Evaluation Methodologies for Circular Economy in Municipal Composting and Urban Agriculture: a Literature Review with Focus on Latin America

The Circular Economy (CE) offers a promising alternative to the prevailing linear economic model, yet robust evaluation methodologies are essential to assess its implementation and impact. This literature review examines methodologies applicable to municipal composting systems linked to urban agricultural production, with a specific focus on the Latin American context. The study reveals that despite numerous methodologies developed to evaluate circularity, there is a lack of structured methodologies to assess the circularity of municipal organic waste management systems through composting and its connection with urban agriculture, particularly in heterogeneous and multivariate contexts like Latin American cities. The review indicates that Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is commonly used, but often with a primary focus on environmental impacts, neglecting social, economic, and circularity dimensions. The findings emphasize the necessity of developing methodological models tailored to the conditions of Global South regions, acknowledging the challenges in implementing CE and the importance of reviewing ongoing efforts toward circularity. Graphical Abstract