4 Principles Of The Circular Economy: Do You Know Them All?
What is the main difference between Linear and Circular Economy? What are the 4 primary principles lying at the core of the Circular Economy? How can we borrow these concepts from nature and apply them in our man-made system? The answers to the following questions are in today’s blog.
Linear vs Circular economy
In principle, the Linear Economy looks as follows:
We need raw materials (TAKE) to produce our goods (MAKE) which after usage (USE) will turn into waste (DISPOSE). Most probably, this waste will pollute our planet. And, new goods from other raw materials will be made to replace the old ones. And, we will need to extract more raw materials for these goods. And, we will also keep producing more waste.
This is not a problem as long as the economy is relatively small compared to our natural ecosystem. But when we learn about the amount of plastic which ends up in the oceans, we come to the conclusion that it is not meant to be like that. The Linear Economy is not sustainable.
The Circular Economy, in contrast, has the opposite aim: to radically limit the extraction of raw materials and the production of waste. It does this by recovering and reusing as many of the products and materials as possible. The Circular Economy is a “make/remake — use/reuse” economy.
At its heart, the Circular Economy takes inspiration from natural systems. The video produced by Ellen MacArthur Foundation provides a clear explanation of the concept:
So, what are the ‘rules’ or ‘principles’ that govern these natural systems? And, most importantly, can we use these principles in our contemporary world?
The 4 principles of the Circular Economy
- Waste = food
This principle stands for the continuous cycling of materials and products. A material or product that is no longer used, shouldn’t become ‘waste’, but instead should be part of a new cycle of use. In nature, one species’s waste is always another species’s food. For instance, birds eat berries. Bird droppings containing a berries seed and acting as a fertiliser, enable these to grow into plants. We should use the same principle in recycling, making a former waste into materials for new products (plastic, glass, paper).
2. Resilience through diversity
Resilient means being able to face change while continuing to develop. Greater biodiversity contributes to the general health of the system. Systems with many different components prove to be more resilient. A jungle or a forest ecosystem may serve as examples of this principle in nature. In a man-made system, it may be a farm producing different foods where the production processes are interconnected.
3. Energy from Renewable Resources
Solar energy, wind power, tidal power are the major sources of renewable energy which should be used more. In a natural system, a plant uses sunlight to grow. In a man-made world, we also should make use of renewable energy instead of oil and gas.
4. Think in Systems
This principle is about numerous actors working together to create effective flows of materials and information. In nature, this is the way the food chain operates. If one species goes extinct, it can affect many other species, because they are interdependent in complex ways. In the man-made system, the changes we make may lead to unexpected and oftentimes unpredictable effects.
All in all, the Circular Economy is guided by the natural system which seems to have been efficiently working for thousands of years. The 4 above-described principles are simple but require a deep understanding of all the parties — governments, companies, individuals. We should work altogether to make the Circular Economy a reality.
We express our gratitude to the online course Circular Economy: An Introduction by TU Delft for the inspiration and the valuable information for this article. We would also like to thank The Ellen MacArthur Foundation for the educational video and all the work they do towards the Circular Economy.
This article was written by Daria Kholod, a Writer & Content strategist from Rotterdam, the Netherlands. I write about the Dutch startup ecosystem, social & impact innovation and startup events.
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