Category:Circular Economy

The concept of the circular economy is based on the idea that products can be reused, and after reuse the materials can be reclaimed to enter again into the system of production. If all materials could be reused in this way, further extraction of raw materials would be needed only where more goods were in use. The concept thus aligns with the aim of long term sustainability, even where raw materials are becoming scarce.

Wikipedia defines the circular economy as "an economic system aimed at minimizing waste and making the most of resources".

The idea is also based on the cycles of nature. " Too often the Circular Economy is portrayed as a frugal or an advanced recycling economic model. It is not so. The Circular Economy is based on the abundance of flows generated from our alignment with ecosystemic metabolisms. Put simply, we should be imitating natural cycles as closely as we possibly can. The Circular Economy holds the keys of positive perspectives about the future of business, the future of the environment and about our future as people. It depicts a world without waste, where unused resources will find a function in an economy that will regenerate itself while growing within our systemic boundaries"
— Alexandre Lemille [1]

Other people doubt the realism of this vision.

"When you add everything up, closed loop production models are often not really better than the old kind. The problem, as the environmental scientist Jessie Henshaw explains it, is that although circular economy metrics cover resource flows in day-to-day production, they omit a wide variety of other costs that all businesses incur: staff commuting to work; services such as roads, water or trash collection, provided to the business, but paid for by taxes; or the myriad sub-sub-contractors in a modern, hyper-connected business."

"A circular economy in which parts are measured, but not wholes, is neither waste-free nor sustainable. In a growth-based economy, circular systems can co-exist with increasing damage to living systems. Material flows are a proxy indicator for environmental impact. For every increase in economic activity, more tonnes of virgin materials end up being extracted, processed and consumed. More economic growth means an increased environmental footprint. The multiplication of money that accompanies economic growth necessarily expands the economy’s physical impacts on the earth. The key question is not how to reduce the waste of materials, but how to end the endless and ultimately destructive making of money."
— John Thackara

Key Articles

• How Circular is the Circular Economy. By Kris De Decker, original in Low-Tech Magazine: Excellent summary critique of the limitations of the Circular Economy.

• Against wasted politics: A Critique of the Circular Economy. By Francisco Valenzuela and Steffen Böhm. Ephemera, volume 17(1): 23-60

• Which European country is leading the circular economy shift?: interview on the state of advancement of the field in 2019

Related Categories

• The Collaborative Economy and related concepts represent other attempts to design or envision an economic system that is not extractive.