The circular economy (CE) has gained traction in public policy agendas and private activity on all continents. By proposing the decoupling of economic growth from the exploitation of finite natural resources and energy use, CE is posed as a key tool for achieving several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda as well as a more sustainable and equitable recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. There is an intrinsic link between CE and international trade (IT) that has yet to be explored. There is a need to analyze CE from a global approach to promote it and enable it to be scaled up. In LAC, where the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) projects an average fall in gross domestic product (GDP) of 9% by 2020 and a contraction in the value of its exports of 23% (ECLAC, 2020b), it is necessary to identify how the transition to CE can incentivize IC and vice versa.
This paper aims to analyze the link between CE and IC in the regional context. It seeks to answer the following questions: What relationships exist between IC and CE? How is LAC's waste trade composed? How can the region enhance the contribution of IC to the transition to CE at the global level? The aim is to answer these questions through a literature review and interviews with representatives of different initiatives in the region that address aspects of CE and waste trade.
This paper is structured as follows. The first section identifies trade flows under a CE logic and their opportunities and challenges, describing in greater detail the waste trade. The second section introduces the incentives and disincentives between CE and IC, focusing on the LAC context.
