Resumo

Circular economy has gained importance on the agendas of policymakers and on debates of companies and organizations. The debate of policymakers becomes evident with the European Circular Package and the Chinese Circular Economy Promotion Law. Ellen McArthur Foundation promoted the debate on practitioners area (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). Therefore, the CE approach has almost exclusively been developed and led by practitioners, and from a scholarly position it is still in their initial stages (Korhonen et al., 2018)

Since the study of CE is still in its early stages, the research possibilities are massive. The need to understand what has already been discussed and conceived, utilizing previous assessments of the phenomenon, helps the researcher generate present answers based on previous analysis. Seminal literature reviews raise issues already discussed so we can use their narratives as baseline to our current studies. Thus, our aim in this review is to build a narrative about the history, definition and implementation of the circular economy on the researchers view, based on the seminal literature review

The reviews agree that the Circular Economy (CE) is receiving increasing attention worldwide among scholars, politicians and practitioners (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017; Ghisellini et al., 2016; Homrich et al., 2018; Khitous et al., 2020; Kirchherr et al., 2017; Korhonen et al., 2018; Merli et al., 2018; Prieto-Sandoval et al., 2018; Reike et al., 2018; Suárez-Eiroa et al., 2019). The growing importance of the circular economy concept has encouraged scholars to propose different ways to understand it. The authors make an effort to propose a consensus view of the circular economy framework.

The schools of thought come from different epistemological fields: this reflects on different approaches and multiple fields of application. These facts suggest different interpretations according to the individual analyzing the CE, which reinforces the lack of consensus on the definition: its principles, its aims and its concepts (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017; Homrich et al., 2018; Khitous et al., 2020; Kirchherr et al., 2017; Korhonen et al., 2018; Prieto-Sandoval et al., 2018; Reike et al., 2018). CE studies still require development to establish its associated practices.

CE is highlighted as a developing concept (Merli et al., 2018) and the CE transition has just started. (Ghisellini et al., 2016). The academy must embrace a more active role in attaining consensus when conceptualizing the CE to assist the parties, contributing to an increased in practice (Reike et al., 2018). Thus, the interdisciplinary characteristic of the CE offers good prospects for gradual improvement of the present production and consumption models (Merli et al., 2018).

hisellini, P., Cialani, C., & Ulgiati, S. (2016). A review on circular economy: The expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems. Journal of Cleaner Production, 114, 11–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.09.007 Homrich, A. S., Galvão, G., Abadia, L. G., & Carvalho, M. M. (2018). The circular economy umbrella: Trends and gaps on integrating pathways. Journal of Cleaner Production, 175, 525–543. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.11.064