Title: A review of the circular economy and its implementation

Authors: Almas Heshmati

Addresses: Department of Economics, Sogang University, Mapo-gu, Seoul 121-742, South Korea

Abstract: Circular economy (CE) is a sustainable development strategy that is being proposed to tackle urgent problems of environmental degradation and resource scarcity. CE's 3R principles are to reduce, reuse and recycle materials. This study is a review of the rapidly growing literature on CE covering its concept and current practices and assessing its implementation. The review also serves as an assessment of the design, implementation and effectiveness of CE-related policies. It first presents the concept of CE and compares it with the current linear economy. The paper then introduces current practices that have been introduced and discusses standards for the assessment of CE's development and performance. Third, based on an analysis of literature, the paper identifies the underlying problems and challenges to CE in an entrepreneurial perspective. Finally, the review provides a conclusion on CE's current development and gives policy suggestions for its future development.

Keywords: circular economy; environmental policy; national development strategy; sustainable development strategy; entrepreneurial strategy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGE.2017.089856

International Journal of Green Economics, 2017 Vol.11 No.3/4, pp.251 - 288

Received: 21 Nov 2017
Accepted: 11 Dec 2017
Published online: 13 Feb 2018 *

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