What is a circular economy?

If you are looking to expand upon this term, click here.

Simply put, a circular economy is the opposite of the economy we have currently, a linear economy. 

It focuses on using what you already possess, reusing what you can, recycling what you can’t use anymore, repairing what is broken, and remanufacturing what cannot be repaired (Stahel, 2016). It reduces waste by keeping items out of the landfill for longer, and it calls upon the need to address industries’ planned obsolescence in their products (the purposeful making of lower-quality products that promotes consumption and also more consumption to replace the cheap, broken items). This, hopefully, will lead to fixing this broken consuming/manufacturing system.

See the diagram below (if you are a visual learner). This is the butterfly diagram, provided by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, showcasing what a circular economy looks like.

Want more? 

See my “Circular Economy” Expanded blog post here.

Also, here are the resources that I reference in this post and the Expanded post:

resources:

Ellen Macarthur Foundation: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview

European Parliament: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20151201STO05603/circular-economy-definition-importance-and-benefits

Stahel, W. R. (2016). Circular economy. Nature, 531(7595), 435-438. https://doi.org/10.1038/531435a