The Circular Economy is an alternative to our current Linear Economy, where we behave as if the world’s resources were infinite and we take-make- use-dispose, resulting in huge amounts of waste. In contrast, the Circular Economy recognises that the world’s resources are finite and need to be protected through a model in which:
Through clever design, there is no waste
Everything is designed to feed into something else, to get the maximum possible value from each component
Raw materials can be fully recovered, redesigned and reused as new products
Everything is powered by renewable energy
This is done through closed loop systems; recycle, repair and remanufacture; and new societal models such as leasing and shared ownership.
Why do we need a Circular Economy?
In a world in which mineral resources are increasingly rare and hard to get at, biodiversity is in decline and 3 billion new consumers will enter the market in the next 30 years, the linear economy is quite simply not economically or environmentally sustainable.
