Andrew O'LOughlin

Increasing the retention of existing resources in use can assist in mitigating climate change and the growing strain on linear resource streams. The circular economy provides a model for this, however academic literature lacks consensus on the definitions and prioritisation of the activities it embodies. Activities retaining the greatest portion of existing resources in use, retaining end-of-use resources in use at a component or product level, are often overlooked for lower retention options including recycling in policy and action. A scoping review was undertaken looking at the impacts of resource access constriction on component-level reuse. A review of 326 articles identified a 350% increase in publications related to component level reuse between 2015-2019 and 2020–2024 on ScienceDirect, however total relevant publications in 2024 numbered 26, a fraction of the 18,067 articles published on the circular economy. Exemplifying this gap, only 13 articles pertinent to producing goods incorporating component level reuse were identified. Construction, textiles, timber and whitegoods industries were represented within the articles. Inconsistencies in form, function, condition, availability, and cost of resources, were identified as common barriers to scalability. All barriers could be tied to availability of end-of-use resources. A Resource Consumption framework is proposed to reduce CE framework confusion, improving on prior R imperative frameworks. The proposed framework defines circularity around rate of resource consumption avoidance during goods production. The consistency of resource related barriers identified in the scoping review provides support for the combination of component-level reuse activities within a single activity group in the proposed framework.

In this paper, we examine the potential economic impact of coal mine and power station closures on the Gippsland region in Victoria, Australia. We evaluate this economic impact using time-series analysis focusing on Gross Regional Production (GRP), Value-added, and employment statistics. As the first step, we investigate the long-run nexus between the coal mine sector and these regional economic parameters using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach. After confirming the cointegration properties among the variables, we then employ an Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average with Explanatory Variable (ARIMAX) method to forecast the long-term economic impacts. The findings confirmed the existence of cointegration between the mining sector and GRP, Value-added, and employment in the Gippsland region. The Toda Yamamoto causality test, employed to establish robust causal links, revealed noteworthy results, including a unidirectional causality running from Mining sector to GRP, which supports the ARIMAX model for accurate economic forecasting. The subsequent ARIMAX projections indicate that if no comprehensive plan is developed to compensate for lost value-add, the Gippsland economy will face a potential deficit of approximately AUD 4.5 billion by 2050. This loss necessitates that the region generates an annual investment of between eighty million to $100 million in current value to maintain economic stability. The results highlight the urgent need for the State and local government, along with regional industry and stakeholders, to develop a comprehensive plan to address and minimize the adverse economic impact of the mining and power station closures.

Living labs have been utilised to help address a diverse range of complex societal issues, but individual instances are situated in a particular time-place-problem context. Previous studies had suggested a need for theory-based reference models to support the framing of living lab operations. The aim of this conceptual paper is to draw on established practitioner and academic experience to match key concepts with an innovative Socio-Technical-System product model and a Cultural-Historical Activity Theory process model adapted for this purpose. Multiple living lab explanatory case studies are used to illustrate the application of the concepts presented and to outline socioeconomic ecosystem linkages with subsidiary innovation, business and knowledge ecosystems. The important contribution of living lab stakeholder experiential learning and impact assessment is noted, and we offer suggestions for future research on these subjects.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 97.4% of all businesses in Australia and, contribute, by revenue, 32% to the country’s economy. In the last decade, Australian SMEs have become increasingly aware of the importance of sustainability and need to shift away from a linear to circular economy (CE). Since 2019, there has been considerable growth on CE adoption research in SMEs, but empirical research examining Australian SMEs has yet to be undertaken. This study has used a survey and aims to understand the enablers and barriers of CE adoption in Australian SMEs. The research addresses three specific research questions—What are the barriers that impact CE adoption in Australian SMEs?; What enablers facilitate CE adoption in Australian SMEs?; and What is the effect of industry type, geographic location and job roles on enablers and barriers identification for CE adoption in Australian SMEs? Based on 352 responses from the survey of Australian SMEs, the paper identifies and analyses the enablers and barriers that these organizations face as they transition towards circular economy. The impact that location, industry sector and the role respondents undertake within the organization provides some interesting insights into how Australian SMEs are managing the process of adoption of CE. The research demonstrates that there is an overwhelming need for the development of consistent, sectoral, industry and location-specific policies by the federal and state governments to support internal policy development and the acquisition of new technologies in order to stimulate Australian SME CE adoption. In addition, Australian SMEs need to have a better understanding of how budgetary constraints, the lack of customer awareness and an absence of clearly defined business process impact CE adoption.