Management of material and product circularity potential as an approach to operationalise circular economy

Abstract

To make the general action plan more specific, a circular economy must introduce obligations for producers to use recycled materials. The present study suggests not only to restrict manufacturers' access to use primary resources for certain products, but also to establish the only possible access to the material of a particular turnover, thereby creating demand for these or other outputs and maximising the number of uses of the same material. This article focuses on the development of a new approach for the operationalisation of a circular economy based on the management of material and product circularity potential by the following phases: 1) allocation of the explicit available potential; 2) fullest use of materials; 3) building-up of new circularity potential for specific material and product in combination. In particular, the allocation of the explicit available potential reflects the aspect of restricting access to primary resources for manufacturers of certain products. The findings presented and discussed in this article provide a theoretical basis for the development of new metrics for measuring progress towards zero-waste and circular economy.