Applications of Blockchain Technology for a Circular Economy with Focus on Singapore

As a new economic paradigm, circular economy (CE) has recently gained attention. CE aims to detect, recover, sustain or increase value by transitioning from a ‘take, make and waste’ approach of production system to an ecosystem economy, thus restraining the environmental effect and waste of resources throughout the product economy, providing profitability and flexibility and creating value of what is considered a waste. Cities’ role in driving CE forward has been observed as being increasingly important to reach Sustainable Development. For this reason, there is an urgency to understand what a circular city is and how it might be composed. On the other side, blockchain is a method of recording information in a way that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack or cheat the system. This chapter initially explores the definition and characteristics of blockchain in detail. Then, several application scenarios of blockchain technology for a CE with focus on Singapore while transitioning to a CE are put forward. Finally, some of the challenges including energy consumption, lack of adequate skill set, the cost associated with the advanced technology and the need for raising awareness of circular business models, that still exist when applying the current blockchain technology to the CE, are discussed and analysed.