Introduction to Legal Perspectives for a Sustainable Circular Economy

The paradigm shift towards a Sustainable Circular Economy (SCE) is at the core of the EU policy agenda, aiming at revolutionizing the whole economic productive model that characterizes our contemporary society. The main features of this new paradigm, which is intended to tackle the environmental (and indeed systemic) cri- sis that affects our age and jeopardizes our future, have been for some time at the heart of the debate, so that such features can be considered as already well known. In essence, SCE can be appreciated in its challenging the socio-economic ‘linear’ model of ‘take-make-dispose’—or, from a specular perspective, ‘buy-use-toss’—in favour of a new ‘circular’ one that lies on reuse, repair and recycle. Actually, the legal system cannot resort to old schemes if it wants to respond properly to new challenges. In order to achieve effectively the indicated objectives of progress, it is decisive that also the legal dimension of a Sustainable Circular Economy, and so the regulation of the market and the society on which it impacts, is designed consistently with an innovative approach. That is why this research intends to promote a general reconceptualization of existing legal configurations, exploring new perspectives to strengthen the role of individuals in the socio-economic system, as aware ‘human’ beings that, as such, take care of the world they live in.