Sirens of the Circular Economy Herv Corvellec Department

Sirens of the Circular Economy Hervé Corvellec Department of Service Studies Lund University 6 th International Degrowth Conference Malmö, Sweden, August 22, 2018

“An industrial system that is restorative by design”

Endorsements • People’s Republic of China • European Union • World Commission on Environment and Development • World Economic Forum • IKEA, H&M, Renault, Danone, Philips, Google, Unilever, Sun, Nike, Intesa Sao Paolo, …

A model for green economy ? • A industry driven model • A model for growth • A model of effectiveness (rather than efficacy) • A model for security of supply • Speed as implicit dimension • Instead of sustainability

Revisiting the “butterfly diagram”

Bio / Industrial Bio circles Industrial circles

Circular + Economy Material circles Economic circles

Material rationale instead of economic rationale • Whereas money has a virtually endless capacity to move, add, and renew itself • Material is situated in time and space, needing energy to move and getting old • CE assumes that one builds a perfect match of the two

Why such a political success?

The circle metaphor • • • Something that is closed The symbol of perfection Metaphysics of totality Eternal return Mystical protection

Kind of a “positive” alternative to sustainability

But…

Silences of the Circular Economy • • • Where are dispersion and space? Where are frictions? Where is energy? Where are spills? Where is the need for new inputs to fuel growth? • Does anyone believe in the disappearance of waste?

Nothing is circular before it has been re-something Circularity is a bet on the future And how many laps are we speaking of?

An incantation • A promise of endless material welfare within environmental boundaries • An ideological defense of material-energyand-waste intensive business models • A material economy that ignores the material rationales of time, space, and energy • Yet a model of endless growth

Thank you for your kind attention Herve. Corvellec@ism. lu. se Published yesterday: Corvellec H. , Ek R. , Johansson N. , Svingstedt A. , Zapata P. , Zapata Campos M. J. (2018) Waste prevention is about effective production and thoughtful consumption – not about waste: Seven lessons from the research project from waste management to waste prevention. Helsingborg, Department of Service Studies. Fulltext available via www. ism. lu. se/mtp and upon request