The Politics of Plastics How a “circular” economy promises to solve the globalization of plastic waste disposal

Abstract

This thesis highlighs that the current economic system enables a disposable way of living, but is unable to clean up the mess. The analysis focused on the policy answer to it all, the circular economy, and asked: how has the concept of the circular economy affected the global management of plastic on an international and supranational level and filtered through to the national practice of Dutch plastic waste management? By drawing upon the definitional ambiguity of the concept and its relation to the core principles of sustainable development, this thesis concludes that the values of economic, environmental and social proliferation need to be included in the policy development of the circular economy. Without it, the system will never become truly cyclical nor deliver its promised results. It will solely remain a cyclical movement of waste around the globe afflicting damage on its way.