ratio of
dihydrogen and methane levels on Mars may help determine the likelihood
of life on Mars.According to the scientists, "...low H2/CH4 ratios (less than approximately 40) indicate that life is likely present and active." Other scientists have recently reported methods of detecting dihydrogen and methane in extraterrestrial atmospheres.
Infrared astronomy has also revealed that the interstellar medium contains a suite of complex gas-phase carbon compounds called polyaromatic hydrocarbons,
often abbreviated PAHs or PACs. These molecules, composed primarily of
fused rings of carbon (either neutral or in an ionized state), are said
to be the most common class of carbon compound in the Galaxy. They are also the most common class of carbon molecule in meteorites and in cometary and asteroidal dust (cosmic dust). These compounds, as well as the amino acids, nucleobases, and many other compounds in meteorites, carry deuterium and isotopes
of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen that are very rare on Earth, attesting
to their extraterrestrial origin. The PAHs are thought to form in hot
circumstellar environments (around dying, carbon-rich red giant stars).
Infrared astronomy has also been used to assess the composition of solid materials in the interstellar medium, including silicates, kerogen-like carbon-rich solids, and ices.
This is because unlike visible light, which is scattered or absorbed by
solid particles, the IR radiation can pass through the microscopic
interstellar particles, but in the process there are absorptions at
certain wavelengths that are characteristic of the composition of the
grains. As above with radio astronomy, there are certain limitations, e.g. N2 is difficult to detect by either IR or radio astronomy.
Such IR observations have determined that in dense clouds (where
there are enough particles to attenuate the destructive UV radiation)
thin ice layers coat the microscopic particles, permitting some
low-temperature chemistry to occur. Since dihydrogen is by far the most
abundant molecule in the universe, the initial chemistry of these ices
is determined by the chemistry of the hydrogen. If the hydrogen is
atomic, then the H atoms react with available O, C and N atoms,
producing "reduced" species like H2O, CH4, and NH3.
However, if the hydrogen is molecular and thus not reactive, this
permits the heavier atoms to react or remain bonded together, producing
CO, CO2, CN, etc. These mixed-molecular ices are exposed to ultraviolet radiation and cosmic rays, which results in complex radiation-driven chemistry. Lab experiments on the photochemistry of simple interstellar ices have produced amino acids. The similarity between interstellar and cometary ices (as well as
comparisons of gas phase compounds) have been invoked as indicators of a
connection between interstellar and cometary chemistry. This is
somewhat supported by the results of the analysis of the organics from
the comet samples returned by the Stardust mission but the minerals also indicated a surprising contribution from high-temperature chemistry in the solar nebula.
Research is progressing on the way in which interstellar and
circumstellar molecules form and interact, e.g. by including non-trivial
quantum mechanical phenomena for synthesis pathways on interstellar particles. This research could have a profound impact on our understanding of the
suite of molecules that were present in the molecular cloud when the Solar System
formed, which contributed to the rich carbon chemistry of comets and
asteroids and hence the meteorites and interstellar dust particles which
fall to the Earth by the ton every day.
The sparseness of interstellar and interplanetary space results in some unusual chemistry, since symmetry-forbidden
reactions cannot occur except on the longest of timescales. For this
reason, molecules and molecular ions which are unstable on Earth can be
highly
abundant in space, for example the H3+ ion.
Astrochemistry overlaps with astrophysics and nuclear physics
in characterizing the nuclear reactions which occur in stars, as well
as the structure of stellar interiors. If a star develops a largely
convective envelope, dredge-up
events can occur, bringing the products of nuclear burning to the
surface. If the star is experiencing significant mass loss, the expelled
material may contain molecules whose rotational and vibrational
spectral transitions can be observed with radio and infrared telescopes.
An interesting example of this is the set of carbon stars with
silicate and water-ice outer envelopes. Molecular spectroscopy allows us
to see these stars transitioning from an original composition in which
oxygen was more abundant than carbon, to a carbon star
phase where the carbon produced by helium burning is brought to the
surface by deep convection, and dramatically changes the molecular
content of the stellar wind.
In October 2011, scientists reported that cosmic dust contains organic matter ("amorphous organic solids with a mixed aromatic-aliphatic structure") that could be created naturally, and rapidly, by stars.
On August 29, 2012, and in a world first, astronomers at Copenhagen University reported the detection of a specific sugar molecule, glycolaldehyde, in a distant star system. The molecule was found around the protostellar binary IRAS 16293-2422, which is located 400 light years from Earth.Glycolaldehyde is needed to form ribonucleic acid, or RNA, which is similar in function to DNA.
This finding suggests that complex organic molecules may form in
stellar systems prior to the formation of planets, eventually arriving
on young planets early in their formation.
In February 2014, NASA announced the creation of an improved spectral database for tracking polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the universe. According to scientists, more than 20% of the carbon in the universe may be associated with PAHs, possible starting materials for the formation of life. PAHs seem to have been formed shortly after the Big Bang, are widespread throughout the universe, and are associated with new stars and exoplanets.
For the study of the recourses of chemical elements and molecules
in the universe is developed the mathematical model of the molecules
composition distribution in the interstellar environment on
thermodynamic potentials by professor M.Yu. Dolomatov using methods of
the probability theory, the mathematical and physical statistics and the
equilibrium thermodynamics. Based on this model are estimated the resources of life-related
molecules, amino acids and the nitrogenous bases in the interstellar
medium. The possibility of the oil hydrocarbons molecules formation is
shown. The given calculations confirm Sokolov's and Hoyl's hypotheses
about the possibility of the oil hydrocarbons formation in Space.
Results are confirmed by data of astrophysical supervision and space
researches.
In July 2015, scientists reported that upon the first touchdown of the Philae lander on comet67/P's
surface, measurements by the COSAC and Ptolemy instruments revealed
sixteen organic compounds, four of which were seen for the first time on
a comet, including acetamide, acetone, methyl isocyanate and propionaldehyde.
In December 2023, astronomers reported the first time discovery, in the plumes of Enceladus, moon of the planet Saturn, of hydrogen cyanide, a possible chemical essential for life as we know it, as well as other organic molecules,
some of which are yet to be better identified and understood. According
to the researchers, "these [newly discovered] compounds could
potentially support extant microbial communities or drive complex organic synthesis leading to the origin of life."
Contrast between the wasteful "take, make, dispose" approach of a linear economy, and that of a circular economy
Circular economy (CE), also referred to as circularity, is a model of resource production and consumption that involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling materials and products, to extend product life cycle for as long as possible. The concept aims to tackle global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution
by emphasizing the design-based implementation of the three base
principles of the model. The main three principles required for the
transformation to a circular economy are:
designing out waste and pollution,
keeping products and materials in use, and
regenerating natural systems.
In
a circular economy, items that would be wastefully discarded can
instead be sent back to an earlier point in the construction process
Circular economy is defined in contradistinction to the traditional linear economy. The idea and concepts of a circular economy have been studied
extensively in academia, business, and government over the past ten
years. It has been gaining popularity because it can help to minimize carbon emissions and the consumption of raw materials, open up new market prospects, and, principally, increase the sustainability of consumption. At a government level, a circular economy is viewed as a method of combating global warming, as well as a facilitator of long-term growth. Circular economy may geographically connect actors and resources to stop material loops at the regional level. In its core principle, the European Parliament
defines the circular economy as "a model of production and consumption
that involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and
recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. In this
way, the life cycle of products is extended." Global implementation of circular economy can reduce global emissions
by 22.8 billion tons, equivalent to 39% of global emissions produced in
2019. By implementing circular economy strategies in five sectors alone: cement, aluminum, steel, plastics, and food, 9.3 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent (equal to all current emissions from transportation) can be reduced.
In a circular economy, business models play a crucial role in
enabling the shift from linear to circular processes. Various business
models have been identified that support circularity, including
product-as-a-service, sharing platforms, and product life extension
models, among others. These models aim to optimize resource utilization, reduce waste, and
create value for businesses and customers alike, while contributing to
the overall goals of the circular economy.
Businesses can also make the transition to the circular economy,
where holistic adaptations in firms' business models are needed. The implementation of circular economy principles often requires new
visions and strategies and a fundamental redesign of product concepts,
service offerings, and channels towards long-life solutions, resulting
in the so-called 'circular business models'.
Definition
There are many definitions of and approaches to the circular economy. For example, in China,
the circular economy is promoted as a top-down national political
objective, meanwhile for the European Union, Japan, and the USA, it is a
tool to design bottom-up environmental and waste management policies.
The ultimate goal of promoting circular economy is the decoupling of
environmental pressure from economic growth. A comprehensive definition could be: "Circular economy is an economic
system that targets zero waste and pollution throughout materials
lifecycles, from environment extraction to industrial transformation,
and final consumers, applying to all involved ecosystems. Upon its
lifetime end, materials return to either an industrial process or, in
the case of a treated organic residual, safely back to the environment
as in a natural regenerating cycle. It operates by creating value at the
macro, meso, and micro levels and exploiting to the fullest the sustainability
nested concept. Used energy sources are clean and renewable. Resource
use and consumption are efficient. Government agencies and responsible
consumers play an active role in ensuring the correct system long-term
operation."
More
generally, circular development is a model of economic, social, and
environmental production and consumption that aims to build an
autonomous and sustainable society in tune with the issue of
environmental resources. The circular economy aims to transform the economy into one that is
regenerative. An economy that innovates to reduce waste and the
ecological and environmental impact of industries prior to happening,
rather than waiting to address the consequences of these issues. This is done by designing new processes and solutions for the
optimization of resources, decoupling reliance on finite resources.
The circular economy is a framework of three principles, driven
by design: eliminating waste and pollution, keeping products and
materials in use, and regenerating natural systems.
Other definitions and precise thresholds that separate linear
from circular activity have also been developed in the economic
literature.
In a linear economy, natural resources
are turned into products that are ultimately destined to become waste
because of the way they have been designed and manufactured. This
process is often summarized as "take, make, waste". By contrast, a circular economy aims to transition from a
'take-make-waste' approach to a more restorative and regenerative
system. It employs reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling to create a closed-loop system, reducing the use of resource inputs and the creation of waste, pollution, and carbon emissions. The circular economy aims to keep products, materials, equipment, and infrastructure in use for longer, thus improving the productivity of these resources.
Waste materials and energy should become input for other processes
through waste valorization:
either as a component for another industrial process or as regenerative
resources for nature (e.g., compost). The Ellen MacArthur Foundation
(EMF) defines the circular economy as an industrial economy that is
restorative or regenerative by value and design.
Circular economy strategies can be applied at various scales,
from individual products and services to entire industries and cities.
For example, industrial symbiosis is a strategy where waste from one
industry becomes an input for another, creating a network of resource
exchange and reducing waste, pollution, and resource consumption. Similarly, circular cities aim to integrate circular principles into
urban planning and development, foster local resource loops, and promote
sustainable lifestyles among their citizens. Less than 10% of economic activity worldwide in 2022 and 2023 is circular. Every year, the global population uses approximately 100 billion tonnes
of materials, with more than 90% of them being wasted. The circular
economy seeks to address this by eliminating waste entirely.
History and aims
The concept of a circular economy cannot be traced back to one single date or author.
The concept can be linked to various schools of thought, including industrial ecology, biomimicry, and cradle-to-cradle design
principles. Industrial ecology is the study of material and energy
flows through industrial systems, which forms the basis of the circular
economy. Biomimicry involves emulating nature's time-tested patterns and
strategies in designing human systems. Cradle-to-cradle design is a
holistic approach to designing products and systems that considers their
entire life cycle, from raw material extraction to end-of-life
disposal, and seeks to minimize waste and maximize resource efficiency.
These interrelated concepts contribute to the development and
implementation of the circular economy.
In the end half of the 19th century, an early major effort to
promote ideas now labeled the circular economy was headed by the Society
for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce [now the Royal Society of Arts]. As
documented by economic geographer Pierre Desrochers, RSA contributors
argued that the profit motive, long-distance trade, and actors now
largely absent from present-day discussions (e.g., waste dealers and
brokers) promoted the creation of ever more value out of manufacturing
and other residuals.
In the 1968 book General System Theory, biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy, considers growth and energy for open and closed state systems. This theory was then applied to other areas, such as, in the case of the circular economy, economics. Economist Kenneth E. Boulding,
in his 1966 paper "The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth", argued
that a circular economic system is a prerequisite for the maintenance
of the sustainability of human life on Earth. Boulding describes the so-called "cowboy economy" as an open system in
which the natural environment is typically perceived as limitless: no
limit exists on the capacity of the outside to supply or receive energy
and material flows.
In the 1981 book Jobs for Tomorrow: The Potential for Substituting Manpower for Energy, Walter R. Stahel
and Geneviève Reday-Mulvey lay the foundation for the principles of the
circular economy by describing how increasing labour may reduce energy
intensive activities.
Simple economic models have ignored economy-environment
interrelationships. Allan Kneese in "The Economics of Natural Resources"
indicates how resources are not endlessly renewable, and mentions the
term "circular economy" for the first time explicitly in 1988.
In the 1990 book Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment, Pearce and Turner explain the shift from the traditional linear or open-ended economic system to the circular economic system. They describe an economic system where waste at extraction, production, and consumption stages is turned into inputs.
In the early 2000s, China
integrated the notion into its industrial and environmental policies to
make them resource-oriented, production-oriented, waste-oriented,
use-oriented, and life cycle-oriented.[44] The Ellen MacArthur Foundation was instrumental in the diffusion of the concept in Europe and the Americas.
In 2010, the concept of circular economy started to become popular internationally after the publication of several reports. The European Union introduced its vision of the circular economy in
2014, with a New Circular Economy Action Plan launched in 2020 that
"shows the way to a climate-neutral, competitive economy of empowered
consumers".
The original diffusion of the notion benefited from three major
events: the explosion of raw material prices between 2000 and 2010, the
Chinese control of rare earth materials, and the 2008 economic crisis.[47]
Today, the climate emergency and environmental challenges induce
companies and individuals in rethink their production and consumption
patterns. The circular economy is framed as one of the answers to these
challenges. Key macro-arguments in favour of the circular economy are
that it could enable economic growth that does not add to the burden on
natural resource extraction but decouples resource uses from the
development of economic welfare for a growing population, reduces
foreign dependence on critical materials, lowers CO2 emissions, reduces waste production, and introduces new modes of production and consumption able to create further value. Corporate arguments in favour of the circular economy are that it could
secure the supply of raw materials, reduce the price volatility of
inputs and control costs, reduce spills and waste, extend the life cycle
of products, serve new segments of customers, and generate long-term
shareholder value. A key idea behind the circular business models is to
create loops throughout to recapture value that would otherwise be lost.
Of particular concern is the irrevocable loss of raw materials due to their increase in entropy in the linear business model. Starting with the production of waste in manufacturing, the entropy
increases further by mixing and diluting materials in their
manufacturing assembly, followed by corrosion and wear and tear during
the usage period. At the end of the life cycle, there is an exponential
increase in disorder arising from the mixing of materials in landfills. As a result of this directionality of the entropy law, the world's resources are effectively "lost forever".
Circular development is directly linked to the circular economy
and aims to build a sustainable society based on recyclable and
renewable resources, to protect society from waste, and to be able to
form a model that no longer considering resources as infinite. This new model of economic development focuses on the production of
goods and services, taking into account environmental and social costs. Circular development, therefore, supports the circular economy to
create new societies in line with new waste management and
sustainability objectives that meet the needs of citizens. It is about
enabling economies and societies, in general, to become more
sustainable.
However, critiques of the circular economy suggest that proponents of the circular economy may overstate the
potential benefits of the circular economy. These critiques put forward
the idea that the circular economy has too many definitions to be
delimited, making it an umbrella concept that, although exciting and
appealing, is hard to understand and assess. Critiques mean that the
literature ignores much-established knowledge. In particular, it
neglects the thermodynamic principle that one can neither create nor
destroy matter. Therefore, a future where waste no longer exists, where
material loops are closed, and products are recycled indefinitely is, in
any practical sense, impossible. They point out that a lack of
inclusion of indigenous discourses from the Global South means that the
conversation is less eco-centric than it depicts itself. There is a lack
of clarity as to whether the circular economy is more sustainable than
the linear economy and what its social benefits might be, in particular,
due to diffuse contours. Other issues include the increasing risks of cascading failures which are a feature of highly interdependent systems, and have potential harm to the general public. When implemented in bad faith, touting "circular economy" activities may be used for reputation and as impression management for public relations purposes by large corporations and other vested interests; constituting a new form of greenwashing. It may thus not be the cure-all many had hoped for.
In theory, the circular economy should be more sustainable
than the current linear economic system. Reducing the resources used
and the waste and leakage created conserves resources and helps to
reduce environmental pollution. However, some argue that these
assumptions are simplistic and disregard existing systems' complexity
and potential trade-offs. For example, the social dimension of
sustainability seems to be only marginally addressed in many
publications on the circular economy. Some cases might require different
or additional strategies, like purchasing new, more energy-efficient
equipment. Reviewing literature, a team of researchers from Cambridge
and TU Delft showed that there are at least eight different relationship
types between sustainability and the circular economy. In addition, it is important to underline the innovation aspect at the
heart of sustained development based on circular economy components.
Scope
The
circular economy can have a broad scope. Researchers have focused on
different areas such as industrial applications with both
product-oriented and natural resources and services, practices and policies to better understand the limitations that the CE currently faces,
strategic management for details of the circular economy and different
outcomes such as potential re-use applications and waste management.
The circular economy includes products, infrastructure, equipment, services and buildings and applies to every industry sector. It includes 'technical' resources
(metals, minerals, fossil resources) and 'biological' resources (food,
fibres, timber, etc.). Most schools of thought advocate a shift from fossil fuels to the use of renewable energy,
and emphasize the role of diversity as a characteristic of resilient
and sustainable systems. The circular economy includes a discussion of
the role of money and finance as part of the wider debate, and some of
its pioneers have called for a revamp of economic performance
measurement tools. One study points out how modularization could become a cornerstone to
enabling a circular economy and enhancing the sustainability of energy
infrastructure. One example of a circular economy model is the implementation of
renting models in traditional ownership areas (e.g., electronics,
clothes, furniture, transportation). By renting the same product to
several clients, manufacturers can increase revenues per unit, thus
decreasing the need to produce more to increase revenues. Recycling
initiatives are often described as circular economy and are likely to be
the most widespread models.
The organization Circle Economy reported that global
implementation of circular economy can reduce global emissions by 22.8
billion tons, 39% of global emissions in the year 2019. By 2050, 9.3 billion metric tons ofCO2
equivalent, or almost half of the global greenhouse gas emissions from
the production of goods, might be reduced by implementing circular
economy strategies in only five significant industries: cement,
aluminum, steel, plastics, and food. That would equal to eliminating all
current emissions caused by transportation.
Background
As early as 1966, Kenneth Boulding
raised awareness of an "open economy" with unlimited input resources
and output sinks, in contrast with a "closed economy", in which
resources and sinks are tied and remain as long as possible part of the
economy. Boulding's essay "The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth" is often cited as the first expression of the "circular economy", although Boulding does not use that phrase.
The circular economy was further modelled by British environmental economists David W. Pearce and R. Kerry Turner in 1989. In Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment, they pointed out that a traditional open-ended economy was developed
with no built-in tendency to recycle, which was reflected by treating
the environment as a waste reservoir.
In the early 1990s, Tim Jackson began to create the scientific basis for this new approach to industrial production in his edited collection Clean Production Strategies, including chapters from preeminent writers in the field such as Walter R Stahel, Bill Rees and Robert Constanza. At the time still called 'preventive environmental management', his follow-on book Material Concerns: Pollution, Profit and Quality of Life synthesized these findings into a manifesto for change, moving
industrial production away from an extractive linear system towards a
more circular economy.
Emergence of the idea
Walter Stahel and Genevieve Reday in a 1976 research report to the European Commission,
"The Potential for Substituting Manpower for Energy", sketched the
vision of an economy in loops (or a circular economy) and its impact on job creation, economic competitiveness, resource savings and waste prevention. The report was published in 1982 as the book Jobs for Tomorrow: The Potential for Substituting Manpower for Energy.
Considered one of the first pragmatic and credible sustainability think tanks,
the main goals of Stahel's institute are to extend the working life of
products, to make goods last longer, to reuse existing goods, and
ultimately to prevent waste. This model emphasizes the importance of selling services
rather than products, an idea referred to as the "functional service
economy" and sometimes put under the wider notion of "performance
economy." This model also advocates "more localization of economic
activity".
Promoting a circular economy was identified as a national policy in China's 11th five-year plan starting in 2006. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation
has more recently outlined the economic opportunity of a circular
economy, bringing together complementary schools of thought in an
attempt to create a coherent framework, thus giving the concept a wide
exposure and appeal.
Most frequently described as a framework for thinking, its
supporters claim it is a coherent model that has value as part of a
response to the end of the era of cheap oil and materials and, moreover, contributes to the transition to a low-carbon economy. In line with this, a circular economy can contribute to meeting the COP 21 Paris Agreement.
The emissions reduction commitments made by 195 countries at the COP 21
Paris Agreement are not sufficient to limit global warming to 1.5 °C.
To reach the 1.5 °C ambition, it is estimated that additional emissions
reductions of 15 billion tonnes of CO2
per year need to be achieved by 2030. Circle Economy and Ecofys
estimated that circular economy strategies may deliver emissions
reductions that could bridge the gap by half.
Moving away from the linear model
Linear "take, make, dispose" industrial processes, and the lifestyles dependent on them, use up finite reserves to create products with a finite lifespan, which end up in landfills or in incinerators.
The circular approach, by contrast, takes insights from living systems.
It considers that our systems should work like organisms, processing
nutrients that can be fed back into the cycle—whether biological or
technical—hence the "closed loop" or "regenerative" terms usually
associated with it. The generic circular economy label can be applied to
or claimed by several different schools of thought, but all of them
gravitate around the same basic principles.
One prominent thinker is Walter R. Stahel, an architect and economist who is "generally regarded as the father of circular economy" and industrial sustainability. Having also been credited with coining the expression "Cradle to
Cradle" (in contrast with "Cradle to Grave", illustrating our "Resource
to Waste" way of functioning), in the late 1970s, Stahel worked on
developing a "closed loop" approach to production processes, co-founding
the Product-Life Institute in Geneva.
In the UK, Steve D. Parker researched waste as a resource in the UK
agricultural sector in 1982, developing novel closed-loop production
systems. These systems mimicked and worked with the biological
ecosystems they exploited.
"Re-" models to rank circularity priority
A French-language model of circularity using mostly "R"s: partage (share), réparation (repair), réemploi (reemploy), remise à neuf (refurbish/renew), recyclage (recycle)
Since the 2010s, several models have been proposed to show a priority
heirarchy for circular economy, namely focused on ordering
actions/focuses to achieve value retention or reduction of waste and
environmental impact. These models usually list a sequence of various
English verbs or nouns starting with "re-", likely inspired by the motto "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" which came about in the 1970s. Breteler (2022) shared a "10R principle" developed by sustainable entrepreneurship professor and former Dutch Environment MinisterJacqueline Cramer. In 2018, Walter Vermeulen, Denise Reike, and Sjors Witjes compared 69
different "R" frameworks, finding 38 different "re"-words, some even
representing different concepts. They unified these as "Circular Economy
3.0", a comprehensive 10R hierarchy framework.
Comparing different models of circularity
10R hierarchy
(Vermeulen et al., 2018)
10R principle (Cramer, 2017)
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2013)
Three R principle (1970s)
Explanation (Cramer 2017)
Refuse
Refuse
Maintain/prolong
Reduce
'Prevent raw materials use'
Reduce
Reduce
'Decrease raw materials use'
Renew/Redesign
'Redesign product in view of circularity'
Resell/Reuse
Reuse
Reuse/redistribute
Reuse
'Use product again (second hand)'
Repair
Repair
'Maintain and repair product'
Refurbish
Refurbish
Refurbish/ Remanufacture
'Revive product'
Remanufacture
Remanufacture
'Make new product from second hand'
Repurpose
Repurpose
'Re-use product but with other function'
Recycle Materials
Recycle
Recycle
Recycle
'Salvage material streams with highest possible value'
Recover (energy)
Recover
Energy recovery
'Incinerate waste with energy recovery'
Re-mine
Landfill
Towards the circular economy
In 2013, a report was released entitled Towards the Circular Economy: Economic and Business Rationale for an Accelerated Transition. The report, commissioned by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and developed by McKinsey & Company, was the first volume of its kind to consider the economic and business opportunity for the transition to
a restorative, circular model. Using product case studies and
economy-wide analysis, the report details the potential for significant
benefits across the EU. It argues that a subset of the EU manufacturing
sector could realize net materials cost savings worth up to $630 billion
annually towards 2025—stimulating economic activity in the areas of
product development, remanufacturing and refurbishment. Towards the Circular Economy
also identified the key building blocks in making the transition to a
circular economy, namely in skills in circular design and production,
new business models, skills in building cascades and reverse cycles, and
cross-cycle/cross-sector collaboration. This is supported by a case study from the automotive industry, highlighting the importance of integrating a circular model
holistically within the entire value chain of a company, taking into
account the interdependencies between the product, process, and system
level.
Another report by WRAP and the Green Alliance (called "Employment
and the circular economy: job creation in a more resource efficient
Britain"), done in 2015 has examined different public policy scenarios
to 2030. It estimates that, with no policy change, 200,000 new jobs will
be created, reducing unemployment by 54,000. A more aggressive policy
scenario could create 500,000 new jobs and permanently reduce
unemployment by 102,000. The International Labour Organization predicts that implementing a
circular economy by 2030 might result in an additional 7-8 million jobs
being created globally. However, other research has also found that the adoption of circular
economy principles may lead to job losses in emerging economies.
On the other hand, implementing a circular economy in the United States has been presented by Ranta et al. who analyzed the institutional drivers and barriers for the circular
economy in different regions worldwide, by following the framework
developed by Scott R. In the article, different worldwide environment-friendly institutions
were selected, and two types of manufacturing processes were chosen for
the analysis (1) a product-oriented, and (2) a waste management. Specifically, in the U.S., the product-oriented company case in the study was Dell,
a US manufacturing company for computer technology, which was the first
company to offer free recycling to customers and to launch to the
market a computer made from recycling materials from a verified
third-party source. Moreover, the waste management case that includes many stages such as collection, disposal, recycling in the study was Republic Services,
the second-largest waste management company in the US. The approach to
defining the drivers and barriers was to first identify indicators for
their cases in study and then to categorize these indicators into
drivers when the indicator was in favor of the circular economy model or
a barrier when it was not.
On 2 March 2022 in Nairobi, representatives of 175 countries
pledged to create a legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution
by the end of the year 2024. The agreement should address the full
lifecycle of plastic and propose alternatives including reusability.
The agreement is expected to facilitate the transition to a circular
economy that will reduce GHG emissions by 25 percent, according to the
published statement.
It is estimated that the waste sector
can achieve net zero emissions in the coming decades by improving and
adopting circular approaches to municipal solid waste systems. Circularity is growing in national focus. It was one focus of the 2024 COP 29United Nations Climate Conference hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan. During the annual conference, a Joint Resolution declaring the intent
of the Republic of Azerbaijan to focus on global and regional
collaboration focused on efficiency and circularity was established and signed.
Product designs that optimize durability, ease of maintenance and
repair, upgradability, re-manufacturability, separability, disassembly,
and reassembly are considered key elements for the transition toward
circularity of products, though designers must balance these principles
with avoiding excessive margins that can lead to overdesign and reduced
overall sustainability. Standardization can facilitate related "innovative, sustainable and competitive advantages for European businesses and consumers". Design for standardization and compatibility would make "product parts
and interfaces suitable for other products and aims at
multi-functionality and modularity". A "Product Family Approach" has been proposed to establish
"commonality, compatibility, standardization, or modularization among
different products or product lines".
It has been argued that emerging technologies should be designed with circular economy principles from the start, including solar panels.
Design of circularity processes
Not all types of recycling processes (one circularity process) have equal impact on health and sustainability.
For sustainability and health, the circularity process designs may be
of crucial importance. Large amounts of electronic waste are already
recycled but far from where they were consumed, with often low
efficiency, and with substantial negative effects on human health and the foreign environment.
Recycling should therefore "reduce environmental impacts of the overall product/service provision system assessed based on the life-cycle assessment approach".
One study suggests that "a mandatory certification scheme for
recyclers of electronic waste, in or out of Europe, would help to
incentivize high-quality treatment processes and efficient material
recovery".
Digitalization may enable more efficient corporate processes and minimize waste.
While the initial focus of the academic, industry, and policy activities
was mainly focused on the development of re-X (recycling,
remanufacturing, reuse, etc.) technology, it soon became clear that the
technological capabilities increasingly exceed their implementation. To
leverage this technology for the transition toward a circular economy,
various stakeholders have to work together. This shifted attention
towards business-model innovation as a key leverage for 'circular'
technology adaption. Rheaply,
a platform that aims to scale reuse within and between organizations,
is an example of a technology that focuses on asset management &
disposition to support organizations transitioning to circular business
models.
Circular business models
Circular
business models can be defined as business models that are closing,
narrowing, slowing, intensifying, and dematerializing loops, to minimize
the resource inputs into and the waste and emission leakage out of the
organizational system. This comprises recycling measures (closing),
efficiency improvements (narrowing), use phase extensions (slowing), a
more intense use phase (intensifying), and the substitution of products
by service and software solutions (dematerializing). These strategies can be achieved through the purposeful design of
material recovery processes and related circular supply chains. As illustrated in the Figure, these five approaches to resource loops
can also be seen as generic strategies or archetypes of circular
business model innovation. The development of circular products,
circular business models, and, more generally, the circular economy is
conditioned upon the affordances of the materials involved, that is the
enablement and constraints afforded by these materials to someone
engaging with them for circular purposes.
Circular business models, as the economic model more broadly, can
have different emphases and various objectives, for example: extend the
life of materials and products, where possible over multiple 'use
cycles'; use a 'waste = food' approach to help recover materials, and
ensure those biological materials returned to earth are benign, not
toxic; retain the embedded energy, water, and other process inputs in
the product and the material for as long as possible; Use
systems-thinking approaches in designing solutions; regenerate or at
least conserve nature and living systems; push for policies, taxes and
market mechanisms that encourage product stewardship, for example
'polluter pays' regulations.
Circular business models are enabled by circular supply chains.
In practice, collaboration for circular supply chains can enable the
creation, transfer, and/or capture of value stemming from circular
business solutions. Collaboration in supply chains can extend to
downstream and upstream partners, and include existing and new
collaboration. Similarly, circular supply chain collaboration allows innovation into
the circular business model, focusing on its processes, products, or
services.
Digital circular economy
Smart circular economy framework
Building on circular business model innovation, digitalization and digital technologies (e.g., internet of things, big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain) are seen as a key enabler for upscaling the circular economy. Also referred to as the data economy, the central role of digital technologies for accelerating the circular economy transition is emphasized within the Circular Economy Action Plan
of the European Green deal. The smart circular economy framework
illustrates this by establishing a link between digital technologies and
sustainable resource management. This allows assessment of different digital circular economy strategies
with their associated level of maturity, providing guidance on how to
leverage data and analytics to maximize circularity (i.e., optimizing
functionality and resource intensity). Supporting this, a Strategic
Research and Innovation Agenda for circular economy was published in the
framework of the Horizon 2020
project CICERONE that puts digital technologies at the core of many key
innovation fields (waste management, industrial symbiosis, products
traceability). Some researchers have emphasised a need to comply with several
requirements for implementing blockchain technology in order to make
circular economy a reality.
Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE)
In 2020, PACE released a report with partner Circle Economy claiming
that the world is 8.6% circular, claiming all countries are "developing
countries" given the unsustainable levels of consumption in countries
with higher levels of human development.
PACE is a coalition of CEOs and Ministers—including the leaders of global corporations like IKEA, Coca-Cola, Alphabet Inc., and DSM, governmental partners and development institutions from Denmark, The Netherlands, Finland, Rwanda, UAE, China, and beyond Initiatives currently managed under PACE include the Capital Equipment Coalition with Philips and numerous other partners and the Global Battery Alliance with over 70 partners. In January 2019, PACE released a report entitled "A New Circular Vision
for Electronics: Time for a Global Reboot" (in support of the United NationsE-waste Coalition).
To
provide authoritative guidance to organizations implementing circular
economy (CE) strategies, in 2017, the British Standards Institution
(BSI) developed and launched the first circular economy standard "BS
8001:2017 Framework for implementing the principles of the circular
economy in organizations". The circular economy standard BS 8001:2017 tries to align the
far-reaching ambitions of the CE with established business routines at
the organizational level. It contains a comprehensive list of CE terms
and definitions, describes the core CE principles, and presents a
flexible management framework for implementing CE strategies in
organizations. Little concrete guidance on circular economy monitoring
and assessment is given, however, as there is no consensus yet on a set
of central circular economy performance indicators applicable to
organizations and individual products.
Development of ISO/TC 323 circular economy standard
In 2018, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) established a technical committee,
TC 323, in the field of circular economy to develop frameworks,
guidance, supporting tools, and requirements for the implementation of
activities of all involved organizations, to maximize the contribution
to Sustainable Development. Four new ISO standards are under development and in the direct
responsibility of the committee (consisting of 70 participating members
and 11 observing members).
Strategic management in a circular economy
The CE does not aim at changing the profit maximization paradigm of businesses. Rather, it suggests an alternative way of thinking how to attain a sustained competitive advantage
(SCA), while concurrently addressing the environmental and
socio-economic concerns of the 21st century. Indeed, stepping away from
linear forms of production most often leads to the development of new
core competencies along the value chain and ultimately superior
performance that cuts costs, improves efficiency, promote brand names,
mitigate risks, develop new products, and meets advanced government regulations and the expectations of green
consumers. But despite the multiple examples of companies successfully
embracing circular solutions across industries, and notwithstanding the
wealth of opportunities that exist when a firm has clarity over what
circular actions fit its unique profile and goals, CE decision-making
remains a highly complex exercise with no one-size-fits-all solution.
The intricacy and fuzziness of the topic is still felt by most companies
(especially SMEs), which perceive circular strategies as something not
applicable to them or too costly and risky to implement. This concern is today confirmed by the results of ongoing monitoring studies like the Circular Readiness Assessment.
Strategic management is the field of management
that comes to the rescue allowing companies to carefully evaluate
CE-inspired ideas, but also to take a firm apart and investigate
if/how/where seeds of circularity can be found or implanted. Prior
research has identified strategic development for circularity to be a
challenging process for companies, demanding multiple iterative
strategic cycles. The book Strategic Management and the Circular Economy defined for the first time a CE strategic decision-making process, covering the phases of analysis, formulation, and planning. Each phase
is supported by frameworks and concepts popular in management
consulting—like idea tree, value chain, VRIE, Porter's five forces, PEST, SWOT, strategic clock, or the internationalization
matrix—all adapted through a CE lens, hence revealing new sets of
questions and considerations. Although yet to be verified, it is argued
that all standard tools for strategic management can and should be
calibrated and applied to a CE. A specific argument has already been
made for the strategy direction matrix of product vs market and the 3 × 3 GE-McKinsey matrix to assess business strength vs industry attractiveness, the BCG matrix of market share vs industry growth rate, and Kraljic's portfolio matrix.
Engineering the Circular Life cycle
The engineering lifecycle
is a well-established approach in the design and systems engineering of
complex and certified systems. It refers to the series of stages that a
complex engineered product passes through, from initial concept and
design through production, use, and end-of-life management. The approach
is commonly used in heavy manufacturing and heavily regulated
industries (for example aviation).
Complex and certified engineering systems, however, include many of
the smaller products encountered on a daily basis, for example bicycles
and household appliances. Implementing the principles of circularity
requires all engineering design teams to take a lifecycle approach to
the product.
The Circular Lifecycle for Complex Engineering Systems
'Engineering
the Circular Life Cycle: For Complex and Certified Systems. A framework
for applying engineering principles to design and innovate for
circularity.
Building on both the engineering lifecycle and the principles of the
circular economy, the Circular Lifecycle for Complex Engineering Systems
newly established framework, "Circular Lifecycle for Complex Engineering Systems",
forms the core of this approach. This framework advocates for a
reassessment of recognized engineering disciplines with an emphasis on
integrating less familiar circular principles. It particularly focuses
on designing to meet user needs, the application of established
engineering disciplines to achieve product longevity, engineering for
the transition to renewable energy sources, and maximizing value
generation from waste.
As with the traditional engineering lifecycle, this approach can
be applied to all engineering systems, with the depth of activity
tailored depending on the complexity of the product. and can incorporate
multiple inter requiring planning, substantial resource consumption,
and prolonged service lifetimes.
Lifecycle-Value Stream Matrix
The
key to implementing the circular lifecycle for complex engineering
systems is ensuring the engineering design team have a solid
understanding of the product's ecosystem. The Lifecycle-Value Stream Matrix for complex and certified circular systems
assists engineers and product design teams in visualizing the product's
ecosystem more effectively. It enables engineers to map the intricate
ecosystem surrounding their products, leading to the identification of
potential strategic partners and novel opportunities for technology and
service innovation.
The matrix captures the value stream for various suppliers, providing
increasing levels of complexity in products and services. It is
important to note that these suppliers will change throughout the life
cycle. In the design phase of the complex engineering system,
traditionally, the system-level suppliers would only be those suppliers
who are integrating the engineering system itself. Later in the life
cycle, the initial systems-level suppliers will be joined by other
suppliers operating at a systems level, who may deliver products and
services that facilitate the operation and usage of the initial
engineering system.
The life cycle - value stream matrix for a complex engineering system
Circular Engineering Lifecycle Implementation Challenges and Opportunities
Adopting
an engineering circular lifecycle approach undeniably brings a
considerable set of challenges. Complex engineering systems, especially
those with extended lifecycles and intricate safety and certification
governance frameworks, may encounter difficulties while transitioning to
renewable energy sources. However, the circular lifecycle concept is
adaptable to a broad range of manufactured and engineered products,
affirming its universal applicability.
The primary challenge within organizations will be a mindset
shift and establishment of these innovative methodologies. Despite these
hurdles, the implementation of this engineering lifecycle approach
holds enormous potential for both consumers and businesses. This is
especially true when a collaborative, through-life service approach is
applied, highlighting the vast economic opportunities that can arise
from embracing circularity in engineering lifecycles.
A circular economy within the textiles industry refers to the
practice of clothes and fibers continually being recycled, to re-enter
the economy as much as possible rather than ending up as waste.
A circular textile economy is in response to the current linear
model of the fashion industry, "in which raw materials are extracted,
manufactured into commercial goods, and then bought, used, and
eventually discarded by consumers" (Business of Fashion, 2017). 'Fast fashion'
companies have fueled the high rates of consumption which further
magnify the issues of a linear system. "The take-make-dispose model not
only leads to an economic value
loss of over $500 billion per year but also has numerous negative
environmental and societal impacts" (Business of Fashion, 2018). Such environmental effects include tons of clothing ending up in
landfills and incineration, while the societal effects put human rights
at risk. A documentary about the world of fashion, The True Cost (2015), explained that in fast fashion, "wages, unsafe conditions, and factory
disasters are all excused because of the needed jobs they create for
people with no alternatives." This shows that fast fashion is harming
the planet in more ways than one by running on a linear system.
It is argued that by following a circular economy, the textile
industry can be transformed into a sustainable business. A 2017 report,
"A New Textiles Economy", stated the four key ambitions needed to establish a circular economy:
"phasing out substances of concern and microfiber release; transforming
the way clothes are designed, sold, and used to break free from their
increasingly disposable nature; radically improving recycling by
transforming clothing design, collection, and reprocessing; and making
effective use of resources and moving to renewable input." While it may
sound like a simple task, only a handful of designers in the fashion
industry have taken charge, including Patagonia, Eileen Fisher, Nathalia JMag, and Stella McCartney.
An example of a circular economy within a fashion brand is Eileen
Fisher's Tiny Factory, in which customers are encouraged to bring their
worn clothing to be manufactured and resold. Similar initiatives are
also found in Europe, where outdoor garment companies facilitate a
textile return systems that encourage customers to bring back used
garments for repair, redesign, resale, or recycling In a 2018 interview, Fisher explained, "A big part of the problem with fashion is overconsumption. We need to make less and sell less. You get to use your creativity but you also get to sell more but not create more stuff."[citation needed]
Circular initiatives, such as clothing rental start-ups, are also
getting more and more highlight in the EU and in the US as well.
Operating with circular business model, rental services offer everyday
fashion, baby wear, maternity wear for rent. The companies either offer
flexible pricing in a 'pay as you rent' model like Palanta does, or offer fixed monthly subscriptions such as Rent The Runway or Le Tote.
Both China and Europe have taken the lead in pushing a circular economy.
McDowall et al. 2017 stated that the "Chinese perspective on the
circular economy is broad, incorporating pollution and other issues
alongside waste and resource concerns, [while] Europe's conception of
the circular economy has a narrower environmental scope, focusing on
waste and resources and opportunities for business".
The construction
sector is one of the world's largest waste generators. The circular
economy appears as a helpful solution to diminish the environmental
impact of the industry.
Construction is very important to the economy of the European
Union and its state members. It provides 18 million direct jobs and
contributes to about 9% of the EU's GDP. The main causes of the construction's environmental impact are found in
the consumption of non-renewable resources and the generation of
contaminant residues, both of which are increasing at an accelerating
pace. In the European Union alone, people and companies generate more than 2
billion tonnes of garbage year, or 4.8 tonnes per person, mostly from
the building, mining, and manufacturing sectors. Each individual in Europe generates half a tonne of municipal garbage annually, less than half of which gets recycled.
Cement production accounts for 2.4% of worldwide CO2 emissions from industrial and energy sources.
Decision making about the circular economy can be performed on
the operational (connected with particular parts of the production
process), tactical (connected with whole processes) and strategic
(connected with the whole organization) levels. It may concern both
construction companies as well as construction projects (where a
construction company is one of the stakeholders).
Modular construction systems can be useful to create new
buildings in the future, and have the advantage of allowing easier
deconstruction and reuse of the components afterwards (end-of-life
buildings).
Another example that fits the idea of circular economy in the
construction sector on the operational level, there can be pointed walnut husks, that belong to hard, light and natural abrasives
used for example in cleaning brick surfaces. Abrasive grains are
produced from crushed, cleaned and selected walnut shells. They are
classified as reusable abrasives. A first attempt to measure the success
of circular economy implementation was done in a construction company. The circular economy can contribute to creating new posts and economic growth. According to Gorecki, one of such posts may be the Circular economy manager employed for construction projects.
The circular economy is beginning to catch on inside the automotive industry. A case study within the heavy-duty and off-road industry analyses the implementation of circular practices into a lean
manufacturing context, the currently dominant production strategy in
automotive. Lean has continuously shown to increase efficiency by
eliminating waste and focusing on customer value, contributing to eco-efficiency by narrowing resource loops. However,
other measures are needed to slow down and close the resource loops
altogether and reach eco-effectiveness. The study finds significant potentials by combining the lean and the
circular approach, to not only focus on the product and process levels
(eco-efficiency), but also on the system perspective
(eco-effectiveness). There are also incentives for carmakers to do so as a 2016 report by
Accenture stated that the circular economy could redefine
competitiveness in the automotive sector in terms of price, quality, and
convenience and could double revenue by 2030 and lower the cost base by
up to fourteen percent. So far, it has typically translated itself into
using parts made from recycled materials, remanufacturing of car parts and looking at the design of new cars. Remanufacturing is currently limited to provide spare parts, where a
common use is remanufacturing gearboxes, which has the potential of
reducing the global warming potential (CO2-eq) by 36% compared to a newly manufactured one. With the vehicle recycling industry (in the EU) only being able to
recycle just 75% of the vehicle, meaning 25% is not recycled and may end
up in landfills, there is much to improve here. In the electric vehicle industry, disassembly robots are used to help disassemble the vehicle. In the EU's ETN-Demeter project (European Training Network for the
Design and Recycling of Rare-Earth Permanent Magnet Motors and
Generators in Hybrid and Full Electric Vehicles) they are looking at the sustainable design issue. They are for example
making designs of electric motors of which the magnets can be easily
removed for recycling the rare earth metals.
Some car manufacturers such as Volvo are also looking at
alternative ownership models (leasing from the automotive company; "Care
by Volvo").
Logistics industry
The logistics industry plays an important role in the Dutch economy
because the Netherlands is located in a specific area where the transit
of commodities takes place on a daily basis. The Netherlands is an
example of a country from the EU that has increasingly moved towards
incorporating a circular economy given the vulnerability of the Dutch
economy (as well as other EU countries) to be highly dependable on raw
materials imports from countries such as China, which makes the country
susceptible to the unpredictable importation costs for such primary
goods.
Research related to the Dutch industry shows that 25% of the
Dutch companies are knowledgeable and interested in a circular economy;
furthermore, this number increases to 57% for companies with more than
500 employees. Some of the areas are chemical industries, wholesale
trade, industry and agriculture, forestry and fisheries because they see
a potential reduction of costs when reusing, recycling and reducing raw
materials imports. In addition, logistic companies can enable a
connection to a circular economy by providing customers incentives to
reduce costs through shipment and route optimization, as well as,
offering services such as prepaid shipping labels, smart packaging, and
take-back options. The shift from linear flows of packaging to circular flows as
encouraged by the circular economy is critical for the sustainable
performance and reputation of the packaging industry. The government-wide program for a circular economy is aimed at developing a circular economy in the Netherlands by 2050.
Several statistics have indicated that there will be an increase
in freight transport worldwide, which will affect the environmental
impacts of the global warming potential
causing a challenge to the logistics industry. However, the Dutch
council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Dutch acronym: Rli)
provided a new framework in which it suggests that the logistics
industry can provide other ways to add value to the different activities
in the Dutch economy. Examples of adding value in innovative ways to
the Dutch economy are an exchange of resources (either waste or water
flows) for production from different industries and changing the transit
port to a transit hub concept. The Rli studied the role of the
potentials of the logistics industry for three sectors, agriculture and
food, chemical industries and high tech industries.
There has been widespread adoption of circular economic models in
agriculture which is essential to global food security and to help
mitigate against climate change, however there are also potential risks
to human and environmental health from contaminants remaining in
recycled water or organic material.
These risks can be mitigated by addressing three specific issues
that will also depend on the local context. These are contaminant
monitoring, collection, transport, and treatment, and regulation and
policy.
The Netherlands, aiming to have a completely circular economy by 2050, intends a shift to circular agriculture as part of this plan. This shift plans on having a "sustainable and strong agriculture" by as early as 2030. Changes in the Dutch laws and regulations will be introduced. Some key points in this plant include:
closing the fodder-manure cycle
reusing as much waste streams as possible (a team Reststromen will be appointed)
reducing the use of artificial fertilizers in favor of natural manure
providing the chance for farms within experimentation areas to deviate from law and regulations
implementing uniform methods to measure the soil quality
providing the opportunity to agricultural entrepreneurs to sign an agreement with the Staatsbosbeheer ("State forest management") to have it use the lands they lease for natuurinclusieve landbouw ("nature-inclusive management")
providing initiatives to increase the earnings of farmers
Furniture industry
When
it comes to the furniture industry, most of the products are passive
durable products, and accordingly implementing strategies and business
models that extend the lifetime of the products (like repairing and
remanufacturing) would usually have lower environmental impacts and
lower costs. Companies such as GGMS are supporting a circular approach to furniture by refurbishing and reupholstering items for reuse.
The EU has seen a huge potential for implementing a circular
economy in the furniture sector. Currently, out of 10,000,000 tonnes of
annually discarded furniture in the EU, most of it ends up in landfills
or is incinerated. There is a potential increase of €4.9 billion in
Gross Value Added by switching to a circular model by 2030, and 163,300
jobs could be created.
A study about the status of Danish furniture companies' efforts
on a circular economy states that 44% of the companies included
maintenance in their business models, 22% had take-back schemes, and 56%
designed furniture for recycling. The authors of the study concluded
that although a circular furniture economy in Denmark is gaining
momentum, furniture companies lack knowledge on how to effectively
transition, and the need to change the business model could be another
barrier.
Another report in the UK saw a huge potential for reuse and
recycling in the furniture sector. The study concluded that around 42%
of the bulk waste sent to landfills annually (1.6 million tonnes) is
furniture. They also found that 80% of the raw material in the
production phase is waste.
Between 2020 and about 2050, the oil and gas sector will have to
decommission 600 installations in the UK alone. Over the next decade
around 840,000 tonnes of materials will have to be recovered at an
estimated cost of £25Bn. In 2017 North Sea oil and gas decommissioning
became a net drain on the public purse. With UK taxpayers covering
50–70% of the bill, discussion of the most economic, social and
environmentally beneficial decommissioning solutions for the general
public may lead to financial benefits.
Organizations such as Zero Waste Scotland have conducted studies
to identify areas with reuse potential, allowing equipment to continue
life in other industries, or to be redeployed for oil and gas.
Oil and gas energy resources are incompatible with the idea of a
circular economy, since they are defined as "development that meets the
needs of the present while compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs". A sustainable circular economy can only be powered by renewable energies, such as wind, solar, hydropower, and geothermal.
What gives entities the ability to achieve 'net zero'
carbon-emissions, is that they can offset their fossil fuel consumption
by removing carbon from the atmosphere. While this is a necessary first
step, global smart grid technologist, Steve Hoy, believes that in order
to create a circular economy we should adapt the concept of 'True Zero'
as opposed to 'net zero', which is eliminating fossil fuel consumption
entirely so that all energy is produced from renewable sources.
Current growth projections in the renewable energy industry
expect a significant amount of energy and raw materials to manufacture
and maintain these renewable systems. "Due to the emissions attributed
to fossil-fuel electricity generation, the overall carbon footprint of
renewable energy technologies is significantly lower than for
fossil-fuel generation over the respective systems lifespan." However, there are still linear trajectories when establishing
renewable energy systems that should be assessed in order to fully
transition to a circular economy.
Education industry
In 2018, The Ellen MacArthur Foundation identified 138 institutions with circular economy course offerings. Since then the theme of CE topics in teaching has been incorporated at a
steadily increasing pace, with plans for adoption at university, city,
and country wide levels.Zero Waste Scotland is an example of a country wide program that plans
to implement CE into the Scottish education system through the "YES
Circular Economy Challenge" which advocates that "every learning
environment should have a whole-environment approach to learning for
sustainability that is robust, demonstrable, evaluated and supported by
leadership at all levels". A 2021 report by the EMF compares London and New York CE course
offerings and finds that there is not a "whole-environment"
representation when it comes to different CE topics, with an element of
the technical CE cycle being covered in 90% and element of the
biological cycle covered in 50% of the 80 analyzed circular economy
courses. The EMF looks critically at the distribution of CE courses and
researchers at Utrecht University Julian Kirchherr and Laura Piscicelli
analyze the success of their introductory CE course in "Towards an Education for the Circular Economy (ECE): Five Teaching Principles and a Case Study".
With 114 published definitions for the Circular Economy, synthesis and
collaboration, previously exemplified, could benefit and popularize CE
application in higher education.
Plastic waste management
Laws related to recyclability, waste management, domestic materials
recovery facilities, product composition, biodegradability and
prevention of import/export of specific wastes may support prevention of
plastic pollution. A study considers producer/manufacturer responsibility "a practical
approach toward addressing the issue of plastic pollution", suggesting
that "Existing and adopted policies, legislations, regulations, and
initiatives at global, regional, and national level play a vital role".
Standardization of products, especially of packaging which are, as of 2022, often composed of different materials (each and
across products) that are hard or currently impossible to either
separate or recycle together in general or in an automated way could support recyclability and recycling.
For instance, there are systems that can theoretically distinguish between and sort 12 types of plastics such as PET using hyperspectral imaging and algorithms developed via machine learning while only an estimated 9% of the estimated 6.3billion
tonnes of plastic waste from the 1950s up to 2018 has been recycled
(12% has been incinerated and the rest reportedly being "dumped in
landfills or the natural environment").
REEs are amongst the most critical elements to modern technologies
and society. Despite this, typically only around 1% of REEs are recycled
from end-products. Recycling and reusing REEs is not easy: these elements are mostly
present in tiny amounts in small electronic parts and they are difficult
to separate chemically. For example, recovery of neodymium requires manual disassembly of hard
disk drives because shredding the drives only recovers 10% of the REE.
REE recycling and reuse have been increasingly focused on in
recent years. The main concerns include environmental pollution during
REE recycling and increasing recycling efficiency. Literature published
in 2004 suggests that, along with previously established pollution
mitigation, a more circular supply chain would help mitigate some of the
pollution at the extraction point. This means recycling and reusing
REEs that are already in use or reaching the end of their life cycle. A study published in 2014 suggests a method to recycle REEs from waste nickel-metal hydride batteries, demonstrating a recovery rate of 95.16%.
Rare-earth elements could also be recovered from industrial
wastes with practical potential to reduce environmental and health
impacts from mining, waste generation, and imports if known and
experimental processes are scaled up. A 2019 study suggests that "fulfillment of the circular economy approach could reduce up to 200 times the impact in the climate change category and up to 70 times the cost due to the REE mining." In 2020, in most of the reported studies reviewed by a scientific review,
"secondary waste is subjected to chemical and or bioleaching followed
by solvent extraction processes for clean separation of REEs."
Currently, people take two essential resources into consideration
for the secure supply of REEs: one is to extract REEs from primary
resources like mines harboring REE-bearing ores, regolith-hosted clay
deposits, ocean bed sediments, coal fly ash, etc. A work developed a green system for recovery of REEs from coal fly
ash by using citrate and oxalate who are strong organic ligand and
capable of complexing or precipitating with REE. The other one is from secondary resources such as electronic,
industrial waste and municipal waste. E-waste contains a significant
concentration of REEs, and thus is the primary option for REE recycling
now.
According to a 2019 study, approximately 50 million metric tons of
electronic waste are dumped in landfills worldwide each year. Despite
the fact that e-waste contains a significant amount of rare-earth
elements (REE), only 12.5% of e-waste is currently being recycled for
all metals. One study suggests that by 2050, up to 40 to 75% of the EU's clean energy metal needs could come from local recycling.
A study estimates losses of 61 metals, showing that use spans of, often scarce, tech-critical metals are short. A study using Project Drawdown's
modeling framework indicates that, even without considering costs or
bottlenecks of expansion of renewable energy generation, metal recycling
can lead to significant climate change mitigation.
Researchers have developed recycling-routes for 200 industrial waste chemicals into important drugs and agrochemicals, for productive reuse that reduces disposal costs and hazards to the environment. A study has called for new molecules and materials for products with
open-environmental applications, such as pesticides, that can be neither
circulated nor recycled and provides a set of guidelines on how to
integrate chemistry into a circular economy.
Circular developments around the world
Overview
Already
since 2006, the European Union has been concerned about environmental
transition issues by translating this into directives and regulations. Three important laws can be mentioned in this regard:
On 17 December 2012, the European Commission published a document entitled "Manifesto for a Resource Efficient Europe".
In July 2014, a zero-waste program for Europe has been put in place aiming at the circular economy. Since then, several documents on this subject have been published. The
following table summarizes the various European reports and legislation
on the circular economy that have been developed between 2014 and 2018. In addition to the above legislation, the EU has amended the Eco-design
Working Plan to add circularity criteria and has enacted eco-design
regulations with circular economy components for 7 product types
(refrigerators, dishwashers, electronic displays, washing machines,
welding equipment and servers and data storage products). These eco-design regulations are aimed at increasing the reparability
of products by improving the availability of spare parts and manuals. At the same time, the European research budget related to the circular
economy has increased considerably in the last few years: it has reached
964 million euros between 2018 and 2020. In total, the European Union has invested 10 billion euros on Circular Economy projects between 2016 and 2019.
One waste atlas aggregates some data about waste management of countries and cities, albeit the data is very limited.
The "Circularity Gap Report" indicates that "out of all the minerals, biomass, fossil fuels and metals that enter the world's economy, only 8.6 percent are reused".
The European Commission'sCircular Economy Action Plan
has resulted in a wide range of projects, with an emphasis on waste and
material sustainability, as well as the circularity of consumer items.
Despite a huge number of EU legislative measures, the European Union's
circularity rate was 11.5% in 2022 and is slowing down currently.
Programs
The
"Manifesto for a Resource Efficient Europe" of 2012 clearly stated that
"In a world with growing pressures on resources and the environment,
the EU has no choice but to go for the transition to a
resource-efficient and ultimately regenerative circular economy." Furthermore, the document highlighted the importance of "a systemic
change in the use and recovery of resources in the economy" in ensuring
future jobs and competitiveness, and outlined potential pathways to a
circular economy, in innovation and investment, regulation, tackling
harmful subsidies, increasing opportunities for new business models, and
setting clear targets.
The European environmental research and innovation policy
aims at supporting the transition to a circular economy in Europe,
defining and driving the implementation of a transformative agenda to
green the economy and the society as a whole, to achieve a truly sustainable development. Research and innovation in Europe are financially supported by the program Horizon 2020, which is also open to participation worldwide. Circular economy is found to play an important role to economic growth
of European Countries, highlighting the crucial role of sustainability,
innovation, and investment in no-waste initiatives to promote wealth.
The European Union plans for a circular economy are spearheaded by its 2018 Circular Economy Package. Historically, the policy debate in Brussels mainly focused on waste
management which is the second half of the cycle, and very little is
said about the first half: eco-design.
To draw the attention of policymakers and other stakeholders to this
loophole, the Ecothis, an EU campaign was launched raising awareness
about the economic and environmental consequences of not including
eco-design as part of the circular economy package.
This
first circular economy Action Plan consisted of 54 measures to
strengthen Europe's global competitiveness, promote sustainable economic
growth and create more jobs. Among these 54 measures, for example, is the importance of optimizing
the use of raw materials, products and waste in order to create energy
savings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The main goal being in this respect to lead to the development of a framework conducive to the circular economy. In addition, the development of this Action Plan was also intended to
enable the development of a new market for secondary raw materials.
Concretely, here are the principal areas concerned by the Action Plan:
Production
Consumption
Waste Management
Boosting markets for secondary materials
Innovation, investment and 'horizontal' measures
Monitoring progress
The Action plan was also a way to integrate a policy framework, an
integration of existing policies and legal instruments. It includes
notably some amendments. As a matter of fact, the implementation of this new plan was supported
by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). This support
included in-depth consultation.
Circular Economy Action Plan of 2020
This new action was adopted by the European Commission in March 2020. A total of 574 out of 751 MEPs voted in favour of the action plan. It focuses on better management of resource-intensive industries, waste
reduction, zero-carbonization and standardization of sustainable
products in Europe. Prior to the development of this new action plan, we can also mention the Green Deal
of 2019, which integrated ecological and environmental ambitions to
make Europe a carbon-neutral continent. On 10 February 2021, the
European Parliament submitted its proposals to the Circular Economic
Action Plan (CEAP) of the commission, highlighting five major areas in
particular. Those are the following:
Batteries
Construction and demolition
ICT
Plastics
Textiles
Two additional sectors on which the CEAP focuses could be added: packaging & food and water.
Ranking country efforts
The
European leaders in terms of circular economy are designated mostly by
their current efforts for a shift towards circular economy but also by
their objectives and the means implemented in this shift. It remains
difficult to precisely rank how countries score in terms of circular
economy, given the many principles and aspects of it and how differently
one single country can score in each of these principles but some
tendencies do appear in the average score, when combining the
principles.
The Netherlands: the government aims to reuse 50% of all materials as far as possible by 2030 and to convert waste into reusable materials anywhere it is possible.
The next goal is then to make the country shift towards a 100%
waste-free economy by 2050. These objectives were all set from 2016 to 2019 in a series of programs
for a governmental circular economy, raw materials agreements and
transition agendas focusing on the five most important sectors for
waste: biomass and food, plastics, manufacturing industry, construction
and consumer goods.
Germany: Germany is a leader in some aspects of circular economy, like waste management and recycling.
France
is also adding several texts and measures for a better circular economy
in the country such as the roadmap for circular economy in 2018,
consisting of 50 measures for a successful transition to circular
economy.
Belgium
is also a consequent actor in the field. It scored second in the
circular material use rate, before France but after the Netherlands. In the other principles of circular economy, it usually scores in the top 5.
Other notable countries are Italy, the United Kingdom, Austria, Slovenia, and Denmark.
Outside the EU, countries such as Brazil, China, Canada, the US and especially Japan are working on the shift towards it.
Most countries that are in the lead in the field of circular
economy are European countries, meaning that Europe in general is in the
lead group at the moment. The reasons behind this are numerous. First
of all, circular economy is a field that is, at the moment mostly
advanced in the developed countries, thanks to, between others,
technology. The efforts of the European Commission are also non negligible, with
documents such as the Commission staff working document "Leading the way
to a global circular economy: state of play and outlook" or the new action plan for circular economy in Europe, being one of the main blocs of the green deal.
Even if Europe as a whole is a good actor in the field, some
European countries are still struggling to make the shift faster. These
countries are mostly the eastern European countries (Romania, Hungary,
Bulgaria, Slovakia, etc.) but also in some fields Portugal, Greece,
Croatia and even Germany.
In 2018, the newspaper Politico
made a ranking of the (by then) 28 European countries by making an
aggregation of the seven key metrics of the commission for each country.
The advantage here is that it gives a general view of how countries
work towards circular development and how they compare to each other but
the main drawback is that, as mentioned in the article, the seven
metrics all have equal weight and importance in Politico's calculations,
which is not the case in real life. Indeed, it is said in the same
article that the countries that score the highest in CE are not
necessarily the greenest according to the Environmental Performance Index. For example, Germany, which scores 1st in the Politico ranking, only
scores 13th worldwide in the EPI and is behind 10 European countries.
China
Beginning in the early 2000s, China started passing a series of laws and regulations to promote the circular economy. In 2005, China's National Development and Reform Commission
issued a policy document requiring maximization of recycling and reuse
of wastewater, exhaust gas, and water residue generated during mining
and smelting.
Policymakers' views expanded from a focus on recycling to broad
efforts to promote efficiency and closed-loop flows of materials at all
stages, from production to distribution to consumption. As part of its efforts to enhance the circular economy, China is attempting to decrease its reliance on mining for its mineral supply.
Academic Jing Vivian Zhan writes that promoting the circular economy
helps China to avoid the resource curse and helps to alleviate
overreliance on extractive industries.
A major barrier to achieving a circular economy in China is poor
enforcement of regulation, particularly at lower levels of government.
European Union
Since
2015, there is a plan concerning the circular economy adopted by the
European Commission. This first plan includes 54 actions. There are also
4 legislative proposals with the objective of legal change.
d) the directive on batteries and accumulators and their waste
During the 2018 negotiations between the Parliament and the council,
different elements will be adopted in four directives. These are mainly:
« The main objectives are the following in the European framework
Minimum 65% of municipal waste to be recycled by 2035
Minimum 70% of all packaging waste to be recycled by 2030
Maximum 10% of municipal waste to be landfilled by 2035
Certain types of single use plastic will be prohibited to place on market as of July 2021
Minimum 32% of the Union's gross final consumption of energy to originate from renewable sources by 2030
The main objectives are the following in the European framework.
Since 2020, Europe's new green deal plan focuses on "design and production from the perspective of the circular economy", its main objective is to ensure that the European economy keeps these resources as long as possible.
The action plan of this circular development is mainly based on different objectives. They are:
"To make sustainable products the norm in the EU.
To empower consumers to choose.
Focusing on the most resource-intensive sectors with a high potential to contribute to the circular economy.
Ensure less waste."
Europe's green deal, which came into being in 2019, aims at a
climate-neutral circular economy. For this, a distinct difference
between economic growth and resources will be found. "A circular economy
reduces the pressure on natural resources and is an indispensable
prerequisite for achieving the goal of climate neutrality by 2050 and
halting biodiversity loss."
From 2019 to 2023, the European Investment Bank
funded €3.83 billion to co-finance 132 circular economy initiatives
across many industries. Circular economy initiatives with a higher risk
profile have secured finance through risk-sharing instruments and EU
guarantees.
Benelux
Belgium
Since 2014, Belgium has adopted a circular strategy. This is marked by 21 measures to be followed. In Belgium, the three
Belgian regions (Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia) have different
personal objectives. For Flanders, a strategy called Vision 2050 has
been put in place. For Wallonia, there is a plan following the declaration of the regional
policy for Wallonia from 2019 to 2024. Since 23 January 2020, Wallonia
has adopted a new strategy including three governance bodies: a steering
committee, an intra-administration platform and an orientation
committee. For Brussels, a plan was adopted in 2016 to develop the circular economy
in its region. This plan will be in place for a period of 10 years.
The Netherlands
The Netherlands
set a plan of action for circular economy in 2016 and have been doing
additional efforts for a transition towards a 100% circular economy by
2050 (and 50% by 2030). The Netherlands Organization for Applied
Scientific Research estimates that a full shift towards Circular Economy
will, at the long term, generate not less than 7.3 billion euros and
540,000 new jobs in the sector. The work will be developed around the
five pillars mentioned above: plastics, biomass and food, the
construction sector, the manufacturing industry, and consumer goods. The government has also put a fund in place to facilitate and
accelerate the shift. These funds are part of the 300 million € annually
spent by the government for climate-related decisions and actions. The
envelope is also completed by the ministry of infrastructure, which
allocated €40 million for circular economy-related actions in 2019 and
2020. Other actions such as an allocation of subsidies for enterprises
that make change or invest in the field have been taken. Initiatives at
the subnational level are also encouraged and regions such as Groningen,
Friesland, the Northern Netherlands, etc. ere taking actions to not
only reduce their environmental impact but accelerate and accentuate
their actions towards Circular economy.
Luxembourg
CE is one of the major deals of the 2018-2023 Luxembourg government.
The Luxembourg
added in 2019 Circular economy in their data-driven innovation
strategy, considering it now as a crucial field for innovation in the
next years. It is present in most sectors of the country's development
plan even if it is still only at the beginning of its development.
More initiatives are starting to emerge, however, to develop better in the field:
The 2019 "Circular economy strategy Luxembourg", a document
testifying on the efforts made and to be made and the willingness to
transform the Grand Duchy into an example in the field;
Holistic strategic studies such as the "strategic group for circular economy";
Insertion of circular economy as a subject to be discussed by all the six main pillars of the "third industrial revolution";
Creation of the Fit4Circularity program to allocate funds to innovative businesses in the field;
Participation in Circular economy-related events such as "Financing the circular economy" (2015) at the European Investment Bank or the "Circular economy hotspot" (2017);
Work on educational tools in the field;
Collaboration with municipalities, at the subnational level, to encourage them to become more circular;
The establishment of value chains for local materials such as wood and a better management of raw materials in general;
A cooperation between the public and the private sector;
The 'Product Circularity Data Sheet' (PCDS) launched in 2019 by the
government to study and determine the circular potential of products and
materials;
An implementation of tools and methods such as a regulatory
framework (laws), a financial framework (financial helps and sanctions),
creation, management and sharing of knowledge on the subject, etc.;
A coordination of the Luxembourg goals with the SDGs and the 2030 agenda.
United Kingdom
In
2020, the UK government published its Circular Economy Package policy
statement in coordination with the Welsh and Scottish governments.
England
From 1 October 2023, certain single-use plastic items have been placed under bans or restrictions in England.
Scotland
In 2021 the Scottish Parliament banned single use plastics being provided by businesses.
In 2024, the Scottish Parliament passed the Circular Economy
(Scotland) Act 2024, which would require the setting of targets and
providing updates to the strategy to achieve those targets as frequently
as 5 years or more frequently than that.
Wales
In 2021, the Welsh Government published its Circular Economy strategy.
In 2023, the Senedd banned single use plastics, which would
require the setting of targets and providing updates to the strategy to
achieve those targets as frequently as 5 years or more frequently than
that.
Northern Ireland
In 2022, the Northern Ireland Executive held a Circular Economy consultation.
Circular bioeconomy
The bio-economy,
especially the circular bio-economy, decreases dependency on natural
resources by encouraging sustainable goods that generate food,
materials, and energy using renewable biological resources (such as lupins). According to the European Commission's EU Science Center, the circular bioeconomy produces €1.5 trillion in value added, accounting for 11% of EU GDP. The European Investment Bank invests between €6 billion and €9 billion in the bio-economy per year.
The European Circular Bioeconomy Fund
Eligibility requirements and core terms of reference for an equity and mezzanine debt fund were established by the European Investment Bank and the European Commission
directorates-general for agriculture and research and innovation. As a
result, an investment adviser was chosen, and the European Circular
Bioeconomy Fund was created.[280][281] As of 2023, a €65 million investment from the EIB has been made.
The European Circular Bioeconomy Fund invests in early-stage
companies with developed innovations that are searching for funds to
broaden their activities and reach new markets. It specifically invests in:
circular/bio-economy technologies,
biomass/feed stock production that boots agricultural productivity while lowering environmental impact,
biomass/feed stock technologies that result in higher-value, green goods,
bio-based chemicals and materials, and
biological alternatives in fields such as cosmetics.
Circular Carbon Economy
During the 2019 COP25 in Madrid, architect William McDonough and marine ecologist Carlos Duarte
presented the Circular Carbon Economy at an event with the BBVA
Foundation. The Circular Carbon Economy is based on McDonough's ideas
from Carbon Is Not The Enemy and aims to serve as the framework for developing and organizing
effective systems for carbon management. McDonough used the Circular
Carbon Economy to frame discussions at the G20 workshops in March 2020 before the framework's formal acceptance by the G20 Leaders in November 2020.
Critiques of circular economy models
There
is some criticism of the idea of the circular economy. As Corvellec
(2015) put it, the circular economy privileges continued economic growth
with soft "anti-programs", and the circular economy is far from the
most radical "anti-program". Corvellec (2019) raised the issue of multi-species and stresses
"impossibility for waste producers to dissociate themselves from their
waste and emphasizes the contingent, multiple, and transient value of
waste".
"Scatolic engagement draws on Reno's analogy of waste as scats and of
scats as signs for enabling interspecies communication. This analogy
stresses the impossibility for waste producers to dissociate themselves
from their waste and emphasizes the contingent, multiple, and transient
value of waste".
A key tenet of a scatolic approach
to waste is to consider waste as unavoidable and worthy of interest.
Whereas total quality sees in waste a sign of failure, a scatolic
understanding sees a sign of life. Likewise, whereas the Circular
Economy analogy of a circle evokes endless perfection, the analogy of
scats evokes disorienting messiness. A scatolic approach features waste
as a lively matter open for interpretation, within organizations as well
as across organizational species.
Corvellec and Stål (2019) are mildly critical of apparel
manufacturing circular economy take-back systems as ways to anticipate
and head off more severe waste reduction programs:
Apparel retailers exploit that the
circular economy is evocative but still sufficiently vague to create any
concrete policies (Lüdeke‐Freund, Gold, & Bocken, 2019) that might
hinder their freedom of action (Corvellec & Stål, 2017). Their
business-centered qualification of take-back systems amounts to an
engagement in "market action ... as leverage to push policymakers to
create or repeal particular rules", as Funk and Hirschman (2017:33) put
it.
Research by Zink and Geyer (2017: 593) questioned the circular
economy's engineering-centric assumptions: "However, proponents of the
circular economy have tended to look at the world purely as an
engineering system and have overlooked the economic part of the circular
economy. Recent research has started to question the core of the
circular economy—namely, whether closing material and product loops do,
in fact, prevent primary production."
There are other critiques of the circular economy (CE). For example, Allwood (2014) discussed the limits of CE 'material
circularity', and questioned the desirability of CE in a reality with
growing demand. The problem CE overlooks is how displacement is governed mainly by market forces, according to McMillan et al. (2012).[293]
It's the tired old narrative, that the invisible hand of market forces
will conspire to create full displacement of virgin material of the same
kind, said Zink & Geyer (2017). Korhonen, Nuur, Feldmann, and Birkie (2018) argued that "the basic
assumptions concerning the values, societal structures, cultures,
underlying world-views and the paradigmatic potential of CE remain
largely unexplored".
It is also often pointed out that there are fundamental limits to
the concept, which are based, among other things, on the laws of thermodynamics. According to the second law of thermodynamics, all spontaneous processes are irreversible and associated with an increase in entropy.
It follows that in a real implementation of the concept, one would
either have to deviate from the perfect reversibility in order to
generate an entropy increase by generating waste, which would ultimately
amount to still having parts of the economy which follow a linear
scheme, or enormous amounts of energy would be required (from which a
significant part would be dissipated in order to for the total entropy
to increase). In its comment to concept of the circular economy the European
Academies' Science Advisory Council (EASAC) came to a similar
conclusion:
Recovery and recycling of materials
that have been dispersed through pollution, waste and end-of-life
product disposal require energy and resources, which increase in a
nonlinear manner as the percentage of recycled material rises (owing to
the second law of thermodynamics: entropy causing dispersion). Recovery
can never be 100% (Faber et al., 1987). The level of recycling that is
appropriate may differ between materials.
In addition to this, the circular economy has been criticized for lacking a strong social justice component. Indeed, most circular economy visions, projects and policies do not
address key social questions regarding how circular economy technologies
and solutions will be controlled and how their benefits and costs will
be distributed. To respond to these limitations some academics and social movements
prefer to speak of a circular society rather than a circular economy. They thereby advocate for a circular society where knowledge, political
power, wealth, and resources are sustainably circulated in
fundamentally democratic and redistributive manners, rather than just
improving resource efficiency as most circular economy proposals do.
Moreover, it has been argued that a post-growth approach
should be adopted for the circular economy where material loops are put
(directly) at the service of wellbeing, instead of attempting to
reconcile the circular economy with GDP growth. For example, efficiency improvements at the level of individual
products could be offset by a growth in total or per-capita consumption, which only beyond-circularity measures like choice editing and rationing unsustainable products or emissions may be able to address.
Related concepts
The
various approaches to 'circular' business and economic models share
several common principles with other conceptual frameworks:
Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature,
defined biomimicry as "a new discipline that studies nature's best
ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human
problems. Studying a leaf to invent a better solar cell is an example. I
think of it as 'innovation' inspired by nature".
The blue economy
usually refers to the "sustainable use of ocean resources for economic
growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of
ocean ecosystem." This is focused on creating a human-marine balance that economically works while being regenerative and non-wasting.
In their namesake 2010 book, former Ecover CEO and Belgian entrepreneur Gunter Pauli
uses the term blue economy to refer to the societal shift to using
materials of local abundance, choosing low-energy processes, and seeking
to create revenue streams from each process step.
Industrial ecology is the study of material and energy flows through
industrial systems. Focusing on connections between operators within the
"industrial ecosystem", this approach aims at creating closed-loop
processes in which waste is seen as input, thus eliminating the notion
of undesirable by-product.
Resource recovery
is using wastes as an input material to create valuable products as new
outputs. The aim is to reduce the amount of waste generated, therefore,
reducing the need for landfill space and also extracting maximum value from waste.
The ability to understand how things influence one another within a
whole. Elements are considered as 'fitting in' their infrastructure,
environment and social context.
