14 Ecodesign and the Circular Economy: Conflicting …
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on product life span and durability. Further, the CE has triggered new criteria in
established policy instruments; for instance, we can expect more criteria related to
resource efficiency and product durability in eco-labelling and green public procurement (GPP) in the future. While this development can be considered positive from a
sustainability perspective, the sheer complexity of the policy mix means that we need
to carefully consider the interaction of policies. There is an increasing recognition
that some policies may be in conflict with each other, and in literature there are an
increasing number of examples of such conflicts (Technopolis 2016; Tojo and Thidell
2018). Thus, issues related to ‘policy coordination’, ‘policy integration’ and ‘policy
harmonization’ (these concepts are discussed later in this paper) are of increasing
importance. The literature related to these concepts—and related practices—are quite
scattered among disciplines, and includes research on ‘environmental policy integration’ in political science, and ‘legal harmonization’ in legal research. The aim of this
paper is to analyze what policy coordination and harmonization means in the context
of the environmental product policy mix, and discuss examples of conflicts emerging
related to new CE policies that aims to support resource efficiency.
This topic is of great importance for ecodesign as these policies influence design
practices both directly and indirectly (cf. Table 14.1). A direct influence occurs when
designers must adhere to a law or policy and thus integrates it into design considerations (e.g. rules on chemical content). An indirect influence is when a law does not
directly affect the product design per se, but may nevertheless have an influence over
design choices. An example of this would be the French criminalization of planned
obsolescence.
The main methodology applied for this contribution has been literature reviews
related to product policy, the policy mix, and the CE. Specific keywords where used
when searching for literature, such as ‘ecodesign’ Circular Economy’, and ‘product
policy’. The main focus have been on European policies.
In the next section we will discuss the theory and framework and how we use
various concepts such as ‘policy integration’. In Sect. 14.3 we outline a number of
examples of policy conflicts described in literature, and—when applicable—various
solutions proposed to these conflicts. Section 14.4 contains a concluding discussion.
14.2 Theory and Framework
14.2.1 The Circular Economy (CE) and Resource Efficiency
Policies
The Circular Economy (CE) is meant to achieve a gradual decoupling of economic
growth from the consumption of finite resources, and lead to designing waste out
of the systems of production and consumption (Murray et al. 2017). Planing (2015)
states that 4 building blocks are required for the necessary transition to a CE: transition
to a CE: (a) materials and product design; (b) new business models; (c) global reverse
189
on product life span and durability. Further, the CE has triggered new criteria in
established policy instruments; for instance, we can expect more criteria related to
resource efficiency and product durability in eco-labelling and green public procurement (GPP) in the future. While this development can be considered positive from a
sustainability perspective, the sheer complexity of the policy mix means that we need
to carefully consider the interaction of policies. There is an increasing recognition
that some policies may be in conflict with each other, and in literature there are an
increasing number of examples of such conflicts (Technopolis 2016; Tojo and Thidell
2018). Thus, issues related to ‘policy coordination’, ‘policy integration’ and ‘policy
harmonization’ (these concepts are discussed later in this paper) are of increasing
importance. The literature related to these concepts—and related practices—are quite
scattered among disciplines, and includes research on ‘environmental policy integration’ in political science, and ‘legal harmonization’ in legal research. The aim of this
paper is to analyze what policy coordination and harmonization means in the context
of the environmental product policy mix, and discuss examples of conflicts emerging
related to new CE policies that aims to support resource efficiency.
This topic is of great importance for ecodesign as these policies influence design
practices both directly and indirectly (cf. Table 14.1). A direct influence occurs when
designers must adhere to a law or policy and thus integrates it into design considerations (e.g. rules on chemical content). An indirect influence is when a law does not
directly affect the product design per se, but may nevertheless have an influence over
design choices. An example of this would be the French criminalization of planned
obsolescence.
The main methodology applied for this contribution has been literature reviews
related to product policy, the policy mix, and the CE. Specific keywords where used
when searching for literature, such as ‘ecodesign’ Circular Economy’, and ‘product
policy’. The main focus have been on European policies.
In the next section we will discuss the theory and framework and how we use
various concepts such as ‘policy integration’. In Sect. 14.3 we outline a number of
examples of policy conflicts described in literature, and—when applicable—various
solutions proposed to these conflicts. Section 14.4 contains a concluding discussion.
14.2 Theory and Framework
14.2.1 The Circular Economy (CE) and Resource Efficiency
Policies
The Circular Economy (CE) is meant to achieve a gradual decoupling of economic
growth from the consumption of finite resources, and lead to designing waste out
of the systems of production and consumption (Murray et al. 2017). Planing (2015)
states that 4 building blocks are required for the necessary transition to a CE: transition
to a CE: (a) materials and product design; (b) new business models; (c) global reverse