Education and Instruction for Circular Economy: A Review on Drivers and Barriers in Circular Economy Implementation in China

Abstract

As a new sustainable alternative to linear economics, the circular economy (CE) is bound to be accompanied by the requirements of the existing production model, science and technology, as well as the public perception of CE. To expose the potential impact of higher education on CE transition, this study systematically reviewed the relevant literature on the drivers and barriers to CE with a mixed analytical method. CiteSpace was used to perform bibliometric analysis and visual presentation of 367 literature accurately retrieved by search formula from two international influential databases, Web of Science and Scopus, and two significant Chinese databases, CNKI and CQVIP. In the results, we identified the number of publications and citations, the annual distribution of publications, annual citation trends, county distribution of publication contribution, the most-cited articles, and the co-citation networks. Moreover, we clarified the main drivers and barriers to CE in China by conducting qualitative content of the keywords related to driver and barrier factors in the literature. The results suggest that higher education has a positive influence on strengthening the main drivers and eliminating the main barriers, which implies that higher education has bright prospects in speeding up the CE transition. To maximize the effect of higher education for CE, we suggested university leaders and lecturers should adopt effective education and instruction measures in improving the performance of education activities for CE, so that the future leaders of various industries in universities could construct CE values and behavior patterns to achieve the replacement of traditional linear economy.

Can the Circular Economy Unlock Sustainable Business Growth? Insights from Qualitative Research with Specialists in Romania

“…One of the results obtained, like the results of other research, is the need for education and awareness among consumers to implement the practices of the circular economy [70][71][72][73][74]. There are still many opportunities to increase their level of education and involvement in the circular economy field, because this process requires changes in consumer behavior [75].…”

Raising effective awareness for circular economy and sustainability concepts through students' involvement in a virtual enterprise

“…Recent research has emphasized the need for education for the successful transition to CE; however, it focuses only on the higher education and academic level (Kopnina, 2012(Kopnina, , 2018bKirchherr and Piscicelli, 2019;Luna and Arce, 2022;Qu et al, 2022). The need for fine improvement in educational curriculum toward CE was first identified in design schools, where circular practices were adopted and new products and services were devised, reflecting a bottom-up approach and initiative (Andrews, 2015;Leube and Walcher, 2017;Kozlowski et al, 2019;Wandl et al, 2019;Vicente, 2020;Troiani et al, 2022).…”

Exploring Digital Technologies and Smart Systems Used in E-Waste Management in China: Seminal Research Themes

“…Meanwhile, to fully grasp the progress of smart waste management, first, we search the research on the initiatives of e-waste management in China [7,8], and some official data information, official websites of government and technology companies, and initiatives of startups were comprehensively searched. Then a content analysis is carried out to obtain the recent developments in smart e-waste management in China.…”