A Qualidade na Transição para a Economia Circular

Com o aumento concomitante da produção de resíduos e da escassez de recursos, a transição da economia linear para a economia circular (EC) parece uma solução cada vez mais imperativa para garantir a sustentabilidade. Esta transição para a EC tanto pode ser desejada pelo consumidor, e tornar-se uma das suas exigências como requisito para a qualidade dos serviços ou bens que adquire, como ser uma exigência da sociedade para solucionar um problema coletivo.

A definição de qualidade não é consensual e tem evoluído ao longo do tempo, mas, ainda assim, a EC não transparece na maioria dessas definições. Contudo, parece ser consensual que qualidade é satisfazer as expectativas dos diferentes stakeholders, incluindo o cliente, sendo reconhecido um maior grau de qualidade quando se satisfazem mais requisitos.

Apesar dos diversos avanços rumo à circularidade que as empresas têm incorporado nos serviços ou bens que propõem aos clientes, algumas das novas caraterísticas não entroncam com os requisitos destes, nem tão pouco são impostas por imperativos legais, não podendo ser reconhecidas como um acréscimo de qualidade. Assim, não surpreende que a bibliografia disponível testemunhe uma baixa crença na evolução para a EC pela via dos requisitos para a qualidade.

Abstract:

With the concomitant increase in waste production and resource scarcity, the transition from linear economy to circular economy (CE) seems an increasingly imperative solution to ensure sustainability. This transition to CE can both be desired by the consumer and become one of his requirements as a requirement for the quality of the services or goods he acquires, as well as being a requirement of society to solve a collective problem.

The definition of quality is not consensual and has evolved over time, but still does not transpose CE in most of these definitions. However, it seems to be consensual that quality is to meet the expectations of different stakeholders, including the client, being recognized a higher degree of quality when more requirements are met.

Despite the various advances towards the circularity that companies have incorporated in the services or goods they propose to customers, some of the new features do not intertwine with their requirements, nor are they imposed by legal imperatives, and cannot be recognized as an increase in quality. Thus, it is not surprising that the available bibliography testifies to a low belief in the evolution to CE through quality requirements.

Rui Carreira is a PhD student at the University of Aveiro – Portugal, and member of the research unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies. He is currently a consultant on quality and data protection issues. His research interests are in the areas of quality and circular economy.

José Vasconcelos Ferreira received the M.Sc. degree in operational research and systems engineering from the Technical University of Lisbon, and the Ph.D. degree in engineering sciences from the University of Porto. He is an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) at the University of Aveiro. He is a member of the research unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies.

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Economia circular; Qualidade; Requisitos cliente; Stakeholders

Circular economy; Customer requirements; Quality; Stakeholders