Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Cullen, Jonathan M.

Titel

Circular Economy: Theoretical Benchmark or Perpetual Motion Machine?

Ist Teil von

• Journal of industrial ecology, 2017-06, Vol.21 (3), p.483-486

Ort / Verlag

New Haven: Wiley Subscription Services, Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EBSCOhost Business Source Ultimate

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• It is tempting to indulge the idea of an entirely circular economy (CE) as a practically achievable reality. A CE future is one in which waste no longer exists, one where material loops are closed, and where products are recycled indefinitely—an economy that perpetually gyrates without any input of depletable resources. For real materials and processes, this is, in any practical sense, impossible. A CE, if refined and presented as a theoretical benchmark, could offer a powerful framework for measuring and pursuing progress in industrial ecology. What is required is more detailed systems analysis of material and energy flows in linear and circular economies and a deeper understanding of the practical limits to circularity imposed by thermodynamics and recovery processes. Without such analysis and insight, the CE vision risks becoming just another perpetual motion dream.