Does anybody have access to information in relevance to research of promoting sustainability in transition societies?

I have read an article today in World Economic Forum (WEF) titled "For a true circular economy, we must redefine waste" (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/11/build-circular-economy-stop-recycling/).

Some of the scenarios mentioned reminded me of my childhood in the former GDR. East Germany was a country deprived of most raw materials, too poor to buy them in quantities consumed in so-called Western countries. People had no choice but to extend life spans of goods like vehicles, house interiors, radios, TVs, clothes etc. For example, in order to own a car you had to register and wait something like 18 years (parents put your name on the waiting list the day you were born. ;-). Once you finally got a car you serviced, repaired and treasured it for the rest of your life. I exaggerate a bit to make the point but it is not very far from how it was. Production of goods was monopolistic (hence standardised) and designed for repair. When it comes to clothes, home-made clothes were common. While watching TV, my mother was knitting pullovers, scarfs and socks for us. If the pullover was too small, we would help her to unravel it so that she could used back the wool thread to knit a new bigger pullover perhaps with a different design. Strings and paper used to wrap our birthday and X-mas presents were re-used many times (so we had to open our presents very carefully ;-). So in some ways we lived in a kind of circular economy back then.

Fast forward I now live and teach environmental courses at UniKL in Malaysia since 2007. There are some recycling (e.g. paper, certain plastics, scrap metal, car lead acid batteries) and service activities (e.g. repair shops for broken TVs and washing machines) going on over here. But, by an large, it is an emerging economy that walks the paths of the linear consumption model (e.g. no waste separation at homes, most waste ends up in landfills that do not collect landfill gas).

When I ponder about true circular economy I get stuck at the following. The circular economy that is talked about worldwide so far comprises of humans (of course) and materials required to satisfy humans' various needs (-> Maslow's pyramid). We are told that we will live in smart cities with buildings of low environmental impacts, extended life span, designed for re-use, with occupants using only a few metre square of living space. We walk or cycle or car pool or take public transport to work, or even work from home. Our jobs are mostly service- and knowledge based. We buy locally produced food, eat less meat, drink mostly water. We use locally generated renewable energy for our fridges, light, heating/cooling, TV and electronic devices. We start to re-engage in leisure activities that are free of charge (sport, singing in choirs, hiking, playing card games, etc). Yes, yes and yes.

But, if we look at that circular economy just from a material's perspective it basically relies on two choices A or B. We either use

A: Finite but renewable materials (e.g. biomass), or

B: Finite non-renewable materials (oil, coal, gas, uranium, metals, minerals) with 0 % loss.

My fundamental problem with choice A is that we have so far not been able to develop next-generation electronic devices, vehicles, buildings/infrastructure, power plants etc. that our societies and economies depend on, that can be made 100% from renewables. If correct this suggests that ultimately we kind of go back to pre-industrial times (agro-based economies). Nobody I know of really wants that.

My fundamental problem with choice B is that 0% loss is improbable. Why? No matter how hard we try, material loss will always happen because it is the result of natural processes such as corrosion, erosion, abrasion and disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, floods) as well as imperfect collection networks. If correct that suggests that a true circular economy is utopic, which means we ultimately move towards choice A. It may be 100s or 1000s of years away from now, but eventually we will run out of stock of these non-renewable materials. They will be irrevocably dispersed and lost in the environment like rubber abraded from car tires.

So here is my question to you: Is circular economy with 0% loss of non-renewables a realistic proposition or an Utopian concept?

PS: Graph of material share in US economy was added on 16.01.2020

As I found out, developing countries already have possibilities and opportunities to boost and achieve its targeting goals. At least the 17 goals that UN was determined. Although it is obvious that boosting sustainability is too hard for these contexts, I really seek to know why?

This is a well-recognized issue that necessitates a better approach toward figuring suitable solutions. Perhaps one of the first questions to arise is: How can we boost sustainability in Developing Countries?