ABSTRACT
Achieving the circular economy (CE) objectives entails a total change in the current production and consumption models. This will require the introduction of many regulatory instruments. By redefining the rights and responsibilities of private and public stakeholders and their relationships, regulation can function as a catalyst for the shift to the CE and promote the value-creation mechanisms that are decoupled from the consumption of finite resources. Conversely, regulation that supports the traditional linear economy models can hinder the achievement of the CE.
While the regulation of CE is often linked with legislation concerning waste and recycling, there is no singular regulatory framework for CE. The regulation of CE entails a larger scale of regulatory instruments and substantive legislative frameworks. CE requires addressing the whole life cycle of products including design, manufacturing, consumption, and end-of-life. Moreover, it requires harnessing a wide toolkit of regulatory instruments including command-and-control, economic, and information-based instruments. This chapter discusses different regulatory approaches to CE giving some examples of regulatory catalysts all around the world. Thus, providing an overview of the ways of regulating the CE and how regulation can function as a catalyst for CE throughout the product's life cycle.
