A circular economy is an alternative way countries manage their resources, in which usage of products in the traditional linear make, use, and dispose method is not implemented. Instead, resources are used for their maximum utility throughout their life cycle and regenerated in a cyclical pattern minimizing waste. They strive to create economic development through environmental and resource protection. The ideas of a circular economy were officially adopted by China in 2002, when the 16th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party legislated it as a national endeavor though the various sustainability initiatives which were implemented in the previous decades starting in 1973. China adopted the circular economy due to the environmental damage and resource depletion that was occurring from going through its industrialization process. China is currently a world leader in the production of resources, where it produces 46% of the world's aluminum, 50% of steel and 60% of cement, while it has consumed more raw materials than all the countries a part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) combined. In 2014, China created 3.2 billion tonnes of industrial solid waste, where 2 billion tonnes were recovered using recycling, incineration, reusing and composting. By 2025, China is anticipated to produce up to one quarter of the world's municipal solid waste.
China is constantly introducing new legislation to improve the effectiveness of their circular economy and sustainability initiatives. Every five years the Chinese Government introduces a new five-year plan, with different sustainability goals and economic growth targets the country would like to achieve. China is currently on its 13th Five-Year Plan, which was legislated on March 15, 2016. Other legislation that have been implemented in the last decade, which have been important in the development of China's circular economy, are The Law for the Promotion of the Circular Economy, Circular Economy Development Strategies and Action Plan, and the 12th Five-Year Plan. China is also active in developing policies aimed at establishing more sustainability practices and economic growth in future decades, with targets for the year 2020 and beyond.
Circular economies can be implemented on a corporate (micro), inter-firm (meso) and societal level (macro). Corporate level implementation refers to initiatives related to the Eco-design of manufacturing plants, such as cleaner production and Environmental Management Systems (EMS) that are meant to reduce the production of harmful by-products. Inter-firm initiatives at the meso level are the implementation of Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs), where industrial plants are constructed in close proximity and capitalize on the trading of industrial by-products, ultimately reducing waste. Societal level initiatives refer to the development of Eco-cities and Eco-provinces, which aims to address the social concerns with both production and consumption of products that pollute.
China has various means of measuring the performance of their circular economy initiatives in regional and industrial park areas, including material flow analysis (MFA), life cycle analysis (LCA), CO2 emissions and economic returns. These performance indicators are helpful in measuring the effectiveness of the government's initiatives, though they are not the most efficient. The idea of introducing an Emergy indicator system has been debated, where it is capable of measuring the performance of resource generation and product dimensions using accounting indices and ratios.
Background Circular economies are based on the 3R principle: reduce, re-use and recycle. Reduce refers to a method of improving efficiency, where the input of resources are reduced, and output levels are increased. Re-use is the implementation of integrated systems that use recycled material in the input stage of the manufacturing process, where there is less reliance on raw materials. The recycling principle revolves around implementing strategies that transform collected waste and normal output into a resource that can be used.
The major economic reformation that occurred in China during the late 1970s caused the economy to experience rapid economic growth, increased international trade and large flows of foreign direct investment due to the attractive business environment of China’s new economy. The accelerated industrialization process of China's economy directly contributed to negative impacts on the environment, where there was a significant worsening of pollution, waste generation and resource depletion. China produces 46% of the world's aluminum, 60% of cement and 50% of steel, while consuming more raw materials than all 35 OECD countries combined. China uses 2.5 kilograms of raw material to produce $1 GDP, while OECD countries only require 0.54 kilograms. The surge in output of heavy industries coupled with resource inefficiency, as well as levels of consumption comparable to the Western world, has influenced China into adopting a circular economy to ensure sustainable growth.
Since China is experiencing their industrialization process later than many other countries, they have benefited from the latecomer effect, where they have learned from the success and failures of other nations when creating policies of their own. China has primarily learned from the circular economy strategies of Germany and Japan, where they have shaped many of China's policies revolving around the three R's of re-use, reduce, recycle. Japan's Basic Law for Establishing Promoting the Creation of a Recycling-Oriented Society and Germany's Closed Substance Cycle and Waste Management Act have been the greatest influence on China's circular economy strategies. Japan has been successful in influencing whole industries into adopting sustainability strategies, where they view recycling measures as a competitive advantage rather than a liability. China has learned from this by making EIP's and industry-wide recycling initiatives as core functions of their circular economy. Germany has been effective in promoting sustainable material management through better product design and interdependence between industrial projects, whereas China has advanced these techniques in their own sustainability endeavours. There has also been a rise in university collaboration between Chinese and German institutions over the years, which has allowed for more research and development of better strategies that China can implement.
Legislation
Previous Sustainable economics started to surface in China around 1973, when the first ever National Environmental Protection Conference was held to discuss new environmental policies and guidelines. The following year Chinese State Council created The Leading Group of Environmental Protection, whose task was to formulate effective policies based on previous discussions at the National Environmental Protection Conference. In 1979, the most comprehensive environmental protection law adopted by China was enacted called the Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China, where basic policies were introduced to address conflicts between industrial growth and environmental sustainability. Some of the new policies introduced were aimed at controlling the growth of large urban zones and the distribution of manufacturing plants in rural areas, through designing and expanding small cities. Other environmental policies enacted in the law targeted the reduction of pollution, through taxing incentives for pollution control and fines for violations. The Chinese government started taking environmental protection more seriously in 1983 after the second National Environmental Protection Conference, where it made environmental protection a core national policy. In the subsequent decades to follow, numerous policies were implemented from the conferences until 2002, when the 16th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party designed a sustainable development plan that aimed to quadruple GDP, increase social equality, recover and protect environmental integrity. This new sustainable development plan was enshrined in legislation and was then known as the start of a circular economy.
Current
The Law for the Promotion of the Circular Economy The Law for the Promotion of the Circular Economy was passed on August 29, 2008, during the fourth meeting of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress, where it was then implemented into practice on January 1, 2009. The law was outlined as a key strategy in national economic and social development, while promoting resource utilization efficiency, natural environment protection and sustainable development. The law contends that circular economy strategies will be implemented only if it is viable in technology, practical in economy, and suitable for saving resources and protecting the environment. The State Council is responsible for the administration of promoting the circular economy, where they must organize, coordinate and regulate national circular economy strategies. Under the law, any new industrial policies created by the Government must meet the criteria for promoting a circular economy. Industries must implement management systems that reduce resource usage and waste generation, while improving resource recovery and recycling. Through the Law for the Promotion of the Circular Economy, the Chinese Government encourages research, development, promotion and international cooperation of science relating to circular economies, as well as supporting the education, publicity and popularization of scientific knowledge. The aim is to give citizens a better sense of better resource saving and environmental protection practices.
The 12th Five-Year Plan The 12th Five-Year Plan was implemented from 2011 to 2015 as a national development strategy plan, where it outlined the country's shift in policy toward the recycling of heavy industrial resources, instead of previous models that practiced resource efficiency. Some objectives of the plan were to increase the re-using of industrial waste to 72% by 2015, while raising resource output efficiency by 15%. The plan outlined a three level strategy, where 10 critical recycling initiatives for industrial waste and converting industrial parks were implemented, 100 pilot cities such as Guangzhou and Suzhou were decided to test the initiatives, and a 1000 more industrial parks were to be created. There was an investment of US$468 billion to achieve the goals presented in the plan, where it was also directed at internalizing sustainability goals within the institutions and promoting a new growth pattern based on renewable energy. The goal of the initiatives was to get 50% of national industrial parks and 30% of provincial ones to undergo a complete circular economy transition by 2015, where there will eventually be close to zero emission of pollutants and waste.
The Circular Economy Development Strategies Action Plan