Our Early Stage Researcher Aura Iurascu (ESR3, Hasselt University) and our Lead Researcher Steven van Garrse (Associate and executive professor at the Hasselt University and Antwerp/Antwerp Management School) published together with their colleague a paper entitled The concept of “circular economy”: Towards a more universal definition.

This paper was featured in the Issue n. 2, 2021, of the IUS Publicum Network Review journal. This journal is a peer-reviewed, open access journal with the “aim of following the evolution of Public Law in each country involved, highlighting on its influences on the development of an Administrative and Public European Law and its connections with other legal cultures”.

Paper abstract

The transition to a circular economy is a systemic change that has gained considerable attention in the past few years. It has as a main purpose the replacement of the current linear economy (take – make – waste), and its enormous repercussions on society, with a more cyclical approach. It is undeniable that circular economy is a possible pathway to a more sustainable society. Nonetheless, from a legal perspective the concept of circular economy itself has not been defined yet. The paper starts with an in-depth analysis of the notion of circular economy as an umbrella term and the consequences of its qualification as an “essentially contested concept” pursuing the theory that was coined by Walter Bryce Gallie in 1956. As a consequence, if the study shows that the “circular economy” turns out to be an essentially contested concept, it would not be possible to give an adequate definition of this notion. Hence, we wouldn’t have a general principle to decide which vision of the circular economy is right or wrong. On the other hand, even if the concept would turn out not to be an essentially contested concept, therefore likely to be defined, there is no certainty that this will be, in fact, achieved. Therefore, the general aim of this paper is to provide an answer to a specific question: the possibility to provide a universal definition of the concept “circular economy”.

Aura Iurascu

Early Stage Researcher n. 3

Hasselt University

Steven van Garrse

Lead Researcher

Associate and executive professor at the Hasselt University and Antwerp/Antwerp Management School