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[Expert Views] Zhao Kai: Developing a Circular Economy: The World is Taking Action

Published:2021-04-01 05:47:41  Author: Haijiang Group
     Since human civilization entered the era of industrial civilization, with the rapid development of industrialization, human beings have created great wealth while accelerating the seizure of natural resources, which has brought heavy resource and environmental costs.The traditional linear development model of "resources-products-waste" has been rethought. In recent years, the international community has generally agreed on the circular economy as a systematic solution to enhance resource efficiency, and the circular economy has become a major international issue. This paper briefly introduces the policies, models and practices adopted by governments, major enterprises and relevant institutions around the world in the development of circular economy.

I. Government policies for the development of circular economy

    In December 2015, the EU put forward a circular economy package, including four proposed legislative amendments on waste management, a complete action plan and a list of follow-up actions. action plan and a list of follow-up actions, building a strategic vision for the development of the circular economy in the EU. in December 2019, the new European Commission released the European Green Deal, with the core strategic goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. As an important pillar to support the EU Green New Deal, in March 2020 the EU adopted a new version of the Circular Economy Action Plan, which intends to introduce 35 policy and legislative proposals by the end of 2023 to clearly promote the development of circular economy in a comprehensive manner and strive to achieve decoupling of economic growth and resource consumption as an important way to achieve its strategic objectives of green transformation of the economy and ensuring long-term competitiveness.

    Germany. Germany is one of the earliest countries in the world to implement a circular economy and has the highest level of development. in 1972 the German government began to focus on waste management, and in 1991 raised waste disposal to the level of developing a circular economy and established a supporting legal system. the Circular Economy and Waste Management Act, enacted in 1994 and implemented in 1996, is Germany's general development of a circular economy The "Programme", which extends the circular economy idea of closed-circuit recycling of resources to all production sectors, focuses on the producer's responsibility for the entire life cycle of the product and stipulates that the priority order for waste issues is avoidance of generation, recycling, and final disposal.

    The Netherlands. The Netherlands was the first country in Europe to implement waste separation and recycling, and has a global reputation for its waste resource recovery and recycling rates. In the "Circular Economy 2050 Blueprint" released in 2016, the Dutch government proposed to reduce the use of major raw materials by half by 2030 and achieve a 100% circular economy by 2050.

    Denmark. 2018 The Danish government has presented a new strategy for the development of the circular economy. The government will invest 16 million euros to support 15 specific measures to fully exploit the potential of recycling materials and products and minimizing waste.

    Australia. In February 2020, the Victorian government released a 10-year plan to develop a circular economy called "Recycle Victoria. The more than $300 million plan is dedicated to transforming Victoria into a circular economy. The plan will completely transform Victoria's recycling industry, creating 3,900 jobs and reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.

    In 2000, Japan made the construction of a recycling-oriented society a basic national policy and promulgated the Basic Law for the Promotion of the Formation of a Recyclingoriented Society, which became the basic law of Japan's recycling economy. Since then, Japan has revised the existing laws and regulations and enacted new laws, thus forming a hierarchical and comprehensive legal system of circular economy consisting of one basic law, two comprehensive laws and six special laws.

    France. In February 2019, France publicly released its National Roadmap for the Circular Economy (FREC), which aims to change France's current linear economic model and move towards a 100% circular economy model. In order to achieve these goals, the French government intends to set their own key objectives in four areas: production, consumption, waste management, and total mobilization, and proposes 50 specific measures to achieve the transition transition to a circular economy.

    China. Since the 18th Party Congress, China has entered a new era of socialism. Under the high attention of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, with the vigorous promotion of relevant departments and local governments, and with the joint efforts of all sectors of society, especially the business community, China's circular economy has developed significantly and achieved remarkable results. In 2004, the National Development and Reform Commission held the first national circular economy work conference. In 2005, the "State Council on accelerating the development of circular economy," the introduction of a number of views, a clear direction of development of China's circular economy and key tasks. In 2008, the National People's Congress passed the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Circular Economy", and it was officially implemented on January 1, 2009. In 2013, the State Council issued the "Circular Economy Development Strategy and Recent Action Plan" to make strategic plans for the development of circular economy in the 12th Five-Year Plan and beyond. The 18th Party Congress made the initial establishment of a resource recycling system one of the goals of building a moderately prosperous society by 2020, requiring the transformation of the economic development mode to rely more on resource conservation and circular economy. The 19th Party Congress proposed to promote green development, to promote the comprehensive conservation and recycling of resources, and to achieve a circular link between the production system and the living system. During the 13th Five-Year Plan, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued the Circular Development Leadership Plan, which has undergone significant changes from concept to action, from the general idea to the focus of promotion, mainly expanding the circular economy from the industry and enterprise level to the industry and enterprise, and adding the connotation of sharing economy. In 2021, the State Council issued the "Guidance on Accelerating the Establishment of a Sound Green Low-Carbon Circular Development Economic System", which clearly pointed out that establishing a sound green low-carbon circular development economic system and promoting the overall green transformation of economic and social development are the basic measures to solve the ecological problems of China's resources and environment. Just released the "14th Five-Year Plan" outline, to fully implement the concept of circular economy, the construction of multilevel efficient recycling system of resources. It is worth mentioning that on July 16, 2018, in the presence of Premier Li Keqiang, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Director He Lifeng of the National Development and Reform Commission and Vice President Katainen of the European Commission signed a memorandum of understanding on circular economy cooperation. The circular economy cooperation between China and Europe helps strengthen multi-level exchanges between China and Europe in the field of circular economy and contributes to the implementation of the China-EU Cooperation 2020 Strategic Plan and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and is also a common action to lead global resource efficiency improvement and implementation of sustainable development goals.


Ⅱ. The development of circular economy enterprise practice

    Apple. Apple's 2020 Environmental Progress Report states that it is already carbon neutral in its operations and will be carbon neutral in all of its products and throughout their manufacture and use by 2030. Apple has pledged to achieve complete adoption of clean energy in the manufacture of its products by 2030. More than 70 suppliers are currently committed to using 100 percent renewable electricity to produce Apple products. And in the Apple Store, offices and data centers, Apple is using 100 percent renewable electricity to power its products, making it carbon neutral from commute to travel. The report shows that since 2011, Apple has quadrupled the amount of energy used in its operations, but reduced its carbon emissions by 71 percent. 

    IKEA Sweden. 2018 IKEA Sweden (IKEA) announced the company's latest commitment to sustainability by 2030, including stopping the use of single-use plastic products in restaurants in IKEA stores worldwide by 2020, making all IKEA products with new environmentally friendly methods, using only renewable and recycled materials in the process, and achieving zero emissions during home delivery by 2025. The company will also be able to achieve zero emissions from home delivery by 2025. 

    Henkel, Germany. Henkel Germany is actively promoting the circular economy, setting an ambitious goal of reducing the carbon footprint of its production by 65 percent by 2025 and setting a goal of 100 percent recyclable or reusable packaging by 2025 in terms of sustainable packaging. 

    Mars Group. Mars has launched its 2025 Plastics Initiative to reduce and recycle plastic products. 

    GlaxoSmithKline. 2020, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Global Commitment , 2025 to achieve 100% recyclable product packaging, reduce the plastic footprint by 8,000 tons and eliminate the use of all unnecessary plastics; 2030 to achieve the use of 100% renewable electricity. 

    Huawei. Responsible companies in China have also accelerated their pace of developing a circular economy. Huawei upholds the environmental protection concept of "let technology and nature coexist" and is strengthening its investment in three directions: reducing carbon emissions, increasing the use of renewable energy, and promoting a circular economy. By 2025, Huawei will reduce carbon emissions per unit of sales revenue (greenhouse gas emissions category 1 and category 2) by 16% relative to 2019 through innovation. Improve the average energy efficiency of main products by 2.7 times compared to 2019. 

    Greenmax. As a world-class recycler of e-waste, used batteries, end-of-life vehicles and cobalt-nickel-tungsten non-ferrous metals, Grimax released the Green Declaration in 2020 in the name of China's listed environmental protection enterprises, with the mission to promote the development of the world's green industry and combat global climate deterioration. Carbon neutral" activities, follow the new development concept of "ecological priority and green development", and make green contributions to the effective use of resources and energy, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and the building of a community of human destiny through the construction of waste recycling plants and the development of green materials around the world. 

    Yingchuang. 2019, Yingchuang founded the environmental protection national trend brand hold Park regeneration BOTTLOOP, from environmental protection regeneration creative products to zero waste whole process solutions, leading the trend of sustainable living. Yingchuang realized the full cycle mode of "bottle to bottle" and "bottle to commodity", further improving the sustainable closed-loop industry chain of recycling, processing and high-value reuse of recycled plastics. Idlefish. 

   Xianyu platform actively advocates the concept and practice of "turning waste into consumption", building a complete ecology of idle second-hand, building a circular circulation system, establishing a consumer protection mechanism, leading green consumption and promoting circular economy. 

    Jingdong. Since its launch in 2017, Jingdong's "Green Stream Program" has been innovating green development models and promoting green and sustainable development throughout the supply chain, with remarkable results. Through paperless operation, recyclable and reduced use of packaging consumables, innovation and application of new energy technologies, and China-wide idle recycling, we have reduced resource waste and promoted the development of circular economy. Jointly with upstream and downstream supply chain manufacturers, we promote the reduction and recyclability of inbound commodity packaging and build a green recycling sharing mechanism for the whole chain. 

    Meituan. Launched by Meituan on August 31, 2017, the "Green Mountain Plan" is the industry's first action plan focused on environmental protection, dedicated to promoting the solution of environmental protection issues in the takeaway industry, promoting the environmental protection process in the takeaway industry from four aspects: environmental protection concept advocacy, environmental protection path research, scientific closed-loop exploration, and environmental public welfare promotion. By the end of 2020, Qingshan plans to carry out various environmental protection publicity and advocacy activities to reach more than 1 billion people, linking partners to establish 350 take-out meal box recovery and recycling pilots, and bringing together more than 240,000 public welfare merchants to carry out environmental protection public welfare actions.


Ⅲ. The development of circular economy of the organization and institutional role

    World Economy Forum. As an international organization with global influence, the World Economy Forum (WEF) has dedicated to the issue of circular economy and launched the "Global Circular Economy Award" jointly with the Global Young Leaders Forum, which aims to recognize individuals, enterprises or organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the circular economy in the business and social fields, in order to promote The Global Circular Economy Awards are designed to recognize individuals, companies or organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the circular economy in business and society, in order to promote the development of the circular economy worldwide. 

    The Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Since its founding in 2010, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has moved the world's transition to a circular economy onto the agenda of global policymakers. In October 2018, the Foundation and the United Nations Environment Programme launched the Global Commitment to a New Plastics Economy initiative, which aims to rethink and redesign the future of plastics, starting with plastic packaging. In 2018, 15 of the world's leading companies joined the initiative and committed to achieving 100 percent reusable, recyclable or compostable plastic packaging by 2025. 

    Innovation Foundation Finland. Finnish Innovation Foundation Sitra launched the World Circular Economy Forum in 2017, which brings together business leaders, policy makers and experts from around the world to showcase the world's best circular economy solutions and contribute to the promotion of the circular economy. 

    China Circular Economy Association (CCEA). As a major force in the development of circular economy, China Circular Economy Association (CCEA) conscientiously implements the basic state policy of resource conservation and environment protection, actively implements the Law on the Promotion of Circular Economy, relies on its members, contacts all parties, and plays the role of a bridge and link to the association, so as to build a resource recycling system covering the whole society, improve the efficiency of resource utilization, prevent environmental pollution at source, promote green, circular and low-carbon development, accelerate the building ecological civilization, promoting green economic transformation and building a beautiful China. 


Ⅳ. The development of circular economy-related activities

    Enhancing public awareness and public participation in the circular economy is an integral part of developing a circular economy.

    World Environment Day (WED). World Environment Day, initiated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is one of the main mediums through which the United Nations promotes global environmental awareness and raises awareness of and takes action on environmental issues, focusing each year on the world's major environmental issues and environmental hotspots. 

    "Earth Hour". Earth Hour, launched by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in 2007, calls on individuals, communities, businesses and governments to turn off their lights for one hour between 20:30-21:30 on the last Saturday of March each year as a way to inspire a sense of responsibility for protecting the planet and thinking about environmental issues such as climate change, and to show support for global action against climate warming together, a global event.

    "Green Week" activities. The European Commission launched Green Week (Green Week) in 2001 and has been held once a year since then in June, which is an important annual environmental protection seminar and publicity event held by the European Commission in recent years.

    "Energy Conservation Awareness Week" campaign. The campaign was established in 1990 at the Sixth Energy Conservation Office Meeting of the State Council, and since 1991, the National Energy Conservation Awareness Week campaign has been held annually. Co- hosted by the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments, the 2020 National Energy Conservation Awareness Week is rich in content, wide in scope and impact, penetrating all levels of society from many angles and creating a good atmosphere for all people to participate in energy conservation and reduce consumption and practice a green production and lifestyle. According to incomplete statistics, about one billion (times) cell phone users nationwide were aware of the activities of Energy Conservation Awareness Week through various channels, and hundreds of millions of people (times) participated in various online and offline activities during Energy Conservation Awareness Week. In order to promote green transformation in the field of e-commerce, express delivery, takeaway, etc., during the Energy Conservation Awareness Week, China Recycling Economy Association jointly launched the joint initiative of Suning Logistics, Jingdong Logistics, SF Express, CaiBird Network, Meituan Takeaway and Hungry Meh to "'tackle plastic pollution and promote green packaging ". 

    It is thus clear that mankind has to re-examine and rethink the traditional development path and strive to find a tunnel that can cross the high mountains of the environment, a tunnel that can ensure economic growth and social development while maintaining a new development path of ecological virtuous cycle, which is the circular economy development model. The circular economy development model implements closed-loop production in production methods and takes responsibility for the whole life cycle of products, fundamentally changing the production and living style of linear development and promoting the efficient use of resources. Moreover, the development of circular economy is also about green development and ecological civilization construction, which is a vast and challenging system project and requires all walks of life to act together. Come on, let's take action together!