Conceptualizing the Circular Economy: R-frame Question

Despite its rich history, the circular economy (CE) must be more firmly conceptualized. Various definitions of CE are often connected with specific R-frameworks, which differ significantly. This divergence could be caused by the fact that CE is related to other predecessors' concepts, for example, industrial ecology, waste management, cleaner production, and reverse logistics, some of which also used R-frameworks. This article aims to find the most frequently used R-principles in the context of CE, including identifying possible factors influencing the author's choice of the selected R-framework. For this purpose, 128 articles (related to R-frameworks and CE) were analyzed. The potential relationship between selected factors (e.g., authors' nationality, the publication's year, or journal) and the selected R-framework was tested using chi-square tests. The results show that only the nationality of the authors can influence the choice of the R-framework and that the 3R principles (reduce, reuse, recycle) are most often discussed in the context of the CE. Results show that the 3R framework is dominant in Asian publications (which is logical due to the longer recognition of this framework) and also in European publications. However, lately, there is a visible growing trend in using the 10R framework in European publications; thus, it may be a matter of time before other frameworks become dominant. As a result, it can be stated that the 3R and 10R frameworks are well-used frameworks that can serve as the basis for defining and conceptualizing the CE. One official definition of CE that would use a selected R-framework should be stated to clearly define what CE is. Received: 19 November 2024 | Revised: 27 March 2025 | Accepted: 29 April 2025 Conflicts of Interest The author declares that she has no conflicts of interest to this work. Data Availability Statement Data are available on request from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Author Contribution Statement Marta Nosková: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Supervision.