• DOI:10.1162/108819806775545321
• Corpus ID: 55422513

The Circular Economy: A New Development Strategy in China

@article{Yuan2006TheCE,
  title={The Circular Economy: A New Development Strategy in China},
  author={Zengwei Yuan and Jun Bi and Yuichi Moriguichi},
  journal={Journal of Industrial Ecology},
  year={2006},
  volume={10}
}

• Zengwei Yuan, J. Bi, Yuichi Moriguichi
• Published 1 January 2006
• Economics
• Journal of Industrial Ecology

Activities over the past several years, however, clearly show that CE is emerging as an economic strategy rather than a purely environmental strategy. The major objective of the government is to promote the sustainable development of economy and society, while it also helps to achieve sustainable environmental protection. powers, increasing the wealth of the population and providing employment and business opportunities. The rapid economic growth, however, has engendered serious natural resource depletion and environmental pollution, and the continuing increase of population has exacerbated this situation greatly. Recent research has pointed out that growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) in China has significantly reduced the opportunities of future generations to enjoy natural and environmental resources.1 The central government promised in 2002 to build a prosperous society in a comprehensive way by 2020. By then, GDP per capita is anticipated to reach U.S. $3,000 and the total GDP to quadruple. Obviously, it is unrealistic for China to expect to realize this ambitious objective in terms of natural resource use if it continues its current development pathway, with population increasing to 1.45 billion in 2020 (Qu 2004), low productivity, and the absence of eco-efficiency.