Master thesis in Sustainable Development 2020/57
Examensarbete i Hållbar utveckling
Enabling Circular Economy in Local Solid Waste Management The Case of Muang Kalasin Municipality,
Thailand
Pornpimon Somneuk
DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES
I N S T I T U T I O N E N F Ö R G E O V E T E N S K A P E R
Master thesis in Sustainable Development 2020/57
Examensarbete i Hållbar utveckling
Enabling Circular Economy in Local Solid Waste Management The Case of Muang Kalasin Municipality, Thailand
Pornpimon Somneuk
Supervisor: Cecilia Mark-Herbert Subject Reviewer: Anders Roos
Copyright © Pornpimon Somneuk, Published at Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University (www.geo.uu.se), Uppsala, 2020
Content
1 Introduction... 1
1.1 Problem background... 1
1.2 Problem statement... 2
1.3 Objective and rationale……….… 3
1.4 Aim and research questions……….. 3
1.5 Approach………... 3
1.6 Delimitations………. 3
2 Method ... 5
2.1 Research design... 5
2.2 Units of analysis... 5
2.3 Collection of data... 6
2.4 Analytical technique... 7
2.5 Quality assurance... 7
2.6 Ethical considerations... 9
3 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework... 10
3.1 The circular economy... 10
3.2 Municipal Solid Waste Management... 11
3.3 Stakeholder theory... 11
3.4 Social practice theory... 11
3.5 The concept of sustainable development... 14
3.6 A conceptual framework... 14
4 Empirical Background... 16
4.1 Circular economy in Europe and Asia... 16
4.2 Municipal solid waste management in Asia... 19
4.3 Waste management activities of Muang Kalasin Municipality... 21
4.4 Circular economy indicators on waste management... 23
5 Results... 26
5.1 Municipal solid waste management... 26
5.2 Public participation... 30
5.3 The 3R perspectives towards a circular economy... 32
5.4 Policy formulation and implementation of sustainable development... 34
6 Analysis... 37
6.1 Practices that meet circular economy concept and indicators………... 37
6.2 Municipal solid waste management... 40
6.3 Roles of stakeholders and public participation in social practice………. 40
6.4 From municipal solid waste to sustainable development………. 42
6.4.1 Environment... 42
6.4.2 Economy... 43
6.4.3 Social... 43
7 Discussion... 44
7.1 The current waste management practice of Muang Kalasin Municipality…...……… 44
7.2 The circular economy practices that have implemented in Muang Kalasin Municipality……….………..……….. 44
7.3 The policy directions that would bring Muang Kalasin Municipality to achieving a circular economy……… 45
7.4 The barriers for Thailand to achieve a circular economy………. 45
7.5 The potential strategies on waste management system for sustainable development in Thailand……… 46
8 Conclusions... 47
8.1 Fact findings for the aim and research questions... 47
8.2 Further research... 47
Acknowledgment... 48
References... 49
Appendix 1: Case study protocol... 54
Appendix 2: Interview guide... 56
Appendix 3: Data protection document... 59
Enabling Circular Economy in Local Solid Waste Management - The Case of Muang Kalasin Municipality, Thailand
PORNPIMON SOMNEUK
Somneuk, Pornpimon., 2020: Enabling Circular Economy in Local Solid Waste Management – The Case of Muang Kalasin Municipality, Thailand. Master thesis in Sustainable Development at Uppsala University, No.
2020/57, 59 pp, 30 ECTS/hp
Abstract:
The volume and complexity of solid waste have increased locally and globally. Waste pollution has environmental, social, and economic impacts on every country, such as mistreatment of waste caused air quality and water contamination, plastic particles from human activities are carried out to the seas and harm marine creatures, people can face health problems from polluted air and water as well as plastic-contaminated seafood. Thus the government might spend budgets on improving these problems. Strategies and tools have been provided to find better solutions to reduce waste and transform them into other materials. The circular economy is an alternative economic model for the old-style linear production. The core concept of a circular economy is to minimize waste from the production cycle by using the residual waste to produce new products. The idea gains recognition in Thailand, but it has not been established at the national policy as the European Commission initiates the Member States through the CE direction and policies. Therefore, the study aims to explain how solid waste management in Thailand aligns the CE principle and provides further implementation to the country's sustainable development. The study conducts a literature review of implications and practices of CE and solid waste management in the European Union Member States and some countries in Asia, as well as the interview and observation at the case study municipality in the northeast of Thailand.
Feedback from the experts on the current situation and future perspective about solid waste management and circular economy in Thailand is also provided. The case of Muang Kalasin Municipality reveals the prominent factors driving waste campaign success. Local communities learn to separate waste with 3R, the core element of CE. Nevertheless, the communities need more inputs and tools to enable circular economy achievement. The national direction has not been formulated in circularity. Considering the global trend about CE and current domestic and international collaboration, it is the opportunity for Thailand to develop the CE national policy and strategies. CE indicators on production and consumption and waste management should get employed in local municipalities.
Keywords: Sustainable Development, municipal solid waste management, circular economy, social practices, public participation, Thailand
Pornpimon Somneuk, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE- 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
Enabling Circular Economy in Local Solid Waste Management - The Case of Muang Kalasin Municipality, Thailand
PORNPIMON SOMNEUK
Somneuk, Pornpimon., 2020: Enabling Circular Economy in Local Solid Waste Management – The Case of Muang Kalasin Municipality, Thailand. Master thesis in Sustainable Development at Uppsala University, No.
2020/57, 59 pp, 30 ECTS/hp Summary:
Waste amounts have increased in Thailand, even though the Thai government has implemented several regulations and campaigns to eliminate waste generation. Some circular economy practices, such as 3R – reduce, reuse, and recycle, are being employed by citizens for decades as the basic principle of waste reduction. This study aims to identify the factors that enable a particular area to gain the circularity practice regarding municipal solid waste management while also providing national direction towards sustainable waste management. Therefore, with several national awards in waste management, Muang Kalasin Municipality was selected as a case study representing the medium-sized municipality. The conceptual framework has been constructed for results analysis and answering research questions. The research includes a literature review, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis.
Theoretical empirics include models for a circular economy, municipal solid waste management, stakeholder theory, social practice theory, and sustainable development. The empirical background displays relevant information on the circular economy in Europe and Asia, municipal solid waste management in Asia, circular economy indicators, and waste management practice of the case study. The study presents municipal solid waste management, public participation, the 3R of the circular economy, and national policy for sustainable development. Muang Kalasin Municipality actively performs on waste reduction campaigns from both local communities and public authorities.
The communities separate their household waste by using the 3R concept. However, the communities could not meet the circular economy indicators to become a circular society. Other Rs, such as redesign, remanufacture, recovery, and some training, should be provided to villagers and local officials to support the communities’ better performance.
None of the corporates in Thailand have publicly claimed that they implement a circular economy into their business.
The government should formulate a circular economy as one of the national agendas and employ circular economy indicators to local municipalities nationwide.
Keywords: Sustainable Development, municipal solid waste management, circular economy, social practices, public participation, Thailand
Pornpimon Somneuk, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE- 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
List of Tables
Table 1 List of semi-structured respondent p.6
Table 2 Implications to ensure validity and reliability of research (based on Yin (2009: 45) and Riege (2003: 78-79), modified by the author)
p.8
Table 3 Definitions of circular economy p.10
Table 4 Proposed waste management targets (European Union, 2018: 7) p.17 Table 5 Waste management practices in Asia (Shekdar, 2009),
modified by Lee et al. (2016: 431)
p.20
Table 6 Summary of the original circular economy indicator (Technical Secretariat (Ecorys), 2019: 32–37)
p.24
Table 7 Circular economy indicator on waste management for the case study, adapted from Technical Secretariat (Ecorys) (2019: 32–37)
p.24
Table 8 Preliminary checks on CE indicators on production and consumption, adapted from Technical Secretariat (Ecorys), 2019: 32–37
p.38
Table 9 Preliminary checks on CE indicators on waste management, adapted from Technical Secretariat (Ecorys), 2019: 32–37
p.39
List of Figures
Figure 1 Waste composition in Thailand (Pharino, 2017: 33). p.2 Figure 2 Waste treatment in Thailand (Pollution Control Department, 2018: 8). p.2 Figure 3 Locations of Bangkok and Kalasin (www.google.com). p.5
Figure 4 EU Waste hierarchy. p.11
Figure 5 Elements of social practice theory. p.13
Figure 6 Relations of practices to consumption, illustrated by the author. p.13
Figure 7 A conceptual model of the study. p.15
Figure 8 EU’s circular economy initiatives timeline. p.16
Figure 9 Solid waste system of Muang Kalasin Municipality, adapted from Shekdar (2009: 1439).
p.22
Figure 10 Initiative projects from 2006 to 2019 (Muang Kalasin Municipality, 2020).
p.23
Figure 11 One house, one trash bin campaign. p.26
Figure 12 Free waste bins along the roads in communities. p.27 Figure 13 Separated waste at community recycling center
(the Environmental Voluntary Fund).
p.28
Figure 14 Waste compression machine. p.29
Figure 15 Compressed plastic bottles. p.29
Figure 16 A poster presents the Fund’s waste purchasing at different places. p.29 Figure 17 Board of Committees of the Environmental Voluntary Fund
of Muang Kalasin Municipality.
p.31
Figure 18 Elements of social practice of Muang Kalasin Municipality, modified by the author.
p.41
List of Abbreviations
CE Circular Economy p.1
EU European Union p.1
MSW Municipal Solid Waste p.1
3R Three R (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle) p.1
SDGs Sustainable Development Goals p.14
PPP Polluter Pays Principle p.19
ERP Extended Producer Responsibility p.19
RFID Radio frequency identification p.20
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1. Introduction
This chapter starts with the situation of solid waste and the importance of the circular economy concept to reduce waste, especially in the European Union. Then, followed by a solid waste crisis in Thailand, research aims, questions, approach, and delimitations.
The flow of solid waste volume is increasing throughout the world. The total global amount is calculated at about 2.01 billion tons in 2016 (World Bank, 2020). To decrease the volumes of solid waste is a significant challenge given the past decades of rapid global population growth and increasing consumption. Many factors such as policy, planning capacity, budget, technology, stakeholder participation, and managerial waste process from a trash bin to the landfill are considered by policymakers to help eliminate problems of waste and create a better waste management system. The EU Waste Framework Directive (EC 2008) states that the waste hierarchy principle starting with prevention, reuse, recycling, recovery, and the landfill shall apply by the EU Member States (Pires et al., 2019: 309). Mohee and Simelane (2015: 70) emphasize that waste hierarchy eliminates a large amount of waste and stimulates recycling rates. Although disposal should be the last step in reducing waste (Pires et al., 2019: 55), some countries outside the EU find difficulties implementing the hierarchy principle to local and national practices. For example, many African countries prefer unsanitary landfills or open dumping practices (Mohee and Simelane, 2015, 2015: 2). Therefore, when most of the waste ends up in landfills, incineration, and composting, which are waste treatment patterns commonly used worldwide, they release pollution to the environment (Alwaeli, 2003: 2).
1.1 Problem background
Circular Economy (CE) is a concept that has been introduced in the last decade as an alternative model to the linear economy, causing waste and natural resources losses from production (Murray, Skene and Haynes, 2017). The idea of CE is about using residual waste to produce new products, so debris and the need for new resources are reduced, which also provides an economic return (European Commission, 2019b:
15). CE also delivers a way to ease the tension between economic development and carbon dioxide emission from practices nationwide adopted in production, consumption, waste management, and policies and laws (Su et al., 2013: 223). Skene (2018: 480) explains that CE contains nine key components: recycling, restoration, renewable energy use, elimination of waste, elimination of toxic chemicals, eco-efficiency, biological nutrient return, extended product life, and economic growth. Nonetheless, van Buren et al. (2016:
3) argue for nine different options for circularity: refuse; reuse; repair; refurbish; remanufacture; repurpose;
recycle; recover energy; and Winans, Kendall and Deng (2017: 826) introduce the 3R concept – (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) as well as the 6R idea (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Redesign, Remanufacture, Recovery).
Kirchherr, Reike and Hekkert (2017: 223) conclude that the R framework accounts for 3R, 4R, 6R, or 9R and always starts with Reduce as a main priority. Crucially, the notion of CE and efficient resource used can apply to every sector by households, the business community, industry and government, and in cities, regions and nations (Milios, 2018: 866). It can adapt to agriculture, forestry, manufacturing, and municipal waste management (Schroeder, Anggraeni and Weber, 2019: 79).
According to municipal solid waste, higher-income countries generally conduct more progressive management policies to create a CE where waste is recirculated (Pharino, 2017: 21). Significantly, the collection costs of the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in middle-income countries is about 50-80 percent of the MSW management budget, which spends on electricity and water. In comparison, it is less than 10 percent in high-income countries, where 90 percent of the MSW budget pays for waste treatment facilities (Ibid., 23). MSW is classified in categories, “packaging waste (i.e., paper, cardboard, glass, plastic, liquid carton beverages packaging, ferrous metals, nonferrous metals), batteries, food waste, biodegradable waste, green waste, waste of electrical and electrical equipment, construction and demolition waste, and domestic hazardous waste, and many others may appear” (Pires et al., 2019: 5–6). Different materials need different treatment and waste processes from the household collection, transportation, to the final disposal destination require a proper managerial system. A principle of sustainable development should be considered at each operational stage to avoid overlooking the environmental, social, and economic impacts that are interconnected (Giddings et al., 2002: 187). When a more sustainable waste management system is applied,
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local communities gain benefits from being more durable. From an environmental aspect, it is possible to reduce waste and emit less pollution. Health threats from waste are prevented according to social concerns.
Waste operational costs, which are usually regulated by local municipalities (Giddings et al., 2002: 187), are reduced, which leads to economic advantages.
1.2 Problem statement
As already mentioned, the CE concept has emerged for environmental protection for losing valuable material from the disposal and gaining economic benefits with the recycling method. Therefore, the CE principle has been introduced to Thai society in recent years and gained attention from national-level policymakers. It can create a solution for waste reduction and bring the nation into more sustainability.
Statistically, data from the Pollution Control Department shows the quantities of municipal solid waste in Thailand were 27.93 million tonnes in 2018, increasing about 1.65 percent from 2017 (Pollution Control Department, 2018: 7). Debris in Thailand comprises organic waste from kitchen 51 percent, plastic and foam 22 percent, paper 13 percent, and glass 3 percent (Pharino, 2017: 33) (Figure 1). Thailand produces 1.15 kg of solid waste/capita/day (Ibid.). Meanwhile, the highest rate that people in high-income countries generate MSW is at 2.13 kg/capita/day (Ibid., 16). Of this quantity, 27.93 million tonnes in Thailand, 39 percent or 10.85 million tonnes are processed in the appropriate treatment facilities, and 35 percent are recycled. In contrast, 26 percent end up in improper disposals such as open dumping or backyard burning, burning in a small deficient incinerator, and illegal dumping in certain areas (Pollution Control Department, 2018: 8) (Figure 2).
Importantly, the amount of waste is increasing annually. The country needs a better solution for waste management (Wichai-utcha and Chavalparit, 2019: 11; Chiemchaisri, Juanga and Visvanathan, 2007).
Hence, strategies are implemented in local towns to eliminate a massive amount of garbage. For instance, the principle of 3R (reduce-reduce-recycle) is widely promoted to households, local municipalities, and the industrial sector in Thailand (Usapein and Chavalparit, 2014: 510). Lately, the Thai government has launched the National Waste Management Master Plan (2016-2021) and the Industrial Waste Management Plan (2015-2019) to reduce waste before throwing over to landfills as well as to convert household waste and industrial waste into energy (Wichai-utcha and Chavalparit, 2019: 15-16). Importantly, CE is another solution, which is likely believed to impact solid waste management in Thailand positively. Some private companies start working on their products while public agencies initially promote necessary information about CE to the general public. However, knowledge about CE related to waste cases in Thailand are limited.
Therefore, a research project on current solid waste practice, which can lead to sustainability and circularity promotion is needed.
organic plastic and 57%
foam 25%
paper 15%
glass 3%
Figure 1: Waste composition in Thailand (Pharino, 2017: 33).
Figure 2: Waste treatment in Thailand (Pollution Control Department, 2018: 8).
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1.3 Objectives and rationale
The objective of the research is to explain how solid waste management in Thailand interconnects with the CE principle under different societal structures in Asia and Europe. For example, an agricultural-based society of some countries in Asia produces higher numbers of organic waste than industrial-driven countries in Europe. People dispose of organic waste in the gardens, backyards, or public dumping sites rather than systematically collect them for biogas production. However, one country’s system may not be directly implied to another country but needed to justify and adapt to different factors. Moreover, the understanding of CE will provide more knowledge on the further implementation of sustainable development in this developing country.
1.4 Aim and research questions
This project aims to identify factors that enable a typical Thai municipality, that has significant plans on waste management and gains actively participating from local residences, to develop solid waste management into circularity system. The project shall provide useful knowledge and possible direction for the case study regarding sustainable development. Thus, the project formulates several research questions in the followings:
• What are the current solid waste management practices of the case study?
• What have circular economy practices been implemented in the case study?
• What are policy directions that would bring the case study to achieve a circular economy?
• What are the barriers to achieving circular economy practice in Thailand?
• What kind of strategies might be useful for sustainable development efforts for a future waste management system in Thailand?
1.5 Approach
The study designs to conduct qualitative research. It starts with identifying global MSW and CE principles, then reviewing CE policy and practice in Thailand. Next, information about the research approach presents in Chapter 2. The case study is part of the study approach that can generate valuable knowledge for further research, i.e., national research, in-depth studies by students, and academic organizations. Interviewing is also one of the critical approaches focusing on comments from experts or national policymakers regarding the CE and municipal solid waste management issues. Literature reviews and theoretical frameworks perform in Chapter 3; meanwhile, the examination of waste management activities in the case study explains in Chapter 4. Primary empirics, Analysis, and Discussion deliver in Chapters 5, 6, and 7, respectively, and ending with Conclusions in Chapter 8.
1.6 Delimitations
Regarding theoretical delimitations, the CE and social practice’s holistic implications are not likely yet well integrated into the solid waste situation in Thailand when the research was conducted. Therefore, this study initially generates the integrating knowledge and understanding of these three thematic theories into sustainability to benefit local communities.
Next, delimitations account for the data collection procedure. Among 2,452 municipalities (small, medium, large) (Department of Local Administration, 2020), located all over the country, Muang Kalasin is a medium-sized case featuring a unique strength in dealing with waste reduction projects than other neighboring towns. Muang Kalasin can mainly present data, evidence-documents, interviews, and
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observations, which are sufficient to answer the research question (Yin, 2009: 11, 26). Seawright and Gerring (2008: 294)support that a case study technique presents a purposely selected unit of analysis that does not serve as grounds for generalization. Therefore, the study’s findings and results might not be given to other towns, even if they are similar in sizes and population. Solutions depend on contextual variables, such as climate, precipitate, culture, state of politics. Further, the study focuses only on household waste, not industrial waste, wastewater, sludge, or hazardous waste.
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2. Method
This chapter presents the methods, approaches, and techniques used for the study. Interviewing was employed for data gathering together with a case study approach and literature reviews based on secondary sources.
2.1 Research design
The research design bases on a qualitative research strategy, according to Bryman (2012: 76). It employs a deductive approach by reviewing theories and empirical data for constructing a conceptual framework, then working on data collection and answering the research question(s) (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2007:
57). The deductive approach means that the theories lead the research (Bryman, 2012: 19). In particular, a case study is used as a research method for the “how” and “why” research questions (Bryman, 2012: 76;
Yin, 2009: 8). Although some critiques have put on the case study method that it is easily overwhelmed by bias over the findings and conclusions (Ibid., 14-15), this study selects a case study method as part of the research.
2.2 Units of analysis
Three factors are taken into consideration for a case selection: 1) reasonable large population, 2) data on crucial variables are available, accurate, and valid from the population or the sample (Seawright and Gerring, 2008: 294), and 3) can perform for the whole and have a meaning unit for the analysis (Elo et al., 2014: 5). The case in this research is Muang Kalasin Municipality in NE Thailand (Figure 3). The study selects this municipality for several reasons; firstly, the municipality was recently awarded the excellence awards in sustainable environmental management in 2018 and 2019. Secondly, it performs well with active local authorities, waste management activities, and strong local participation. Lastly, household waste reduction projects have been running for over a decade. It is likely to continue in the long term by local initiatives, without financial support from local government.
Figure 3: Locations of Bangkok and Kalasin (Photo: www.google.com/Thailand map/images).
Muang Kalasin Municipality, a medium-sized municipality, is located in Muang District, Kalasin province, northeastern Thailand. The total population is 33,704 as of February 2019, living within 16.96 km2. Distance
* Bangkok
Kalasin Province
6 from Bangkok is 520 km, which is about 6-7 hours by bus.
Data were collected at the fieldwork municipality by interviewing key actors in waste projects, observing the local residences’ actual behavior, and visiting sites used for public activities. Interviews also took place in Bangkok with public and private sector representatives to collect their opinions about solid waste management, circular economy, and sustainable development in Thailand. A combination of case study findings in Muang Kalasin Municipality’s waste practices, views from experts, and theoretical analysis could bring solutions that meet research aims and objectives.
2.3 Collection of data
This project generated data from primary and secondary sources. Primary data is compiled from the semi- structured interview, while secondary information is gathered from the literature review, websites, reports, and documents. Data collected from the interview can clarify how informants understand the events, patterns, forms of behavior (Bryman, 2012: 471), and the meaning and phenomena in a societal context (Oliver, 2004: 303). A researcher has to prepare questions and follow the interview outline required when conducting a semi-structured or unstructured interview (Bryman, 2012: 471). However, the method is flexible for the researcher to add other questions when noticing interesting issues from the interviewee’s answers.
The selected interviewees from private and governmental agencies are the experts in circular economy content and know about sustainable development. Articles and papers related to these two issues on webpages and websites are sources for the researcher to identify the potential private experts. Aspects of public expert selection are the same as the private representative but include knowledge of solid waste management. However, finding a public agency is slightly different from a private corporation. Instead of searching on the internet, the researcher intentionally chooses the Pollution Control Department as the potential firm because it is responsible for national policy and indicators on solid waste management. For local interviewees at the case study, the researcher asks the Municipal staff to invite 3-4 community leaders and local residences for the interview. The researcher has not been informed who are the selected informants until meeting them at the village. Hence, six face-to-face respondents to the conversation are categorized into three sectors: local, national, and business, as shown in Table 1 in three color codes.
Table 1: List of interviewees
Number Respondent Role
Type of interview/
Sector
Validation Interview date 1 Ms.Supicha
Boontook
Local leader, Head of Hoh Trai Temple Community
Personal/
Local
Transcript Feb 12, 2020 2 Ms.Buatong
Chatchalee
Local leader, Hoh Trai Temple Community Committee
Personal/
Local
Transcript Feb 12, 2020 3 Mr.Apichai
Namchan
Consultant of
Environmental Voluntary Fund, Muang Kalasin Municipality
Personal/
Local
Transcript Feb 12, 2020
4 Mr.Tananchai Choodetwatthana
Head of Sanitation
Mechanics, Muang Kalasin Municipality
Personal/
Local
Transcript Feb 12, 2020 5 Mr.Vuttichai
Kaewkrajang
Department of Pollution Control
Personal/
National
Transcript Feb 19, 2020 6 Ms.Pattraporn
Yerburg
General Manager, Salforest Company
Personal/
Business
Transcript Feb 24, 2020
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The local interviewees from No.1 to 4 in green blocks are municipal officials and local leaders who mainly involve in the community’s waste management projects. The interviewing of these four respondents conducts on the same date. The red-colored block is a national expert who offers the interviewing in Bangkok. The blue code is representative of the selected private consulting company, which is keen on economics. The company currently worked as a consultant to one of the big industrial companies in Thailand to promote circularity practice and update the progress of other countries to that company.
Secondary materials, such as journals, articles, reports, books, websites, were employed. The integration of secondary and primary data helps answer research questions (Bryman, 2012: 247). Likewise, the second set can “provide comparative and contextual data” to the researcher’s findings (Ibid., 259).
2.4 Analytical technique
The interviewing dialogues perform in the Thai language and transcribe to English. The qualitative data analysis steps involve generating data categories, placing collected data to appropriate categories, finding out relationships within and between the categories, and developing propositions to produce well-grounded conclusions (Bryman, 2012: 507). Furthermore, the analysis extracts the messages into themes (Bogner, Littig and Menz, 2009: 35), and ties to a conceptual framework that structures the interview questions. Core themes, regarding conceptual framework, are digested from transcripts through the coding process (Bryman, 2012: 13). They separate data into parts, label, link across, compare, then connect to research questions, and collected empirical data (Ibid.). When having a massive amount of data, a revision on coding is needed to ensure the thematic results are “sound, complete, and valid” (Bryman, 2012: 36). Over interpretation does not occur in data analysis of this study because the latent content does not include in the interpretation phase (Elo et al., 2014: 5). Therefore, the study decodes only oral data provided by interviewees and from the researcher’s observation, without biases, motivations, or perspectives from the researcher (Ibid.). This assurance is called conformability.
2.5 Quality assurance
Four criteria are commonly used for assessing the quality of any social science research design, including case study techniques employed in data gathering (Yin, 2009: 40). In general, validity concerns “the issue of whether an indicator (or set of indicators) that is devised to gauge a concept measures that concept”
(Bryman, 2012: 171). It is categorized into five types: face validity, concurrent validity, predictive validity, construct validity, and convergent validity (Ibid.). Reliability means “consistency of measures” and composes stability, internal reliability, and inter-observer consistency (Bryman, 2012: 169). The project applied the measurement of four tests. It adopts techniques and platforms from Riege (2003: 78-79) to the data collection phase to verify the case’s validity and reliability, as shown in Table 2.
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Table 2: Implications to ensure validity and reliability of research (based on Yin (2009: 45) and Riege (2003: 78-79), modified by the author)
Components of four tests
Description Case study technique The implication of this project
Construct validity
identifying correct operational measures for the concepts being studied
use multiple sources of evidence
collect data from primary and secondary sources, perspective, and observation establish a chain of
evidence
interview transcripts are coded and sorted for thematic analysis, then integrated with secondary data
have key informants to review case study’s drafts
transcripts are sent to interviewees
Internal validity seeking to establish a causal relationship, whereby certain conditions are believed to lead to other
conditions, as distinguished from spurious relationships
do within-case analysis, then cross-case pattern matching
the link across thematic passages (but not done the cross-case)
do explanation building use diagrams and tables to illustrate theories,
framework, process assure internal coherence of
findings and concepts are systematically related
interview questions (for primary data) and analysis techniques (for secondary data) are based on
conceptual framework;
External validity defining the domain to which a study's findings can be generalized
define the scope and boundaries of reasonable analytical generalization for the research
display in Unit of analysis and Collection of Data
compare evidence with extant literature
conduct a deductive approach; collected data are analyzed based on theories and concepts Reliability demonstrating that the
operations of a study such as the data collection procedures- can be repeated, with the same results
give a full account of theories and ideas
done thoroughly the paper assure congruence between
research issues and features of study design
present in Chapter 2 Method
Develop, define, and use case study protocol
done in Appendix 1 record observations and
actions as concrete as possible
record the interviews and take notes on observations during a field visit
record data, mechanically develop case study database
record the interviews, save and keep secondary materials
assure meaningful parallelism of findings across multiple data sources
data extraction and analysis are based on the conceptual framework use peer
review/examination
done with peers for drafts feedback, assigned for thesis opposition
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Constructing the validity, primary and secondary sources are employed. The primary interviewees are collected from key local actors in the study area, national authority, and business consultant. The printed materials, webpages, reports, journals, and documents are a secondary collection. Interview questions are raised and followed by the interview guide (Appendix 2: Interview guide). Likewise, closed questions are avoided (Bogner, Littig and Menz, 2009: 31). In addition to systematic coherent, questions and thematic analysis are based on the conceptual framework. Diagrams and photos are inserted for a visual explanation.
Regarding reliability, the project reviews data from different secondary sources. The dialogues are taped, transcribed, and sent back to the interviewees to clarify and check the correctness. The researcher submitted interviewing letters, questions, and a consent form beforehand to heads of the potential organizations to appoint the appropriate respondents to the research. During project preparation, the supervisor and a group of classmates delivered peer reviews and feedback to the researcher.
2.6 Ethical considerations
Apart from those who provide cooperation, there are those who may be affected by the research results (Ibid., 179). Thus, ethical consideration is taken to the research design on “methodologically sound and morally defensible to all those who are involved” (Bryman, 2012: 178). Regarding ethical concern at the interviewing stage, the respondents were informed on objectives of the research and affirmed to understand the condition of the GDPR form (Appendix 3: Consent form). The interviewees permit the researcher to disclose their names and conversation contents.
It is essential to mention that one of the awards that Muang Kalasin Municipality received was from my current office, Department of Environmental Quality Promotion, under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Hence, these organizations are partners. Therefore, it must be a question that I might favor both the case municipality and my department. However, the project is a work under a student status, not a public official. As a researcher, the contents, results, and discussion in the paper directly generate from facts found from the case study and the interviewing. None of them form with a bias to pro or against the case, the department, or the ministry.
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3. Theoretical and Conceptual Framework
This chapter provides relevant theories and concepts of the project. It starts with general information of circular economy, definition and dimension of the circular economy, introduction to solid waste, sustainable development theories, social practice, and stakeholder. There are also relations of the circular economy to solid waste management and sustainability . It ends with a framework that structures the study’s process, such as interview questions, literature reviews, and thematic analysis.
3.1 The circular economy
When a product is being used and threw away as waste when no longer need: take-make-waste, it is called a linear economy (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017), which creates waste and resource depletion (Skene, 2018: 482). However, most of the planet’s resources meet scarcity and pollution are consequences of exploitation and careless behavior. Su et al. (2013: 215) raise that D.W. Pearce and R.K. Turner were the persons who first mentioned the circular economy concept in 1990 in their book, Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment. The two scholars consider that scarce resources and waste residuals should have a circular relationship with the economy. Therefore, a circular economy is the alternative model of neoclassical economic thinking that combines the environmental scheme to economics (Ghisellini, Cialani and Ulgiati, 2016: 24).
Definitions of circular economy vary between authors concerning background, visions, objectives, and approach of stakeholders. Main components of 3R – reduce, reuse, recycle – are commonly suggested (Technical Secretariat (Ecorys), 2019: 6). Notably, the 3R principle is the core concept of CE as same as resource recycling is a prominent element of CE (Murray, Skene and Haynes, 2017: 371). Further, the term has been redefined by several scholars, as shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Definitions of circular economy, illustrated by the author
Number Definition Scholar
1 “The Circular Economy is an economic model wherein planning, resourcing, procurement, production and reprocessing are designed and managed, as both process and output, to maximize ecosystem functioning and human well-being.”
Murray, Skene and Haynes, 2017: 377
2 CE is a new way to design and use products and materials within planetary boundaries to keep away waste and pollution and regenerate natural systems, with participation from every sector.
Ellen MacArthur, Foundation2017
3 “Circular economy is an economic system that replaces the ‘end-of-life’ concept with reducing, alternatively reusing, recycling and recovering materials in production/distribution and consumption processes. It operates at the micro level (products, companies, consumers), meso level (eco-industrial parks) and macro level (city, region, nation and beyond), with the aim to accomplish sustainable development, thus simultaneously creating environmental quality, economic prosperity and social equity, to the benefit of current and future generations. It is enabled by novel business models and responsible consumers.”
Kirchherr, Reike and Hekkert, 2017: 229
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From the definitions, it seems that CE proposes positive relations to environmental, social, and economic aspects. CE reduces risk on resource supply as same as carries out sustainable development by helps to eliminate the corrupt and unethical suppliers (Andrews, 2015: 310). Further, Ghisellini, Cialani and Ulgiati (2016) emphasize that “circular economy contributes positively to reconcile all the elements, thanks to its underlying rationale, mainly rooted in environmental and political as well as economic and business aspects.” Hence, the CE’s attribution can serve as a fundamental principle for sustainable society by guiding solid waste management practices in different countries to more sustainability.
3.2 Municipal Solid Waste Management
The increasing volume and complexity of waste become a challenging global problem (Ma and Hipel, 2016:
3). The annual urban waste generation in low- and middle-income countries was 369 million tons in 2010, and it can increase to 956 million tons per year in 2025 (Saadeh, Al-Khatib and Kontogianni, 2019: 243).
Significant factors that stimulate waste generation refer to economic development and population growth (Lee et al., 2016: 430; Tseng, 2011: 171) in daily life activities. Crucially, municipal solid waste causes environmental problems and human conditions such as air and water quality, climate change, and public health (Ma and Hipel, 2016: 3). Therefore, the waste hierarchy is proposed in Europe by the EU Waste Framework Directive 2008 for member states to use as guidelines for waste elimination (Figure 4).
Figure 4: EU Waste hierarchy (Ma and Hipel, 2016: 3).
Waste hierarchy starts from prevention; reuse and preparation for reuse; recycle; recovery; and disposal.
Among these five approaches, recycling is a further potential implication for the EU states (Bing et al., 2016: 584).
Municipal solid waste is a complex problem connected to different issues (Bing et al., 2016: 590-591). It can start by extracting the meaningful content into sub-problems and finding a cause-and-effect solution (Ibid.). Municipal solid waste can be managed sustainably through the efficient process: collection, transportation, sorting, treating, recycling, disposing, and monitoring, and should include stakeholders' participation in these cycles (Saadeh, Al-Khatib and Kontogianni, 2019: 243). Tools to provide a high participation level can be the easy access for recycling activities, a conventional goal-setting on recycling, sufficient public education, and efficient leaders on participation (Ma and Hipel, 2016: 7). More importantly, municipal solid waste management should consider the social aspect, not only environmental and economic impacts, to achieve sustainability (Tseng, 2011: 173).
3.3 Stakeholder theory
Stakeholders are “the individuals and groups that are part of an organization’s collective scheme for mutual benefit” (Greenwood and Van Buren III, 2010: 425). Similarly, one definition mentions that “any group of people organized, who share a common interest or stake in a particular issue or system” (Grimble and Wellard, 1997, cited in Luyet et al., 2012: 213). Another definition refers to the persons “who are affected by the developmental benefits or risks” that can change the value (Saravanamuthu, 2018: 1068) of a particular issue or project. Stakeholders are usually concerned for their well-being that the organization provided for, such as product quality and safety (Greenwood and Van Buren III, 2010: 436) and the
Prevention Reuse Recycle Recovery Disposal
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company succession (Boesso and Kumar, 2016: 816). Besides, stakeholders focus on how the company cares for the society (Ibid.). For instance, employees in a cosmetic business consider that their company should produce non-animal tested cosmetics (Greenwood and Van Buren III, 2010: 436).
A business system consists of customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, and the community as essential stakeholders (Ferrero-Ferrero et al., 2018: 317). Additional groups can be added in which depending on the context of each institution (Ibid.), such as non-governmental organizations (Boesso and Kumar, 2016: 816). Groups of stakeholders have different expectations towards the host organization. For example, customers demand accessibility and a short time on product purchase, low product price, corporate environmental responsibility, and eco-friendly products (Ferrero-Ferrero et al., 2018: 321). Employees prioritize salary, corporate social responsibility, work-life balance policies, and the community aims for the number and types of jobs created, taxes to be paid, support infrastructure required, local clusters (Ibid.).
Participation ladders categorize into five levels: information, consultation, collaboration, co-decision, and empowerment (Luyet et al., 2012: 215). The simplest “participation ladders” or “levels of engagement” is to inform stakeholders while recognition of values, beliefs, and biases of their own and other stakeholders for better decision making is what the participatory concept aims for (Voinov et al., 2016: 197). Further, an organization should manage stakeholder relationships to meet stakeholder satisfaction by focusing on value creation rather than handling corporate’s image and reputation (Boesso and Kumar, 2016: 827) as well as initiating stakeholder voices and participation in the projects (Rasche, Morsing and Wetter, 2019: 16). The first criterion in selecting a particular case’s stakeholders is the positive and negative effect of the project implementation (Ramos, Afonso Teixeira and Rouboa, 2018: 1642). The next index is a broad range of stakeholder values, i.e., interests, resources, and power/authority position, and claims and rights (ethical or legal) (Ibid.). Additionally, economic benefit, legitimacy, urgency, proximity, attitudes towards a project, access to resources, the scale of influence, can also use to identify stakeholder (Luyet et al., 2012: 214-215).
Even though stakeholder participation is a process that consumes time and costs, authorities and policymakers still promote it (Voinov et al., 2016: 202). The main reason is some participants can deliver crucial local knowledge, fill in some gaps, and exhibit their useful skills (Ibid.; Luyet et al., 2012: 214) for the project or community. Another benefit of participation is that it provides “a fair, equal and transparent process that promotes equity, learning, trust, and respect among stakeholders and the administration” (Luyet et al., 2012: 214). Importantly, one project can meet succession when having social learning and technical solutions from the input of knowledge, as same as the support and cooperation from relevant stakeholders (Ibid.: 213).
3.4 Social practice theory
Cooking, driving, washing, shopping, or playing football are examples of human behavior performed in routine (Hargreaves, 2011: 82). They are called practices. Shove and Pantzar (2005: 44) explained that
“practices are made by and through their routine reproduction.” Practice theory focuses on processes, such as routine, practical consciousness, tacit knowledge, tradition (Warde, 2005: 140). In particular, practices consist of three elements (Figure 5): materials, meanings and forms of competence, and they affect each other (Shove and Pantzar, 2005: 45).
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Figure 5: Elements of social practice theory (Shove and Pantzar, 2005: 45).
For a better understanding of elements of practices, playing football is an example. To become a talented football player with integrated skills, the player must keep practicing and repeating regularly. There are a set of materials (a ball and a goal), meanings (rules, aim, and proper manners), and competence (football skills) (Hargreaves, 2011: 83). These three elements produce and then reproduce the links between them during a football match. Thus, the links disappear when practices do not occur.
Society has some complex problems needed to find solutions. Røpke (2009: 2491) suggests that “social practices are produced and reproduced across time and spaces in the society.” If social practices generate improper social relations, problems in social systems occurred. Therefore, social practice theory has emerged to help the social analyst understand the conceptualization of human activities and social relations.
It is a tool for clarifying relationships between findings of each element and generates interdisciplinary approaches to meet the behavior change strategy (Spotswood et al., 2015: 30). Indeed, the theory does not focus on the individual response but rather on institutional responsibility (Ibid.). Engagement in the practices does not come from individual desires or personal decisions but derived from practices themselves (Warde, 2005: 138). Meanwhile, practices consist of goods and services (Ibid., 140). Consequently, practices create wants and direct social behavior and consumption of goods and services (Warde, 2005: 137-138) (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Relations of practices to consumption, illustrated by the author.
From the display in Figure 4, consumption is the result element of practices. Hence, to the extent of promoting more sustainable practices, links, and parts must be continuously produced (Hargreaves, 2011:
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83). Also, to educate and raise awareness for behavior change, creating environmentally-friendly consumption, transforming practices for more sustainable (Ibid.), and innovating new practices by making new links between existing or new elements (Røpke, 2009: 2494) should be considered. Understanding the interrelation between each item and the reproduction of links that generate routine practices as same as constructing a new paradigm to change the behavior for the expected practice (Ibid.) are essential for implementing a circular economy into a particular case. For instance, environmental consideration on waste reduction and the community’s shared value to create a livable the hometown can encourage villagers to induce more progressive competence of circular economy consumption to the community.
3.5 The concept of sustainable development
The first definition of the term appeared in 1987. The UN’s World Commission on Environment and Development published a document Our Common Future, as known as Brundtland report, which defined sustainable development as “humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Caradonna, 2014: 6). The concept has widely accepted and acknowledged internationally on the relation of social, economic, and environmental spheres (Giddings, Hopwood and O’Brien, 2002: 188).
United Nations Member States adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to end poverty, and everyone lives in prosperity by the year 2030 (UNDP, 2020).
The concept of sustainable development is developed from an ecological perspective while the means, processes, and effects will derive from modernization, economic growth, and capitalism (Pain and Hansen, 2019: 93). However, different aspects have been criticized. Its contradiction with obscurity and illuminating (Redclift, 2014: 484) and complexity make it difficult for the poor people to preserve resources for the future when they are in need at present (Desai and Potter, 2014: 478). Groups of people threaten nature with their unlimited human rights, without accounting for nature’s rights (Redclift, 2014: 484). In the economic sector, large companies influence governments’ decision making over the environment and social benefits (Giddings, Hopwood and O’Brien, 2002: 190).
The Linear Economy, the take-make-use-dispose model, consists of some unsustainable factors, such as population growth, rising income, and urbanization behavior (Andrews, 2015: 305). The factors stimulate a billion tonnes of global commercial and municipal waste disposal (Ibid., 307). For replacing the Linear practice, Circular Economy is considered as the sustainable economic model (Skene, 2018: 479; Andrews, 2015: 305), “using natural resources while reducing pollution or avoiding resource constraints and sustaining economic growth” (Winans, Kendall and Deng, 2017: 825). Potential economic benefits that developed and developing countries provided from circular economy could be, for instance, production cost reduction, employment, innovation, productivity, and resource efficiency (Schroeder, Anggraeni and Weber, 2019: 79). The European Union could save annual net resource expenditure around 600 billion Euros per year, increase productivity 3 percent per year, and earn net yearly benefit to 1.8 trillion Euros by 2030 (Ibid.).
From different points of view, the circular economy is merely an idealistic concept if it cannot change the current unsustainable consumption and production practices into sustainable economics (Korhonen, Honkasalo and Seppälä, 2018: 43). Skene (2018: 488) supports that “the circular economy works against both the laws of thermodynamics and the underpinning principles of nature” Therefore, it is hard to achieve sustainability in the future with this paradigm.
3.6 A conceptual framework
Qualitative data is the non-standardized data that needs to be categorized and analyzed through conceptualization (Bryman, 2012: 507). The conceptual framework can get developed before or during the data collection process (Bryman, 2012: 474). Alternatively, the project constructs a conceptual framework at the research design stage to use as a basis for empirical data collection and thematic analysis, as shown in Figure 7. The model involves four themes: circular economy, municipal solid waste management, social
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practice, and sustainable development. More importantly, they are interconnected and have a relationship with each other.
Figure 7: A conceptual model of the study, illustrated by the author.
The main themes are the concept of CE and CE indicators as well as solid waste management.
Implementation of social practice theory assists the behavior analysis of local communities and public participation in the case study. Also, municipal substantial waste projects might not succeed without strong civic engagement. Although the case study has different contexts and characters than the European cities, and those cause difficulties to meet the CE indicators at first glance, the study believes that it features some potentials to transform local practices into circularity in the future.
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4. Empirical Background
This chapter presents practices of a circular economy in Europe and Asia, recent initiatives on these two continents, municipal solid waste in Asia, and necessary information on the waste reduction project of Muang Kalasin Municipality.
4.1 Circular economy in Europe and Asia
The Member States of the European Union played a distinct role in initiating the circular economy scheme in the late 1980s. Japan, China, the United States did later follow this trend. Thereby, this section presents the history and implementation of the circular economy in Europe and some countries in Asia.
4.1.1 Europe
CE concept widely embeds as the national agenda in developing countries, specifically the European Union states. Figure 8 illustrates a timeline of the circular economy developing in the European Union.
Figure 8: EU’s circular economy initiatives timeline, illustrated by the author.
Germany was the first country in Europe that initiated the CE practice in the late 1980s with the Waste Disposal Act (Ghisellini, Cialani and Ulgiati, 2016: 15). Then, the European Commission followed the path with the Waste Directive 2008/ 98/ EC (Ibid.). The Manifesto of resource efficiency and the European Resource Efficiency Platform ( EREP) in 2012 and the EU Circular Economy Package in 2014 were subsequently delivered (Ibid.: 25). Later, the ‘Toward a Circular Economy: a zero-waste program for Europe’ was declared to the Member States in 2014 (Murray, Skene and Haynes, 2017: 375). Besides, the European Commission has implemented the EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy in 2015, which contains issues on production, consumption, waste management, and secondary raw materials (European Commission, 2019a).
Additionally, the Action Plan included four legislative proposals amending the legal acts on Waste Framework Directive; Landfill Directive; Packaging Directive; and Directives on end-of-life vehicles, batteries and accumulators, and waste electrical and electronic equipment (European Union, 2018: 2). The European Commission is the examiner to monitor the Member States in reaching the target by the year 2025 or continuously work five years to the ultimate goal in the year 2030. Objectives of waste management
17 present in Table 4.
Table 4: Proposed waste management targets (European Union, 2018: 7)
2025 2030 Share of municipal waste prepared for reuse and recycling 60% 65%
Share of municipal waste landfilled / 10%
Share of all packaging waste prepared for reuse and recycling 65% 75%
Share of plastic packaging waste prepared for reuse and recycling 55% / Share of wood packaging waste prepared for reuse and recycling 60% 75%
Share of ferrous metal packaging waste prepared for reuse and recycling 75% 85%
Share of aluminum packaging waste prepared for reuse and recycling 75% 85%
Share of glass packaging waste prepared for reuse and recycling 75% 85%
Share of paper and cardboard packaging waste prepared for reuse and recycling 75% 85%
As looking at the numbers set in row 1 and 2 of Table 4, the Landfill Directive proposes municipal waste be reused and recycled 60% by 2025 and separately collected waste be disposed to landfill about 10% by 2030. From row 3, the Packaging Directive aims at the overall share of all packaging waste and different types of materials, which are plastic, wood, ferrous metal, aluminum, glass, and paper and cardboard.
Crucially, plastic packaging targets in 2030 may set up in the coming future (European Union, 2018: 7).
The EU aims to change the overall waste into more sustainable material, which lies as the core idea of CE (Malinauskaite et al., 2017: 2014). Recently, the EU stipulated the CE paradigm in the Resource Efficient Europe Initiative to enhance sustainable growth and competitiveness of the region and the well-being of the EU citizens (Hobson and Lynch, 2016: 17). The EU aims to meet sustainable consumption and production under the Agenda for Sustainable Development by 2030 (Malinauskaite et al., 2017: 2014). In January 2018, a monitoring framework for the CE was launched to help the Member States develop a sensible strategy to report their achievement, obstacles, and opportunities (Technical Secretariat (Ecorys), 2019).
Regarding the policy interventions, the EU approaches private and public consumption with various applications, such as Ecolabel, green consumption, green public procurement, and product recycling and reuse (Ghisellini, Cialani and Ulgiati, 2016: 13). The EU Ecolabel program, released in 1992, grants the non-food companies and service providers who deliver environmentally friendly production or service process in the entire life cycle. The same purpose promotes green procurement to require a public organization to conduct public contracts with green products and services (Ibid., 19). A study shows the importance of public procurement that it contributed to around 20 percent of EU Gross Domestic Product in 2009. (Ibid.).
The CE concept influences the global agenda shifted from Industrial Ecology theory to the political- economic aspect. For instance, as the EU political policies are more focused on eliminating the world’s natural resources and raw materials, turning waste into valuable resources of products and energy is the right alternative (Hobson and Lynch, 2016: 17). Nevertheless, many improvements are needed to develop the circularity notion. The EU target to be a circular society cannot reach without adequate inputs (Malinauskaite et al., 2017: 2041). Ghisellini, Cialani and Ulgiati (2016: 18) criticize the transition on CE in Europe actively raises from the bottom, such as NGOs and civil society, not top-down approach by the governments. The CE concept is preferably implemented mostly at the meso level, excluded micro- and macro- approach (Milios, 2018: 865). The micro level fits for a single company or consumer; the meso strategy applies to the industrial sector while the macro scheme works with city, province, region, and national scales (Ghisellini, Cialani and Ulgiati, 2016: 13).
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4.1.2 Asia
Apart from Germany, the first country in the European continent that started a CE initiative was Japan by introducing the concept of a closed-loop economy in the 1990s (Milios, 2018: 865). Japan considered the 3R idea in two laws: Law for Effective Utilization of Recyclables in 1991 and the Japanese CE initiative in 2000 (Ghisellini, Cialani and Ulgiati, 2016: 25), and created a country’s vision for a ‘Sound Material-cycle Society’ in 2002 (Milios, 2018: 865). Japanese citizens, including private and public sectors, provided support to the government CE practice (Ibid., 18). The country’s prominent CE policy is “to prevent further environmental deterioration and to conserve scarce resources through effective waste management, especially integrated solid waste management” (Su et al., 2013: 215).
China is the second Asian country that adopted the CE principle to fit the country context (Hobson and Lynch, 2016: 17), but it is the first country to revise the concept to a law in 2008 (Korhonen, Honkasalo and Seppälä, 2018: 37). Another perspective on the recycling laws of Germany (The Waste Avoidance and Management Act) and Japan (A sound Material-cycle Society) is that they have influenced China to transform requirements to more circularity (Murray, Skene and Haynes, 2017: 371). China stages the CE concept as political policy and approaches it from top to bottom level. Other countries such as the EU, Japan, and the USA address CE as a bottom-up tool only for environmental and waste management concerns (Ghisellini, Cialani and Ulgiati, 2016: 11). With the CE promotion on the national agenda, China aimed to increase economic growth and industrial development. China also improves environmental condition within ten years and achieve sustainability as its destination (Murray, Skene and Haynes, 2017: 377) by widely delivering strategies covered horizontal and vertical sectors as well as an enterprise (micro- ), industrial (meso- ) and society (macro-) levels (Milios, 2018: 865). The ban on importing solid waste, waste plastics from household garbage, unsorted waste paper, waste textile materials, vanadium slag in 2017 (Tan, Li and Boljkovac, 2018: 7595) and plastic waste in 2018 of China have created considerable effects on many countries to find other places for waste disposal (Huang et al., 2020: 1-2). Distinguishingly, 45 percent of the world’s plastic waste delivered to China between 1992 and 2016 (Ibid.).
South Korea also focuses on 3R principle and launched some prominent laws and regulations, for example, the Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) in 2003, the Waste Management Act in 2007, the Act on Promotion of Resources Saving and Recycling in 2008, the Food Waste Reduction Policy in 2013, (Ghisellini, Cialani and Ulgiati, 2016: 15) and the Enforcement of Framework Act on Resource Circulation in 2018 (Ghosh and Agamuthu, 2018: 482). Consumer responsibility for material use and waste promoted to Korean and Japanese as the same as the eco-industrial parks establish around South Korea, Japan, and India (Winans, Kendall and Deng, 2017: 826). The material recycling rate in South Korea was 13.5 percent in 2017, compared to 16.0 percent of Japan’s (Jang et al., 2020: 7). Recently, the free of charge single-use plastics are banned in restaurants and cafeteria as same as at large and medium-sized supermarkets (165 m2) on single-use plastic bags (Jang et al., 2020: 9). The South Korean government strongly supports the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) policy 20 years ago, starting from four to ten types of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). The intense degree of obligation and fines change producers to design and produce recyclable products (Manomaivibool and Hong, 2014, 2014: 211).
India has collaborated with Japan, Germany, and the European Union on waste management and sustainable economy (Singh, Chakraborty and Roy, 2018: 313). The Government of India has formulated some key policies towards the circular economy and SDGs. For example, the National Solar Mission in 2010 and connected to SDG 7 and 8, the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules in 2015 related to SDG 6 and 12 (Priyadarshini and Abhilash, 2020: 8). Furthermore, 5R concepts (reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, redesign, and remanufacturing) apply for basic principle for Solid Waste Management Rules released in 2016 (Ghosh and Agamuthu, 2018: 481), connected to SDG 11 and 12 (Priyadarshini and Abhilash, 2020: 8). However, the waste recycling rate in India is lower than the waste generated. About 23 percent of waste treated from 91 percent of total municipal solid waste in 2017 and the residues are in landfills (Priyadarshini and Abhilash, 2020: 4). Official records or scientific reports on plastic waste management in India are hardly found (Ibid.).
The 3R concept is also the issue Vietnam has promoted. The country issued the Environmental Protection Law in 2005 and the National Strategy on Integrated Solid Waste Management, aiming to eliminate waste
