What is a Circular Economy?
Today, most products have a linear lifetime - we make it, we use it, and we throw it away. This process is incredibly wasteful and is using up our resources far faster than our planet can support. Going Circular is a new, smarter way of making and using the things we need with less resources to create a safer, healthier and more sustainable world.
Your Impact
Action Steps & Tips
Introduction
Right now, every time a new product is made it consumes a lot of resources - from raw materials and energy for manufacturing to the fuel used to bring it to the store. Then, when we are done using it, it is usually disposed of, ending up in a landfill, incinerator or even in the ocean, taking up space or causing harmful pollution. There is a better way! Nature knows this. All life on our planet is supported by an elegant cycle of natural resources. Plants draw energy from the sun and nutrients from the soil, then herbivores eat the plants (and sometimes get eaten themselves). When animals and plants die they decompose, returning resources to the soil and beginning the process again. Nothing is wasted; everything supports life.
Unfortunately, we humans have broken this cycle and replaced it with a linear one.
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First, we take resources from the environment
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Then, we make these raw materials into a product
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Next, we use the product, often briefly
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Then, we dispose of it, ending it’s useful life or even causing harmful pollution
In fact, 99% of consumer goods sold in the United States are trashed within 6 months of purchase. To make more stuff, we extract more new resources from the environment, depleting it further every time. In the United States we use a disproportionate amount of our planet’s resources - if everyone on Earth lived the way we do, we would need 3-5 planet Earths to sustain us! We can’t continue this way - we need to get smarter about the way we make and use the things we need.
The answer - Go Circular:
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Take Less - use resources from used products or renewable sources, use as few new resources as possible
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Make Sustainably
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Use Longer
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Reuse products by making them into something new
Read on to learn more about these 4 steps of the Circular Economy!
1Take Less
The purpose of a circular economy is to extract fewer resources from the environment and reduce our impact on our beautiful planet. This means Taking Less is the most important step! It’s where this circular process gets started, and it’s the goal that each of the other steps work towards.
Taking Less means the companies that make our products have to take fewer new resources from the environment. These manufacturers can “take less” in two main ways:
Reuse: Instead of extracting new raw materials from the environment, manufacturers can use materials from our old things to make new stuff. For example, rubber from used car tires can be used to make soles for shoes, and recycled paper and denim can be used to make insulation for homes. There are so many ways to use things that we usually just throw in the trash!
Use Renewable Materials: If there isn’t a reuse option, the next best choice is to make things out of renewable, plant-based materials like wood and natural fibers. When we use these materials, it’s important to make sure they are produced sustainably - for example, wood should come from sustainably managed forests and plant materials used should not compromise food supplies. Renewable materials can be composted after they are used.
2Produce & Distribute Sustainably
Once the manufacturer has the materials to make products, the next step is to produce and transport them sustainably. A few key areas for Sustainable Production are: Energy Use, Waste Generation and Design for Reuse.
Use Renewable Energy: In order to make raw materials into the food, clothes, books and TVs we’re familiar with, a lot of energy is required. Currently much of this energy comes from fossil fuels, which generate the carbon emissions that are warming our planet. To create a circular economy, manufacturers would power their factories with energy from renewable sources like solar and wind power. Renewable energy can also power the ships and trucks that bring these goods to our local stores and homes - for example, with electric trucks powered by renewable electricity - making the delivery process clean and renewable.
Design for Reuse: Right now, products aren’t designed to be reused - they’re designed to be thrown away. For example, most juice boxes you see at the store are made out of a layer of paper, a layer of metal and a layer of plastic, all glued together so that they’re impossible to separate and recycle. To make the Circular Economy a reality we need companies to redesign products like these so that they’re easily reusable. In fact, Design for Reuse is one of the most important steps that will unlock the rest of the Circular Economy! One option is to make them easier to take apart into individual material types. Manufacturers could also make their products out of materials that are more easily reused or recycled. This way, they can re-enter the production process and close the circle!
Reduce Waste Generation: Right now, 70 garbage cans of waste are created during the manufacturing process for every one garbage can full of things we throw out at home. If the goal is a circular economy, this isn’t gonna get us there! Manufacturers need to design products and production processes that minimize waste during production, then reuse and recycle any leftover materials.
Avoid Toxic Chemicals: Although often not a direct focus of the Circular Economy, another important aspect of Sustainable Production is to avoid the use of harmful chemicals. There are over 100,000 chemicals used in manufacturing today, which often stay in the products we bring home or remain in the environment where they are dumped as waste. Many have never even been tested for their effects on human health. To be truly sustainable, companies need to ensure that they are not introducing toxic chemicals into our homes or into the environment.
3Make it Last
We can reduce the need for new raw materials by making things last as long as possible. All of us have a role to play here!
Companies: Make products that last. In the 1950’s, the United States had just won WWII with the help of a rapidly growing industrial sector. After the war, companies needed to find a way to keep their new factories running. Enter the strategy to create demand by making “consumption a way of life.” The idea was that we would identify our worth with what we buy… Wow, that sounds eerily familiar. The strategy was called “Planned Obsolescence” - make things that break quickly so you have to replace them AND make us want to buy more new products we don’t need by releasing “must-have” updates. It sounds like it worked, and worked well, since 99% of consumer goods sold in the United States are now trashed within 6 months of purchase.
It’s time to flip the script. Companies need to join in the Circular Economy and design products to last. We need to let companies know that this is what we want by choosing and supporting products that last. This will encourage all companies to produce quality, long-lasting products.
Fix it, Share it, Borrow it, Donate it. We have a role directly as well! First - don’t buy into consumption as a way of life! Before the 1950’s, people valued things they bought and the resources that made them more. With the power of our manufacturing and the many goods available today, we have lost that connection to the resources and time that go into making our things. Now, the average American consumes twice as much as they did 60 years ago. A “throwaway mindset” has developed which tells us that our things aren’t worth much and are easily replaced. But buying things IS a big deal! When we take the environmental impact of our things into account, it’s easier to see thetrue value of our stuff and keep it in use as long as we can.
The best way to help make your things last is to:
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Fix them when possible
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Share or borrow them when it makes sense (like for tools or small appliances)
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Give away or donate them when you are done with them
Learn more in our Make it Last Action!
4Reuse and Recycle
Finally, in a Circular Economy, when a product reaches the end of its useful life, it gets reused and put back into production. Instead of slowly decomposing in a landfill and releasing methane gas into our atmosphere, in a Circular Economy our stuff would get separated into raw materials and then made into new products… and the cycle begins again! Reusing our things and making them into new products completes the loop, making it possible for companies to Take Less from the environment in Step 1.
New options for returning your old stuff for reuse are being developed. If Reuse isn’t an option yet, Recycling is the next best choice. Check out our Recycling Action to learn more!
The Circular Economy is the future. To continue to thrive on our beautiful planet, with it’s precious and abundant resources, we need to move towards a system that uses those resources wisely and make sure our planet is a good home for generations to come. Support the Circular Economy whenever you can and help move this transition forward!
Credit to The Story of Stuff for some of the content in this action.