A Review of Circular Economy Studies in Developed Countries and Its Potential Adoption in Developing Countries

Abstract

Global industrialization has accounted for large amounts of generated waste, which have accumulated over the years. To guarantee that the future generations will have sufficient resources like food, water and prosperity, it is therefore necessary to transition from a linear economy to a circular economy. Circular economy is one concept, which has continued to gain traction over the years as an effective approach to achieve global, national and local sustainability. A systematic review was employed in this research project with the purpose of identifying how the practical contributions of circular economy have been pursued actively in Australia and other developed countries by reviewing existing and relevant published studies on circular economy in these countries. The result produced a total of 70 final articles, which were collected and analysed for the study considering mainly the year of publication, research methodology, geographical context and industrial applications. Furthermore, the study highlighted very little attention is given to circular economy in many low-income and medium-income countries, and thus, this study explored how this transformative notion can be adopted in developing countries with the participation of key stakeholders to solve waste mismanagement problems.