2018 Conference

Individual Paper Presentation

This paper examines first, how and when key planks of global circular economy platforms and policies generate unintended, and adverse, impacts, especially across scales. Second, I examine what happens when the circular economy encounters the harsh winds of global geopolitics. The paper uses two cases: China’s imports of and subsequent (recent) clampdown of scrap from the world’s rich countries and (as a secondary case) the incorporation of waste-related projects (e.g. waste-to-energy, landfill gas capture) into the global climate governance regime. Both cases demonstrate that these policies have adverse – and hard to avoid – negative impacts on local communities, especially workers dismantling or living near the scrap or landfills. To work, the circular economy needs to be global, but that globalization can generate further “distancing” of waste production from its final destination. How do we make these impacts visible, and how do we – in the developed world – take responsibility?

Circular economy discourses must also engage with global politics, and the impacts of shifts in the world order. China decided to restrict scrap imports to a large extent because of its efforts to take on the mantle of global leadership – a political decision. Global markets and trade liberalization enable rapid adjustment of scrap routes to other countries that are less able to deal with the scrap – and provide a way out of the more difficult process of building domestic recycling industries and markets.

Where can global politics, governance and the circular economy connect? The UN sustainable development architecture is weak. Perhaps in the World Trade Organization or in international financial institutions? But then, what can non-state actors can do in these very state (government)-led forums? These questions must be addressed if we are to move forward in developing a strong – and just – global circular economy.