The circular economy and the search for a new economic paradigm
With its promise to transform the current economic paradigm, the circular economy is emerging as a championed approach for achieving sustainable economic development. We are now taking the challenges of what we call "Circular Economy 3.0", which include seeking measures for creating shorter closed loop material and energy cycles, that also account for broader system effects and complexities.
The 2030 Agenda and United National Sustainable Development Goals, and in particular SDG 12: Responsible Production and Consumption, have magnified the importance of changing our current production and consumption patterns. A circular economy has been presented as a means of reconciling economic activity with the constraints of a planet with finite resources.
Spanning various disciplinary backgrounds, here is a broad picture of the key research themes and projects connected to the circular economy at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University.
Resource security though material efficiency
Concerns regarding the need for a circular economy are connected to the high levels of material consumption that drive modern economies. Ensuring greater resource security through greater material efficiency is a focus of Professor Ernst Worrell.
The efficient use of resources and materials is the first and key step to reduce the environmental impact as well improve security of supply for Europe. Our analyses have shown that many opportunities exist to improve material efficiency for practical every product you use on a daily basis
Embracing simplicity in complexity
Despite assertions of its newness from industry figures and policy makers, the circular economy has a longer history: its (re)emergence has led to a plethora of differing concepts and practices. Recognising this, Copernicus researchers including Denise Reike are working providing conceptual and theoretical clarification to a number of issues including definitions, barriers, cascading and valid measurement.
The potential of a global circular economy will to some extent hinge on how different societal actors define and frame CE. Conceptualisation typically guides and informs actions for implementation: a radical transition asks for a radical definition of CE to start with.
Life cycle measurements and environmental impacts
Life Cycle Analysis and environmental impact assessments are longstanding tools of measuring the sustainability implications within products and material streams. Dr. Li Shen has illustrated the importance of lifecycle thinking and environmental impacts in plastics. Dr Blanca Corona Bellostas studies life cycle sustainability assessments.
Quantifying the sustainability of products and services is crucial for a successful transition to a circular economy. Comprehensive sustainability quantification tools, such as Life Cycle Assessment, are necessary to ensure that circular strategies are not achieving material circularity at the expense of additional environmental and socioeconomic impacts.
Building on the success of mass recycling streams
Deriving added value, use and utility from waste streams through recycling is viewed as a longstanding success within the EU. Increased recovery and recycling targets are some of the clear policy targets for the EU's 2014 Circular Economy package. Connected to this, Copernicus researchers have examined topics including wood products, biomass cascading, PV recycling, sewage output, plastic recycling, packaging recycling.
Recycling of materials has been with us for as long as humanity exists, showing that a circular economy is not new. Recycling is not only the backbone of a circular economy, there are still large potentials around the world for virtually every material and element of the periodic table to be better recycled.
Assessing existing circular economy practices and discourses
Funded from European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant, CRESTING seeks to examine CE-related activities in a range of geographic and economic settings. Utrecht hosts three of fifteen Early Stage Researchers spread across eight partner universities. Associate Professor Walter Vermeulen leads Work Package I, which is examining the discourses, governance and waste leakages to developing countries in the context of a circular economy.
Circular economy is often presented as something new, but in fact it has three decades of history. Let’s avoid re-inventing the wheel and overlooking failed efforts of the past. Circular economy 3.0 needs to build on the fundaments of created arrangement for recycling, identify its limitations and develop new solutions based on an integrated full system assessment, looking at the full spectrum of sustainability issues.
Transitioning towards a circular economy: The role of circular start-up hubs
This project studies the roles of circular start-ups in a transition towards a circular economy. It examines the business models and the success factors of circular start-ups, as well as the ways and the extent they build ecosystems for their novel products and services. Funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), this research is led by Dr. Thomas Bauwens, in partnership with Circle Economy, the Amsterdam Economic Board and ING.
As new market entrants, circular start-ups can lead the way towards circular economy by developing innovative circular solutions and disruptive business models, and by showing what are the most promising steps to achieve higher levels of circularity across value chains.