Local productive systems within the perspective of the circular economy

The objective of this research is to present a proposal of the production function of the circular economy to contribute to the conceptual development of local productive systems. A systematic review of the literature and a critical discourse analysis were used, allowing to adjust the production functions within the LPS. The results describe how LPSs can be within into a circular productive dynamic allowing a change in the focus of the production function, which in the dominanteconomic discourse ignores possible resources and only assumes linear management models, within these systems. In conclusion, by adjusting the production function for SPLs in a dynamic circular economy, it allows the incorporation of waste as a type of secondary capital in production processes. Keywords: local productive systems, linear economy, circular economy. References [1]M. Scalone, "Introducción al enfoque de sistemas en agricultura y su aplicación para el desarrollo de sistemas de producción sostenibles". 2007. [2]M. Astudillo, "Fundamentos de Economia 1", Primera edición. México: UNAM, Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas. 2012. [3]R. Tansini, "Economía para no economistas" Uruguay: Universidad de la República, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, 2000, 198. [4]M. A. Sánchez, "La clasificación de los factores de producción fue retomada de: Parkin, Michael. Economía. Octava edición. México: Pearson Educación, 2009, 3.[5]P. Triunfo, M. Torello, N. Berretta, L. Vicente, U. Della-Mea, M. Bergara, … and M. González, "Economía para no economistas". Montevideo: Departamento deSociología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, 2003. [6]C. Massad, "Economía para todos". Chile: Banco Central de Chile, 2010, 59. [7]R. Pindyck, D. Rubinfeld, "Microeconomía" Prentice Hall. 1995. [8]C.L Garcia, "Economía circular y su papel en el diseño e innovación sustentable", Libros Editorial UNIMAR, 2017. [9]V. Prieto-Sandoval, C. Jaca and M. Ormazabal. "Economía circular: Relación con la evolución del concepto de sostenibilidad y estrategias para su implementación", Memoria de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Universidad de Montevideo: Facultad de Ingeniería, 2017. [10]P. Samuelson, W. Nordhaus, "Microeconomia", 19a edición. México: Mc Graw Hill, 2017. [11]T. Winpenny, "El valor del medio ambiente. Métodos de valoración económica", Varsovia, 1995. [12]E. Neumayer, "Preserving Natural Capital in a World of Uncertainty and Scarce Financial Resources", International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 5 (1), 1998, 27-42. [13]D. Kiełczewski, "Sustainable development - the essence, interpretations, relationship with the knowledge society", Economics of sustainable development. Study materials: Szkoła Ekonomiczna, Białystok, 2010, 10-29. [14]F. Aguilera, V. Alcántara, "De la economía ambiental a la economía ecológica". Barcelona: ICARIA: FUHEM, 1994. [15]Ellen MacArthur Foundation, "Towards The Circular Economy, Economic and Business Rationale for an Accelerated Transition", Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2013. [16]D. Pieńkowski, Kapitał naturalny w teoretycznych analizach czynników produkcji. Ekonomia i Środowisko, No. 1(21), 2002. [17]D. Pieńkowski, "Czasopismo Polskiego Stowarzyszenia Ekonomistów Środowiska i Zasobów Naturalnych", Fundacja Ekonomistów Środowiska i ZasobówNaturalnych Białystok. No. 2 (57), 2016. [18]D. Audretsch, "Knowledge Spillovers and the Geography of Innovation and Production" American Economic Review 86, 1996, 630–640. [19]F. Morales, "Desarrollo: los retos de los municipios mexicanos", Centro de Estudios Municipales Heriberto Jara, 2000. [Online]. Available: www.cedemun.org.mx. [20]Ramírez, N., Mungaray, A., Ramírez, M., and Texis, M. "Economías de escala y rendimientos crecientes: Una aplicación en microempresas mexicanas. Economía mexicana". Nueva época, 19(2), 2010, 213-230. [Online]. Available: http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S166520452010000200001&lng=es&tlng=es. 2010. [21]P. Krugman, "Urban Concentration: The Role of Increasing Returns, and Transport Costs", International Regional Science Review, 19, 1996, 5-30. [22]G. Perry, W.F. Maloney, O.S. Arias, P. Fajnzylber, A.D. Mason and J. Saavedra-Chanduvi. Informalidad: Escape y exclusión. Washington, Banco Mundial, 2007. [23]G. Garófoli, "The Italian Model of Spatial Development in the 1970s and 1980s", Industrial Change & Regional Development. Belhaven Press, London, 1991. [24]G. Garofoli, "Las experiencias de desarrollo económico local en Europa: las enseñanzas para América Latina". San José, Costa Rica: URB-AL III, 2009.

La Economía Circular de las botellas PET en Colombia

El objetivo es analizar las características de implementación de la estrategia de Economía Circular para las botellas Polietileno Tereftalato (PET) y su influencia en la gestión del envase en Colombia, para su despliegue y operación. De acuerdo con Greenpeace International (2018) el estilo de vida de “usar y tirar” el envase ha desatado una emergencia que impacta la salud de los ecosistemas y de los seres vivos, con el uso de plástico. Las industrias tienen la necesidad de agilizar la migración de un modelo de “economía lineal”, que implica producir bienes, utilizarlos y desecharlos, hacia una “economía circular”, que maximice el uso de los recursos y convierta sus desechos en nuevos materiales (WEF, Ellen MacArthur Foundation and McKinsey y Company, 2016). Se aplicó una metodología descriptiva con análisis de contenido y entrevista en profundidad para caracterizar el uso de botellas PET en la industria de bebidas en Colombia. La investigación identificó la cadena logística reciclaje – depósito – transformador – productor – distribuidor – cliente – consumo, encontrando problemas en reciclaje; los productores de PET tienen nuevas responsabilidades, están constituidos por Postobón, Coca-Cola y Bavaria, los dos primeros lideran la aplicación de economía circular de PET desde hace una década.

Towards a Circular Economy for African Islands: an Analysis of Existing Baselines and Strategies

In recent years, the concept of circular economy has gained increasing attention from both businesses and governments. The African continent has started to adopt circular economy–related policies at national or regional levels, but it is not yet mainstream. Literature on circular economy has mainly focused on developed countries in the global north with limited attention given to the potential of circular economy for developing countries especially in the context of African islands. In this paper, we fill this gap by providing existing baselines regarding CE for 9 African islands and present their existing strategies that could foster the development of a circular economy. Adopting the Ellen MacArthur Foundation diagram and the ReX framework, we use different components of the combined frameworks to situate the various initiatives. We show that African islands have led an array of initiatives especially in waste management and also in regenerating natural resources. However, various challenges remain, such as the lack of national umbrella frameworks that would ensure circularity across actions. Countries with more favourable socio-economic and political contexts such as Reunion Island or Mauritius implement policies relating to a circular economy. However, these countries and others, such as Maldives or Seychelles, also have a high level of material consumption that requires changes from production to consumption stages. Countries with challenging contexts, such as Madagascar, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, Comoros and to a lesser extent Cabo Verde, have less dedicated policies but various dispersed activities such as using renewable energy that could contribute to circularity. Extraction of natural resources in these countries remains an important source of growth that requires a systemic change towards circularity. Embracing a circular economy presents various opportunities to African islands especially considering the blue economy agendas adopted in these islands.

Open badges: recognising learning through digital micro-credentials

What is it? Open badges are a 21st-century solution to the shortcomings of paper certificates in the age of digital, online identity management. These small visual signifiers which carry hard-coded meta-data can be issued by anyone in order to recognise achievement or participation in formal or informal activities. They link back directly to the issuer, the criteria for award, and the evidence. The learner can collect and display their open badges online to reveal their journey and discover new opportunities. Open badges emerged from the Badges for Lifelong Learning Competition in 2011 funded by the MacArthur Foundation and administered by HASTAC in collaboration with the Mozilla Foundation (MacArthur Foundation, 2012). The aim was to provide a “powerful new tool for identifying and validating the rich array of people's skills, knowledge, accomplishments, and competencies […to] inspire new pathways to learning and connect learners to opportunities, resources, and one another” (HASTAC, 2020, n.p.). The open badge infrastructure is based on an open source set of standards which have enabled the ‘baking’ of meta-data within a digital image through the use of an open badge platform. Open badge platforms are free to access, at least initially, offering educators the opportunity to create visual, shareable micro-credentials which recognise a learner’s journey.

Water Systems in a Circular Economy

The circular economy is based on three fundamental principles as defined by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation: design out waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use, and regenerate natural systems. This chapter explores the relationship between the circular economy principles and the water management systems to identify the integration points where the water systems can be aligned with the circular economy. The chapter also ascertains the impediments which hinder this transition and identifies the opportunities that will present themselves in this endeavor. This chapter aims to help the readers understand the social, economic, and environmental impacts that will be created when water systems get integrated into the circular economy framework.

Climate Change in the Minds of U.S. News Audiences

This report is an analysis of public opinion about climate change among the regular U.S. audience (American adults who frequently watch, read, or listen to the content) of each of six major U.S. news sources: CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, NPR, the Weather Channel, and the national nightly network news (on CBS, ABC, or NBC). The findings in this report are based on data from three nationally representative surveys conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication in April 2019, November 2019, and April 2020 (total N = 3,623) as part of the Climate Change in the American Mind project. The research was funded by the 11th Hour Project, the Energy Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation.

ANALYZING THE HUMAN SPHERE WITH THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY MODEL IN POST-EARTHQUAKE CONSTRUCTION: MECHE’S HOUSE

Meche’s House is a post-earthquake house construction in Pedro Carbo, Ecuador. This article is based on the analysis of this construction under a specific model called Circular Economy (CE). The CE analyzes the flows of matter and energy, ensuring that everything recirculates in the system, causing the so-called waste to become a nutrient for new processes. This article explains the traditional concept of CE, based on the butterfly model by Ellen MacArthur Foundation which inserts flows of matter and energy in two spheres: biosphere and technosphere. However, this article inserts and analyzes a new one: the human sphere. The system for the construction of Meche’s House is analyzed especially under the latter sphere, to understand the local people as a resource within the system flows, emphasizing the post-earthquake context.

Climate change in the American mind: November 2019

This report is based on findings from a nationally representative survey – Climate Change in the American Mind – conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (climatecommunication.yale.edu) and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication (climatechangecommunication.org). Interview dates: November 8 – 20, 2019. Interviews: 1,303 adults in the U.S. (18+). Average margin of error +/- 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The research was funded by the 11th Hour Project, the Energy Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. A special thank you goes to Parrish Bergquist, PhD and MattoMildenberger, PhD for creating an automated version of this report.