Revista Galega de Economía

Circular Economy, Sustainability and Degrowth

2024-09-01T12:00:24+02:00

The New Ecodesign Regulations: Towards More Circular Products?

2024-09-01T12:00:24+02:00

The circular economy strategy of the European Union has undertaken one of its objectives, which is the need to reform ecodesign legislation, and has therefore approved several regulations for specific product categories that, for the first time, regulate material efficiency aspects such as product durability and repairability. The Commission's proposal for a new ecodesign framework regulation seeks to extend the scope of the current directive and generalize the use of durability and repairability requirements. This paper explores what role the principles of the circular economy should play for product eco-design and how sufficient the latest regulatory reforms have been in promoting products that are more circular. Important steps have been taken, such as the obligation to provide spare parts for several products, but there are still some weaknesses regarding the scope of application, the lack of legislative development and the role of the industry in the creation of the standards.

The European Directive on Common Rules Promoting the Repair of Goods. A Critical Assessment of its Drafting Process

2024-09-01T12:00:24+02:00

The European Commission has recently launched a proposal for a Directive to promote repair. In this paper we critically analyse the drafting process in order to understand the resulting policy options. We consider that although the ambition of the Directive was low from the beginning given the limited policy options, it became even worse during the consultation period. The selection of barriers to repair was limited, and manufacturers pushed for a narrow and closed form of Right-to-Repair (R2R) that transferred all control over the potentially emerging repair market to them. Some information measures were proposed so as to increase transparency, potentially increasing the administrative burden on independent repairers, along with measures to encourage repair when under legal guarantee. This Directive fails to promote repair or help independent repairers overcome access barriers, nor does it allow member states to go beyond the limits imposed in the Directive itself.

Circular business models for the electrical and electronics equipment and e-waste sector. Measures for their dissemination and implementation in Mexico

2024-09-01T12:00:25+02:00

This paper highlights the importance of business models with a Circular Economy (CE) approach to change the harmful dynamics underlying the value chain of the Electrical and Electronics sector and to reduce waste. The objective is to identify measures, particularly financial and fiscal ones, which are suitable to design and disseminate Circular Business Models (CBMs) in Mexico. The policy package methodology has been used, whose procedure includes a literature review and a sectoral and environmental regulation diagnosis, as well as a plan of measures along with comparisons in order for there to be a comprehensive package. A conclusion drawn is that the systemic alignment of CE in Mexican environmental regulation is a necessary step to redirect sustainable production and consumption patterns. It is possible to implement CBMs with an adequate interface and synergies between government and business sector strategies at the different stages of the Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) value chain. In particular, tax and financial measures influence agents' investment and savings behavior and their cost and expenditure provisions and can thus guide circularity patterns.

Barriers to Reverse Logistics and the Circular Economy in Supply Chain Arrangements: A Qualitative Study in Ecuador

2024-09-01T12:00:25+02:00

The objective of this research is to analyse the main barriers to implementing models related to the circular economy and reverse logistics in the framework of corporate social responsibility in Ecuador. The study has used a qualitative approach, using a non-probabilistic sample of seven companies, interviewing experts in the fields of production and operations management, as well as reverse logistics and the circular economy. The results, provided by Atlas.ti software, identify that the most common obstacles to putting reverse logistics and circular economy models into practice are the lack of stakeholder commitment, information on business sustainability and private and government investment, and the negative impact on the cost-benefit ratio of Latin American companies based on their business culture.

Protein for Scraps: A Study of the European Union “Circular” Raw Materials Trade

2024-09-01T12:00:25+02:00

The shift from the current extractive linear production and consumption system to a circular economy (CE) has been heralded as a way to reduce the negative environmental and social impacts of human economic activity. The European Union (EU) has committed to leading the way to a worldwide CE, with the development of an international market of recyclable raw materials (RRM) as one of the main pillars of its strategy. However, there is extensive evidence regarding the unequal distribution of the economic benefits and environmental damages related to international trade. Therefore, the objective of a global fair transition to a CE may be undermined if the related markets continue to reproduce the prevailing patterns of ecologically unequal exchange. In order to test whether or not this is the case, this research studies the physical trade balance and the terms of trade on the recent RRM trade flows from, to and between the EU27 member states.

Dematerialization and the economic crisis – are they parallel paths? Assessments based on the EU-15 case study

2024-09-01T12:00:25+02:00

This paper investigates how the consumption of material resources has evolved over the last 20 years in the member states that make up the European Union-15, with the aim of analyzing whether there is dematerialization in these countries and which sectors are leading the way. The material footprint is used as an indicator of material consumption, since it indicates all the resources required by an economy. Using data from the material footprint and GDP, a model has been proposed to allow dematerialization in the EU-15 to be studied. The main results show that dematerialization has only occurred conjuncturally since the 2008 crisis, with the GDP-material-footprint coupling subsequently being restored.

Challenges and prospects for activating a circular economy in the context of sustainable waste management in Algeria

2024-09-01T12:00:25+02:00

The article deals with the problem of waste management in Algeria. It aims to analyze the various policies undertaken by the government in order to be able to respond to the principles of sustainable development and the circular economy from the perspective of sustainable and integrated waste management. The analyses carried out show that the first waste management strategies in Algeria are more reactive and constitute a response to the crisis of the proliferation of waste. It is only from the year 2016 that the national integrated waste management strategy constitutes a perspective of registration of this sector in a circular approach of profitability and sustainability.

Plastic Waste Management in Morocco: A Sociological Reflection about the Informal Sector in the Circular Economy

2024-09-01T12:00:25+02:00

This article presents a case study on the link between the management of plastic waste in Morocco (mainly in Casablanca and Rabat) and the divergent working conditions of workers (formal and informal) that conforme the sector, in the context of transformation of the sector towards the Circular Economy (CE). To such an end, we take into account the perspective of multiple experts in the field, as well as the public administration in charge of managing the transition process, the private business sector and the informal collectors themselves. This approach allowed us to understand the complexities and nuances of the transition of waste management in Morocco and to identify the main challenges in terms of social justice associated with the change towards a Circular Economy.