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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Transitioning Responsibly Toward a Circular Bioeconomy: Using Stakeholder Workshops to Reveal Market Dependencies
ClearBio-based plastics in a circular economy: A review of recovery pathways and implications for product design
Researchers reviewed how bio-based plastics — made from renewable plant sources — can be recovered and recycled at end-of-life, finding that the feasibility of eight different recovery methods depends heavily not just on plastic chemistry but on how products are designed, and offering guidance for designers to improve recyclability.
Realising the circular bioeconomy
This policy paper examines how the bioeconomy and circular economy concepts can work together to reduce waste and environmental impact, including from plastic production. Moving toward bio-based, circular systems is part of the long-term solution to the plastic pollution problem.
Socio-economic Importance of Biomaterials in the Transition to the Circular Economy Model
Researchers examined the socio-economic role of biomaterials in transitioning economies toward the circular economy model, finding that substituting conventional plastics with bio-based materials can reduce waste accumulation while meeting EU sustainable development targets for 2030.
Transitioning to a Sustainable, Circular Economy for Plastics [Workshop Report]
This is a workshop summary report about transitioning the U.S. plastics industry toward a circular economy, covering recycling technology, policy gaps, and business models. While it touches on plastic pollution as context, it is primarily a policy and industry roadmap document rather than a research study on microplastic environmental or health risks.
Towards a Circular Economy of Plastics: An Evaluation of the Systematic Transition to a New Generation of Bioplastics
This review evaluates the transition from petroleum-based plastics to bioplastics within a circular economy framework, assessing the sustainability, production challenges, and environmental trade-offs of current bioplastic alternatives.
A Circular Economy of Plastics: A vision of redesigning plastics value chains
This discussion paper outlines a vision for a circular plastics economy in which plastics are designed for reuse, recycling, and bio-based feedstocks rather than single use and disposal. A true circular economy for plastics would dramatically reduce the amount that fragments into microplastics in the environment.
Systemic Change: The Complexity of Business in a Circular Economy
This paper examines the complexity of transitioning businesses to a circular economy model, focusing on the systemic changes needed to replace the linear take-make-dispose approach. Circular business models that keep plastics in use longer and out of the environment are fundamental to reducing microplastic pollution at its source.
Circular economy, bioeconomy, and sustainable development goals: a systematic literature review
Researchers conducted a systematic review of 649 studies examining how circular economy and bioeconomy concepts contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. They found that while these approaches show promise for addressing environmental challenges including plastic waste, most research has focused on a limited set of goals and lacks empirical data. The study identifies key research gaps, including the need for more studies on economic and social impacts in developing countries.
A systems thinking approach to understanding the challenges of achieving the circular economy
This paper used a systems thinking approach to identify the challenges blocking implementation of circular economy principles, going beyond the commonly discussed benefits to analyze the structural and societal barriers. It found that complex interdependencies between economic actors, infrastructure, regulation, and consumer behavior collectively obstruct circular economy transitions.
Smart Material Choice: The Importance of Circular Design Strategy Applications for Bio-Based Food Packaging Preproduction and End-of-Life Life Cycle Stages
This review examined circular design strategies for bio-based food packaging materials, finding that integrating lifecycle thinking into material selection and packaging design significantly reduces environmental impact, and that bio-based plastics can contribute to a circular economy if end-of-life infrastructure supports proper composting or recycling.
An Integrated Analysis of Plastic Packaging Value Chain: Identifying Barriers and Enablers for a Circular Economy
Researchers analyzed the full plastic packaging value chain to identify barriers and enablers for transitioning to a circular economy, tracing the evolution of circular economy concepts and quantifying the environmental impacts associated with exponential plastic waste growth. The study provides an integrated framework mapping opportunities for intervention across production, use, collection, and recycling stages.
Circular Product Practices for a Post-Plastic Transition
This study examines how designers can support a post-plastic transition by identifying circular product practices, combining design theory with practical action frameworks to define the competencies and strategies needed for responsible polymeric material use within circular economy models.
System innovation and life cycle thinking in packaging value chain: the circularity of plastics.
This paper examines the role of circular economy principles in reducing plastic packaging waste, noting that despite existing recycling systems, plastics remain pervasive environmental contaminants. The authors argue that redesigning packaging systems for recyclability and reducing over-packaging are essential steps to address microplastic pollution at its source.
Tying Up Loose Ends. Integrating Consumers’ Psychology into a Broad Interdisciplinary Perspective on a Circular Sustainable Bioeconomy
This review examines how consumer psychology can be integrated into circular bioeconomy frameworks, arguing that behavioral costs and individual sustainability motivation are key determinants of whether consumers adopt sustainable consumption options.
Recirculation: A New Concept to Drive Innovation in Sustainable Product Design for Bio-Based Products
This paper introduces a 'recirculation' framework for designing bio-based products that maximizes resource efficiency and minimizes waste throughout a product's life cycle. While bio-based materials offer a sustainable alternative to petroleum plastics, the authors argue that sustainable design principles must be built in from the start to maximize their environmental benefit.
Towards a circular economy that begins and ends in nature
This policy paper argues that a truly circular economy must be designed with nature in mind, ensuring that economic activity restores rather than degrades biodiversity, including addressing plastic pollution as a key concern.
A multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral approach to a circular plastic economy in Eastern Africa
Researchers examined multi-stakeholder efforts toward a circular plastic economy in East Africa through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers. The study finds that collaborative synergy across sectors and digital innovations are critical enablers for overcoming barriers and changing consumer and producer attitudes in the transition away from single-use plastics.
Circular Plastics Economy: Redesigning Technology and Reimagining Society
This book examines the concept of a circular plastics economy, arguing that technical redesign of materials must be paired with societal transformation to address plastic waste at scale. The authors critique current approaches and propose a more integrated vision combining innovation with behavioral and governance change.
Plastics in the Circular Economy
This book examines the role of plastics in the circular economy, reviewing how the current linear plastics economy generates environmental problems including microplastic pollution from fossil oil use and unmanaged plastic waste. The authors assess circular economy strategies including recycling, biodegradable alternatives, and design for disassembly as pathways to maintain the benefits of plastics while reducing their environmental footprint.
Bioplastics in the circular bioeconomy: Production pathways, biodegradation mechanisms, and environmental implications
This comprehensive review examines how bioplastics — plastics made from renewable biological sources — fit into a circular economy, covering how they are produced, how microorganisms break them down, and the environmental risks when degradation is incomplete. A key concern is that even bio-based plastics can form microplastics if they do not fully degrade in real-world conditions like marine or soil environments, meaning that simply switching to bioplastics does not automatically solve the microplastic pollution problem.
New Technologies for the Transition to a Circular Economy in the Plastic Materials Value Chain
Researchers conducted a systematic literature review using the ReSOLVE framework to analyze how emerging technologies enable the transition to a circular economy in the plastics value chain. They found that four technology sets — Industry 4.0, distributed economy models, biological systems, and chemical recycling — act as complementary enablers rather than individual solutions, and that systemic governance changes are needed to overcome adoption barriers.
Current Status of Circular Economy Research in Finland
This review surveys the state of circular economy research in Finland, covering academic, policy, and industry perspectives on transitioning away from the linear 'take-make-dispose' model. Circular economy principles are increasingly relevant to addressing plastic waste and microplastic pollution.
Polymers in Circular Economy: A Comprehensive Approach to Sustainability. An overview.
This review examines the role of polymers within the circular economy framework, analyzing strategies for reducing plastic consumption, improving recyclability, and transitioning toward more sustainable production and waste management models. The authors discuss the importance of government regulation and industry standards in driving circular economy adoption, while acknowledging barriers including economic inertia, upfront investment costs, and resistance to systemic change.
Bio-based Business Models: specific and general learnings from recent good practice cases in different business sectors
Researchers analysed six bio-based good practice cases across different business sectors that successfully progressed from concept to market, finding that the traditional Business Model Canvas requires extension with sustainability and bioeconomy-specific factors to adequately capture the competitiveness and value chain challenges of bio-based solutions.