An Incursion into Actuality: Addressing the Precautionary Principle in the Context of the Circular Economy
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- It is necessary to develop environmental legislation for the application of the PP. The initiation of legal and economic instruments and the support of national programs that include strategies and directions of action in the economic and environmental sphere in accordance with the requirements of the PP are mandatory steps to be taken.
- It is useful to extend the proportional application of this principle in relation to the evolution, needs, and dangers that threaten the environment, safety, and well-being of society.
- It is estimated that limiting prejudices regarding the PP determines its easier absorption/implementation, thereby increasing its usefulness as a guide for economic processes and environmental protection activities.
- A consequence of the aspects previously highlighted is the need for the immediate application of this principle even from the first manifestations of a catastrophic event.
- Promoting preventive educational and informative tools and appropriate behavior in the context of the accelerated evolution of society to anticipate and reduce the dangers is more or less scientifically validated.
- Correlatively, in the socio-economic context, the identification and implementation of the safest technologies and ways of materializing the needs of society are crucial.
- The objective analysis of the benefit–effective measure equation by initiating the action or omitting the initiative is a condition for progress in the PP implementation process.
- The perseverance in the academic research of the PP and the CE allows a refinement of the conceptual aspects of the two notions and their assimilation as naturally as possible in order to implement them practically.
2. Methods
3. Results and Discussion
- Although they express a tendency to manifest a generally independent existence, the CE and PP register common concerns, especially in the area of sustainability.
- Although the CE encourages development, promotes innovation, and supports sustainability [15], the PP intervenes practically and subtly in the management of science and technology allowing the implementation of the safest forms.
- A precautionary element can be found in the details that define the CE. The purpose of the CE is to decouple environmental pressure from economic growth, protect resources and the environment, establish a balance between production and consumption, minimize and manage waste, and balance the relationship between the human–environmental–socio-economic factors.
- The CE is intended as an alternative to the linear economy and for this reason, it implies a level of caution that the previous economic model minimized and largely ignored by perpetuating harmful socio-economic and environmental behaviors such as continuous excessive and exhaustive use of resources, a minimum degree of conservation, waste generation, and environmental damage.
- The CE essentially supports the metamorphosis, reversibility, conversion, and perpetuation of the life and cyclicity (closing the loop) of resources, products, and products converted into services.
- The CE wants to be a viable solution for the future of humanity to maintain balance on Earth in all its dimensions (environmental, social, economic) and the PP meets this vision, intervening (against potential dangers and threats) to protect the environment, health, life, and society for the sake of sustainable development.
- The PP intervenes in order to protect the environment in the event of a potentially catastrophic evil threat with serious and irreversible consequences, even in the absence of scientific certainty, considering that it is more useful to prevent than to intervene too late and repair the usually irreparable consequences (Rio Declaration on Environment and Development 1992, Principle no. 15) [104]. The preventive arm of the CE is also obvious and present as long as this economic model has been designed to minimize the “evil” caused by the rampant and highly technological evolution of contemporary society, to maintain and protect natural resources from raw materials, and to limit waste.
- The CE is a link between the efforts of community environmental policies and political and business environments, as the PP is perceived as a “central plank of community policy” [105].
- The idea of “caution” is found in both notions. In the case of the PP, the precautionary prudential factor coordinates the response in the face of uncertainty [31,104,106], and in the case of the CE, the caution/precaution factor dictates the response in the face of potential economic and environmentally harmful behaviors. The uncertainty factor represents the selection criterion regarding the applicability of the PP in situations that may or may not involve circularity.
- The conclusion highlights that both concepts encompass an educational function and encourage a proactive attitude, intervening by relating humanity to the socio-economic, political, and environmental dimensions of its existence.
4. Conclusions
- The topic addressed (respectively the CE–PP relationship) is new and it has been identified as a niche within the researched literature. The incursion at the theoretical level could not provide satisfactory results (“discoveries or perspectives”) in the sense of the results assumed by the study in question such that, in the absence of a common topic (“CE and PP”), comparisons with other works were not possible.
- It represents a subject suitable for debate, with the concepts of the CE and PP being current and far from properly exploited according to the attached bibliography. The specialized literature that deals with the concepts of the CE and PP is limited, a fact demonstrated by the research undertaken.
- In its introductory part, the study makes a foray into the literature in order to obtain some benchmarks regarding the current state of knowledge in the field.
- The originality (“finesse in interpretation”) resides in the association of two concepts (CE and PP) usually treated separately in the specialized literature; the purpose of the paper is aimed at their unitary interpretation, that is, the assessment of the usefulness of the PP in the context of the CE in feasible situations, their spheres of interdependence, as well as the possibility of the application of both the CE and PP for the same case.
- Through the examples presented, a parallel analysis of the notions of the CE and PP was carried out with the aim of evaluating and identifying their areas of manifestation and interaction.
- From the European case studies, the case of “Copșa Mică” (Romania) was extracted for analysis because it is considered to be one of the most eloquent situations that attests to the interconnected application of the CE and PP. By superimposing the two concepts in the given situation and analyzing one notion in relation to the other, the results obtained are the particularities of the CE–PP relationship and consequences of the non-uniform application of PP–CE characteristic factors (impact on the environment, damage to human health, involvement of material resources, additional fees for remedying the “evil” produced, impossibility of “resetting to the previous situation”, other legal implications). (Note: Aspects regarding the particularities of CE implementation in Romania were the subject of a previously published work, and the presented study intends to complete this research by bringing into debate some CE-related elements in the presented study, that is, the association between the CE and PP).
- The results of the undertaken research support the hypothesis of compatibility between the CE and PP in certain given situations and attest to the role of the PP. Moreover, through the analysis carried out, the PP proves to be not only a useful tool but also extremely current in the field of CE manifestation.
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
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Case | Involved Parties | The Object of the Case |
---|---|---|
Case T-13/99 [59] | Pfizer Animal Health SA (Belgium) v Council of the European Union | Transfer of resistance to antibiotics from animals to humans |
Case T-70/99 [60] | Alpharma Inc. (USA) v Council of the European Union | Transfer of resistance to antibiotics from animals to humans |
Joined cases T-74/00, T-76/00, T-83/00, T-84/00, T-85/00, T-132/00, T-137/00, T-141/00 [61] | Artegodan GmbH and Others v Commission of the European Communities | Medicinal products for human use |
Case T-392/02 [62] | Solvay Pharmaceuticals BV (Netherlands) v Council of the European Union | Community authorization of an additive, Nifursol, in feed products |
Case 19234/2004 [58] | Băcilă v Romania | The pollution generated by the Sometra plant (Copșa Mică, Romania) is claimed to be responsible for the serious damage to the health of the party and the environment |
Case T-257/07 [63] | French Republic v the European Commission | Animal health: protection against transmissible forms of spongiform encephalopathy (sheep and goats) |
Case C-343/09 [64] | Afton Chemical Limited (United Kingdom) vs Secretary of State for Transport | Use of metal additives in motor fuels: content limit of methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT or MCMT) |
Case T-584/13 [65] | BASF Agro Bv (Netherlands; BASF is a producer and trader of fipronil at the EU level) and Others v the Commission of the European Union | Conditions for the authorization of the active substance fipronil; prohibition of the use and sale of seeds treated with plant protection products containing the active substance fipronil |
Case T-433/13 [66] | Petropars Iran Co (Iran) v the Council of the European Union | Common foreign and security policy: restrictive measures taken against Iran for the purpose of nuclear proliferation |
Case T-719/17 [67] | FMC Corporation (USA) v the European Commission | Phytosanitary products, active substance DPX KE 459 (flupirsulfuron-methyl/FPS), broad-spectrum herbicide used for some cereal crops |
Case T-251/18 [68] | International Forum for Sustainable Underwater Activities (Spain) v the Council of the European Union | Fishing: conservation of the biological resources of the sea |
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Mangău, A.; Vermeșan, H.; Pădurețu, S.; Hegyi, A. An Incursion into Actuality: Addressing the Precautionary Principle in the Context of the Circular Economy. Sustainability 2022, 14, 10090. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610090
Mangău A, Vermeșan H, Pădurețu S, Hegyi A. An Incursion into Actuality: Addressing the Precautionary Principle in the Context of the Circular Economy. Sustainability. 2022; 14(16):10090. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610090
Chicago/Turabian StyleMangău, Alexandrina, Horațiu Vermeșan, Sanda Pădurețu, and Andreea Hegyi. 2022. "An Incursion into Actuality: Addressing the Precautionary Principle in the Context of the Circular Economy" Sustainability 14, no. 16: 10090. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610090