Circular Economy and Sustainable Living

The Meaning of Local Governments For Circular Economy

Local governments are quite convenient and important administrative organisations for circular economy. These units have serious advantages for circular approach due mainly to their approximate locations to the public, undertake various responsibilities within the terms of local economy and own democratic mechanisms. As being under the pressure of planning and imposing limits within the realms of administrative procedures, local governments could merely confront scarcity of resources compared to national units, and feel the burdens by efficiency and effectiveness concerns. In creating real impacts on local actors and institutions, democratic instances are often incomplete. These units play the role of attracting the attentions of the public in promoting savings, fighting against extravagant behaviours and other implications to underline the value of local authorities. Similar concerns underpin the occurrence of circular economy. Distinguishing factors of local governments and their major elements through proximate relations in terms of geography and ideology materialise suitable instruments for circular economy. The studies about both local governments and circular economy suggest that the new economic approach can be an invaluable mechanism for evaluating decentralised institutions to examine their aims, goals and performances. By inspiring local communities, providing solutions to local issues and directing responsible actors to pay attention to public spending, circular economy would create a fertile ground as well as to form an instrument for local governments theoretically and practically. Being planning to cope with one’s own environment and surrounding factors, circular economy should be examined together with basic elements and values of local governments. One should also bear in mind that circular economy cannot be achieved automatically and therefore there need eventually to be an outcome oriented approach and conscious efforts for achieving its goals. This paper intends to deal with all these issues to set the scene for a more environment friendly approach in meeting the necessities and demands of the society.

Prof. Dr. Önder Kutlu
DOI: 10.53478/TUBA.978-605-2249-97-0.ch12