In recent months the concept of the ‘circular economy’ (CE) has been gaining traction with the international development community. Governments in Rwanda, Nigeria and South Africa, for instance, are working with the World Economic Forum and the EU, and have recently launched the African Alliance on Circular Economy.1 Multilateral development banks (MDBs) are exploring the potential of CE approaches with Colombia and Turkey.2 The Indian Resource Panel (InRP), an advisory body on natural resource use, recently unveiled an action agenda on resource efficiency highlighting the CE.3
Developing countries are facing a growing waste crisis, which has major consequences for environmental and health outcomes
This reflects increasing optimism about the potential for the CE to help lower-income countries ‘leapfrog’ to more sustainable development pathways. A CE is one in which products are recycled, repaired or reused rather than thrown away, and in which waste from one industrial process becomes a valuable input into other industrial processes. Both the EU and China already have major legislative frameworks focused on the CE. Three-quarters of China’s top industrial parks, for example, must implement CE practices under the government’s current five-year plan.4
Better management of natural resources is a key component of poverty eradication, climate change mitigation and resilient economic growth. Natural resource management is directly tied to at least 12 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to the International Resource Panel.5 Meeting commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement will also be impossible without renewed emphasis on natural resources. More efficient practices could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent by 2050.6
In addition, developing countries are facing a growing waste crisis, which has major consequences for environmental and health outcomes. It is projected that dumpsites will account for 8–10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.7 A recent Lancet report estimated that 6–16 million people per year are exposed to dangerous concentrations of lead at battery recycling sites.8 Each year an estimated 270,000 people die prematurely due to the open burning of waste.9 These figures illustrate the urgency of finding new ways to meet development goals while reducing resource consumption.
To warrant the attention of leaders in developing countries, CE advocates will need to demonstrate how circular approaches can unlock new opportunities for industrialization and accelerate efforts to create solutions to other critical development challenges, such as the expansion of access to energy. The African Development Bank, for instance, is examining how the CE can support the industrial development pillar of its strategy.10 In collaboration with UN Development Programme (UNDP), the government of Laos is exploring how CE strategies can be used to support local industries.11
Although developing countries are often more ‘circular’ than wealthier countries – in the sense that few things left on the street are not retrieved for recycling or repairs – this is largely out of economic necessity. A key question is how the CE will affect people employed in informal sectors who play significant roles in waste-management processes; whether or how to ‘formalize’ such jobs is a well-known development challenge.12 Looking to the future, developing countries also need to address rapidly rising consumption among the middle classes.
China’s proposed ban on 24 types of secondary material will have a profound impact on the ability of its trade partners to meet their recycling targets
Developing countries are also closely watching CE-related policymaking in wealthier countries, as new policies could significantly affect trade. For instance, the EU Circular Economy Action Plan is likely to reduce exports of electronic and plastics waste and scrap metal from the EU to developing countries. It is also likely to undermine import demand within the EU for raw and processed materials from developing countries.13 Similarly, China’s proposed ban on 24 types of secondary material, set to come into force on 1 January 2018, will have a profound impact on the ability of its trade partners to meet their recycling targets.14
There is a limited window of opportunity in which to shape the emerging CE agenda and align it with SDG implementation (see Appendix 1 for an initial mapping of CE approaches against the SDGs). Many international organizations, donors and MDBs are already discussing the CE as a potential new framework or focus area. So far, there are interesting projects but few detailed strategies, so opportunities for greater alignment are significant. Meanwhile, businesses are looking closely at the opportunities that the CE presents in terms of enhanced resilience and value creation – the types of firms exploring these areas are varied, ranging from major corporates with global supply chains to small businesses introducing innovative waste-management practices in cities.
About this briefing
This briefing sets out some of the key issues and questions around the CE for decision-makers, drawing on more than 30 semi-structured interviews conducted by the authors between May and August 2017. The interviews targeted stakeholders in governments, development agencies, donor organizations, international organizations, MDBs and development finance institutions. We assessed levels of awareness of the CE inside each organization and among its partners, and explored where stakeholders perceive specific opportunities and challenges to lie.
1 Kilian, A. (2017), ‘South Africa starting to embrace a circular economy’, Creamer Media’s Engineering News, 4 May 2017, http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/south-africa-starting-to-embrace-a-circular-economy-2017-05-04 (accessed 23 Oct. 2017); Circular Economy Club (2017), ‘PAST: EU Dialogue on Sustainability Transition: the Role of Circular Economy – South Africa’, 4 May 2017, https://www.circulareconomyclub.com/eu-dialogue-sustainability-transition-role-circular-economy-south-africa-4-may-2017/ (accessed 23 Oct. 2017); Department of Environmental Affairs Republic of South Africa (2017), ‘Minister Molewa’s speech during launch of Africa Alliance on Circular Economy’, 16 November 2017, https://www.environment.gov.za/speech/molewa_cop23africaalliance_circular_economylaunch (accessed 17 Nov. 2017).
2 Rosca, O. (2015), ‘EBRD to promote innovative waste recycling projects in Turkey’, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 22 July 2015, http://www.ebrd.com/news/2015/ebrd-to-promote-innovative-waste-recycling-projects-in-turkey-.html (accessed 23 Oct. 2017).
3 Although the boundaries between the CE and resource efficiency are sometimes unclear, the CE is often differentiated on the basis that it has more of an emphasis on innovation and competition than on resource efficiency. The CE concept goes beyond resource efficiency, bringing together familiar principles such as reuse, recycling and remanufacturing with more novel approaches such as the development of new business models and design standards for products to encourage repair, durability and reuse.
4 National Development and Reform Commission (2016), The 13th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China (2016–2020), http://en.ndrc.gov.cn/newsrelease/201612/P020161207645765233498.pdf (accessed 11 Sep. 2017).
5 Ekins, P. and Hughes, N. (2017), Resource Efficiency: Potential and Economic Implications, UN Environment Programme, https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/unep/documents/resource-efficiency-potential-and-economic-implications (accessed 19 Oct. 2017).
6 Ibid.
7 Mavropoulos, A. (2015), Wasted Health: The Tragic Case of Dumpsites, International Solid Waste Association, June 2015, https://www.iswa.org/fileadmin/galleries/Task_Forces/THE_TRAGIC_CASE_OF_DUMPSITES.pdf (accessed 26 Oct. 2017).
8 Estimating the health impacts of poor waste management is complicated. Looking simply at pollution more broadly, and defining this as leakage into the natural environment from the mismanagement of waste and industrial processes, one ends up with a much larger figure. The Lancet commission on pollution finds that pollution kills at least 9 million people each year. The Lancet (2017), ‘The Lancet Commission on pollution and health’, 19 October 2017, http://www.thelancet.com/commissions/pollution-and-health (accessed 26 Oct. 2017).
9 Kodros, J. K., Wiedinmyer, C., Ford, B., Cucinotta, R., Gan, R., Magzamen, S. and Pierce, J. R. (2016), ‘Global burden of mortalities due to chronic exposure to ambient PM2.5 from open combustion of domestic waste’, Environmental Research Letters, 11(12): pp. 1–9, doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/11/12/124022 (accessed 17 Nov. 2017).
10 African Development Bank Group (2013), At the Center of Africa’s Transformation: Strategy for 2013–2022, https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Policy-Documents/AfDB_Strategy_for_2013%E2%80%932022_-_At_the_Center_of_Africa%E2%80%99s_Transformation.pdf (accessed 23 Oct. 2017).
11 Ministry of Energy and Mines Lao PDR and UNDP (2017), Circular economy strategies for Lao PDR: A metabolic approach to redefine resource efficient and low-carbon development, http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/climate-and-disaster-resilience-/circular-economy-strategies-for-lao-pdr.html (accessed 23 Oct. 2017).
12 Gower, R. and Schroeder, P. (2016), Virtuous Circle: How the circular economy can create jobs and save lives in low and middle-income countries, London: Tearfund, http://www.tearfund.org/~/media/files/tilz/circular_economy/2016-tearfund-virtuous-circle.pdf (accessed 23 Oct. 2017); Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2016), Circular Economy in India: Rethinking growth for long-term prosperity, http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/publications/ (accessed 23 Oct. 2017).
13 De Jong, S., Van der Gaast, M., Kraak, J., Bergema, R. and Usanov, A. (2016), The Circular Economy and Developing Countries: A data analysis of the impact of a circular economy on resource-dependent developing nations, COE Resources Issue Brief 3, https://hcss.nl/sites/default/files/files/reports/CEO_The%20Circular%20Economy.pdf (accessed 1 Nov. 2017).
14 Cole, R. (2017), ‘China Ban on Plastic and Paper Imports Raises Urgent UK Quality Questions’, Resource, 19 July 2017, http://resource.co/article/china-ban-plastic-and-paper-imports-raises-urgent-uk-quality-questions-11987 (accessed 17 Nov. 2017).