Reduction, Reuse, Recycling, Recovery, Redesign

Waste management promotes the notion of advancing from simply processing waste by using the most favorable measures and then adopting other measures to engaging in comprehensive evaluation of whether the extraction, production, and final disposal stages of the materials are in accordance with the environmental, economic, and social sustainable development goals. On the basis of the aforementioned concepts, the authors introduce the Waste Framework Directive (EC, 2008) proposed by the European Union and subsequently introduce the focus of the current chapter, namely the 5R (reduce, reuse, recycling, recovery, redesign) approaches and their respective definition. Circular Economy includes dimensions such as the product usage phase and economic development; this is an attempt to include producers and consumers into the notion of Circular Economy. In the context of harsh market conditions, Circular Economy also encourages producers to transform their business models. Therefore, the authors discuss the circular-economy-based 10R value retention options and measures proposed by Reike et al. as well as analyze the actions that could be taken by each stakeholder (i.e., producer, consumer, and designer) under each of the R-approaches. In addition to the main actors, the government is also a crucial stakeholder in Circular Economy. Through relevant policies, the government could team up the stakeholders and facilitate the 5R approaches in the private sector. These opportunities are the foundation of Circular Economy—the inclusion of stakeholders such as producers, consumers, brand owners, and government. In the current social atmosphere, stakeholders should team up and collaborate to enable circulation of materials in value chains to produce maximum benefits; in this manner, sustainable development and green economy goals can be achieved.