Circular Economy as a Sustainable Development Marketing Tool

Introduction

“Today, we understand better than our ancestors that the existence of all life on Earth – including our own – depends on the stability of the ecosystem. And if our ecosystem breaks down, even temporarily, the consequences for humanity will be catastrophic” (Mesarović, Pestel, 1977). One of the tools conducive to environmental protection is the circular economy.

The circular economy (also known as the circular economy and the circular economy) is one of the elements of the concept of sustainable development. Currently, it is most commonly described as an economy: “whose goal is to constantly maintain the highest value and utility of products, components and materials in separate biological and technical cycles, and its task is ultimately to decouple economic development from the consumption of scarce resources. This economy is designed not only to solve problems of lack of resources, but also to be a source of growth, create new jobs and reduce negative environmental effects, including carbon dioxide emissions” (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2015).

The circular economy paradigm began to develop in the early 1970s, when scientists, politicians and entrepreneurs gathered around the Club of Rome began research on the future of the earth's natural environment, its limited raw material resources and the place occupied by humans in the ecosystem. The result of this research was the first report prepared for the Club of Rome entitled “Limits to Growth” (The Limits to Growth 1972). It was in this report that the idea of a circular economy emerged, where the authors of the report stated that: “Natural ecosystems can absorb many waste products of human activity and process them into substances usable, or at least harmless to other forms of life. However, when a waste product is released in large quantities, natural absorption mechanisms can become saturated. The waste products of human civilization can accumulate in a given environment until they finally become visible, annoying and even harmful. Therefore, larger consuming countries can learn how to recover and regenerate used materials. They can develop new methods to increase the durability of products made from scarce raw materials. They can introduce social and economic patterns of behavior that would meet needs while minimizing (rather than maximizing) the use and dissipation of the irreplaceable substances that man currently possesses” (Meadows, Meadows, Randers, Behrens, 1973).

As humanity, we behave as if we have forgotten that we are part of the natural environment. The essence of assessing our progress has become the size of broadly understood consumption, which also pollutes our natural environment. In a sense, we have stopped observing nature, which can come to balance when it is out of balance. As noted by JK Galbraith, “Environmental pollution resulting from both the production and consumption of goods, from the impact that a power plant has on the atmosphere, and the effects of neon lights on the eyes, from the impact of a steelworks on a nearby lake, and the effects of cars produced thanks to it, it is a pity such may be done individually or collectively” (Galbraith, 1979). Nature does not produce waste by itself. Used elements of nature then become part of it again. Nature shows us what a circular economy is all about. The environment, of course, became the model for inventiveness. Even the concept of jet engines is known in nature. In this way, by carefully observing and imitating it, we can adapt its mechanisms to our lives without destroying it.

The purpose of the chapter is not to moralize humanity and show its mistakes or to assess our behavior towards nature, but to get closer to discovering the existing mechanisms that will show us remedies that protect the natural environment and at the same time allow for economic functioning, so as to give nature the possibility of its regeneration and at the same time achieve our economic goals, including through proper waste management. By observing the already existing economy, the authors propose, as far as possible, the introduction of a closed-circuit mechanism inspired by nature. The author noted that the key to this is to expand the importance of waste management, both municipal and industrial.