Circular economy meets environment and health – opportunities and risks: 4–5 October 2017, Bonn, Germany: WHO meeting report

Global use of natural resources and accumulation of residual waste and by-products threaten to exceed the carrying capacity of the planet. The circular economy concept offers an avenue to sustainability, good health and decent jobs while at the same time saving the environment and natural resources. A change from a “take, make, dispose” linear economy to a “renew, remake, share” circular economy is expected to support significantly the attainment of all SDGs, in particular SDG 12 on “responsible consumption and production”. The European Commission and some countries, such as Finland and Scotland, are one step ahead on the development of circular economy strategies and action plans. However, health considerations of the positive and negative impacts of such a transition have been overlooked so far. The WHO Regional Office for Europe therefore called for an international stakeholder meeting in Bonn, Germany, 4-5 October, and presented a draft research study of possible and proven positive and negative effects of a change to circular economy. The participants agreed that the health sector needs to be more pro-active and engage with all other relevant stakeholders to position health as an enabler of this development and ultimately, to address health concerns for the best possible health outcome for all.