Circularity

Learn the history of the linear economy and its ongoing issues, including the rise of throwaway culture and planned obsolescence in the 20th century. In only 50 years, global use of materials has nearly quadrupled. Alongside industry growth, waste is increasing, with the average person in the U.S. producing 4.9 pounds of trash per day, or about 1,788 pounds per year.

• Ninety percent of terrestrial biodiversity loss and water stress are caused by material resource extraction and processing. Plus, 70 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions are related to material handling and use, so we need to radically transform how we use materials to cut emissions.
• A 1955 Life Magazine article is credited with the first public use of the term ‘throwaway society’. Our throwaway culture is a modern phenomenon that was slowly impressed upon the consumer after the Great Depression and World War II.
• By the 1950s, planned obsolescence had become the dominant paradigm in mass production, as products were no longer built to last.
• Per capita plastic waste went from 60 pounds per year in 1980 to 218 pounds in 2018 - a 263 percent total increase. And half of all plastic manufactured becomes trash in less than a year, accounting for 18.5 percent of all municipal solid waste. A staggering one million plastic bottles are purchased every minute– and global sales are expected to nearly double by 2030 (see Plastics Nexus).
• The United States has over 3,000 active landfills and 10,000 closed landfills. Landfills are linked to major environmental and public health issues. Both hazardous and non-hazardous waste landfills are more likely to be found in counties with higher percentages of poverty and people of color.
• Additional materials accounting for significant proportions of total municipal solid waste generation include paper (23%) and food products (22%). Nearly forty percent of all food produced on farms never reaches our mouths. Learn more in the Wasting Nothing Nexus.
• Far more plastic waste is incinerated in the U.S. than is recycled, causing significant CO2 emissions. The loss of the Chinese “dumping ground” risks an increase in plumes of toxic pollution that threaten the predominantly Black and Latino communities who live near heavy industry and dumping sites in the US.

Understand the circular economy approach and consider its prospective benefits and challenges. A circular economy keeps materials and products in circulation for as long as possible to reduce resource use and waste. Using a systems approach to consider every stage of a product’s life cycle is important. Our world is now only 8.6 percent circular, with the dominant model continuing to be ‘take-make-waste.'

• Explore this curated collection of case studies that present circular economy success stories from around the world. Prospective benefits of circularity include retaining as much value as possible from products, parts, and materials while mitigating the climate impact of continually manufacturing new products. Estimates suggest the transition to circularity could create new jobs, including 700,000 in the EU alone by 2030.
• Creating more sustainable products from the start would reduce energy and resource consumption, as it’s estimated that more than 80% of a product's environmental impact is determined during the design phase. Plus, the supply of crucial raw materials is limited; for example, the EU already imports about half of the raw materials it consumes.
• ‘Zero waste’ has many definitions. Zero Waste International Alliance defines it as: “the conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, packaging, and materials without burning and with no discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health."
• Understand the natural origins of circularity and how widespread circularity is within the natural world. Examples of nature’s long-used circularity practices include the nutrient cycle, biodegradation, the water cycle, and ecosystem services.
• A global circular economy could meet humanity’s needs with only 70 percent of the materials presently used. Sustainable circular economy solutions should be underpinned by renewable energy sources, reduced material extraction, and the regeneration of nature.  See the Nexus topics in the Energy category.
• Circular economy approaches don’t necessarily address social issues, and the framework has sometimes left out discussions of worker welfare and environmental justice. Achieving zero waste and 100 percent circularity can be surprisingly resource-intensive and decisions need to take overall sustainability into account.
• The Jevons Paradox illustrates that increasing efficiency doesn’t lead to less consumption—it leads to more. A circular economy does not justify—nor compensate for—soaring levels of consumption; the necessity and desirability of the products ‘circulating’ need to be questioned.

Explore challenges facing the recycling industry, a commonly discussed approach to circularity. The recycling rate fell from 8.7 percent in 2018 to 5-6 percent in 2021, and Greenpeace found that no plastic meets the threshold to be called ’recyclable.’ Consumer behavior plays a role, limited by factors including (a) lack of literacy, (b) lack of personal efficacy, and (c) lack of social norms. The prevailing issues are discussed below.

• Design: there are thousands of different plastics, each with its own composition. The huge number of plastics and additives often reduces the quality of the recycled material and makes recycling difficult or impossible. Many plastic containers and bottles are contaminated with toxic PFAS. Greenpeace highlights three “poisonous pathways” for recycled plastic material to accumulate toxic chemicals.
• Access: the top reason Americans say they don’t recycle regularly is a lack of convenient access. About seven in ten people living in urban and suburban communities said they had curbside recycling, compared with just four in ten rural residents. This issue is also more prevalent in the South.
• Market: for more than 25 years, many countries in the Global North sent massive amounts of global plastic waste to China. In 2017, China passed the National Sword policy banning this waste from being imported. Domestic recycling infrastructure never developed in the United States because of this dependency on China, causing there to be no economical way to handle recycling when the market disappeared. A challenge for many community-based recycling programs is that they are losing money.
• Infrastructure: mixed plastic waste cannot be recycled together. And only two percent of plastic is recycled into products of the same or similar quality. This is largely due to limitations in how plastics can be sorted by chemical composition and cleaned of additives. Single-stream recycling is a major factor– a root cause of the problem is contamination with other non-recyclable materials.

Make consumer choices that support a circular approach. Be cautious of greenwashing endeavors by businesses and corporations promoting superficial takes on circularity, known as “circular washing.” There are many resources for how to recognize and avoid it. When possible, embrace alternatives to new consumption, including these practices: reduce (make it or make do without it); rent (borrow or swap for it); repurpose (bring new life to it); and repair (fix what’s broken and maintain it before it breaks).

• Buy second-hand whenever you can to reduce the production of new items from virgin materials. Host a clothing swap with your neighbors, friends, and community members. See the Clothing Nexus for more advice on taking a circular approach to fashion.
• Shop, eat, and drink locally to reduce transportation emissions and benefit your community's economy. Participate in shared commuting, such as public transportation or carpooling, when possible. Explore more ideas for urban living in the Fifteen Minute City Nexus.
• Switch to energy-efficient appliances when possible to be mindful of energy consumption. Use smart microgrids to power communities with locally produced renewable energy—increasing self-sufficiency and reducing emissions simultaneously. See the Microgrids Nexus and Efficiency Nexus for more.
• Libraries aren’t only for books: find your local tool-lending library. Then, explore another ten things you can rent instead of buying. You can even share a land plot through community gardening programs like the ‘P-Patch’ in Seattle, Washington.
• Learn more about the Right to Repair and explore twenty ways to extend the life of your tech devices. Plus, practice the art of repairing worn clothes with this ‘Sewing 101’ guide and discover 76 hacks for repurposing old household items.
• Explore campaigns to reduce consumption and transition toward circularity. Does your city or country restrict single-use plastics? Does your campus community have a waste reduction campaign? Do your favorite retailers extend their producer responsibility across the full life cycle of their products?

Innovate alternative processes for manufacturing and waste management. Such innovations include bio-benign materials, multilayer reprocessing, and a ‘superpolymer’ with superior recyclability. There is a need for an evidence-based framework that describes interventions that can occur throughout the supply chain, integrating energy, materials, recycling, and demand management strategies.

• Project Drawdown models the growth of bioplastics to capture 89–100 percent of the market by 2050; yet, there’s concern about replacing plastic with materials that have a carbon footprint up to three times higher, some of which are not biodegradable in real-life conditions and must be broken down with special processes at a commercial facility to reach temperatures of 50C. Other concerns include toxic hazards, land use implications, and ineffective post-consumer management.
• Scientists from the Center for Sustainable Chemical Technologies created a plastic made from sugar and carbon dioxide that can be degraded using only the enzymes in soil bacteria. Researchers at the University of Washington also created a bioplastic that degrades on the same timescale as a banana peel in a backyard compost bin. Both alternatives are made from spirulina.
• The use of natural materials that capture carbon dioxide, such as seaweed, could be a game-changer. The carbon dioxide that the seaweed-based straw by Loliware removes from the atmosphere is 95 percent of what a standard plastic straw emits throughout its life cycle. Other seaweed-based innovations include Ooho, dubbed the “edible water bottle,” as well as Sea Technology and Sway.
• Alternatively, mushrooms could be a popular choice for packaging. Evocative Designs is growing its packaging from mycelium—the root structure of mushrooms. The material, EcoCradle, is compostable and grows in just nine days. Another example is Vivomer, a vegan, petroleum-free, compostable material made by microorganisms. See the Fungi Nexus.
• Sugarcane plastic is a renewable resource that is lightweight and highly durable, making it a possible substitute for traditional petroleum-based plastics. Yet, the expansion of sugarcane ethanol production in Brazil has environmental and social challenges.
• One potential solution to the waste problem is the use of machines, AI, and robotics to sort recycling. One of the most widely used AI sorters is designed by AMP Robotics. CleanRobotics uses AI to sort recycling on a smaller scale; they created the TrashBot, a disposal bin that sorts waste on the spot. Trashbot’s recycling technology sorts 300% more accurately than humans. Greyparrot is another example: a waste recognition software that sits on top of conveyor belts, allowing waste to be sorted at scale.
• Chemical recycling is being identified as an upcoming technology. Chemical recycling breaks down polymers into their building blocks, allowing for the production of recycled plastic that has virgin properties and can be used in demanding applications, such as food contact. Yet, issues with chemical recycling include that it’s an unproven technology, not climate-friendly, and a toxic hazard.

Creatively repair and repurpose old materials, bringing new life to others' trash, and discover other incredible artists using recycled materials in their art for inspiration. Many artists around the world are turning unwanted materials into extraordinary works. Precious Plastic workspaces where people transform plastic waste into new products. If you’re skilled at this, consider teaching a classroom or community workshop on how to make art from recyclables.

Recognize the harmful life cycle of oil-based plastic, a commodity used across a vast range of sectors, and other materials frequently used for packaging like glass and aluminum. Packaging is a growing issue as the average European generates nearly 180 kilos of packaging waste per year. Each material has negative consequences for planetary health, illuminating the importance of an overall reduction in packaging use.

• Plastic pollution isn’t just an issue of waste accumulation. It starts within the production processes, as ninety-eight percent of all plastics are made by heating fossil fuels — a very cheap feedstock. Petrochemical manufacturing, a precursor to creating plastic, is expanding and comes with racial and socioeconomic inequalities at nearly every step of the process, including air and water pollution, as evidenced by ‘Cancer Alley’ in Louisiana.
• The growth of hydraulic fracturing and its use of huge volumes of water per well may strain local ground and surface water supplies. Plus, most of the water used is not recoverable due to the many fluid additives used that can be toxic, carcinogenic, and mutagenic. Water is a finite resource, and only one-hundredth of one percent of the global supply is readily available for human use. See the Freshwater Nexus.
• Due to fossil fuel extraction and transport, plastic production is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide and methane. Plastic refining is among the most energy and emissions-intensive industries in the manufacturing sector. Plus, every piece of plastic ever made still exists.
• An aspect of decoupling plastics from fossil feedstocks is reducing cycle losses and dematerializing. After a short first-use cycle, 95 percent of plastic packaging material value (USD 80–120 billion annually) is lost to the economy. The Circulytics platform measures a company’s progress toward designing waste out of its business model.
• Glass used for packaging has a high recycling rate compared to other packaging materials; in Europe, the average glass recycling rate is 76 percent. Yet, glass bottles have a higher environmental footprint than other container materials because the mining of silica sand causes significant damage, from land deterioration to biodiversity loss.
• Sand is the second most-used resource in the world after water. In recent years, the use of silica sand for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has been the most prominent factor driving growth in the industrial sand market. Industrial sand, “frac sand,” is crucial to the process of fracking oil and natural gas, and a single fracking site can use millions of pounds of sand. Thus, plastic packaging is also responsible for silica mining.
• The aluminum can seems to be at the forefront of innovation, but its production releases about twice as much carbon into the atmosphere as each plastic bottle. To obtain bauxite, the common ore that aluminum comes from, an extensive process of mining, refining, and smelting all demand substantial energy inputs. Yet, consumers are nearly twice as likely to recycle aluminum than plastic, and it’s said to be a good recycler with 75 percent of aluminum ever produced still in use.
• Making recycled aluminum only takes around five percent of the energy needed to make new aluminum. Because aluminum is lightweight and can make efficient use of space, less transport is usually needed, and less energy is also needed to chill cans. However, economics are a factor: aluminum is more expensive than plastic, and the raw material costs about 25-30 percent higher.

Design products and consumer goods for circularity—prioritizing improved durability and recyclability—and extend producer responsibility to consider the entire life cycle—offering return and resale services. Circular supply chains may shrink environmental footprint, trim operational waste, and use expensive resources more efficiently. The Harvard Business Review offers these strategies for developing a circular business model: retain product ownership, product life extension, and design for recycling.

• Consumers are demanding progress on sustainable solutions. Forty-eight percent believe manufacturers are responsible for driving change and pioneering sustainable solutions. Seventy-three percent of Generation Z consumers are “keen” to reuse packaging. Researchers also found that customers spent 4.8 percent more after they became aware of the manufacturer’s take-back program.
• Most consumers globally (71 percent) believe that being able to trust a brand to do the right thing environmentally is a deal-maker or deal-breaker for purchase. Plastic has joined climate change as the top two environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks; 63 percent of businesses that pay attention to ESG performance report enhanced returns. Meanwhile, the ’lost trust’ of consumers cost global brands $2.5 trillion last year.
• The Ellen MacArthur Foundation recommends a cross-value chain dialogue mechanism to set direction on redesigning and converging materials and after-use systems. CEFLEX is developing robust design guidelines for both packaging and infrastructure for the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive: a harmonized definition of high-quality recycling.
• Create goods and services that make it possible for people to change their habits by developing multiple revenue streams, not only from selling new stuff but also from resale, repair, upgrade, and rental models. For example, apparel resale has grown more than 21 times faster than traditional retail in recent years (see Clothing Nexus).
• Greenpeace promotes a shift to refill- and reuse-based economies. Reuse shifts value, adding it toward the end of the life cycle and away from the start (material extraction and manufacturing). Still, reusable items must be reused a certain number of times to be more sustainable– that means 10-20 times for reusable water bottles.
• Reuse systems need to be significantly and urgently scaled. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation identified three key performance drivers for a shift to refill- and resume-based economies: scale and shared infrastructure, packaging standardization and pooling, and high return rates. Another model, the Reuse Viability Framework, generated six dimensions of a successful, large-scale, system-wide reuse paradigm.
• When redesigning existing products or creating new ones, companies should focus on using alternative materials or recycled plastic when plastic-like functionality is needed. Bio-based plastics can have a lower carbon footprint and exhibit advantageous material properties; however, these benefits can have trade-offs, including negative agricultural impacts, competition with food production, unclear end-of-life management, and higher costs.

Improve the accessibility of take-back systems and create reward models for consumers who do recycle. The best motivations bundle environmental benefits with personal benefits, such as economic rewards, increased status, or social connections. In one survey, 41 percent of respondents said that money or rewards were the most effective way to get them to recycle.

• The original mass market deposit return systems were created by beer, soda and dairy companies to get their bottles back for washing and refilling. Loop has established partnerships with leading retailers globally to enable refillable versions of their conventional single-use products. a ten percent increase in the share of beverages sold in refillable bottles could result in a 22 percent decrease in marine pollution.
• Refillable bottles are typically made from glass or PET plastic. Glass bottles can be reused up to 50 times and PET bottles up to 25 times, and 95 to 99 percent of refillables are returned for reuse. Refillable bottles can save up to 40 percent of the raw materials and 50 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions.
• Many deposit return systems use automated ‘reverse vending machines.’ The machine gives back a deposit or refund amount to the end user—this is what makes it a ’reverse’ vending machine. TOMRA invented the world's first reverse vending machine and now has 82,000 installations across more than 60 global markets, capturing more than 45 billion beverage containers every year.
• Recyclebank rewards people for recycling with discounts and deals from local and national businesses. Similarly, TerraCycle offers free, national recycling programs that offer incentives that are redeemable for a cash payment to the non-profit organization or school of your choice.
• Other examples include Bee’ah Rewards in Abu Dhabi, which invites citizens to win prizes, and the Bali Plastic Exchange, where local residents can collect plastic trash to be sold to a recycling company and receive rice in return.

A Circular Solution by Waterbear (3 mins.)

Behind the Screens Documentary by Fair Phone/Waterbear (10 mins.)

Challenge the Gap with Paul Black Documentary by Waterbear (15 mins.)

The Clean Bin Project Documentary by Grant Baldwin (77 mins.)

A Plastic Ocean by Mediabox (100 mins.)

E-LIFE Documentary by Waterbear (52 mins.)

The Story of Stuff by The Story of Stuff Project (21 mins.)

Trashed Documentary with Jeremy Irons  (98 mins.)

A Healthy Economy Should be Designed to Thrive, Not Grow by Kate Raworth / TED (16 mins.)

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart / North Point Press

The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability– Designing for Abundance by William McDonough and Michael Braungart / North Point Press

The Handbook to Building a Circular Economy by David Cheshire/ Routledge

Circularity Gap Report by Circle Economy Foundation

Circular Claims Fall Flat Report by Greenpeace

Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century by Kate Raworth / Chelsea Green Publishing

The Circular Economy Show by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Circular Economy Podcast by Catherine Weetman

Reusing Chairs, Bricks, Even Lab Equipment by Building a Circular Economy with Garry Cooper (14 mins.)

Circular by TED Radio Hour (48 mins.)

The Circular Economy and Climate Action by Big Ideas Into Action Podcast (21 mins.)