ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the justice aspects of circular economies and the role law plays in shaping and legitimising outcomes. The chapter first shows that, to date, legal research on the circular economy has pursued a limited agenda, excluding justice dimensions. By setting out current and historical material and wealth inequity, the case is made for building on critical legal scholars’ and political ecologists’ research to interrogate the potential impacts circular economy-related law and policy approaches may have, especially for already marginalised and dispossessed peoples. Using Schlosberg’s environmental justice tripartite (distribution, recognition, and procedural) approach, we consider the potential outcomes from using selected legal tools, such as extended producer responsibility, to transition to a circular economy. Recent developments in law, especially influenced by ecological sciences, de-colonial scholars, activists, and indigenous peoples, are also discussed as a potential avenue for moving on from instrumentalist values of nature in a circular economy.
