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A Review of Circular Economy Studies in Developed Countries and Its Potential Adoption in Developing Countries

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Abstract

Global industrialization has accounted for large amounts of generated waste, which have accumulated over the years. To guarantee that the future generations will have sufficient resources like food, water and prosperity, it is therefore necessary to transition from a linear economy to a circular economy. Circular economy is one concept, which has continued to gain traction over the years as an effective approach to achieve global, national and local sustainability. A systematic review was employed in this research project with the purpose of identifying how the practical contributions of circular economy have been pursued actively in Australia and other developed countries by reviewing existing and relevant published studies on circular economy in these countries. The result produced a total of 70 final articles, which were collected and analysed for the study considering mainly the year of publication, research methodology, geographical context and industrial applications. Furthermore, the study highlighted very little attention is given to circular economy in many low-income and medium-income countries, and thus, this study explored how this transformative notion can be adopted in developing countries with the participation of key stakeholders to solve waste mismanagement problems.

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Funding

This study was financed in part by the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Queensland, Australia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4067, Australia

    Anthony Halog & Sandra Anieke

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  1. Anthony Halog
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  2. Sandra Anieke
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Contributions

All authors have significantly contributed to the article. Anthony Halog is the leader of the research group and the main supervisor who gives the final approval of what to be published. He has conceptualized the project and gave guidance and critical revisions of the article. Sandra Anieke is a graduate student who conducted the systematic review, analysed the data and drafted the article as part of his MS research project.

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Correspondence to Anthony Halog.

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Halog, A., Anieke, S. A Review of Circular Economy Studies in Developed Countries and Its Potential Adoption in Developing Countries. Circ.Econ.Sust. 1, 209–230 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-021-00017-0

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