The “Circular Bioeconomy” – Concepts, Opportunities and Limitations

Since the European Commission presented its Circular Economy Strategy and the related Action Plan “Closing the loop” in 2014 and 2015, a lot has been written both on the topic of circular economy alone and on the relationship between bioeconomy and circular economy.

Several authors have suggested that both concepts should be fully integrated – or in other words that bioeconomy is simply one part of circular economy and should be treated as such.1 While some of the publicly discussed concepts seem worthwhile pursuing, some others do not hold up when put against the backdrop of economic, political and physical reality. Others may be based on misunderstandings or oversights.

The new nova paper #9 aims at highlighting the most important aspects related to bioeconomy and circular economy, clarifying some common misconceptions and addressing limitations we need to consider on our way to a “Circular Bioeconomy”. For this, the paper will first illustrate the different concepts of “bioeconomy”, “circular economy” and “cascading use” and will then delve into their relationships to each other: What are the overlaps between the concepts, what are the
differences? How can one contribute to another and where can we use synergies? But also, what are the limitations to fully integrating the concepts into another and what do we need to pay attention to?

nova papers on bio-based economy are proposals to stimulate the discussion on current topics of the bio-based economy, by creating new perceptions based on scientific facts and by inviting relevant stakeholders to participate in decision-making processes and debates.

All nova papers can be downloaded for free at bio-based.eu/nova-papers