Circular Economy

There are various definitions of a circular economy (CE): An idea for a truly sustainable future that works without waste, in symbiosis with our environment and resources. A future where every product is designed for multiple cycles of use, and different material or manufacturing cycles are carefully aligned, so that the output of one process always feeds the input of another. Rather than seeing emissions, manufacturing by‐products, or damaged and unwanted goods as “waste,” in the CE they become raw material, nutrients for a new production cycle (Figure 9.10).

Waste Resources Action Program in the United Kingdom defines it as an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them while in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life. It is also described as a regenerative system in which resource input and waste, emission, and energy leakage are minimized by slowing, closing, and narrowing energy and material loops. This can be achieved through long‐lasting design, maintenance, repair, reuse, remanufacturing, refurbishing, and closed recycling loops (Geissdoerfer et al. 2017). This is in contrast to a linear economy which is a “take, make, dispose” model of production. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2012) works with business, governments, and education to help explain the concepts and benefits of a CE. The Foundation’s “butterfly diagram” is often used to illustrate a CE, but for those new to the concept, it can be difficult to understand.

Origins

As early as 1966 Kenneth Boulding already raised awareness of an “open economy” with unlimited input resources and output sinks in contrast with a “closed economy,” in which resources and sinks are tied and remain as long as possible a part of the economy. The concept of a CE was raised by two British environmental economists David W. Pearce and R. Kerry Turner in 1989. In Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment (Pearce and Turner 1989), they pointed out that a traditional open‐ended economy was developed with no built‐in tendency to recycle, which was reflected by treating the environment as a waste reservoir. Other early schools of thought include Professor Walter Stahel, Gunter Pauli, William McDonough, and Michael Braungart, and complementary approaches such as IE, Permaculture, and The Natural Step.