There's quite a lot of talk about circular economy these days, both in industries (at least among advisory types in the software agency I work for) and in governments, for example the European Commission released a circular economy action plan last year. Wikipedia describes circular economy like so:

A circular economy [...] is an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources. Circular systems employ reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling to create a closed-loop system, minimising the use of resource inputs and the creation of waste, pollution and carbon emissions. The circular economy aims to keep products, equipment and infrastructure in use for longer, thus improving the productivity of these resources. Waste materials and energy should become input for other processes through waste valorization: either as a component or recovered resource for another industrial process or as regenerative resources for nature (e.g., compost). This regenerative approach is in contrast to the traditional linear economy, which has a "take, make, dispose" model of production.

The general idea, I think, is to reduce waste and raw material demand. I'm wondering if there are any evaluations of this, either as a general cause area, or in the form of assessments of specific initiatives, etc., or if there are any general EA or EA-adjacent critical writings about it. I am somewhat skeptical of it but would be curious to read a variety of perspectives. Thanks!

=> https://ec.europa.eu/environment/strategy/circular-economy-action-plan_en
=> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_economy