Circular Economy Strategies for Agri-food Production - a Review

Globally, interest is growing in the circular economy in response to the current unsustainable model of production and consumption based on increased use and depletion of resources. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the academic literature on the circular economy, circular economy assessment methods as well as circular strategies in agri-food systems to understand its main characteristics. This review aims to identify opportunities provided by the circular economy (CE) and quantify the CE research trend, the CE assessment method, the CE practices, and the research gaps for further study to help solve issues of managing limited resources for circular and sustainable development. Europe had the highest number of articles, highlighting the level of CE implementation. Results indicate that circular economy practices are not widespread; however, these practices are gradually gaining acceptance. The most implemented CE practices are waste-to-energy and composting. The results show that life cycle assessment is the most employed method; researchers have proposed and used both life cycle assessment and material circularity assessment complementarily. Case study and interview research approach were mostly used to assess the agri-food CE. These circular economy practices are also shown to have linkages with Sustainable Development Goals. The findings show the need for the implementation of cleaner production models and consequent increases in stakeholder responsibilities and awareness. Transitioning to agri-food CE has its own barriers such as technology, market, regulation, and coordination. Future research on the development of a comprehensive circular economy assessment method is proposed to facilitate its implementation in agri-food systems.