The concept of circular economy originated from the "spaceship theory" put forward by American economist Baldin in 1960s. 1970，a？ 6? 1 Knies and others put forward the theory of "material cycle analysis" (also known as eco-economic theory) based on the crisis of ecosystem, that is, the collapse of material metabolism structure. Since 1970s and 1980s, Japan, the United States and western European countries have actively carried out various forms of circular economy practice and exploration, and achieved certain results. Circular economy was introduced to China at the beginning of this century and became an ideal economic development model under the guidance of Scientific Outlook on Development.
The Development Course of Circular Economy in Western Countries
Terminal management stage. In 1970s and 1980s, Germany, Japan, the United States and other western developed countries all experienced the process of terminal governance in the initial stage of developing circular economy. Terminal treatment is "pollution first, then treatment", which emphasizes taking measures to control pollution at the end of the production process. Results The treatment technology is difficult, not only the treatment cost is high, but also the ecological deterioration is difficult to contain, and the economic, social and ecological benefits are difficult to achieve the expected purpose.
Ecological management stage. Although terminal management pays attention to environmental problems, it only talks about the environment on the basis of the environment and relies too much on technology. Once you encounter ecological problems that technology cannot solve, there is nothing you can do, and even negative practices that are not conducive to economic growth appear. Since 1990s, western countries have put forward the concept of circular economy of ecological governance, and implemented it through legislation. Ecological management requires following ecological laws, emphasizing rational utilization of natural resources and environmental capacity within ecological threshold, developing economy on the basis of continuous material circulation, bringing economic system into the material circulation process of natural ecosystem harmoniously, and realizing the ecologicalization of economic activities. From the original emphasis on human productivity to the fundamental improvement of resource productivity and effective protection of the self-organization ability of ecosystems on the basis of respecting nature. This concept follows the principle of "reduction, reuse and recycling" and adopts the whole process of "clean production" to achieve the purpose of reducing the quality of materials entering the production process and reusing certain articles and wastes in different ways. It is a "closed loop" feedback cycle process of "resources-products-renewable resources".
Deep ecological management stage. On the basis of ecological management, deep ecological management not only emphasizes the relationship between production, resources and environment, but also advocates taking all factors such as system, system, management, consumption and culture into account, paying attention to conceptual innovation and changes in production and consumption methods, and expanding the field of ecological management from production and environment to management, culture and other life fields. The concept of deep ecological governance is mainly embodied in the concepts of green operation management, green consumption and green culture. Since 265438+20th century, western countries have also formed the deep ecological governance concept of green operation management, which runs through the idea of circular economy in the operation management of enterprises and requires all-round development from product design, scientific and technological progress and scientific management, including green design, green logistics and life cycle assessment. It covers various social activities such as industry, agriculture, transportation, commerce and consumption, and needs the support of various new technologies and corresponding management methods.
The core content of circular economy model
Circular economy mode is an economic development mode and economic growth mode. Different from the traditional economic model, the traditional economic development model ignores the scarcity of resources and the limitation of environmental capacity. Economic growth has caused a series of problems, such as resource shortage, environmental pollution and ecological destruction, at the expense of consuming a lot of natural resources and energy and destroying human living environment on a large scale. The traditional economic model is a linear economy with one-way flow of "resources → products → pollution emission", which is characterized by high exploitation, low utilization and high emission. It takes turning resources into waste as a means to realize economic growth, which is an unsustainable economic development model.
Different from this, the circular economy model is based on ecological principles, led by economic principles, centered on human economic activities, using system engineering methods to study the combination of ecology and economy from the widest range, and to study the interaction, mutual restriction and interaction between ecosystem and productivity system as a whole, revealing the essential relationship and laws between nature and society, changing production and consumption patterns, and making efficient and rational use of all available resources. In other words, circular economy advocates a harmonious economic development with the environment. Circular economy is based on the 3R principle, that is, reduction, reuse and recycling, and its basic characteristics are low consumption, low emission and high efficiency. Taking efficient utilization and recycling of resources as the core and ecological industry chain as the development carrier; Cleaner production is an important means to realize the effective utilization of material resources and the sustainable development of economy and ecology. It requires that economic activities consist of a feedback process of "resources → products → secondary resources → minimum pollution discharge (necessary and prudent pollution discharge)". Circular economy is a fundamental change to the traditional economic model of "mass production, mass consumption and mass abandonment", which is of great significance to the economic and social development of all countries and even the world.
Problems needing attention in implementing circular economy in China
(A) the reasonable limit of "circulation"
Some domestic scholars believe that vigorously developing circular economy is of great significance for solving environmental problems and implementing the concept of sustainable development. However, the concept of circular economy is generalized and its function is arbitrarily exaggerated, which is not only not conducive to the construction of circular economy development model in China, but also delays the best opportunity to solve environmental problems. For example, circular economy is a "closed-loop feedback cycle process of resources-products-reproduction". First of all, industrial production not only produces the products we need, but also produces the "products" we don't need, regardless of the tangible or intangible excreta produced economically. Secondly, according to the existence of the second law of thermodynamics, that is, the law of entropy increase, once entropy increases, it can never be reduced without increasing. Thirdly, due to the technical limitations of recycling, most of the existing industrial "excrement", especially intangible "excrement" such as gas, cannot be recycled by the existing technology. The lack of national recycling consciousness leads to the "lag" of recycling behavior, and the uneconomical recycling behavior itself may be replaced by the "rational" short-sighted economic behavior of economic subjects. It makes circular economy not a theoretical "closed-loop feedback cycle process" in practice. (B) the ultimate policy function of the development model
Some domestic scholars believe that the development of circular economy can solve the problem of coordination between environment and economy once and for all. However, the author believes that even if the circular economy model can recycle materials according to the theoretical requirements, the demand for resources in all countries of the world, both developed and developing countries, is increasing, and the consumption of resources will inevitably require the re-exploitation of new similar resources. In this case, in order to realize the sustainable development of economy and environment, the resource demand from the perspective of circular economy must be equal to the amount of material circulation plus the amount of new exploitation. Therefore, the circulation quantity of circular economy can never be completely equal to the original input quantity, because the stock of abiotic resources is unchanged for a certain period of time, and the increase of demand will inevitably lead to the absolute reduction of its stock. Under this assumption, circular economy may only prolong the grab time relatively, but it cannot fundamentally solve the environmental problems. At the same time, it also violates the cornerstone of ecological theory established by circular economy theory. Building an economic system and scale while meeting the environmental capacity should be the first essence of circular economy practice.
(3) The inversion of "non-point source pollution" and "point source pollution" in practice.
In the practice of circular economy, China only pays attention to the circular economy exploration of "point pollution" sources (enterprises, industries and other pollution sources), but ignores the circular economy exploration of "area pollution" sources (pollution sources such as life and agriculture). This judgment is a misunderstanding of the international inversion trend of "non-point source pollution" and "point source pollution". First of all, due to China's large population and increasing consumption capacity, without the guidance of consumption consciousness in line with the value concept of circular economy, through the market instruction of "consumption determines production", the control of the source of "point pollution" in the circular economy built in China will almost be exhausted; Secondly, the phenomenon of agricultural "flooding" in China is serious, which not only leads to the waste of water resources, but also leads to the emission of greenhouse gases such as methane (CH4). Thirdly, municipal solid waste can almost make a garbage city with the same size as the city, and the pollution index and negative nutrition value flowing through the city are rising due to domestic sewage. Circular economy requires that economic activities consist of a feedback process of "resources → products → secondary resources → minimum pollution discharge (necessary and prudent pollution discharge)". If we pay one-sided attention to a certain link in the whole process, it may lead to the fracture of the whole circular production chain, and then lead to the lack of the function of circular economy as an institutional innovation.
(D) Environmental protection measures are not simple.
Like the traditional economic model, the circular economy model is not only an economic development model, but also an economic growth mode. Circular economy can not be simply equated with environmental protection means, it is a new economic development model first. The funds needed for environmental protection and meeting the growing material and cultural needs of mankind need economic development. Therefore, economic development is the premise and guarantee of environmental protection. However, the traditional economic development model unilaterally pursues "economic pole" in economic, environmental and social development, unilaterally pursues the economic interests of contemporary people in the distribution of environmental welfare for contemporary and future generations, and unilaterally emphasizes the pollution and passive governance of market entities such as enterprises and individuals in the environmental responsibility of the state, enterprises and individuals, and unilaterally emphasizes simple state-side governance and standardized punishment. The circular economy model extends environmental governance from terminal governance to the whole production chain, from a single governance subject to the active participation and coordination of all market subjects. Its essence is to arrange our production and consumption activities under the control of environmental capacity in order to promote and realize the coordinated development of environment, economy and society.