A Circular Economy within the planetary boundaries: towards a resource-based, systemic approach

Circular Economy (CE) is the buzzword of today, promising an economy able to prosper on limited resources by closing material cycles. However, there is no guarantee that simple strategies of material cycling, as propagated by the various definitions of this concept, will indeed lead to an economy able to manage the world's resources, pollution and societal demand within environmentally sustainable levels. Based on the shortcomings of the present mainstream definitions of CE, this paper proposes an integrative, cascading, resource-based approach aimed at an environmentally sustainable and socially beneficial economy. The international community agrees on the necessity to maintain the current environmental equilibrium to ensure equity for future generations and to allow human well-being and dignity already in the present. Accordingly, physical and environmental limitations are identified, that are to be …