New for Some, Old for Others: Circular Economy Practices in Ancient Time

The circular economy (CE) model has recently gained considerable attention from academics and policy bodies as a key approach to tackling environmental problems. On the scholarly front, we have, in recent years, witnessed an exponential growth of publications with focus on CE practices. On the policy front, the CE model is embraced by regional, national, and supernational bodies who have instituted legislation to promote its evolution and sustention. The CE model is often depicted as a novel approach to transforming industries and societies in literature and policy circles. But is its practice novel? This perspective paper highlights some practices predating the recent popularization of the CE model by presenting historical illustrations. We argue that while the CE model is an important approach to mitigate climate change and is also gaining importance in the literature, some of the currently promoted CE principles were already in place in ancient times due to necessities emanating from resource scarcity.