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Cited by 440Sustainable Supply Chain ManagementSustainable Industrial EcologySustainable Design and Development

Advancing to a Circular Economy: three essential ingredients for a comprehensive policy mix

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Milios, Leonidas·2018·Sustainability Science
DOI 10.1007/s11625-017-0502-9PMC PMC6086285
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Abstract

Material resources exploitation and the pressure on natural ecosystems have raised concerns over potential future resource risks and supply failures worldwide. Interest in the concept of Circular Economy has surged in recent years among policy makers and business actors. An increasing amount of literature touches upon the conceptualisation of Circular Economy, the development of ‘circular solutions’ and circular business models, and policies for a Circular Economy. However, relevant studies on resource efficiency policies mostly utilise a case-by-case or sector-by-sector approach and do not consider the systemic interdependencies of the underlying operational policy framework. In this contribution, a mapping of the existing resource policy framework in the European Union (EU) is undertaken, and used as a basis for identifying policy areas that have been less prominent in influencing material resource efficiency. Employing a life cycle approach, policies affecting material efficiency in the production and consumption stages of a product have been found to be poorly utilised so far in the EU. Taking this as a point of departure, three policy areas that can contribute to closing material loops and increasing resource efficiency are thoroughly discussed and their application challenges are highlighted. The three policy areas are: (1) policies for reuse, repair and remanufacturing; (2) green public procurement and innovation procurement; and (3) policies for improving secondary materials markets. Finally, a potential policy mix, including policy instruments from the three mentioned policy areas—together with policy mixing principles—is presented to outline a possible pathway for transitioning to Circular Economy policy making.

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  • Product-service systems (PSS) are a way for public procurement to be more resource efficient and decrease consumption.

    “This type of circular business model, known as productservice systems (PSS), mainly used in the private sector, is also a way for public procurement to be more resource efficient and decrease consumption (Milios, 2017).”

    From Implementation and management of a circular public procurement contract for furniture (2023) · cites this paper as Milios, 2017

    In “Public procurement for resource efficiency” (page unavailable), the paper proposes bringing PSS into public procurement and describes procurement as a tool for resource efficiency. It says green and innovation procurement can affect consumption, but does not specifically say that PSS in public procurement decreases consumption. (LLM, conf=0.83)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Public procurement can make a difference to sustainable development if done in the right way.

    “public procurement can make a difference to sustainable development if done in the right way (Milios, 2017;Sönnichsen and Clement, 2019).”

    From Implementation and management of a circular public procurement contract for furniture (2023) · cites this paper as Milios, 2017

  • Product-service systems (PSS) is a complementary field of literature that offers the perspective of circular business models and is a way to implement circularity through CPP.

    “PSS is a complementary field of literature that offers the perspective of circular business models and is a way to implement circularity through CPP (see, e.g., Bocken et al., 2016;Milios, 2018).”

    From Implementation and management of a circular public procurement contract for furniture (2023) · cites this paper as Milios, 2018

  • A review identified three policy areas that could potentially have a high impact on the circular economy: reuse, repair and remanufacturing policies; green public procurement and innovation procurement; and policies for improving secondary materials markets.

    “A review of existing and proposed policies for advancing CE identified three policy areas that could potentially have a high impact on CE, namely: 1) reuse, repair and remanufacturing policies; 2) green public procurement and innovation procurement; and 3) policies for improving secondary materials markets [4].”

    From Public procurement of reconditioned furniture and the potential transition to product service systems solutions (2019) · cites this paper as [4]

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Milios, L.
Affiliations
Lund University (SE)
Corresponding author
Milios, Leonidas
ORCID
Milios, Leonidas
Venue
Sustainability Science
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2017-11-07
Volume
13
Issue
3
Pages
861-878
ISSN
  • 1862-4057 (ISSN-L)
  • 1862-4065
DOI
10.1007/s11625-017-0502-9
PMC
PMC6086285
OpenAlex
W2767596061
Cited by
440
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 51 · 2025: 53 · 2024: 73 · 2023: 54 · 2022: 81 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 10
FWCI
5.72
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Sustainability Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Sustainable Supply Chain Management
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering › Sustainable Industrial Ecology
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Building and Construction › Sustainable Design and Development
Keywords
circular economy, resource efficiency policy, policy mix, green public procurement, innovation procurement, material efficiency

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