THE TRANSITION FROM LINEAR TO CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN JAPAN: POLICIES AND GOOD PRACTICES

Abstract

The awareness on the significance of the deep problems that arise from the functioning of the linear economic model is gaining global scale. There is hardly any person for whom climate change, the environmental problems, and their consequences are not obvious. The European Union has taken on a policy towards a gradual transition from a linear to a circular economic model. Some countries, however, have gained considerable experience in this regard over the past twenty years and one of these countries is Japan. The purpose of this article is to provide basic insights into the Japanese experience of the transition from linear to circular economy and, on the basis of the analysis, to draw some conclusions on how such a transition can be successful.