What is Circularity and How to Be a Part of it?

We live in a mostly linear economy, we mine our limited resources in the form of raw materials from the earth and industrially process them into goods and consumer products. Consumers then use the products until they wear out, just to discard them in the trash, where they will magically disappear into a landfill that we never have to see or think about.

Mine — Manufacture — Dispose

Rather than disposing of a product at its end of life, the idea of a circular economy is that we should treat the item as a resource to be mined for valuable materials and circulated back into manufacturing streams. You have heard these words before:

Maintain — Repair — Refurbish — Recycle

Unfortunately, in our current system, the onus is on the consumer to complete the circular loop. However, it is time for industries and designers to step up and start taking responsibility for the waste they are generating. The industry must start playing a major role in the end of life of the products they producing.

Many products are designed using parts that cannot be easily broken down into their basic materials to be recycled, or they use materials that cannot be recycled at all. Most products produced in the world today are not designed for longevity or repairability, they are made cheaply and are designed to fail and be replaced. Or in the case of single-use packaging, it is to be used once and then discarded without a second thought. Packaging is often produced from materials that are difficult or too expensive to recycle.

For example, take sneakers. They are designed to wear out on the sole, but once the sole wears out the rest of the shoe is still fine but there is no easy or cost-effective way to replace the sole, so you toss the whole shoe. Why can’t we design a sneaker with an easily swappable sole? This could also open up new possibilities for the sneaker, like soles for different terrains such as road, forest, or ice, all with just one shoe. Some companies like Nike are experimenting with biodegradable materials and a “take back” program where they will recycle old shoes, but this is still a tiny minority of shoes sold in the world.

How can we design for circularity?

Here is a checklist to consider:

• Only use materials that can be easily, and widely, recycled.
• Use fasteners to allow for disassembly, instead of glues or adhesives.
• Design products to be easily and efficiently disassembled for repair, refurbishing, and recycling.
• Consider your industrial manufacturing process and find opportunities to reuse waste products whenever possible
• Design products with repairability and modularity in mind.
• Question your project at every stage, ensure that your design meets a real human need.

How can we consume for circularity?

This may be a more difficult question to answer, but we can try:

First is simple; consume less.

Second, if you are going to purchase something consider its end of life.

• Not just of the thing itself but of the packaging around it. In most cases, everything we buy will leave our homes in one way or another. From food packaging to products.
• How will you dispose of that product? Is it made from materials that can be recycled in your area? Do you know how to recycle it or where to bring it if there is not a pick-up service? Can it be composted? Or given to a local farm as animal feed, in the case of food scraps? Are you purchasing from a company that has a take-back program where they will recycle back into their production stream?
• Something as mundane as a Bic pen is a short term use object made of various parts that will have to be discarded when it runs out of ink. Do you know the proper way to recycle it to minimize the chance it winds up in a landfill? As we attempt to move towards a zero waste society these are the questions we must start asking ourselves, and asking the producers.

Purchase from companies committed to sustainability and the circular economy.

• There are a variety of ways to identify these companies, from online mission statements to sustainability seals on products to corporate designations, such as B Corps and nonprofits.

Reduce the amount of plastic consumed.

• This can be a bit controversial when considering the energy cost of many plastics stacks up better against reusable materials, like glass, metal, and paper. However, when we consider that only 20% of plastic is actually recycled globally, and much of what isn’t recycled ends up in our oceans, the energy cost associated with reusable and natural materials is worth it, especially as we move towards a future of renewable energy production.

There is still a lot to learn about circularity and how we can reach a zero waste future. At every point in the chain, it is up to us to do our part.

As consumers, we must demand change from companies and support the ones working hard to do it, even when it costs a little more. We vote with our money. We must make the hard choice to consume less and help to repair the planet that is starting to break around us. This is not just a job for one person alone, this is a job for the greater population, the society, and your community. We must shift our societal norms around consumption and waste, and commit to educating our friends and neighbors to work together to reduce waste.