5c. Circular Economy

Who we are?

Pauline Deutz
University of Salford, UK p.deutz@salford.ac.uk
Roberta Salomone
University of Messina, IT roberta.salomone@unime.it
Andrea Cecchin
HowGood, New York, USA, andrea@howgood.com
Sigurd Vildåsen
SINTEF, NO sigurd.vildaasen@sintef.no
Mohd Helmi Ali
Graduate School of Business, National University of Malaysia (UKM) mohdhelmiali@ukm.edu.my

Goals and Objectives

Given the extraordinary volume of circular economy research that has appeared in the last 10 years, this session aims to take stock of progress in theoretical, policy and practical spaces – and especially the relationships between the three.  Academic, governmental and business ideas relating to circularity appear to have developed along different trajectories.  This risks leaving academics largely debating amongst themselves, while research needs to remain relevant but without abandoning its values. We provide a few examples here.

Academic discussion on the CE has increasingly embraced issues relating to social sustainability, but this has coincided with a period of governmental retrenchment on welfare spending (notably in the US and under pressure in the UK and in the European Union).  To what extent, if any, have business stepped into the gap to address more redistributive practices?

Likewise, as there is a risk of climate disasters being normalised, the global environmental response is falling short. Even while CE welcomed as a potential strategy. However, critical voices question whether CE, as currently conceived, can truly deliver a sustainable transition or whether it risks reinforcing growth-oriented paradigms and delaying systemic change. Also, within the current climate of growing geopolitical tensions, there is increasing evidence of the utilisation of circularity-inspired ideas within national sovereignty and protectionist frameworks.

At the same time, the EU is embracing activities that could have a place in a degrowth strategy (such as repair and extended producer responsibility); nonetheless, EU policy-making remains wedded to economic growth.  There is an academic  community  speaking out against growth, but how does this connect with policymakers, business and other theoretical perspectives?  How do the public respond to consumption reducing measures?

Furthermore, emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), are increasingly shaping CE practices – from predictive maintenance and resource optimization to advanced recycling and supply chain transparency. Yet, this raises questions: Can AI accelerate circularity without exacerbating energy consumption and material demand? How do we ensure that digitalization aligns with social and environmental goals rather than reinforcing existing dependencies or inequalities and creating new ones?

Papers are warmly invited addressing topics including the following:

  • Exploring how different types of organisations are engaging with CE in practice;
  • Developing theorisations of a CE;
  • Challenges to policy implementation;
  • How to engage the public;
  • Emerging CE in different geographic/political contexts;
  •  Are emerging CE activities sustainable?
  • How does the CE relate to degrowth and similar ideas?
  • The role of AI and digital technologies in enabling or constraining CE
  • Critical perspectives: Can CE truly support a sustainable transition?
  • CE, protectionism and sovereignty

Length and content of the proposed abstract to the track

Each proposed abstract (in connection to one of the areas pointed out above), within 300 and 500 words (including everything):

  1. shall be best organized (without headlines) along usual structures (e.g. intro/method/findings or results/ discussion/conclusions)
  2. does not need to, but can include references
  3. shall provide in a final section
    a. to which SDG(s) and SDG-target(s) their proposed abstract especially relate to (e.g. “SDG+Target: 14.1.”).
    b. a brief indication how the proposed contribution relates to the topic of the Conference “Half-way through Agenda 2030: Assessing the 5Ps of SDGs (people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership)“

Publications

Innovative research on the circular economy presented at 2019 ISDRS conference is published in leading academic journals

Three papers from the CRESTING project were recently published in Resources, Conservation & Recycling and in the Journal of Cleaner Production. All three papers were based on research presented at the 2019 ISDRS conference in Najing, China.

The first paper is titled “How circular is your tyre: Experiences with extended producer responsibility from a circular economy perspective” (open access) and was published in the Journal of Cleaner Production. It examines the governance and sustainability outcomes of the waste management system for end of life tyres in the Netherlands, leading to key insights and recommendations for the sector.

The second paper is entitled “The Circular Economy and Cascading: Towards a Framework” (open access) and was published in the journal Resources Conservation & Recycling X. It integrates cascading and circular economy practices leading to a new theoretical framework that considers the necessities and complicities of circular economy governance.

The third paper is entitled “A typology of circular economy discourses: Navigating the diverse visions of a contested paradigm” (open access) and was published in the journal Resources Conservation & Recycling. It builds the first typology of circularity discourses to date by identifying 72 different CE-related concepts from the Global North and South (such as Gandhian and steady-state economics, buen vivir, doughnut economics and degrowth) and conceptually classifying them based on to their position on fundamental socio-ecological issues.

The presentation of the preliminary results of all three studies in the 2019 ISDRS conference allowed for constructive feedback and helped authors improve the quality and depth of their analysis. The young authors also participated in the ISDRS PhD day, where they received further comments and suggestions on how to improve their papers. The resulting publications are at the forefront of research on the circular economy, showing the usefulness of the ISDRS conferences and network for young academics seeking to publish their results, kickstart their careers and, most importantly, contribute to leading academic debates with fresh new ideas.

Past Conferences

2019 Nanjing, China
 

Circular economy was again a vibrant session at the Nanjing conference with some 20 presentations (including posters) divided between four sessions. Presenters came from across the world, primarily representing Chinese and European institutions. Talks covered a wide range of CE themes which can only be briefly reviewed here, but the abstract collection and proceedings can be consulted for more information. Life cycle analysis (LCA) was well represented with talks including strategies for incorporating LCA into decision making, company approaches to LCA; implications of material recovery for LCA of specific products. The role of different stakeholders in building a CE were considered both in terms of collaboration and competition. A range of different scales were addressed including company-scale reporting of performance; adoption of CE practices by SMEs; whilst geographical scales of analysis included community scale recycling, local social enterprises, embedding regional-scale resource availability into product design; potential regional capture of CE economic benefits; national policies and international policy consequences, and global scale resource recovery. In addition systematic literature reviews were presented addressing the relationship between sustainability and CE; discourses of the CE; adoption of CE by the public sector and how to measure its impact. Resource focus of different talks included plastic, phosphorous, food, tyres, packaging, and electronics and the implications of technological driven lifestyles on the CE.

Many of the speakers were early career researchers, who also participated in the PhD student workshop. Thus it seems there is thriving community of CE research, bringing many new ideas. It will be very interesting to see how these projects, as well as those presented by more experienced colleagues, developing in the coming years.

 
2018 Messina, Italy
Report on track 5c: Circular Economy and Zero Waste

Chaired by Pauline Deutz and Andrea Raggi There was a keen interest in Circular Economy (CE) at this year’s ISDRS conference. The talks and posters covered the spectrum of approaches to the field ranging from product specific LCA to consideration of social implications of a CE.  Read more here

2017 Bogotá, Colombia:
Circular Economy & Industrial Ecology 
Circularity cannot be a dogma, which might not be the best strategy for achieving resource efficiency or sustainable development. CE needs to be considered within the broader perspective of Sustainable Development. A common framework for Circular Economy is not available yet … read more here
Andrea Cecchin, Pauline Deutz

2016 Lisbon, Portugal:
Circular Economy & Industrial Ecology
Pauline Deutz

2015 Geelong, Australia:
Industrial Ecology, Innovation for the next generation
Pauline Deutz, Damien Giurco

Knowledge Resources

State of Art

Getting beyond the messy conceptualization of CE
In a just published article in Resources, Conservation and Recycling, we discuss and synthesize the diverse inputs from a range of academic disciplines into the discourses. We analysed 69 scientific articles that explicitly referred to a waste hierarchy in terms of a 3R, 4R or more. Read more

Recommended Sources

The top useful sources are the following:

1) Useful courses available at the UN SDG Academy; see for example “Globalization: past and future”.
2) SDG Academy see for example ‘Natural resources for sustainable development’ 
3) Circular Economy accord to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
4) ISDRS based book: International Perspectives on Industrial Ecology

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