The circular economy:
An alternative to sustainability?
Hervé Corvellec
Department of Service Studies Lund University (Sweden)
Global Policy, Diplomacy, and Sustainability (GPODS)
Mentor Lecture – June 9, 2022
Introducing the circular economy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM
Against linearity
“An industrial system that is
restorative by design”
Endorsements
• People’s Republic of China
• European Union
• World Commission on Environment and Development
• World Economic Forum
• IKEA, H&M, Renault, Danone, Philips,
Google, Unilever, Sun, Nike, Intesa Sao
Paolo, …
European Commission 1/2
There is only one planet Earth, yet by 2050, the world will be consuming as if there were three. The EU’s transition to a circular economy will reduce pressure on natural resources, create sustainable growth and jobs, and is necessary to achieve the EU’s 2050 climate neutrality target and to halt biodiversity loss.
Moving away from the linear “take-make-use-dispose” model and transitioning to a regenerative growth model is essential to keep resource consumption
within planetary boundaries. In a circular economy, the value of products, materials and resources is maintained in the economy for as long as possible, and the generation of waste is minimized.
The current linear economy continually increases its demands of scarce natural resources. By using and consuming in a more circular way, we can substantially reduce the impacts of human economic activities on the environment, including on biodiversity.
To accelerate the EU’s transition to a circular economy, the European Commission adopted the new circular economy action plan in March 2020 https://ec.europa.eu/environment/topics/circular-economy_en
European Commission 2/2
The circular economy will help us decouple economic growth from resource use, protecting Europe’s natural resources while boosting sustainable growth. It will help the European Union to strive to reduce its consumption footprint and double its circular material use rate in the coming decade.
The circular economy will
• enable an healthier planet and reduce pollution
• reduce pressure on natural resources such as water and land use
• reduce emissions to help the EU become the first climate-neutral continent
• create new business opportunities and local quality jobs
• enable more resilient value chains
https://ec.europa.eu/environment/topics/circular-economy_en
1. Where is the idea of a circular
economy coming from?
The Carbon Cycle
Pearce and Turner
1990
R: Resource; P: production; C:
consumer goods; W: waste; r:
recycling
Other influences
(Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation)
• Cradle to Cradle
• Performance economy
• Biomimicry
• Industrial symbiosis
• Natural Capitalism
• Blue Economy
• Regenerative Design
• Cascaded uses
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/concept/schools-of- thought
Yet two other reasons
• Secure supply
– National safety – Corporate safety
• Control cost of
supplies
The circle metaphor
• Something that is closed
• The symbol of perfection
• Metaphysics of totality
• Eternal return
• Mystical protection
2. Circular Business Models
ReSOLVE-framework
Six actions that firms can undertake not to let the value of goods and materials fall to zero and become waste:
1. Regenerate, 2. Share,
3. Optimize, 4. Loop,
5. Virtualize 6. Exchange.
Heyes, G., Sharmina, M., Mendoza, J. M. F., Gallego-Schmid, A., & Azapagic, A. (2018). Developing and implementing circular economy business models in service-oriented technology
companies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 177, 621-632.
Lacy & Rutqvist (2015)
Slowing and Closing
• Slowing refers to
prolonging the use and reuse of goods over time:
– design of long-life products, – product life extension
techniques (e.g., repair, and refurbishing
– pay-per-use or time-based solutions
• Closing refers to returning products to production after use:
– thanks to reverse logistics that take products back from consumers to
producers
– reuse materials through recycling.
Bocken, N. M. P., de Pauw, I., Bakker, C., & van der Grinten, B. (2016). Product design and business model strategies for a circular economy. Journal of Industrial and Production Engineering, 33(5, SI), 308-320.
Traditional, sustainable, and circular business models
Geissdoerfer (et al) 2018
Fehrer, J. A., & Wieland, H. (2021). A systemic logic for circular business models. Journal of Business Research, 125, 609-620.
3. Swedish examples
1. We buy computers mobile phones and other IT products which organisations do not need anymore.
2. We erase all data, we test and upgrade the products and make them ready for a new life.
3. Then we sell and rent the
products covered by a warranty to companies, organisations, schools and individuals
https://youtu.be/5dQLP9y7y5s
• Customer with an insurance claim about mobile phones are asked to send their product to GIAB
• GIAB check if the damages to the product correspond to the claim and only then is the insurance payment
authorized
• GIAB repairs the material and re-sell it in via secand hand plattforms (Blocket, Tradera) or its own shop
http://www.godsinlosen.se/home/om-oss/sahar-fungerar-det-2/ (in Swedish)
The Circular Electronics Initiative aims to encourage
organizations and consumers to take a more responsible approach to the electronic goods they use. The initiative keeps growing and more organizations are backing the work. Part of the core activities is
#CircularElectronicsInitiative with focus to inspire people to manage their electronics in a circular way.
4. Beyond CBM
• Forming Associations to Learn about Circularity
• Enrolments are Conditional and Create Dependence among Actors
• Circularizing Signs rather than Offering Circular Signs
– First, not all light signs circulate at the same speed.
– Second, not all parts of a sign can circulate as many laps.
– Third, it remains that a circular sign will only actually be circular if processed in a circular way when taken dow
• Resistances to Circular Action Nets
5. Unanswered questions
Waste resists
Hazardous
Spread and diverse
Composed of several materials
Old and worn out
Unclear scales
Energy Time Space
Social norms and institutions
New tastes
New behaviors
New issues
Personal integrity
Protection of consumers Producers’ power
Taxes
5. Conclusions
Thesis #1:
The circular economy is a model for material flows.
Not a model for economic flows.
Revisiting the “butterfly diagram”
Thesis #2:
As model for material flows, the circular economy needs to
encompass the energy, time, and space dimensions of
material flows.
Circularity is a bet on the future
Yet, how many laps are we
speaking of?
Thesis #3:
As model for material flows, the circular economy needs to / will
transform social norms and
relationships.
New social norms
New/Old Ownership/Access
Thesis #4:
Linear solutions will not
disappear by themselves. To suceed, the circular economy
needs that the competitive
advantage of linear solutions is
systematically limited.
Source: https://www.vanndigit.com/top-10-worlds-largest-companies/
Why such a political success?
A Reformist Model with a Radical Rethoric
• A promise of endless material growth and welfare within environmental boundaries
• An ideological defense of material-energy-and- waste intensive business models
• A model that suits corporate interests and competence
• A model for security of supply
A corporate-friendly alternative
to sustainability
Thank you for your kind attention
Herve.Corvellec@ism.lu.se
Appendices
V. Shivas alternative view
Vandana Shiva (2017)
Regenerative, renewable, sustainable economies that enhance nature’s well-being and ours are based on the law of return-of giving back in gratitude and deep awareness that we are the web of life and must take care of it . They are therefore circular economies that are aware of, and maintain nature’s cycles. All ecological crises are the rupture of nature's cycles, and the transgression of what have been called planetary boundaries. When we give back organic matter to nature, she continues to give us food. The work in giving back is our work. Giving us food is nature’s complex work -through her soil, her biodiversity, her water, the sun, the air. In the circular economy we give back to society. Wealth is shared. Wealth circulates. In real economies, plans grow, soil organisms grow, children grow in well- being and happiness. The circular economy on the other hand replenishes nature and society. It creates enoughness and well-being for all. In the care of the Earth and society diversity of meaningful and creative work is possible . It is based on nature’s law of return. In nature, there is no waste, no pollution. When economies are circular, every being being, every place, is the centre of the economy, and nature and society evolve and emerge from multiple self organised systems, like the trillions of cells in our body. Circular economies as living economies are by their very nature biodiverse, spanning from the intimate and local, to the global and planetary.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/115353/Speech%20Vandana%20Shiv a_EN.docx
Vandana Shiva
(2017)
The circular logic of Law of Return, mutuality, reciprocity and regeneration
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/c msdata/115353/Speech%20Vanda na%20Shiva_EN.docx
Critique of the circular economy
Video
Corvellec, H., Stowell Alison, F., & Johansson, N. (2021). Critiques of the circular economy. Journal of Industrial Ecology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ohfGOenwj8 13’24”
