Circular Economy Aspirations: Three Strategies in Search of a Direction

Abstract

The “circular economy” is a concept embraced by policymakers in the European Union and China. It represents a recognition of growing global environmental challenges, including climate change, and the externalities costs of waste. In this chapter, we compare the nascent policy efforts to define and operationalize the circular economy in the EU, China, and the United States (US), the major global economies. We begin by comparing how each entity defines circular economy, finding widely varying and ambiguous concepts. We then turn to macro-level or economy-wide policies. Here we find notable efforts to spread principles. In the EU, such efforts are taking the form of new global standards and regulations, while in China they are in the form of goals for industrial waste reduction at the provincial level. The US is notable for its lack of action at the national level. The real activity in the US around circular economy transformation appears to be happening at the meso- or industry-level. Here we see a haphazard effort to create new supply chains and manage waste streams, parallel with an effort around constructing eco-industrial parks, in an attempt to share energy and reuse waste. We find such efforts to be haphazard and disorganized. We close with some reflections around the progress needed for the next steps to create a circular economy, including conceptual and measurement clarification; developing viable business and economic models that, together with regulation, incentivize businesses to change the production models; and spreading circular concepts to ensure adequate societal support to accept the consumption changes required.