374
H. Cheng
2 Building Zero-Waste Cities Is a Sign of the Advanced
Stage of a Circular Economy in China
The launch of zero-waste city programs in China is on the one hand a choice made at
China’s own initiative in the face of the general development trend, and on the other
hand a natural result of the circular economy development in the country. Generally,
circular economy development has gone through three stages in China:
The preliminary stage (1949–2004): This stage is characterized by comprehensive
use of resources. Resource recycling focused mainly on waste recycling and reuse
in order to mitigate shortage of resources. China’s economy at this stage is not a
circular economy in its strict sense, as efforts mainly focused on reuse and turning
waste into resources, not reduction at the source.
The intermediate stage (2004–2013): China adopted developing circular economy
as a strategy for the transformation of its development model. During this period,
the State Council held a national conference on circular economy in 2004 and issued
several milestone policies, including the Opinions of the State Council on Accelerating the Development of Circular Economy and the Circular Economy Development Strategy and the Near-Term Action Plan, and introduced the Circular Economy
Promotion Law. Two circular economy pilot programs and several special pilot
programs were launched, and 100 cities were established as national demonstration cities of circular economy. This stage saw the development of circular economy
in China from theory to practice and from pilot programs to demonstrations, with
corresponding guiding strategies, plans, policies, legislations, projects, technological
progress and publicity efforts.
The advanced stage (2013–present): At this stage, circular economy offers strong
support for building an ecological civilization. The 19th National Congress of the
CPC pointed out that “building an ecological civilization is vital to sustain the Chinese
nation’s development.” From recycling to circular economy, and then to ecological
civilization and green development, China has reached a new stage in its efforts
to build an ecological civilization. In particular, the initiative to build zero-waste
cities represents the expansion of the concept of circular economy in both theory
and practice, which is a symbol that China is entering the advanced stage of circular
economy development.
Zero-waste city is an advanced concept of urban management and development
showing distinctive features of common-pool resources. In terms of the flow of
resources, zero-waste cities manage their material flows through the cycle of production, products, waste and utilization, aiming to make full use of resources at every step
in the production and consumption processes. Governments, enterprises, market entities and individuals are all part of the micro-level governance system in waste cities
where micro- and macro-level governance are integrated for fine urban management.
H. Cheng
2 Building Zero-Waste Cities Is a Sign of the Advanced
Stage of a Circular Economy in China
The launch of zero-waste city programs in China is on the one hand a choice made at
China’s own initiative in the face of the general development trend, and on the other
hand a natural result of the circular economy development in the country. Generally,
circular economy development has gone through three stages in China:
The preliminary stage (1949–2004): This stage is characterized by comprehensive
use of resources. Resource recycling focused mainly on waste recycling and reuse
in order to mitigate shortage of resources. China’s economy at this stage is not a
circular economy in its strict sense, as efforts mainly focused on reuse and turning
waste into resources, not reduction at the source.
The intermediate stage (2004–2013): China adopted developing circular economy
as a strategy for the transformation of its development model. During this period,
the State Council held a national conference on circular economy in 2004 and issued
several milestone policies, including the Opinions of the State Council on Accelerating the Development of Circular Economy and the Circular Economy Development Strategy and the Near-Term Action Plan, and introduced the Circular Economy
Promotion Law. Two circular economy pilot programs and several special pilot
programs were launched, and 100 cities were established as national demonstration cities of circular economy. This stage saw the development of circular economy
in China from theory to practice and from pilot programs to demonstrations, with
corresponding guiding strategies, plans, policies, legislations, projects, technological
progress and publicity efforts.
The advanced stage (2013–present): At this stage, circular economy offers strong
support for building an ecological civilization. The 19th National Congress of the
CPC pointed out that “building an ecological civilization is vital to sustain the Chinese
nation’s development.” From recycling to circular economy, and then to ecological
civilization and green development, China has reached a new stage in its efforts
to build an ecological civilization. In particular, the initiative to build zero-waste
cities represents the expansion of the concept of circular economy in both theory
and practice, which is a symbol that China is entering the advanced stage of circular
economy development.
Zero-waste city is an advanced concept of urban management and development
showing distinctive features of common-pool resources. In terms of the flow of
resources, zero-waste cities manage their material flows through the cycle of production, products, waste and utilization, aiming to make full use of resources at every step
in the production and consumption processes. Governments, enterprises, market entities and individuals are all part of the micro-level governance system in waste cities
where micro- and macro-level governance are integrated for fine urban management.