Can a Circular Economy help save our planet?
Written by
Chris Pimm - Graduate Sustainability Consultant
To contact please email: chris.pimm@mainer.co.uk
Humanity is using nature 1.8 times faster than our planet’s biocapacity can regenerate. Using resources equivalent to 1.8 Earths, is clearly not sustainable, so can a Circular Economy save our World?
How have we got here?
Traditional the economy has been based on using resources to make a product, that once used, is thrown away. This linear process allows for businesses to produce the same product again and again, however this profiteering by business coupled with consumer laziness is clearly not sustainable.
This is process is known as the Linear Economy and the consumption of finite resources combined with the waste it produces has to end, but how?
Linear Economy versus a Circular Economy
A Linear Economy can be boiled down to the traditional concept of a Take-Make-Waste. Taking finite resources, making products that become obsolete and ultimately turned into waste.
A Circular Economy aims to address this “based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems”
The design stage of the product is where most of the positive change can be made to its life cycle and where industry can encourage the user to reduce the waste from that product.
By adopting the principles of a Circular Economy business, households and governments can help increase the number of recycled, reused, and repurposed goods that are best kept out of landfill and oceans. This concept will help tackles big global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution.
What are the 3 Principles of Circular Economy?
The process of Circular Economy aims to extend and reproduce the amount of time a product can be used for. Recycling and a proper waste management system are a big part of this
Around 80 per cent of environmental impacts are determined at the design stage so most of the positive change to its lifecycle can be done here. A design shift towards reusable alternatives to single-use items such as coffee cups and plastic bottles/ cutlery would go a long way to reducing the amount of waste we have to deal with
The circulation of products and materials is keeping materials in use, either as a product or, when they can no longer be used, as components or raw materials. This way, nothing becomes waste, and the value of products and materials is retained.
This process must be implemented in the design stage of the product’s life cycle to ensure that the manufacturer uses the right materials for the product. A big part of this process is the ability for products to be reused, repaired, remanufactured, and recycled. For example, if a product cannot be separated by its components, then it will be impossible to recycle properly.
You can also circulate products and materials by ensuring biodegradable materials are returned to the earth by investing in composable components.
By reducing the materials that we extract from the earth we can allow it to regenerate. This means that we have a higher chance of creating a sustainable economy.
A Circular Economy is crucial in the food industry. By producing and consuming food sustainably, we can ensure maintained soil health which means that future crops can have the same amount of growth and nutrients as the previous yield.
The Circular Economy:
An Industrial System that is restorative by design
The Circular Economy is a systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution.
The Butterfly Diagram below helps brings all elements of the Circular Economy together in one diagram illustrating the continuous flow of materials in a Circular Economy.
For a Large PDF Version, click the image. SOURCE: Ellen MacArthur Foundation
The Technical Cycle and the Biological cycle.
In the Technical Cycle, products and materials are kept in circulation through processes such as reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycling.
In the Biological Cycle, the nutrients from biodegradable materials are returned to the Earth to regenerate nature.
An important concept is technical materials is replacing the concept of a consumer with that of a user. Unlike the current buy and consumer economy durable products are leased, rented or shared wherever possible. If they are sold, there are incentives or agreements in place for the user to ensure the return and thereafter the reuse of the product or its components and materials at the end of its period of primary use.
The Circular Economy Solution
Here at Mainer Associates, we use this process of a circular economy in the buildings we are working on. This can be done by implementing a life cycle assessment that addresses these issues at the design stage of a project. This allows us to identify the components of the building which can be reused or recycled after the building’s use.
References
How many Earths? How many countries? - Earth Overshoot Day
https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview - Ellen Macarthur foundation, pushing the use of a circular economy to reduce waste.
Towards-the-circular-economy-volume-3.pdf (ellenmacarthurfoundation.org)
Towards the Circular Economy: Accelerating the scale-up across global supply chains
Figure 1: European Parliament, visualisation of the circular economy process - https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/economy/20151201STO05603/circular-economy-definition-importance-and-benefits
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