Future-Proofing Capitalism: The Paradox of the Circular Economy for Plastics
Open accessAbstract
The marine plastics crisis sparked a wave of corporate interest in the circular economy, a sustainable business model that aims to eliminate waste in industrial systems through recycling, reduction, reuse, and recovery. Drawing on debates about the role of corporations in global environmental governance, this article examines the rise of the circular economy as a dominant corporate sustainability concept, focusing on the flagship example of the circular economy for plastics. It argues that corporations across the plastics value chain have coordinated their efforts to contain the circular economy policy agenda, while extending their markets through developing risky circular economy technologies. These corporate strategies of containment and proliferation represent attempts to “future-proof” capitalism against existential threats to public legitimacy, masking the implications for environmental justice. The paradox of the circular economy is that it seems to offer radical challenges to linear “take-make-waste” models of industrial capitalism, backed by international legislation, but it does not actually give up on unsustainable growth. We need to tackle the plastics crisis at its root, dramatically reducing the global production of toxic and wasteful plastics.
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The lack of theoretical robustness of the CE concept could lead organisations to appropriate the term without overhauling business practices in a meaningful way.
“Perhaps, most problematically, the lack of theoretical robustness of the CE concept could lead organisations to appropriate the term without overhauling business practices in a meaningful way.”
From Artificial intelligence in support of the circular economy: ethical considerations and a path forward (2024) · cites this paper as Mah 2021
Large transnational corporations leading the discourse on and investments in CE initiatives create a risk of co-option that could undermine market competition and consumer choice.
“Large transnational corporations leading the discourse on, and investments in, CE initiatives also create a risk of co-option, whereby powerful actors that are already prospering because of the current developmental model set the standards for CE, while also securing a position of capital accumulation within this new model (Mah 2021;Ponte 2019).”
From Artificial intelligence in support of the circular economy: ethical considerations and a path forward (2024) · cites this paper as Mah 2021
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References 53 · Cited by 177
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- D ' Amato, Dalia, Jouni Korhonen, and A. Toppinen. 2019. Circular, Green, and Bio Economy: HowDoCompaniesinLand-UseIntensiveSectorsAlignwith Sustainability Concepts? Ecological Economics 158: 116 -133. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018 .12.026 · DOI
- Ellen MacArthur Foundation. 2013. Towards the Circular Economy . Isle of Wight, UK: Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Available at: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org /assets/downloads/publications/Ellen-MacArthur-Foundation-Towards-the-Circular -Economy-vol.1.pdf, last accessed December 3, 2020.
- European Commission. 2019. Closing the Loop: Commission Delivers on Circular Economy Action Plan. Press release, Brussels, Belgium, March 4.
- Authors
- Mah, A.
- Affiliations
- Leverhulme Trust (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Mah, Alice
- ORCID
- Mah, Alice
- Venue
- Global Environmental Politics
- Publisher
- MIT Press
- Published
- 2021-04-15
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 121-142
- ISSN
- 1526-3800 (ISSN-L)
- 1536-0091
- OpenAlex
- W3131496975
- Cited by
- 177
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 28 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 58 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 9
- FWCI
- 25.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Global Environmental Politics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Warwick Research Archive Portal (University of Warwick) (submittedVersion)
- Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Leverhulme Trust
- European Commission
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Sustainable Supply Chain Management
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Environmental Sustainability in Business
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Keywords
- circular economy, plastics, marine plastic pollution, corporate sustainability, corporate environmental governance, plastic value chain, containment strategies, environmental justice, linear economy, sustainable growth, plastic waste reduction
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