Policy trends that are benefitting Circular Economy (CE)

Many startups have started to embrace concepts that aid in achieving CE. This has also helped businesses in attracting startup funding. Only nine percent of the world's economy is circular (with Europe accounting for twelve percent and China for two percent), and the linear model is still structurally "baked in" (Hartley, van Santen, & Kirchherr, 2020). Thus, this inertia calls for a deeper comprehension of the policy that promotes CE values. This model recommends that waste be reduced and recycled back into the production process. Furthermore, the research on CE policies generally focuses on waste treatment, including production process-based methods of waste elimination.

One of the biggest issues faced by policymakers, businesses, and consumers is the establishment of CE. All governmental levels and interested parties share responsibilities for this transition. Establishing a comprehensive policy framework enables local and regional authorities the freedom to create their own visions of the CE based on shared goals and objectives. Furthermore, National governments can aid in the circular shift by using regulatory, financial, and economic tools, particularly by removing damaging subsidies, correcting unwelcome incentives, pricing in environmental externalities, and tightening regulations governing product ecodesign.

A look at the policy trends that contribute to CE

The globe will be consuming as if there were three planets by 2050, despite the fact that there is only one Earth. In the next forty years, global consumption of commodities like biomass, fossil fuels, metals, and minerals is predicted to double, while annual waste production is predicted to rise by 70% by 2050 (Bank, 2018). Hence, various countries and companies have established certain policies to overcome this disaster.

???????????The policies and procedures used by different countries to embrace the circular economy framework vary. For instance, the Closed Substance Cycle and Waste Management Act of Germany from 1996 and the Fundamental Law for Establishing a Sound Material-cycle Society from Japan from 2000 both include extensive recycling programs. In December 2015, the European Commission unveiled a circular economy package; the most recent economy action plan was introduced in 2020 (Zeng et al., 2022).

Furthermore, when considering the United States (US) numerous corporate recycling and resource recovery initiatives have been sparked by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. However, there are still issues with the negative effects of inefficient recycling processes, such as the most recent difficulties with lead-acid battery recycling. In addition, the Zero Waste program in San Francisco, California, is one of the nation's significant regional initiatives.

Regulations in China have been encouraged by the country's growing resource consumption to encourage the recycling of garbage. One of the most important regional programs in the country is the Zero Waste program in San Francisco, California. Due to the country's increasing resource consumption, China has implemented regulations to promote rubbish recycling (Mathews, 2016).?

In recent years, Ireland's political agenda has been more focused on the CE, in part due to initiatives taken by the European Commission (EC). Ireland's CE strategy, which evolved from a waste management strategy, is at a turning point. The Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy (WAPCE), which was released in September 2020 (“Waste Action Plan for a circular economy,” 2020), paved the way for actions to make materials and products last longer by rewarding circularity and discouraging waste, increasing producer responsibility for goods and packaging, supporting sustainable business models, promoting a multi-sectoral approach with the voluntary sector, R&D, producers, manufacturers, regulatory bodies, and civil society, and clarifying. This has taken the attention of all businesses and startups to adhere to these policies. Furthermore, the National Waste Prevention Program (NWPP) was replaced with the CE Programme of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was also released in December 2021. The program aims at serving a vertical coordination mechanism to assist the CE Unit in making sure that efforts across levels of government are coherent and aligned (“SDG Pathfinder,” 2022). Through innovative awards, sponsorships, and seed money, it also strives to advance national understanding and offer a solid empirical foundation for the development of a circular economy in Ireland.

In conclusion, by recovering materials from waste for recycling or reuse, extending the useful life of products, and utilizing the potential of the sharing and services economies, a circular economy seeks to transform the current linear economy into a circular model to reduce the consumption of finite material resources. Policies and programs related to the circular economy are often implemented domestically at the national or regional level. Ultimately, these policy trends seen across various nations are aiming for a sustainable future.