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Circular Economy

Which challenges remain?

The transition to a Circular Economy is unfortunately not a clearly defined and predictable process. Governments continuously gain new insights into what works and what doesn’t work. Various research institutions continually monitor the progress of all activities, providing advice to address emerging challenges, both at the national and international levels.

Recommendations from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL)

The Integral Circular Economy Report (ICER) is a biennial report that provides insight into the progress of the Netherlands towards the goal of a fully circular economy by 2050, including its environmental and socio-economic effects. In 2021, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency collaborated with various knowledge institutions to produce the first ICER.

For more information, visit the thematic site: https://www.pbl.nl/monitoring-circulaire-economie

 

Opportunities and Challenges

While the efficiency of Dutch resource usage has improved, the total quantity used has hardly changed since 2010. Risks in the Dutch manufacturing industry have increased due to dependency on rare earth metals such as cobalt, tungsten, and tin. The scarcity of these materials has implications for the energy transition, as they are essential for electrical systems.

Additionally, the international footprint of the Netherlands is relatively large because the country imports many resources that have a significant impact elsewhere in the world. Finally, the Netherlands lags in achieving national waste goals, and it seems unlikely that six out of the seven national waste goals will be met without additional policies.

On the positive side, the Netherlands is a leader in Europe in recycling. The challenge is to maintain the high quality of these streams. The number of educational programs related to the circular economy in the Netherlands has also increased, with nearly half of the HBO institutions and 80% of universities incorporating circular economy topics into their curricula (RVO 2021).

The first ICER by the PBL notes that a foundation has been laid for government policy on the circular economy. However, more robust, possibly mandatory instruments are needed beyond agenda-setting, stimulation, and creating support. There is a need for a widely supported vision with direction and concrete goals. Combining these goals with more actions focused on higher R-strategies, such as refuse, rethink, and reduce, can bring a circular economy closer.

Policy Recommendations

The ICER makes the following recommendations to intensify government policies focused on the circular economy:

  1. Ensure that environmental damage is factored into the prices of products and services. Currently, for example, polluting newly made plastic is cheaper than circular alternatives.
  2. Use more ‘persuasion and coercion’ in policies, such as mandatory levies, more legislation, and setting standards. Currently, most initiatives are still voluntary.
  3. Gradually increase circularity requirements in government procurement and tenders, also in the context of producer responsibility.
  4. Develop a detailed and broadly supported vision on the circular economy, working it out into concrete goals.
  5. Ensure a clear division of roles among executing parties, for example, between different sectors.

The complete Integral Circular Economy Report can be downloaded and viewed here.

 

Provincial Level

At the provincial level, knowledge and best practices are exchanged through forums such as the Interprovinciaal Overleg (IPO). For example, the Strength Map and Opportunity Maps provide a collection of activities, opportunities, and challenges at the provincial level.

 

International Level Recommendations

According to Circle Economy’s Circularity Gap Report 2022, only 8.6% of all global resources were fully recycled in 2020, down from 9.1% in 2019. Internationally, the world is moving away from a circular economy. Researchers formulated three recommendations for the next five years to establish a fruitful ecosystem and reverse the trend:

  1. Develop data-driven digital tools that strengthen knowledge exchange and innovation. Collaboration between governments and businesses is crucial to understanding the impact and making better decisions to promote circularity.
  2. Develop a framework with indicators to monitor the transition. This encourages the setting of goals, evaluations, and peer reviews.
  3. Develop an integrated vision on social sustainability to ensure that circularity is accessible to everyone. The Sustainable Development Goals can serve as a guide.