From Circular Economy to Circular Ecology: A Review on the Solution of Environmental Problems through Circular Waste Management Approaches

Abstract

(1) Background: The application of concepts linked to the circular economy (CE) has led to a sudden development of studies in numerous fields. However, the level of environmental sustainability of CE strategies could be improved and this topic deserves more attention by the scientific community. This research addresses this gap and aims at presenting a new concept, named circular ecology (CEL), and its application to the field of waste management. (2) Methods: The paper presents a literature review on the criticalities of CE and on examples of studies that implement the CEL principles. (3) Results: The review highlights that CEL principles are widely applied to several fields of waste management, showing promising opportunities to export the results to other geographical contexts. (4) Conclusions: If supported by governments, CEL approaches may allow solving multiple environmental problems at once, with clear economic, time, resources, and emission savings.

A facilitating framework for a developing country to adopt smart waste management in the context of circular economy

“…The environment is the most important criterion when it comes to the adoption of CE principles in the waste management sector. Due to the ever-increasing global warming and increase in GHG emissions, environmental sustainability is being considered to be the topmost important factor when it comes to the achievement of UN sustainable development goals and the principles of CE (Adami and Schiavon 2021 ). It has become even more important in the case of developing countries like Pakistan where poor waste management practices lead to several environmental and health degradation.…”

Home Bio-Waste Composting for the Circular Economy

“…Striving to popularize sustainable development requires the dissemination of solutions for implementing the circular economy [23,24,27,35]. One of the possible ways is a change in the methods of municipal waste management, including, in particular, the dissemination of composting biodegradable waste, among which is home composting [13,14,19,62,103,104]. Despite the relatively easy technology of producing compost in the household, the popularity of home composting can be assessed as relatively low, although it varies between different countries [14,18,61].…”

The Development of Spatial Circularity Discourse in Japan: Ecomodernist, Territorialised, or Both? The Story of Onomichi’s Wastescapes

“…For example, the notion of 'circular ecology' has been promoted as an alternative and more integrated interpretation of circularity. Drawing on evidence from different circular waste management practices worldwide, Adami and Schiavon [34] present circular ecology as a potential solution for various environmental problems while highlighting its economic benefits [33]. However, these alternative definitions have also been contested, and some authors advocate a deliberately vague and ambiguous discourse and consider circularity a boundary object that could enable a circular economy to gain widespread support relatively quickly [31,35].…”