An Incursion into Actuality: Addressing the Precautionary Principle in the Context of the Circular Economy

Alexandrina Mangău (), Horațiu Vermeșan (), Sanda Pădurețu and Andreea Hegyi
Additional contact information
Alexandrina Mangău: Faculty of Materials and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Bd. Muncii 103–105, 400114 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Horațiu Vermeșan: Faculty of Materials and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Bd. Muncii 103–105, 400114 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Sanda Pădurețu: Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Robotics and Production Management, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Bd. Muncii 103–105, 400114 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Andreea Hegyi: Nird Urban-Incerc Cluj-Napoca Branch, 117 Calea Florești, 400524 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-21

Abstract: The circular economy (CE) and the precautionary principle (PP) are two current and contemporary notions; however, they are far from being sufficiently explored and exploited, since each is considered questionable in part. Sensing a niche at the conceptual and scientific research level regarding the unitary approaches of the CE and PP, we carried out a parallel analysis of the notions of the CE and PP with the aim of evaluating and identifying areas of manifestation and interaction. By superimposing the two concepts in feasible situations and analyzing one notion in connection with the other, within the presented examples, the particularities of the CE–PP manifestation were obtained, as well as the consequences of the non-uniform application of the mentioned factors. Also, the results of the research support the hypothesis of the compatibility between the CE and PP in certain cases and attest to the usefulness of the PP in fulfilling the wishes of the CE. Despite the generally parallel existence of the CE and PP, these concepts are not mutually exclusive; the CE cannot be manifested discretionarily but only with certain standards and limits including the requirements imposed by the PP. The results obtained, combined with the provision of an analysis of the current state of knowledge in the field, make the proposed study a useful material for future in-depth research activities on the topic.

Keywords: circular economy; precautionary principle; compatibility; environment; resources use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/16/10090/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/16/10090/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:16:p:10090-:d:888545

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().