Lost in a Spiral Economy: When Circular Promises Outpace Reality

Sykes Lark

17-10-2025

“Conservation without Dao is like a river without fish. The fish are not numbers. They are rhythms. I do not disturb the rhythm. I join it.”

In Kingfisherish Wandering [1]

© Wix

In a provocative commentary published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, Golnoush Abbasi [2] warns that the global push for a “circular economy” (CE)—hailed as a cornerstone of the European Green Deal—risks devolving into what she terms a spiral economy: a system where the narrative of circularity spins faster than the actual progress achieved. While the CE aims to reduce waste, emissions, and resource depletion through regeneration and closed-loop systems, Abbasi argues that its implementation has become increasingly detached from scientific and industrial realities.

Drawing on evidence from recent CE reports, the study highlights that global circularity is actually declining, with rising waste and limited material recovery capacity due to underinvestment and lack of political will. Many CE initiatives, particularly in Europe, rely on optimistic rhetoric, digital traceability tools, and fragmented pilot projects that fail to address the physical and chemical constraints of recycling processes. Critical parameters—such as material composition, recyclability limits, and product lifespan—are often ignored, making circularity more performative than transformative [3-5].

Abbasi [2] emphasizes that digital technologies like blockchain and product passports cannot replace robust design and governance systems. Tracking waste is not the same as preventing it. Instead, the author calls for publicly owned traceability infrastructures, expanded databases for hazardous and critical raw materials (e.g., SCIP), and deeper investments in material science to phase out waste at the design stage [6]. Aligning economic incentives with environmental goals is essential; without this, the CE remains a moral narrative rather than a measurable transformation.

The study resonates profoundly with the concept of Nature Quotient (NQ)—the capacity of societies to think and act in coherence with ecological principles. A high-NQ society does not mistake symbolic progress for real sustainability. It grounds its ambitions in the material truths of the Earth’s systems—thermodynamics, chemistry, and life cycles—rather than digital abstractions or political slogans. By restoring scientific rigor, transparency, and systemic design to the CE, humanity moves closer to individual and social peace: individuals achieve cognitive harmony by aligning their actions with ecological truth, while societies build trust and resilience through genuine, evidence-based sustainability.

References

[1] Nguyen MH. (2025). Kingfisherish Wandering. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FVLLLXNW/

[2] Abbasi G. (2025). Lost in a spiral economy: How the circular narrative risks losing its objective. Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 12(10), 1271–1272. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.5c00843

[3] Reuter MA. (2019). Challenges of the circular economy: A material, metallurgical, and product design perspective. Annual Review of Materials Research, 49, 253-274. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-matsci-070218-010057

[4] Ciacci L. (2015). Lost by design. Environmental Science & Technology, 49(16), 9443-9451. https://doi.org/10.1021/es505515z

[5] Binnemans K, Jones PT (2023). The twelve principles of circular hydrometallurgy. Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy, 9(1), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-022-00636-3

[6] Stahel WR. (2016). The circular economy. Nature, 531(7595), 435-438. https://doi.org/10.1038/531435a 

[7] Vuong QH, Nguyen MH. (2025). On Nature Quotient. Pacific Conservation Biology, 31, PC25028. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC25028

[8] Nguyen MH, Ho MT, La VP. (2025). On “An” (安): Inner peace through uncertainty, nature quotient, and harmony with Dao. http://books.google.com/books/about?id=NIKMEQAAQBAJ