Circular Economy

Circular Economy

The circular economy -it can set us up for real change

Natural resources are harvested from the earth, things are manufactured, and then they are either burned, dumped in landfills, or allowed to leak into the environment in our linear "take, make, waste" economy.

Additionally, it externalizes the pollution brought on by the production, consumption, and disposal of the items we consume and presupposes a steady supply of natural resources.

Circular economy' to combat climate change

The potential idea of a "Circular Economy" has surfaced in recent years as a solution to this dilemma. The EU, for instance, has created a Circular Economy Action Plan that covers waste management, reverse logistics, and reinvented product design.

It focuses attention on the consumer and governments to control the waste produced by producers.

Given the modest value that many of the items we recycle allow processors to make, this strategy likewise has a negligible impact. In a way, recycling is delayed, expensive landfilling that requires the neighborhood to do weekly source separation for little gain

Recycling doesn't always work

Recycling as one relatively straight solution to a circular economy runs the risk of becoming the standard. The very exciting opportunities that a properly developed, broadly defined circular economy might offer a planet in crisis are threatened when the circular economy essentially becomes "recycling" rebadged.

Given the size of the organizations and government support that recycling is getting under the pretense of being a part of the circular economy, it is a very real concern.

True circular economy requires system change

A truly circular economy is a strategy that calls for systemic change to create a society without waste; it is fundamentally more difficult to accomplish than recycling and necessitates working with unlikely partners.

Companies in the sharing economy like Zip Car and GoGet are two examples of how the century-old car ownership paradigm has been turned into a highly successful vehicle sharing business.

Subscribers pay an hourly charge and only use the vehicle when necessary. The providers cover the cost of fuel. Users save a lot of money by forgoing the initial cost of buying an automobile as well as ongoing maintenance and insurance expenses.

Additionally, when the car is sold, expensive depreciation is avoided. Car sharing is a much more effective use of resources because buying a car is often the second largest purchase made by a person and because the asset is underutilized 95% of the time. It also removes extra vehicles from the road.

Complete product redesigns that permit regeneration after the products' initial lifespan are also starting to hit the market. When with battery technology, this movement will gain momentum as the cost of biodegradable materials begins to decline.