scholarly journals Trading Radical for Incremental Change: The Politics of a Circular Economy Transition in the German Packaging Sector

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Machteld Simoens ◽  
Sina Leipold
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Regulatory Change ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
Incremental Change ◽  
Packaging Waste ◽  
Lock In

Understanding environmental politics is crucial for sustainability transitions. We study the transition politics of the shift to a circular economy in the German packaging sector, particularly the curious case of the 2019 German Packaging Act. While the policy was born out of the unanimous wish for radical regulatory change, all stakeholders evaluate the outcome as incremental. Applying the Discursive Agency Approach and drawing upon stakeholder interviews and documents, we show that stakeholders’ perceived fear of radical changes are critical for transition politics. This fear created a lock-in of two narratives proposing conflicting organizational designs of packaging waste management. While the narrative lock-in could be resolved by trading radical for incremental change, it left many conflicts and challenges unresolved. Our findings suggest that stakeholders’ fears not only prevent radical regulatory change but also create incremental change that may intensify unresolved conflicts and, thus, further weaken the stakeholders’ capacity for future transition politics.

scholarly journals Textile packaging waste in the context of implementing the concept of circular economy

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (05) ◽  
pp. 499-503
Author(s):  
Eftalea Carpus ◽  
Angela Dorogan ◽  
Cristina Stroe
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Integrated Management ◽  
Recycling Rate ◽  
Waste Plastics ◽  
Packaging Waste ◽  
Management Hierarchy ◽  
Legislative Measures

At European level, there are concrete measures regarding waste management in the circular economy, and these refer to: mandatory recycling rates for different categories of waste: plastics, glass, metals, paper and cardboard as well as biodegradable waste; the obligation to redesign the products in order to increase the proportion of raw materials resulting from recycling and to increase the degree of recycling of products, in order to consider them as secondary raw materials; promoting and stimulating the reuse of products; increasing the recycling rate of municipal waste by 2030 to a minimum of 65%; increasing the recycling rate of packaging waste by 2030 to a minimum of 75%; reduction of food wastage and implicitly of the resulted food waste by 50% by 2030. The large amount of packaging waste determined the taking of legislative measures that defined the obligations of pack- aging producers/distributors, recycling objectives and the waste management hierarchy. New targets for the recycling of packaging waste predict a growth to 65% in 2025 and 70% in 2030 [1]. Textile packaging waste is an important link in the integrated management of waste whose recovery contributes to the conservation and improvement of natural capital.

scholarly journals Advances on the Implementation of Circular Economy Techniques in Rural Areas in Colombia under a Sustainable Development Framework

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3816
Author(s):  
Javier Rodrigo-Ilarri ◽  
Camilo-A. Vargas-Terranova ◽  
María-Elena Rodrigo-Clavero ◽  
Paula-A. Bustos-Castro
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Development Framework ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Good Starting Point ◽  
Depressed Regions ◽  
First Time

For the first time in the scientific literature, this research shows an analysis of the implementation of circular economy techniques under sustainable development framework in six municipalities with a depressed economy in Colombia. The analysis is based on solid waste data production at a local scale, the valuation of the waste for subsequent recycling, and the identification and quantification of the variables associated with the treatment and final disposal of waste, in accordance with the Colombian regulatory framework. Waste generation data are obtained considering three different scenarios, in which a comparison between the simulated values and those established in the management plans are compared. Important differences have been identified between the waste management programs of each municipality, specifically regarding the components of waste collection, transportation and disposal, participation of environmental reclaimers, and potential use of materials. These differences are fundamentally associated with the different administrative processes considered for each individual municipality. This research is a good starting point for the development of waste management models based on circular economy techniques, through the subsequent implementation of an office tool in depressed regions such as those studied.

scholarly journals Strategic Actions for Packaging Waste Management and Reduction

2020 ◽  
Vol 616 ◽  
pp. 012019
Author(s):  
Violeta-Monica Radu ◽  
Magdalena Chiriac ◽  
Gyorgy Deak ◽  
Mariana Pipirigeanu ◽  
Tengku Nurati Tengku Izhar
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Strategic Actions ◽  
Packaging Waste

scholarly journals How Far Away Are World Economies from Circularity: Assessing the Capacity of Circular Economy Policy Packages in the Operation of Raw Materials and Industrial Wastes

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4394
Author(s):  
Margarita Ignatyeva ◽  
Vera Yurak ◽  
Alexey Dushin ◽  
Vladimir Strovsky ◽  
Sergey Zavyalov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Industrial Wastes ◽  
New Guidelines ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Degree Level ◽  
The Eu

Nowadays, circular economy (CE) is on the agenda, however, this concept of closed supply chains originated in the 1960s. The current growing quantity of studies in this area accounts for different discourses except the holistic one, which mixes both approaches—contextual and operating (contextual approach utilizes the thorough examination of the CE theory, stricture of the policy, etc.; the operating one uses any kind of statistical data)—to assess the capacity of circular economy regulatory policy packages (CERPP) in operating raw materials and industrial wastes. This article demonstrates new guidelines for assessing the degree level of capacity (DLC) of CERPPs in the operation of raw materials and industrial wastes by utilizing the apparatus of the fuzzy set theory. It scrupulously surveys current CERPPs in three regions: the EU overall, Finland and Russia; and assesses for eight regions—the EU overall, Finland, Russia, China, Greece, France, the Netherlands and South Korea—the DLC of CERPPs in operating raw materials and industrial wastes. The results show that EU is the best in CE policy and its CERPP is 3R. The following are South Korea and China with the same type of CERPP. Finland, France and the Netherlands have worse results than EU with the type of CERPP called “integrated waste management” because of the absence of a waste hierarchy (reduce, recover, recycle). Russia closes the list with the type of CERPP “basic waste management”.

scholarly journals Introducing a Degrowth Approach to the Circular Economy Policies of Food Production, and Food Loss and Waste Management: Towards a Circular Bioeconomy

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Hoehn ◽  
Jara Laso ◽  
María Margallo ◽  
Israel Ruiz-Salmón ◽  
Francisco José Amo-Setién ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Food Production ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Food Loss ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Assessment Approach ◽  
New Policies

There is a growing debate surrounding the contradiction between an unremitting increase in the use of resources and the search for environmental sustainability. Therefore, the concept of sustainable degrowth is emerging aiming to introduce in our societies new social values and new policies, capable of satisfying human requirements whilst reducing environmental impacts and consumption of resources. In this framework, circular economy strategies for food production and food loss and waste management systems, following the Sustainable Development Goals agenda, are being developed based on a search for circularity, but without setting limits to the continual increase in environmental impacts and resource use. This work presents a methodology for determining the percentage of degrowth needed in any food supply chain, by analyzing four scenarios in a life cycle assessment approach over time between 2020 and 2040. Results for the Spanish case study suggested a degrowth need of 26.8% in 2015 and 58.9% in 2040 in order to achieve compliance with the Paris Agreement targets, highlighting the reduction of meat and fish and seafood consumption as the most useful path.

Toward a circular economy: A system dynamic model of recycling framework for aseptic paper packaging waste in Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 301 ◽  
pp. 126901
Author(s):  
Tsai-Chi Kuo ◽  
Ni-Ying Hsu ◽  
Reza Wattimena ◽  
I-Hsuan Hong ◽  
Chin-Jung Chao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Model ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
System Dynamic ◽  
System Dynamic Model ◽  
Packaging Waste

scholarly journals Circular Economy on Organic Waste Management with MASARO Technology

2021 ◽  
Vol 1143 (1) ◽  
pp. 012051
Author(s):  
A Z Abidin ◽  
H Bramantyo ◽  
M K Baroroh ◽  
C Egiyawati
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Organic Waste ◽  
Organic Waste Management

scholarly journals Poland’s Proposal for a Safe Solution of Waste Treatment during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Circular Economy Connection

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 3939
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Pikoń ◽  
Nikolina Poranek ◽  
Adrian Czajkowski ◽  
Beata Łaźniewska-Piekarczyk
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Treatment ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Municipal Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Economic Impact ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Waste Treatment ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Waste Streams

The purpose of the study presented in this text is to show the influence of COVID-19 on waste management systems and circular economy stream, and their impact on circular economy, particularly the economic impact of the pandemic on the waste management sector, impact on circular economy objectives’ implementation as well as additional challenges like the need for hygienization of waste streams during different implementation efforts, such as changes in the municipal solid waste market and different waste processes of their disposal. Additionally, some methods—such as thermal treatment—which seemed to be not fully aligned with the circular economy approach have advantages not taken into account before. Incineration of higher volume of waste affects the waste structure and will change some of the circular economy objectives. The analysis was carried out on the example of the Polish market.

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