Circular Economy Public Policies: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

The traditional form of production is called linear economy, which consists of extracting, transforming, producing, consuming and discarding, and is threatened by a series of factors. Among them, we can list the increase in the world population, which went from 3.3 billion people in 1965 to 7.79 billion in 2020, which will consequently lead to an increase in the consumer class. One of the philosophies for meeting this challenge is the Circular Economy (CE), which provides the economic system with an alternative flow model. CE is seen as a new form of sustainability and has gained popularity in the scarcity of resources, the circulation of materials and the facilitation of the reuse and recycling paradigm. Some countries, concerned about the impact of the linear economy on the environment, have proposed specific laws that address the shift from the traditional mode of production to a circular approach. Germany and Japan were pioneers in promoting CE in concrete policies. Followed by China in 2008. Given this scenario, this study aimed to raise which public policies were objects of study in the period 2017 to 2021 and which tools were used to analyze the policies. A systematic review of the literature was carried out, with articles searched in the ScienceDirect and WoS databases, using the descriptors: Circular Economy and Policies. The Sample consisted of 29 articles. The study identified an increase in initiatives to seek circularity through the formulation of public policies. Many countries are demanding more sustainable production processes, with an emphasis on energy savings and fewer carbon emissions. For this, a waste treatment policy is an initial step to seek greater degrees of circularity. The most used tool to study these policies was Framework 9R. Because with it you have an idea of what initial stage the country is in and what stage can be pursued in the future.