Investigation of Ecosystem Services and Circular Economy Interactions under an Inter-organizational Framework

• Main Authors: Vasilis C. Kapsalis, Grigorios L. Kyriakopoulos, Konstantinos G. Aravossis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-05-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: energy flows; ecosystems services; circular economy; inter-organizational functional stream model; technosphere; biosphere
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/9/1734

Nowadays, the conceptualization of circular economy is an attractive managerial tool among governments and businesses throughout the word, while ecosystem services are a contentious issue due to the particular needs of humans’ well-being. At this review the interactions between the principles of ecosystem services and the circular economy were investigated in the light of inter-organizational systems. This evaluation was based on more and more complex processes, while the integration of the growing circular economy concept within the shrinking parent ecosystem unveiled challenges and constraints for products’ end of life and quality. It was argued that: (a) The existence of social and people-related barriers can be considered under three groups, namely, the “sustainable provision and modeling schemes”, “socio-cultural appreciation and payment schemes”, and “regulatory and maintenance schemes”, (b) The impacts of circular economy—ecosystem services toward an inter-organizational functional stream model associated with distinguished proactive and post treatment risk values (c) The functionality and the accountability of the technosphere are the two critical components to support the restorative and the regenerative perspectives of the biosphere. The aforementioned findings unveiled new emerging paths to be further investigated, offering a deeper appraisal of circular economy under the inter-organizational perception.