The Circular Economy Concept: A New or an Old, Refreshed Concept?

Today, there are two distinctly contradictory views regarding the origin of the concept of Circular Economy (CE). The first view highlights that CE is a new scientific field that examines ways to return end-of-life materials into the production stage, while the second view identifies relations between CE and a number of previous concepts of the field of environmental-based science (e.g., industrial ecology, close loop economy). This book chapter aims to shed light on the origin of the CE concept and its similarities and differentiations with previous concepts and to provide a context analysis of CE in order to be more comprehensive among scholars and experts. The methodology utilized is a narrative literature review that drew data from previous studies to fill the research gaps. The findings indicate that some basic ideas, insights, and knowledge from previous academic fields form the foundations of the CE concept, but the analysis shows that CE has fresh ideas and principles that could be the basis for a new concept and a new field in environmental science and economy/management science.