Sustainability transitions, policy-making and circular economy: a study on the effectiveness of the European and Dutch policy-mixes aimed at implementing a circular economy in the Dutch agro-food and construction industries.

Abstract

Sustainability transitions are becoming increasingly important in policy-making, but due to the novelty of these transitions a lot is yet to be discovered about how both sustainability transitions and policy-mixes aimed at stimulating sustainability transitions (should) function. The transition aimed at creating a more sustainable economic model for production and consumption is called circular economy and the same story applies: the implementation of strategies aimed at creating a circular economy are growing explosively, yet there is still a lot left to be discovered about how circular economy is successfully introduced in a society and what policy-mixes are best suited in order to facilitate this transition. The aim of this thesis is to shed some light on the functioning of circular policy strategies in practice and whether or not they are successful in taking away barriers for sustainability transitions. In order to do that I have analysed the EU and Dutch circular economy policy documents aimed at the Dutch agro-food and construction industries. The results of this analysis were combined with the experiences of Dutch circular businesses in the aforementioned sectors on the barriers they encounter in their day to day operation. By placing these experiences in the failures framework for sustainability transitions designed by Weber and Rohrarcher (2012), I was able to provide an answer to the following research question: How well are the European and Dutch policy mixes aimed at introducing a circular economy capable of tackling barriers of sustainability transitions in the Dutch agro-food and construction industries?