Why Becoming Circular Is the Best Solution for a Waste-Free Future

I used to take a bus to school that drove by a mountain. It was a mountain made entirely out of trash, right in the center of Colombo, the commercial capital and the largest city of Sri Lanka. In 2017, a part of this mountain range collapsed, killing many people living in the surrounding area.

As unsightly as they are, these trash mountains are not uncommon. With today’s linear economy, where we buy, use, and throw, again and again, it is only a matter of time until these mountains are just another thing you see everywhere around the world. The global waste crisis does not get as nearly as enough attention as some of the other crises we face today, such as climate change, global warming, and the fight against racism.

However, notwithstanding a lack of recognition, the world’s waste crisis is growing. In thirty years, we will produce approximately a billion tons more trash than we do today. Where will this ever-growing amount of trash go? That is a question yet to be answered.

The solution

To stop the generation of waste, we have to cut it down at the root cause — the disposable culture created by a linear supply chain. Today, we buy things, use things, and throw things out when we are done using them. If we are lucky, a small amount of what we throw out gets recycled and reenters the system, but a vast amount of trash goes to landfills — and that is a good outcome. The unfortunate outcome is our trash polluting land and water and ending up inside humans and animals.

The sustainable, waste-reducing alternative for a linear supply chain is the circular supply chain. In an entirely circular supply chain, products we buy do not go to waste at the end of their lives. Instead, they are reused, refurbished, repaired, repurposed, or recycled (in that order).

Instead of being thrown out, used packaging such as glass bottles and metal cans get cleaned and reused as new packaging. Broken ceramics and glass items can be repaired into new products, repurposed as artwork, or extracted for raw materials.

That is just a few examples. With a circular supply chain, you can imagine a world where nothing goes to waste at the end of their lives. And the advantages build up and propagate.

A circular supply chain saves the earth.

Extracting raw materials, primarily from non-renewable sources, is extremely energy and resource-intensive and environmentally harmful. A simple glass bottle can be cleaned and reused for a significant time, assuming it doesn’t break. Using a glass bottle once, and throwing it in the trash or recycling is a massive waste of energy and resources. For a new glass bottle, the first step in glass manufacture is mining, transporting, and processing the minerals that will be the glass inputs. The mining, transportation, and processing steps use energy and emit energy-related GHGs.

Even if recycled, the smelting and refining process for glass results in both energy emissions and non-energy process CO2 emissions from the heating of carbonates. Commercial glass containers are formed using molds. This manufacturing stage consumes fossil fuels used for energy production, resulting in energy-related GHG emissions.

Imagine all of these GHG emissions and fossil fuel usage to make something that we’ll use once and throw away. The process is similar for items made of metal, plastic, and even paper. The circular supply chain prioritizes reusing, repairing, and refurbishing, over recycling. Saving vast amounts of needless fossil fuel consumption and preventing unnecessary emissions of GHG.

A circular supply chain keeps manufacturers and retailers responsible.

Over the last few decades, we have been educating the public on proper waste management. We have asked people to sort their recycling, recycle diligently, reduce consumption, DIY when possible. The asks from the general public mounts and the public is trying as hard as it possibly can.

Meanwhile, those who are responsible for trash generation — manufacturers and retailers — continue unfazed. The linear supply chain models allow manufacturers to offload the responsibility of waste management to the general public. It also gives them leeway to mass produce, often cheap quality goods without considering the repercussions of waste generation.

The circular supply chain reverses this process. When following the circular supply chain, manufacturers have the responsibility to accept products at the end of their lives. It is the manufacturer’s responsibility to identify and implement the best way to feed these products back into the system and back to consumers and keep them from landfills.

Any manufacturer refusing to follow a circular model can face the risks of alienating environmentally conscious consumers to businesses that have adopted such models.

A circular supply chain encourages high-quality product development.

A circular supply chain depends on the longevity of the product lifecycle. High-quality products extend the product lifecycle, thus reducing the return rate and return amount.

The massive influx of mass-produced cheap quality goods into the markets is a serious contributor to the waste crisis. Cheap products usually have lower life spans and are not reusable or recyclable. Therefore, customers have to purchase cheap goods with increased frequency, increasing the amount of waste sent to landfills or becoming pollutants. Buying higher-quality goods at low frequencies is economical in the long run, and they also tend to be safer to use compared to low-quality cheaply made products.

Additionally, high-quality packaging allows the manufacturers to continuously clean and reuse it without the risk of deterioration. High-quality packaging requires the use of raw materials with low degradation probability. It forces manufacturers to choose elements such as glass and metal over plastic, thus reducing the dependency on non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels.

A circular supply chain promotes local manufacturing, reducing energy emissions during transportation.

To create the most energy-efficient and economical circular supply chain, a circular supplier needs to localize the product manufacturing and packaging process.

Product collection and cleaning facilities, as well as manufacturing facilities, should be established in every major metropolitan area catering to cities and surrounding suburbs. Local product collection can be implemented by partnering with local franchisee establishments or installing used item drop-off bins. At the end of the product usage, consumers will drop off empty packaging at the local collection points. The manufacturer will collect them on a set cadence where subsequently they go to a cleaning facility to be cleaned. Once cleaned, used packaging will reenter the supply chain as new packaging carrying more products to the consumers.

The significant component of GHG emissions and fossil fuel usage during transportation is the heavyweight of packaging and containers. The circular usage of the packaging within localities allow manufacturers to only transport raw materials, thus reducing the weight and costs associated with product transportation.

Finally, creating products within the area they serve will enable customers to enjoy products in their freshest form.

Globalization has created a world that is connected and united. However, it has also created a disconnect between consumers and manufacturers. A disconnect that has led to the waste crisis we are facing today. Until these parties work together as a part of a circular supply chain, the crisis will continue to grow. A circular supply chain is the best solution for a world that will ultimately become waste-free.