The circular economy (CE) concept is informing the governance of resource use and waste
management on a global scale, leading to widespread policy instrument innovation. However,
the recent appearance of CE ‘policy portfolios’ raises questions about whether such policies
are genuinely path-breaking or are merely adjustments to ...
The circular economy (CE) concept is informing the governance of resource use and waste
management on a global scale, leading to widespread policy instrument innovation. However,
the recent appearance of CE ‘policy portfolios’ raises questions about whether such policies
are genuinely path-breaking or are merely adjustments to existing arrangements. Tracing the
emergence of the European Union’s Circular Economy Package shows that, while some
measures are genuinely novel, many others are ‘patched’ onto pre-existing instruments and that
the overall portfolio exhibits a high degree of institutional ‘layering’. Given the evidence of
relative ineffectiveness of past incremental environmental interventions, there is a mismatch
between such approaches and the scale, pace and scope of transformation implied by
contemporary articulations of the circular economy concept. Creating the policy conditions for
sustainable production and consumption may require more radical policy formulations than CE
proponents acknowledge.