En este trabajo se investiga la evolución del consumo de recursos materiales en los países de la Unión Europea-15 (UE-15) en los últimos 20 años, con el objetivo de analizar si en ellos existe desmaterialización y que sectores la lideran. Como indicador de consumo material se utiliza la huella material, ya que indica todos los recursos que requiere una economía. Utilizando los datos de la huella material y el PIB se propone un modelo que permite estudiar la existencia de desmaterialización en la UE-15. Los principales resultados muestran que la desmaterialización solo ocurre de forma coyuntural tras la crisis de 2008, recuperándose posteriormente el acoplamiento entre el PIB y la huella material.

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.

Este artigo apresenta um estudo de caso sobre a relação entre a gestão de resíduos plásticos em Marrocos (principalmente em Casablanca e Rabat) e as divergentes condições de trabalho dos trabalhadores (formais e informais) que compõem este setor, no contexto da transformação do setor rumo à Economia Circular (CE). Para isso, levamos em consideração a perspectiva de múltiplos especialistas da área, bem como da administração pública encarregada de gerir o processo de transição, do setor empresarial privado e dos próprios catadores. Esta abordagem permitiu compreender as complexidades e nuances da transição da gestão de resíduos em Marrocos e identificar os principais desafios em termos de justiça social associados à mudança para uma Economia Circular.

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.

Se destaca la importancia de los modelos de negocio con el enfoque de la Economía Circular (EC) para cambiar las dinámicas dañinas que subyacen en la cadena de valor del sector Eléctrico y Electrónico y reducir los residuos. El objetivo es identificar medidas, particularmente financieras y fiscales, acordes para el diseño y difusión de modelos de negocios circulares (MNC) en México. Se utilizó la metodología del Policy Package. El procedimiento consiste en la revisión de la literatura y un diagnóstico sectorial y de la regulación ambiental, diseño de medidas y su contraste para formular el paquete de medidas integrales. Se concluye que la alineación sistémica de EC en la regulación ambiental mexicana es un paso necesario para reorientar pautas de producción y consumo sustentables. Es posible implementar MNC con un adecuado interfaz y sinergias entre las estrategias gubernamentales y el sector empresarial en las diferentes fases de la cadena de valor de este sector. Particularmente, las medidas fiscales y financieras influyen en el comportamiento de los agentes, para la inversión, de ahorro y en sus provisiones de costes y gastos, pudiendo orientar con ello los patrones de circularidad.

La estrategia de economía circular de la Unión Europea ha asumido entre sus objetivos principales la necesidad de reformar la legislación de diseño ecológico y, en consecuencia, ha aprobado varios reglamentos para categorías específicas de productos que regulan por primera vez aspectos de eficiencia material, como la durabilidad o la reparabilidad. La propuesta de nuevo reglamento marco de diseño ecológico presentada por la Comisión busca ampliar el ámbito de aplicación de la vigente directiva y generalizar el uso de requisitos de durabilidad o reparabilidad. En este trabajo se estudia qué papel deben jugar los principios de la economía circular en el diseño ecológico de los productos y en qué medida las últimas reformas normativas son suficientes para promover productos más circulares. Aunque se han dado pasos importantes, como la obligación de ofrecer piezas de recambio para varios productos, todavía se advierten algunas carencias relativas al ámbito de aplicación, el deficiente desarrollo normativo o el rol de la industria en la elaboración de las normas.

This paper focuses on the relationship between the regional firm density and the growth of firms in the Portuguese textile and clothing industry to investigate how their geographic clustering influences said growth. Despite the concentration of this industry in the Northern region of Portugal in only four poles, our results show that the location of firms in the cluster is not relevant for growth when the whole industry is considered. However, disaggregate analysis shows that the clothing industry does exhibit both location externalities and cross-location effect, while textile manufacture exhibits neither. In addition, our empirical evidence reveals that the growth of firms located in the cluster is positively correlated with external finance. This result suggests that location becomes a solvency signal for firms, and, specifically, this might help to explain why textile manufacturers firms are located in the cluster. These findings are relevant for entrepreneurs and Portuguese policymakers, as it jeopardizes the optimal allocation of scarce resources in the Portuguese textile cluster.

This paper deals with the determinants of education-job match for higher-education graduates, using a logistic regression model to identify explanatory variables related to sociodemographic, academic trajectory and institutional characteristics. The empirical analysis is based on an anonymous online questionnaire administered to a sample of graduates, from 2014 to 2019, in Portuguese institutions, of which about five hundred observations were made. Although the boundaries between universities and polytechnics are less obvious today, there are still some differences between the two higher-education subsystems regarding education-job match. The main ones are related to the field of study, gender, and the need to move away from home to study and work. Factors that improve the probability of education-job matching, common to both subsystems, were also found, such as having i) studied ‘social sciences, commerce, and law’ and ‘engineering, manufacturing and construction’, ii) attained good final grades, and iii) participated in extracurricular activities involving complementary training.