The chapter gives a detailed description of concept and limitation of “circular and green economy” within the framework of Mediterranean region. It begins with an introduction of concept of circular and green economy, which explores transformation from a linear economy (i.e., “traditional take-make-waste model”) to the circular economy. It then describes the concept and theoretical foundation of the circular and green economy before giving a detailed comparative description of its practical economic and business rationale within the Mediterranean Region and the world at large. To make this chapter approachable to readers of various abilities, the chapter gives detailed description with the aid of tables and figures. Besides, previous financing info is included before providing policy recommendations that if implemented could offer a significant boost to a greener inclusive economic growth in the Mediterranean region and the world at large.
Top1. Introduction
The opportunity to design, rethink, and redesign the various materials we made before is the art of innovations and creativity. The perspective of rethinking and redesigning our economy is equal to designing products to be made again and powering our system with renewable energy. This book chapter will address the central question: whether these innovations and creativities can readily build a healthy economy to satisfy the 21st-century demand while reducing environmental impacts. Innovatively, the concept known as the circular and green economy has emerged to satisfy mounting demand for restorative our economy without ecological problems that have existed for decades following linear economy exploitation (Desing et al., 2020). This paper has noted that the sustainable development model is a component of the circular and green economy model and governance model for the entire world to adopt. The circular and green economy concept provides a robust understanding of all levels of scales (i.e., for small and large businesses, individuals and organizations, and local and global).
Categorically, the green economy is a connected economy system introduced to better human well-being on a sustainable basis through production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services and avoiding ecological risks. In contrast, a circular economy embodies a development strategy that reduces environmental impact. Thus, the combined concept of circular economy and green economy in this chapter is known as “Circular Economy” (See European Directive of 2014). The circular economy application not only reduces the destructive environmental impact, instead of a systemic shift to long-term resilience societal benefits and sustainable economic model (European Directive of 2014) that never transpired.
While the circular economy issues have become prominent in relatively recent years, its concept is dated back to the last centuries. Notably, the origins of “circular economy” go back thousands of years to when the notions of blue economy concept, zero waste, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and cradle-to-cradle differ from bio-based cycles and first adopted in national strategic development in Japanese and German (Moriguchi 2007). The concept of stewardship and the country's role as someone who would check that proper stewardship has taken place remain critical. This new concept inspires the People Republic of China to formulate their significant policies for industrial development to the circular economy (Feng & Yan, 2007). To make the circular economy concept public, European Union, China, and Japan, among others, have made massive global policy efforts and awareness in both social and print Media (Ghisellini et al. 2016).
Although the circular economy concept is progressively expanding in recent years, a “world without waste” requires a holistic approach. Currently, the circular economy application's scientific and policy content differs in geopolitical jurisdictions to some extent. The circular economy's application model seems to developed from semi-scientific ideas collected from several fields of studies. Its descriptions of practical applications only exist as general descriptions in government policy documents, which are insufficient for a thorough understanding. Usually, this would require a person to study the legislative proposals on waste management that include targets for recycling and measures for reducing ecological risk before reading through governmental policy action plan line by line, which is a considerable task. For instance, the circular economy application in Japan, Europe, and China seem too entrenched with the circular economy's fundamental basic ideologies; however, country-specific applications slightly differ in methodologies. In the European Union, the circular economy application's primary focus primarily focuses on effective waste management and policies aiming to promote efficiency and improve recycling in European areas (Ghisellini et al., 2016).
Similarly, Japan embraced the 3R principles (i.e., Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) and adopted a more inclusive approach implemented through an established vision for material cycling's society (Moriguchi 2007). In contrast, circular economy application in China is the structure through their country political strategy (i.e., decision making from top-to-bottom), and implementations follow horizontal and vertical approach (Feng & Yan, 2007). Further, the theoretical basis of the circular economic model in China is pulling directly from “Industrial Symbiosis (IS),' and Industrial Ecology (IE) systems,” targets for application shows different levels as it relates to societal issues and business firms (Yong, 2007).