Some of the information in this article was taught and inspired by Dr Andrew Naldony from Newcastle University, who lectures economics. Big thank-you to him for educating the next generation.
*None of the products or companies mentioned are affiliate/ all sources linked. None of these theories I am claiming as my own. This article is for educational purposes only and research should be conducted before acting on any of these theories.
What is the Circular Economy?
The circular economy intends to redefine growth, focusing on positive society-wide benefits. But what does this mean? Essentially, the circular economy aims to change our waste habits. Instead of throwing out most of our rubbish, we aim to recycle, reuse, upcycle and repair our typical waste. With the background “transition to renewable energy sources, the circular model builds capital based on 3 principles:
- Design out waste and pollution
- Keep products and materials in use
- Regenerate natural systems”
Household items include things like furniture, clothing, appliances, toys, electronics and packaging.
No, this doesn’t necessarily include typical household waste such as food scraps. Food scraps can be composted for the most part or frozen and given to community gardens. You can see our post on composting here.
In 2020, the average Australian household deposited about 4.9kg of food waste into land fill each week, that’s 7,300,000 (7.3 million) tonnes a year. When put into the Food Waste Greenhouse Gas Calculator, that’s 2,850,000,000kg (2.85 billion) of CO2 emissions… or 24,647,582 50L tanks of petrol. In other words, not good!
By switching to the circular economy, it would cut CO2 emissions by 3.7 billion tons by 2051. This is assuming it is implemented right now (2021) in the 5 key production sectors; cement, aluminium, steel, plastics and food.
What is our current economy?
The current economy we follow (in most parts of the world) is called the linear economy. This basically follows the make, take and dispose method meaning we use raw materials to make a product, and then after its’ use it’s disposed of. This includes the product itself, packaging and anything the product produces.
This is problematic because the resources we are currently using on Earth are not infinite. By disposing of current products so quickly, we’re taking advantage of valuable resources by throwing them away instead of using them to their full potential. This in turn uses 2 times more resources as we have to extract brand new raw materials every time, instead of spending the current materials and using extraction as a last resort. This is seen a lot in mining.
Earth currently as it sits, is only so big. By continuously disposing of products into landfill it takes up a lot of room. We’re eliminating precious green space for parks, trees and nature reserves to dump our rubbish, sounds a bit disrespectful to me. “A 2019 audit found that Melbourne is at risk of inadequate landfill capacity as early as 2025”, that’s only 4 years away guys!
What makes it sustainable?
The basic concept of reducing waste means adding less to landfill, which in of itself is an existing sustainable concept. Reducing waste means less emissions enter the atmosphere and then in turn climate change decreases, the ozone layer is repaired, greenhouse gasses are reduced etc. By recycling, we’re eliminating most of the waste and repurposing the valuable materials to create new goods. These goods are then either sold or reused in the workplace/home until the lifespan ends again, and then it’s evaluated whether it can be repurposed again or recycled for parts.
Adventuring further into this, repairing and upcycling follows the similar path of recycling. Repurposing used goods elongates their lifespan and thus leads to extended use or potentially even a new product.
How can we implement it?
The Dutch economy has developed a government-wide programme in which several ministries are involved to implement the circular economy into their nation. These include other programmes that were previously implemented into the Dutch economy such as; From Waste to Resource, Green Growth and Biobased Economy.
Europe is a forward-thinking continent that have implemented many green approaches throughout the years and are quite often leaders for these movements. In 2015 the European Commission approved plans to encourage the change to the circular economy, which was then boosted again with the Green Deal in March 2020 that involved the Circular Economy Action Plan.
8 main countries in Europe have taken specific action that made them stand out, implementing policies of their own and funding projects surrounding sustainability. These include the Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Spain, and you can read more about them here.
The Ellen Macarthur foundation has created a ‘Vision’ of what the implementation of the circular economy into cities will look like that you can see here, it’s pretty interesting and shows opportunities for buildings, mobility and products.
What can you do?
Okay so, you’ve read all about the circular economy and are ready to get started but your country isn’t implementing any nation-wide policies that you can get behind. Thankfully, like sustainability, there’s many little ‘policies’ you can apply and abide by in your own home. Assuming you already recycle and dispose of waste responsibly, there’s lots of social media trends you can join in on and blogs you can contribute to that will assist in your circular economy journey.
Some of these include Plastic Free July, zero-waste lifestyle, Terracycle recycling, saying no to things you don’t need, big brand recycling programs, composting, the Restart Project, Op Shopping. Basically just be as sustainable as possible, but remember to adapt it to YOUR lifestyle.
Resources
Companies
- ShareWaste (Aussie!)
- DyeCoo
- Close the Loop (Aussie!)
- Enerkem
- Method
- LanzaTech
- Thread
Documentaries
- ABC ‘War on Waste’
- Amazon ‘Closing the Loop’
- Netflix ‘Our Planet’
- Netflix ‘Plastic Ocean’
If you know any other great companies you can shout out, or documentaries you thought were super informative, please leave them in the comments below! Enviroble is always looking to become more educated. Knowledge is power!
Enviroble 