The circular economy is inspired by nature. Fundamentally, the idea is to extend the life cycle of products by using them instead of new raw materials for as long as possible, leading to resources being utilised to their fullest potential. This prevents waste and demand for new ones and extends the lifespan of existing products. In other words, just like in nature, today's waste becomes tomorrow's raw material. Our current global economic system is a linear one that governs the production, consumption, and disposal of goods and is fundamentally different from that of a circular economy.
To preserve the environment, we must use and process raw resources in a sustainable and effective manner. Circular economy principles are available to combat the wastefulness in current business practices. For example, textile industries have access to ecologically friendly techniques that use discarded cotton cloth to create fresh supplies of raw materials for premium fibres. Large energy companies are committing more and more to working towards a net-zero economy and sustainability, adopting a circular carbon economy model as a framework to mitigate climate change, using latest technologies to capture and store CO₂ and often recycling it into new products like cement, fertiliser or synthetic fuels. There is a worldwide momentum for sustainability practices and implementation of circular economy principles - for example, the European Circular Economy Stakeholder platform is a joint initiative by the European Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee and it provides a platform for stakeholders to meet, exchange, and expand on successful solutions to challenging problems, identifying successful local initiatives and supporting further scaling-up and implementation at national levels. In their Compendium of Small Scale Actions to Promote the Circular Transition in Cities, they are emphasising that ‘at our current rate of consumption we need 1.75 planets to provide the necessary resources and capacity to absorb our waste. By 2030 we will need two planets.’ They start from the premise that while cities are major sources of consumption, they also have the power to influence how resources are produced, used, and managed globally as they are large enough to have an impact and small enough to enable it, hence they established Urban Resource Centers in partnership with diverse cities, giving local communities the advantage of the opportunities that come with moving to a more circular model of production and consumption. Small diverse circular economy projects were tested and results were measured to determine the feasability of further implementation and these projects were deeply inspiring. In Hague (Netherlands) they indentified the need for repair and refurbishment (including the need for training and the expertise to do so) in home projects related to interior design and they introduced reward-scheme digital second-hand stores. In Cáceres (Spain), they assessed fertilising a municipal orchard by composting organic material from the city and in Ciudad Real (Spain) the focus was on furniture recycling workshops. Also, in Mechelen (Belgium) they tested small scale mushroom incubators on coffee grits. Projects like these have a great role in raising awareness and promoting citizens’ interest and participation in circular economy practices.
Within the same frame of thought, there are global initiatives like The Buy Nothing Project - which is extremely appealing to social media users. This initiative provides a global digital network of gift economies based on the relationships created between actual neighbors within an area, allowing people to give, request/receive, share and lend/borrow, in the true spirit of the slogan reduce-reuse-recycle.
Small local initiatives have a great role to educate and motivate citizens to get involved and promote a circular economy system. A study published last year in Science Direct found that second-hand consumption of clothing can support the transition to circular economies by prolonging the lifespan of products through reuse and, in the last ten years, for-profit companies have progressively entered the second-hand sector due to the rising demand for used goods. In parallel, the UpLink innovators at the World Economic Forum are creating strategies to advance the circular economy in the fashion sector. In the interior design world, furniture recycling and upcycling is becoming more and more popular. Furthermore, upcycling has gained increasing popularity not only benefitting the environment but also paint manufacturers, designers as well as up-and-coming professionals that have benefitted from their artistic abilities and environmentally friendly practices and have gained the interest of millions on social media platforms.
In a circular economy system, large entities and small individuals have the same goal: to reduce waste to a minimum and preserve resources. It is within our power to make a little extra effort to adopt waste reducing practices and influence social norms to make reusing and recycling a noble endeavour everywhere.
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