Does the circular economy matter to shipping and trade law?

What is the circular economy? How will the concept of the circular economy change the shipping and trade landscape? This article explores the implications for the role of shipping and trade law in the near future.“One thing is clear: we have to change our habits and our way of working, consuming and living.”1

Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, our industrial model has followed a “take-make-dispose” pattern: companies harvest and extract materials, use them to manufacture a product, and sell the product to a consumer – who then often discards it when it no longer serves its purpose. The traditional linear economy of “take-make-dispose” is widely believed to be leading to unsustainable overuse of resources, higher price levels, and more volatility in many markets. ²