Zhou Hongchun, the Second Research Office of the Research Department of Social Development, DRC

Natural circulation is the foundation of circular economy. Take ants as an example. The things produced and consumed by ants can all be involved into natural circulation of “from cradle to cradle”, returning to soil to offer further nutrients; their subsistence also depends on nutrients gained from circulation. Clustering is a natural phenomenon as well as a referential layout of ecological industrial parks in terms ofcircular economy. The fields and common technologies concerning the ecological industrial parks mainly include the information technology, energy, water, recycling, reuse, cycle and replacement, transportation and environmental monitoring. The continuous development of crucial common technologies for the circular economy is the defining (yet not the only) factor of the industrial system, which help us gain inspirations from natural circulation of the biological system and reshape the current industrial system into a sustainable one. The development of circular economy requires technological progress. First, we need to shift our concepts from ignoring resources and the environment to the awareness of “from cradle to tomb” or even “from cradle to cradle”. Second, we should keep adjusting and improving corresponding laws, regulations and standards according to the development needs of situations so as to promote development of energy and water conservation, comprehensive use of resources and development of the environmental industry. And third, we should incorporate environmentally-friendly technologies into the production system, take a holistic account and have a systematic optimization, make greater efforts to develop and apply advanced applicable technologies so as to resolve environmental problems as economically as possible. Only by taking nature as the foundation, renewing concepts, making ecological plans and applying technologies can the circular economy become both circular and economical.