Nowadays, one of the most significant challenges in environmental management across the world is ensuring that our activities conform to the principles of sustainable development (Allen and Shonnard 2012; Clift and Allwood 2011; Das 2005; Das et al. 2001). Approaches to sustainable development have focused on “top‐down” quantitative indicators based on scientific expertise and have a tendency to measure progress at global, national, or regional levels (Thomé et al. 2016). In recent years, the strategy of adopting a CE has gained increasing currency as a concept for the pursuit of global sustainability (Staniškis 2012). The most important benefit in moving to a more CE‐based approach is the possibility of retaining the added value in products for as long as possible (Smol et al. 2015), extracting their maximum value and eliminating waste. CE‐based systems keep resources within the economy. When a product has reached the end of its life, products can be efficiently reused again and again and hence create further value (COM, No. 398 2014). One of the factors determining the possibility of moving toward a CE is the implementation of innovation technologies, with a particular emphasis on eco‐innovation. Despite the fact that these two issues are linked, a uniform methodology designed to compare the degree to which economies have moved toward a CE, which also includes eco‐innovation, has not currently been established.
Development of the Concept of the CE
The CE is a relatively new concept, although the idea behind the CE has existed for a long time (Murray et al. 2015). “The better a real factory makes use of its waste, the closer it gets to its ideal, the bigger is the profit” (Lancaster 2002). The CE model is actually the opposite of a leaner one and is based on closed loops like a biological life cycle. It was not widely debated in the academic and scientific literature on sustainability, but it has become more popular with recent research (Pitt and Heinemeyer 2015; Stahel 2015).
In the twenty‐first century the “preventive approach” has been replaced with the “restorative approach” both in Europe and across the whole world. The way of thinking in the twenty‐first century has started to be more global, holistic, and systematic. Society and government have begun to introduce one more element – “restore” – into the “reduce‐recycle‐reuse concept.” The CE model is based on concepts such as “cradle‐to cradle™,” where industry, by being waste‐free, operates with no impact upon the environment (McDonough and Braungart 2002).
As for the development of the CE approach at the nongovernmental level, the experience of the United Kingdom should be mentioned. A leading follower of the CE in the United Kingdom is the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, an NGO which has produced three reports on the concept (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012, 2013, 2014). The reports examine the potential of the CE as a new concept for development. The Foundation is very active and for the time being they already have obtained support for global innovation.
At the same time, existing CE approaches are valuable and have a tendency to develop further. They are strongly focused on resource efficient production. This can be proved by the main principles of the concept presented in the analytical report “Towards a Circular Economy: Business Rationale for an Accelerated Transition” (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2015; Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2016; Smol et al. 2017):
- Principle 1: Preserve and enhance natural capital by controlling finite stocks and balancing renewable resource flows.
- Principle 2: Optimize resource yields by circulating products, components, and materials at the highest utility at all times in both technical and biological cycles.
- Principle 3: Foster system effectiveness by revealing and designing out negative externalities.
It can be observed that an innovative approach is in fact needed for each aspect of the CE concept. All strategic EU documents on the CE and the reports presented above see innovation as the heart of any transition to a CE. It is also obvious that a special role should be given to eco‐innovations and that they should be key drivers, because the CE concept is all about economic growth, creating jobs, and at the same time reducing environmental impacts, including carbon emissions (Smol et al. 2015, 2017).
Leave a Reply