Towards a Circular Economy: The Role of Dutch Logistics Industries and Governments

Abstract

Abstract:While there is great potential in the chief values and prospects of a circular economy, this alone will not bring the circular economy to market or scale. In order for a circular economy to materialize, an integrated approach that focuses on a long-term system change or transition is required. To set the change process in motion, many (public and private) players (companies, authorities, citizens, and research institutions) need to be involved. Among the many stakeholders, a genuine enabler to implement a successful and sustainable circular strategy is the logistics industry. Given that The Netherlands is used as a case study, in this paper, we focus on the Dutch logistics industry and how this industry can contribute to the broader Dutch agenda to realize a more circular economy. It implies looking at the specific transition agenda for the logistics industry in relation to a circular economy, what barriers may exist that might hamper such a transition, and how public policy-makers are dealing with and can tackle these barriers.

Conceptualizing the Circular Economy: An Analysis of 114 Definitions

“…Of those 114 definitions examined only three were found by both coders to include the 3R framework, the R hierarchy, a systems perspective, environmental quality, economic prosperity and social equity -elements outlined as CE dimensions in Section 2 of this paper. These are the definitions by Liu et al (2009), Lieder andRashid (2016) and van Buren et al (2016), all quite lengthy (at least 140 words) which is understandable given the many dimensions included. We find all of them as a starting point for future deliberations on CE.…”

“…We find that the definition by van Buren et al (2016, p.3), the briefest of the three definitions, is also the one written with greatest clarity and we thus particularly recommend this definition. We critically note regarding these definitions that the one by Lieder and Rashid (2016) does not mention 'Recover', that the R hierarchy could be more explicit in all three definitions, that all lack references to future generations and that all fail to include business models as an enabler of CE and that of these three definitions only van Buren et al (2016) mentions the consumer perspective. These are criticisms we have attempted to address with our definition provided in Section 2.2.…”

“…This nuance could not have been captured if we had coded on the 3R framework. Scholars have proposed R frameworks beyond the 4R framework, such as the 6Rs (Sihvonen and Ritola, 2015) or even 9Rs (van Buren et al, 2016;Potting et al, 2017) with the latter framework, possibly the most nuanced one, depicted in Fig. 1.…”

“…None of these frameworks were chosen for coding, though, since none of the definitions referred to them. 2 All varieties of the R framework share a hierarchy as their main feature with the first R (which would be 'reduce' in the 4R framework) viewed to be a priority to the second R and so on (Potting et al, 2017;Sihvonen and Ritola 2015;van Buren et al, 2016). We included this waste hierarchy as a coding dimension from the very beginning.…”

The Involvement of Future Generations in the Circular Economy Paradigm: An Empirical Analysis on Aluminium Packaging Recycling in Spain

“…The linear model consists of "use of resources-production of products-generation of garbage". The circular model is valued because it increases the efficiency in the use of environmental resources, it reduces the environmental pollution and it faces the contraction between resources scarcity, environmental pollution and economic growth [26,27]. In fact, the circular economy has been defined as an "industrial system which has the virtue of restore and regenerate by intention and design" [28].…”