Critiques of the circular economy

Abstract

Access to the published version may require subscription. N.B. When citing this work, cite the original published paper.

RETRACTED: Engaging the citizen in the circular economy: Transcending the passive consumer role

“…Consumers have primarily been treated as relatively passive agents, expected to adapt once producers modify their products/offerings (Ghisellini et al, 2016;Corvellec et al, 2021), and can be incentivised to choose more environmentally friendly goods and services through tools such as pricing, information, and "nudging" (Welch and Southerton, 2019;Dalhammar et al, 2021). However, such approaches to consumer behavior fail to consider how consumption is deeply embedded in rhythms and routines in daily life (Wilhite, 2012), in turn co-shaped by infrastructural arrangements (Shove and Trentmann, 2018) and systems of provision (Bayliss and Fine, 2020).…”

A circular economy approach is needed for electric vehicles

“…Increased costs could also incentivize sufficiency measures in transport (that is, discussion of mobility needs and what needs are met by electric vehicles versus other transport options) and minimize rebound effects in the transition to electric vehicles 18 . Circular economy discussions have been criticized for not adequately considering sufficiency measures, costs and just distribution of these costs 19 -and these points will need to be carefully considered going forward.…”

Winners of the 2021 Graedel Prizes: The Journal of Industrial Ecology Best Paper Prizes

“…Climate change‐‐related papers were quite prominent, including a study of carbon emissions for seventy‐nine cities of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (Wiedmann et al., 2021) and a scenario analysis of deep decarbonization in Germany incorporating material efficiency (Pauliuk & Heeren, 2021). Other Research and Analysis papers were: a life cycle assessment of lithium‐ion battery recycling using pyrometallurgical technologies (Rajaeifar et al., 2021); a review of critiques of the circular economy (Corvellec et al., 2021); and a study of gender in industrial ecology research (Khalikova et al., 2021). The two other nominated papers were in the category of Methods, Tools, Data and Software ; these described the construction of global physical input–output tables in a virtual laboratory (Wieland et al., 2021); and development of methodology and a personalized tool for minimizing environmental impacts while achieving a healthy diet and nutritional preferences (Walker et al., 2021).…”