Towards A Circular Economy of Proximity? Variable-Geometry Spatiality of Urban Mining

The proximity principle is one of the main obligations in European regulations regarding waste management. However, this principle is not really implemented because it is not well defined in the law. Proximity is also linked to the new consensual concept of the circular economy, which highlights the local scale. The objective of this text is to understand the implementation of the proximity principle in the concept of the circular economy depending on waste management channels. The methodology is based on an analysis of the urban metabolism of three French cities and in-person interviews with stakeholders of waste management. The result of this research shows that the implementation of proximity is quite complex and affected by the principle of “variable geometry” depending on the types of waste. Some are managed at the local scale, such as putrescible and fermentable waste, bulky refuse, and final waste. Others, however, are transported elsewhere (e.g., waste with high added value or hazardous waste). We aim to identify the criteria that determine these geographical issues. The diversity of situations in each of these case studies provides the opportunity to better understand the geographical scale of implementation of a circular economy and to identify the sources of urban mining through recyclable materials.