Social implications of a circular economy

1. Context There is a need to work towards a circular economy within a context of sustainable development where, inter alia, innovative product-service combinations contribute to the future of societies. Based on... [ view full abstract ]

1. Context
There is a need to work towards a circular economy within a context of sustainable development where, inter alia, innovative product-service combinations contribute to the future of societies. Based on (international) scientific reports the conclusion is that the time horizon for the realization of such an economy is 2020-2030.
2. Objective
Today, most of the efforts for shaping a circular economy take into account environmental and economic considerations. The social implications are (almost) not on the radar of the research agenda.
3. Methodological research questions
In order to illustrate the type of questions, some of these questions are formulated. Note that a distinction is made between the macro, meso and micro level.
--> at the level of a country (macro level):
• how to encourage the shift towards a circular economy (including the use of product-service combinations.) with a - possibly renewed - social security system?
• how employment (with corresponding income) is guaranteed for unskilled workers?
• how to avoid increasing inequality in and between countries?
• how solidarity with the Global South can continue when the import of raw materials and the export of waste are decreasing?
--> at the level of the sectors (the meso level):
• how can barriers between sectors and their organizations - both employers and employees – be removed?
• how are education and lifelong learning reformed in relation to the objective?
--> at the level of product-service combinations and sharing goods (the micro level):
• how is people can change their behavior in the short term from ‘I’ to ‘we’?
• what about 'trade off' and ‘rebound’ effects?
• is there no need for the full deployment of the instrument of 'technological and scientific assessment’ when developing product-service combinations?
• are the intended product-service combinations (easily) accessible to everyone?
• is there no danger in eliminating ‘literacy’ for using (certain) product-service combinations?
4. Contributions
During the oral presentation more detail will be given, highlighting the need for multi- and interdisciplinary research. One brief example for now. At present, ten drills are sold for ten households. After some time these are broken and cannot be repaired any more: you need to buy a new drill. In some countries social security is financed (for 2/3) by taxes on labour required to make these drills. What if in the future one drill through ten households is shared and can be repaired easily?