Circular Economy: A beginner's guide
A circular economy is an approach designed to help businesses, the environment, and society. Unlike the traditional 'use-make-throw away' system, a circular economy aims to grow without consuming limited resources.
Understanding the circular economy
It's about restoring and renewing resources.
It's crucial for both small and large businesses, globally and locally.
It has three main principles:
1. Eliminate waste and pollution
The core idea of a circular economy is getting rid of waste and pollution. Currently, our system involves taking materials from the Earth, creating products, and then discarding them. A lot of this discarded material lands in landfills or is incinerated. This 'use and discard' method isn't sustainable because Earth's resources aren't endless.
The challenge starts with design:
Many products, like crisp packets, don't have a life after use. They're made of materials that can't be reused or recycled, so they just become waste. The main issue is that waste is a by-product of our design choices. Whether it's temporary items or permanent infrastructures, they often lack a post-use plan.
Thinking circularly:
If we shift our perspective, we'll see waste as a design error. In a circular economy, every product is designed to be repurposed at the end of its life, moving from a linear to a circular system. Products should be maintained, shared, reused, and recycled. Biological materials, like food, can naturally rejuvenate the land.
Design-focused solutions:
As the circular economy becomes more popular, businesses globally are reevaluating their design processes:
Apeel has introduced an edible plant-based coating for fruits and vegetables that eliminates the need for single-use plastic packaging. This coating, which can be sprayed or brushed on, ensures produce remains fresh for longer without plastic.
Companies like Lush are promoting zero-waste by selling package-free products. They've even introduced solid alternatives to liquid personal care items.
DyeCoo offers a solution to textile pollution by dyeing fabrics without water, using carbon dioxide in a closed-loop system. This not only saves water but also avoids the use of harmful chemicals, presenting both economic and environmental benefits.
The time to act is now:
By embracing this principle of the circular economy, we can significantly reduce waste. Prioritising design can nip waste in the bud.
To transition from traditional business models to a more circular world, we need to learn from others, experiment, and scale proven successes.
Sustainable Industry LIVE, 9th November at the Bridgewater Hall Manchester offers the perfect arena for these, progressive conversations in a safe space. Providing practical insights into tools and strategies that drive effective change at pace, scale and on a systems level!
Claim your FREE pass to Sustainable Industry LIVE today to explore, share, and be part of the solution.
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2. Circulate products and materials
The essence of a circular economy's second principle revolves around preserving the inherent value of products and materials by ensuring their continuous use, whether in their original form or as core materials. This circular method ensures that nothing becomes waste.
Understanding the dual cycles:
For optimal circulation of materials, two principal cycles come into play:
Technical cycle:
Reuse & Maintenance: A phone is more beneficial as a complete device rather than separated parts. Its value is best preserved by extending its life through maintenance, repair, or even resale.
Remanufacture & Recycle: When the product reaches its end, remanufacturing its components becomes a viable option. If that's not feasible, recycling is the next step. Though recycling may lead to the loss of the product's inherent value, it keeps the materials within the economic cycle and away from becoming waste.
Biological cycle:
Biodegradable materials, like certain food residues, can be cycled back into nature. Composting and anaerobic digestion processes help in recycling nutrients, enabling land rejuvenation and further production of renewable materials such as cotton and wood.
Some products, like cotton apparel or wooden furniture, transition through both these cycles. They undergo maintenance, reuse, and recycling, eventually returning to nature from where they originated.
The pivotal role of design:
For products to navigate these cycles seamlessly, a strategic design approach is imperative. There are products in today's market that aren't suitable for either cycle and inevitably become waste. A careful design can cater to the requirements of these cycles, creating products that are modular, recyclable, and durable.
Innovations in circulation:
Several enterprises have already embraced the recirculation design approach:
Ecovative crafts compostable packaging from agricultural by-products and mushroom roots. It acts as an eco-friendly alternative to plastic-based packaging, offering durability and post-use composability.
Resortecs offers a groundbreaking solution to recycle stitched clothes. They've engineered a dissolvable thread to streamline the disassembly of garments for recycling, revolutionising textile recycling.
Loop, operational in multiple countries, has championed reusable packaging. Known brands like Tide and Heinz are available in recyclable containers, reducing waste and promoting reuse.
Time to shift gears:
By embracing this principle of circulation, we not only preserve the inherent value of products and materials but also ensure the sustainable and eco-friendly use of finite resources. This circular approach aids in maintaining materials within the economic framework and aids in reducing environmental footprints.
3. Regenerate nature
The third pillar of a sustainable, circular economy places emphasis on the rejuvenation of our natural world. The pivot away from the linear "take-make-discard" model enables us to facilitate nature's self-renewal processes, laying the groundwork for ecosystems to flourish.
From depletion to renewal:
The circular economy compels us to transition from relentless extraction to an ethos of regeneration. Rather than depleting our environment, we contribute to building its vitality. By implementing farming methodologies that focus on renewing soil health and promoting biodiversity, we enable the return of biological matter back to the earth. As it stands, vast quantities of these materials are wasted, causing further nutrient loss from the soil. Nature has always operated on a regenerative model. A simple observation: when a leaf falls in the forest, it enriches the very environment it sprung from. In essence, nature is waste-free, a concept humanity has deviated from.
Reimagining food production
A logical starting point in our journey towards a nature-regenerating economy is the realm of food production. Current agricultural methods are noteworthy culprits behind environmental degradation and climate change, guzzling finite resources and leaving ecological footprints. However, shifting to regenerative agricultural practices can curtail greenhouse gas emissions, bolster soil health, and, in turn, make soils more resilient against droughts and floods.
This shift includes embracing practices like agroecology, conservation farming, and agroforestry, which reintegrate natural ecosystems such as forests and native grasslands. As we decrease our dependency on chemical additives and pesticides, this not only restores the soil but provides a haven for vital organisms, thereby amplifying biodiversity.
Reallocating spaces for nature
The circular economy's principles ripple beyond just food. By optimizing the lifespan of products and resources, we reduce the land required for fresh material extraction. As we progress, the land can revert to its natural state, allowing ecosystems to thrive and rejuvenate. Over time, as the economy leans towards sourcing renewable resources cultivated regeneratively, we reduce our dependence on finite materials. This shift is anchored by a steadfast commitment to renewable energy, supported by infrastructure designed with sustainability at its core.
Combatting climate change
While transitioning to renewable energy is crucial, it addresses only about 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The remainder emerges from product production, food processing, and land management. Adopting circular economy principles can slash the anticipated greenhouse gas emissions of the food industry by half come 2050. And the potential financial, health, and environmental savings? A staggering USD 2.7 trillion annually by 2050.
Championing nature: Corporate initiatives
Several innovative entities are pioneering the regeneration of nature. For instance:
Connect the Dots: An urban initiative promoting sustainable agriculture, it aids natural ecosystems threatened by rapid urbanization and traditional farming. The municipality purchases and distributes healthy produce to vulnerable populations, incentivizing regenerative farming.
Natura: A beauty giant in South America, Natura leverages the Amazon's vast biodiversity, collaborating closely with indigenous communities. Their 'standing forest' philosophy has conserved millions of hectares of the Amazon rainforest.
GreenWave: Focusing on the ocean's potential, their 3D ocean farming technique merges the production of shellfish and seaweeds, yielding food, fertilizers, and bioplastics while rejuvenating marine ecosystems.
The path ahead
We need to do more than just reduce harm to the environment; we should actively improve it. Using the circular economy's ideas means our businesses can help both the environment and society. To do this, we should learn from others, try new things, and use what works best
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