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82-538: Bruce Charles " Bill " Mollison (4 May 1928 – 24 September 2016) was an Australian researcher, author, scientist, teacher and biologist. In 1981, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award "for developing and promoting the theory and practice of permaculture ". Permaculture (from "permanent agriculture") is an integrated system of ecological and environmental design which Mollison co-developed with David Holmgren and which they envisioned together as

164-517: A "closed economy," in which resources and sinks are tied and remain as long as possible part of the economy. Boulding's essay "The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth" is often cited as the first expression of the "circular economy", although Boulding does not use that phrase. The circular economy is grounded in the study of feedback -rich ( non-linear ) systems, particularly living systems . The contemporary understanding of

246-463: A circular economic system is a prerequisite for the maintenance of the sustainability of human life on Earth. Boulding describes the so-called "cowboy economy" as an open system in which the natural environment is typically perceived as limitless: no limit exists on the capacity of the outside to supply or receive energy and material flows. Walter R. Stahel and Geneviève Reday-Mulvey, in their book "The Potential for Substituting Manpower for Energy," lay

328-463: A circular economy by 2030 might result in an additional 7-8 million jobs being created globally. However, other research has also found that the adoption of circular economy principles may lead to job losses in emerging economies. On the other hand, implementing a circular economy in the United States has been presented by Ranta et al. who analyzed the institutional drivers and barriers for

410-496: A circular economy was identified as a national policy in China's 11th five-year plan starting in 2006. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has more recently outlined the economic opportunity of a circular economy, bringing together complementary schools of thought in an attempt to create a coherent framework, thus giving the concept a wide exposure and appeal. Most frequently described as a framework for thinking, its supporters claim it

492-424: A circular economy, business models play a crucial role in enabling the shift from linear to circular processes. Various business models have been identified that support circularity, including product-as-a-service, sharing platforms, and product life extension models, among others. These models aim to optimize resource utilization, reduce waste, and create value for businesses and customers alike, while contributing to

574-419: A circular economy, namely in skills in circular design and production, new business models, skills in building cascades and reverse cycles, and cross-cycle/cross-sector collaboration. This is supported by a case study from the automotive industry , highlighting the importance of integrating a circular model holistically within the entire value chain of a company, taking into account the interdependencies between

656-512: A cornerstone to enabling a circular economy and enhancing the sustainability of energy infrastructure. One example of a circular economy model is the implementation of renting models in traditional ownership areas (e.g., electronics, clothes, furniture, transportation). By renting the same product to several clients, manufacturers can increase revenues per unit, thus decreasing the need to produce more to increase revenues. Recycling initiatives are often described as circular economy and are likely to be

738-501: A finite lifespan, which end up in landfills or in incinerators . The circular approach, by contrast, takes insights from living systems. It considers that our systems should work like organisms, processing nutrients that can be fed back into the cycle—whether biological or technical—hence the "closed loop" or "regenerative" terms usually associated with it. The generic circular economy label can be applied to or claimed by several different schools of thought, but all of them gravitate around

820-577: A future where waste no longer exists, where material loops are closed, and products are recycled indefinitely is, in any practical sense, impossible. They point out that a lack of inclusion of indigenous discourses from the Global South means that the conversation is less eco-centric than it depicts itself. There is a lack of clarity as to whether the circular economy is more sustainable than the linear economy and what its social benefits might be, in particular, due to diffuse contours. Other issues include

902-508: A perennial and sustainable form of agriculture. In 1974, Mollison began his collaboration with Holmgren and in 1978 they published their book Permaculture One , which introduced this design system to the general public. Mollison is also the developer of the herb spiral , a herb-growing structure that allows herbs with different growing requirements to coexist in a small space. Mollison founded The Permaculture Institute in Tasmania and created

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984-580: A report was released entitled Towards the Circular Economy: Economic and Business Rationale for an Accelerated Transition . The report, commissioned by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and developed by McKinsey & Company , was the first volume of its kind to consider the economic and business opportunity for the transition to a restorative, circular model. Using product case studies and economy-wide analysis,

1066-700: A scientist with the CSIRO Wildlife Survey Section and with the Tasmanian Inland Fisheries Department, I began to protest against the political and industrial systems I saw were killing us and the world around us. But I soon decided that it was no good persisting with opposition that in the end achieved nothing. I withdrew from society for two years; I did not want to oppose anything ever again and waste time. I wanted to come back only with something very positive, something that would allow us all to exist without

1148-490: A set of steps, or levels of circularity, typically using English verbs or nouns starting with the letter "r". The first such model, known as the "Three R principle", was "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle", which can be traced back as early as the 1970s. According to Breteler (2022), the 'most comprehensive and extensive' of four compared models was the "10R principle", developed by sustainable entrepreneurship professor and former Dutch Environment Minister Jacqueline Cramer . In 2013,

1230-407: A shift from fossil fuels to the use of renewable energy , and emphasize the role of diversity as a characteristic of resilient and sustainable systems. The circular economy includes a discussion of the role of money and finance as part of the wider debate, and some of its pioneers have called for a revamp of economic performance measurement tools. One study points out how modularization could become

1312-860: A three month lecture tour of USA and Canada, during which he visited & gave talks at the International Tree Crops Institute (Miles & Libby Merwin, Winters, CA), Farallones Institute Rural Centre (Sonoma, CA), Integral Urban House (Berkeley, CA), Village Homes (Davis, CA), Appropriate Technology Group (Professor Isao Fujimoto, Davis CA), The Tree People (Andy Lipkis, Los Angeles, CA), Rural Education Center (Samuel Kaymen, Wilton NH, in 1983 called Stonyfield Farm), New Alchemy Institute (John & Nancy Todd, Woods Hole, MA), Institute for Local Self-Reliance (Washington, DC), Office of Appropriate Technology (Scott Sklar, now Professor Scott Sklar, Director George Washington Solar Institute, Washington, DC), and The Farm (Summertown, TN) He taught

1394-483: A three-week course at The Tree People in Los Angeles in 1981. In 1981, the first graduates of the permaculture design course (PDC) that he had helped to initiate, started to design permaculture systems in their respective communities. In this way, the philosophy of permaculture had begun to move beyond its original context in "land management" to cover most, if not all, aspects of human life. In 1987, Mollison taught

1476-478: Is a coherent model that has value as part of a response to the end of the era of cheap oil and materials and, moreover, contributes to the transition to a low-carbon economy . In line with this, a circular economy can contribute to meeting the COP 21 Paris Agreement . The emissions reduction commitments made by 195 countries at the COP 21 Paris Agreement are not sufficient to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. To reach

1558-436: Is a framework of three principles, driven by design: eliminating waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. It is based increasingly on renewable energy and materials, and it is accelerated by digital innovation. It is a resilient, distributed, diverse, and inclusive economic model. The circular economy is an economic concept often linked to sustainable development , provision of

1640-421: Is a strategy where waste from one industry becomes an input for another, creating a network of resource exchange and reducing waste, pollution, and resource consumption. Similarly, circular cities aim to integrate circular principles into urban planning and development, foster local resource loops, and promote sustainable lifestyles among their citizens. Less than 10% of economic activity worldwide in 2022 and 2023

1722-472: Is a whole human system. He helped found the first Permaculture Institute, established in 1979 to "teach the practical design of sustainable soil, water, plant, and legal and economic systems to students worldwide." Bill Mollison taught the first Permaculture Design course at Stanley, Tasmania in January 1980. It was attended by 10 Australian students including Max O'Lindegger and Denis McCarthy (co-recipients of

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1804-427: Is an economic system that targets zero waste and pollution throughout materials lifecycles, from environment extraction to industrial transformation, and final consumers, applying to all involved ecosystems. Upon its lifetime end, materials return to either an industrial process or, in the case of a treated organic residual, safely back to the environment as in a natural regenerating cycle. It operates by creating value at

1886-533: Is circular. Every year, the global population uses approximately 100 billion tonnes of materials, with more than 90% of them being wasted. The circular economy seeks to address this by eliminating waste entirely. The concept of a circular economy cannot be traced back to one single date or author, rather to different schools of thought. The concept of a circular economy can be linked to various schools of thought, including industrial ecology , biomimicry , and cradle-to-cradle design principles. Industrial ecology

1968-954: Is expected to facilitate the transition to a circular economy that will reduce GHG emissions by 25 percent, according to the published statement. Product designs that optimize durability, ease of maintenance and repair, upgradability, re-manufacturability, separability, disassembly, and reassembly are considered key elements for the transition toward circularity of products. Standardization can facilitate related "innovative, sustainable and competitive advantages for European businesses and consumers". Design for standardization and compatibility would make "product parts and interfaces suitable for other products and aims at multi-functionality and modularity". A "Product Family Approach" has been proposed to establish "commonality, compatibility, standardization, or modularization among different products or product lines". It has been argued that emerging technologies should be designed with circular economy principles from

2050-517: Is often summarized as "take, make, waste." By contrast, a circular economy aims to transition from a 'take-make-waste' approach to a more restorative and regenerative system. It employs reuse , sharing , repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling to create a closed-loop system, reducing the use of resource inputs and the creation of waste , pollution, and carbon emissions. The circular economy aims to keep products, materials, equipment, and infrastructure in use for longer, thus improving

2132-411: Is the irrevocable loss of raw materials due to their increase in entropy in the linear business model. Starting with the production of waste in manufacturing, the entropy increases further by mixing and diluting materials in their manufacturing assembly, followed by corrosion and wear and tear during the usage period. At the end of the life cycle, there is an exponential increase in disorder arising from

2214-498: Is the study of material and energy flows through industrial systems, which forms the basis of the circular economy. Biomimicry involves emulating nature's time-tested patterns and strategies in designing human systems. Cradle-to-cradle design is a holistic approach to designing products and systems that considers their entire life cycle, from raw material extraction to end-of-life disposal, and seeks to minimize waste and maximize resource efficiency. These interrelated concepts contribute to

2296-500: The European Commission , "The Potential for Substituting Manpower for Energy," Walter Stahel and Genevieve Reday sketched the vision of an economy in loops (or a circular economy) and its impact on job creation , economic competitiveness , resource savings and waste prevention . The report was published in 1982 as the book Jobs for Tomorrow: The Potential for Substituting Manpower for Energy . In 1982, Walter Stahel

2378-516: The Sustainable Development Goals (Global Development Goals), and an extension of a green economy. Other definitions and precise thresholds that separate linear from circular activity have also been developed in the economic literature. In a linear economy , natural resources are turned into products that are ultimately destined to become waste because of the way they have been designed and manufactured. This process

2460-426: The 1.5 °C ambition, it is estimated that additional emissions reductions of 15 billion tonnes of CO 2 per year need to be achieved by 2030. Circle Economy and Ecofys estimated that circular economy strategies may deliver emissions reductions that could bridge the gap by half. Linear "take, make, dispose" industrial processes , and the lifestyles dependent on them, use up finite reserves to create products with

2542-627: The 1970s, it was a beneficial assembly of plants and animals in relation to human settlements, mostly aimed towards household and community self-reliance, and perhaps as a "commercial endeavor" only arising from a surplus from that system. However, permaculture has come to mean more than just food-sufficiency in the household. Self-reliance in food is meaningless unless people have access to land, information, and financial resources. So in recent years it has come to encompass appropriate legal and financial strategies, including strategies for land access, business structures, and regional self-financing. This way it

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2624-506: The CE currently faces, strategic management for details of the circular economy and different outcomes such as potential re-use applications and waste management. The circular economy includes products, infrastructure, equipment, services and buildings and applies to every industry sector. It includes 'technical' resources (metals, minerals, fossil resources) and 'biological' resources (food, fibres, timber, etc.). Most schools of thought advocate

2706-588: The Environment , Pearce and Turner explain the shift from the traditional linear or open-ended economic system to the circular economic system (Pearce and Turner, 1990). They describe an economic system where waste at extraction, production, and consumption stages is turned into inputs. In the early 2000s, China integrated the notion into its industrial and environmental policies to make them resource-oriented, production-oriented, waste-oriented, use-oriented, and life cycle-oriented. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation

2788-622: The Inland Fisheries Commission, where he was able to resume his field work. In 1966, he entered the University of Tasmania. After he received a degree in bio-geography, he stayed on to lecture and teach and developed the unit of Environmental Psychology. He retired from teaching in 1979. Mollison's work with the CSIRO laid the foundation for his life-long passion: Permaculture. Mollison told his student Toby Hemenway that

2870-662: The Product-Life Institute in Geneva . In the UK, Steve D. Parker researched waste as a resource in the UK agricultural sector in 1982, developing novel closed-loop production systems. These systems mimicked and worked with the biological ecosystems they exploited. Circular economy often refers to quantities of recycled materials or reduced waste, however Cradle to Cradle Design focuses on quality of products including safety for humans and environmental health. Popularized by

2952-579: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.236 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 945713538 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:47:59 GMT Circular economy The idea and concepts of a circular economy have been studied extensively in academia, business, and government over the past ten years. It has been gaining popularity because it can help to minimize carbon emissions and

3034-527: The book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking The Way We Make Things , Cradle to Cradle Design has been widely implemented by architect William McDonough , who was introduced as the "father of the circular economy" while receiving the 2017 Fortune Award for Circular Economy Leadership in Davos during the World Economic Forum . In the 2010s, several models of a circular economy were developed that employed

3116-520: The circular economy and its practical applications to economic systems has evolved, incorporating different features and contributions from a variety of concepts sharing the idea of closed loops. Some of the relevant theoretical influences are cradle to cradle , laws of ecology (e.g., Barry Commoner § The Closing Circle ), looped and performance economy ( Walter R. Stahel ), regenerative design , industrial ecology , biomimicry and blue economy (see section "Related concepts"). The circular economy

3198-440: The circular economy are that it could enable economic growth that does not add to the burden on natural resource extraction but decouples resource uses from the development of economic welfare for a growing population, reduces foreign dependence on critical materials, lowers CO 2 emissions, reduces waste production, and introduces new modes of production and consumption able to create further value. Corporate arguments in favour of

3280-417: The circular economy are that it could secure the supply of raw materials, reduce the price volatility of inputs and control costs, reduce spills and waste, extend the life cycle of products, serve new segments of customers, and generate long-term shareholder value. A key idea behind the circular business models is to create loops throughout to recapture value that would otherwise be lost. Of particular concern

3362-455: The circular economy in different regions worldwide, by following the framework developed by Scott R. In the article, different worldwide environment-friendly institutions were selected, and two types of manufacturing processes were chosen for the analysis (1) a product-oriented, and (2) a waste management. Specifically, in the U.S., the product-oriented company case in the study was Dell , a US manufacturing company for computer technology, which

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3444-475: The circular economy may overstate the potential benefits of the circular economy. These critiques put forward the idea that the circular economy has too many definitions to be delimited, making it an umbrella concept that, although exciting and appealing, is hard to understand and assess. Critiques mean that the literature ignores much-established knowledge. In particular, it neglects the thermodynamic principle that one can neither create nor destroy matter. Therefore,

3526-527: The circular economy. For example, in China , CE is promoted as a top-down national political objective, meanwhile in other areas, such as the European Union, Japan, and the USA, it is a tool to design bottom-up environmental and waste management policies. The ultimate goal of promoting CE is the decoupling of environmental pressure from economic growth. A comprehensive definition could be: "Circular economy

3608-416: The circular economy. In addition, it is important to underline the innovation aspect at the heart of sustained development based on circular economy components. The circular economy can have a broad scope. Researchers have focused on different areas such as industrial applications with both product-oriented and natural resources and services, practices and policies to better understand the limitations that

3690-687: The consumption of raw materials, open up new market prospects, and, principally, increase the sustainability of consumption . At a government level, a circular economy is viewed as a method of combating global warming , as well as a facilitator of long-term growth. CE may geographically connect actors and resources to stop material loops at the regional level. In its core principle, the European Parliament defines CE as "a model of production and consumption that involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. In this way,

3772-408: The development and implementation of the circular economy. General systems theory, founded by the biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy , considers growth and energy for open and closed state systems. This theory was then applied to other areas, such as, in the case of the circular economy, economics. Economist Kenneth E. Boulding , in his paper "The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth," argued that

3854-504: The education system to train others under the umbrella of permaculture. This education system of "train the trainer", utilized through a formal Permaculture Design Course and Certification (PDC), has taught hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world how to grow food and be sustainable using permaculture design principles. Bruce Charles "Bill" Mollison was born in 1928 in the Bass Strait fishing village of Stanley located in

3936-548: The family bakery. In the following 10 years he worked as a shark fisherman, seaman, forester, mill worker, trapper, snarer, tractor-driver and naturalist. In 1954, at the age of 26, Mollison joined and worked for the 'Wildlife Survey Section' of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). In the 1960s, he worked as a curator at the Tasmanian Museum. He also worked with

4018-409: The field such as Walter R Stahel , Bill Rees and Robert Constanza . At the time still called 'preventive environmental management', his follow-on book Material Concerns: Pollution, Profit and Quality of Life synthesized these findings into a manifesto for change, moving industrial production away from an extractive linear system towards a more circular economy. In their 1976 research report to

4100-491: The first PDC course that was offered in India. By 2011 there had been over 300,000 such graduates practicing and teaching throughout the world. He has been called the founder and "father" of permaculture . In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mollison appeared in several video productions that helped popularize permaculture concepts. Articles Right Livelihood Award Too Many Requests If you report this error to

4182-563: The first Permaculture Institute's Community Service Award), Dave Blewett (author of Arid Land Permaculture), Ginger Gordy (second President of the Permaculture Association of WA), Kirsten Beggs (WA), John Fargher (SA) and Tagari Community members Andrew Jeeves & Simon Fjell (co-founder Permaculture Institute in 1979, currently Permaculture Institute International). In May 1980 Bill Mollison, his wife Philomena, Andrew Jeeves, Peter Moore (photographer) and Denis McCarthy began

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4264-454: The foundation for the principles of the circular economy by describing how increasing labour may reduce energy intensive activities. Simple economic models have ignored the economy-environment interrelationships. Allan Kneese in " The Economics of Natural Resources " indicates how resources are not endlessly renewable, and mentions the term circular economy for the first time explicitly in 1988. In their book Economics of Natural Resources and

4346-432: The increasing risks of cascading failures which are a feature of highly interdependent systems , and have potential harm to the general public. When implemented in bad faith , touted "Circular Economy" activities can often be little more than reputation and impression management for public relations purposes by large corporations and other vested interests; constituting a new form of greenwashing . It may thus not be

4428-443: The initial focus of the academic, industry, and policy activities was mainly focused on the development of re-X (recycling, remanufacturing, reuse, etc.) technology, it soon became clear that the technological capabilities increasingly exceed their implementation. To leverage this technology for the transition toward a circular economy, various stakeholders have to work together. This shifted attention towards business-model innovation as

4510-460: The issue of environmental resources. The circular economy aims to transform our economy into one that is regenerative. An economy that innovates to reduce waste and the ecological and environmental impact of industries prior to happening, rather than waiting to address the consequences of these issues. This is done by designing new processes and solutions for the optimization of resources, decoupling reliance on finite resources. The circular economy

4592-449: The knowledge about sustainable, ecological techniques from all parts of the world. Soon after permaculture was first introduced and then put into practice by the public, Mollison recognized that permaculture principles encompassed a movement that included not only agriculture, horticulture, architecture, and ecology, but also economic systems, land access strategies, and legal systems for businesses and communities: As I saw permaculture in

4674-609: The late 1960s, he started developing ideas about stable agricultural systems on the southern Australian island state of Tasmania. This resulted from his own personal observations of the growth and use of the industrial-agricultural methods that he believed had rapidly degraded the soil of his native state. In his view, these same methods posed a danger because they were highly dependent on non-renewable resources, and were additionally poisoning land and water, reducing biodiversity , and removing billions of tons of topsoil from previously fertile landscapes. Writes Mollison: After many years as

4756-420: The life cycle of products is extended." Global implementation of circular economy can reduce global emissions by 22.8 billion tons, 39% of global emissions in the year 2019. By implementing circular economy strategies in five sectors alone: cement , aluminum , steel , plastics , and food 9.3 billion metric tons of CO 2 equivalent (equal to all current emissions from transportation), can be reduced. In

4838-494: The macro, meso, and micro levels and exploiting to the fullest the sustainability nested concept. Used energy sources are clean and renewable. Resource use and consumption are efficient. Government agencies and responsible consumers play an active role in ensuring the correct system long-term operation." More generally, circular development is a model of economic, social, and environmental production and consumption that aims to build an autonomous and sustainable society in tune with

4920-462: The mixing of materials in landfills. As a result of this directionality of the entropy law, the world's resources are effectively "lost forever". Circular development is directly linked to the circular economy and aims to build a sustainable society based on recyclable and renewable resources, to protect society from waste, and to be able to form a model that no longer considering resources as infinite. This new model of economic development focuses on

5002-732: The most widespread models. According to a report of the organization "Circle economy" global implementation of circular economy can reduce global emissions by 22.8 billion tons, 39% of global emissions in the year 2019. By 2050, 9.3 billion metric tons ofCO 2 equivalent, or almost half of the global greenhouse gas emissions from the production of goods, might be reduced by implementing circular economy strategies in only five significant industries: cement, aluminum, steel, plastics, and food. That would equal to eliminating all current emissions caused by transportation. As early as 1966, Kenneth Boulding raised awareness of an "open economy" with unlimited input resources and output sinks, in contrast with

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5084-547: The north-west of Tasmania , Australia. In 1987, he moved from Tasmania to Tyalgum in the Tweed Valley of northern New South Wales , where he lived for the next decade before returning to Tasmania. He spent his final years at Sisters Beach , north-western Tasmania. He died in Hobart, Tasmania, in 2016, aged 88. He was survived by his fifth wife, Lisa, four daughters and two sons. Mollison left school at age 15 to help run

5166-488: The notion benefited from three major events: the explosion of raw material prices between 2000 and 2010, the Chinese control of rare earth materials, and the 2008 economic crisis. Today, the climate emergency and environmental challenges induce companies and individuals in rethink their production and consumption patterns. The circular economy is framed as one of the answers to these challenges. Key macro-arguments in favour of

5248-457: The original idea for permaculture came to him in 1959 while he was observing marsupials browsing in the Tasmanian rain forests, because he was "inspired and awed by the life-giving abundance and rich interconnectedness of this eco-system." At that moment, Mollison jotted down the following words in his diary: "I believe that we could build systems that would function as well as this one does." By

5330-469: The overall goals of the circular economy. Businesses can also make the transition to the circular economy, where holistic adaptations in firms' business models are needed. The implementation of circular economy principles often requires new visions and strategies and a fundamental redesign of product concepts, service offerings, and channels towards long-life solutions, resulting in the so-called 'circular business models'. There are many definitions of

5412-405: The overall product/service provision system assessed based on the life-cycle assessment approach". One study suggests that "a mandatory certification scheme for recyclers of electronic waste, in or out of Europe, would help to incentivize high-quality treatment processes and efficient material recovery". Digitalization may enable more efficient corporate processes and minimize waste. While

5494-446: The panacea many had hoped for. Intuitively, the circular economy would appear to be more sustainable than the current linear economic system. Reducing the resources used and the waste and leakage created conserves resources and helps to reduce environmental pollution. However, it is argued by some that these assumptions are simplistic and that they disregard the complexity of existing systems and their potential trade-offs. For example,

5576-607: The product, process, and system level. Another report by WRAP and the Green Alliance (called "Employment and the circular economy: job creation in a more resource efficient Britain"), done in 2015 has examined different public policy scenarios to 2030. It estimates that, with no policy change, 200,000 new jobs will be created, reducing unemployment by 54,000. A more aggressive policy scenario could create 500,000 new jobs and permanently reduce unemployment by 102,000. The International Labour Organization predicts that implementing

5658-434: The production of goods and services, taking into account environmental and social costs. Circular development, therefore, supports the circular economy to create new societies in line with new waste management and sustainability objectives that meet the needs of citizens. It is about enabling economies and societies, in general, to become more sustainable. However, critiques of the circular economy suggest that proponents of

5740-562: The productivity of these resources. Waste materials and energy should become input for other processes through waste valorization : either as a component for another industrial process or as regenerative resources for nature (e.g., compost). The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) defines the circular economy as an industrial economy that is restorative or regenerative by value and design. Circular economy strategies can be applied at various scales, from individual products and services to entire industries and cities. For example, industrial symbiosis

5822-531: The report details the potential for significant benefits across the EU. It argues that a subset of the EU manufacturing sector could realize net materials cost savings worth up to $ 630 billion annually towards 2025—stimulating economic activity in the areas of product development, remanufacturing and refurbishment. Towards the Circular Economy also identified the key building blocks in making the transition to

5904-428: The same basic principles. One prominent thinker on the topic is Walter R. Stahel , an architect, economist, and founding father of industrial sustainability. Credited with having coined the expression "Cradle to Cradle" (in contrast with "Cradle to Grave," illustrating our "Resource to Waste" way of functioning), in the late 1970s, Stahel worked on developing a "closed loop" approach to production processes, co-founding

5986-414: The social dimension of sustainability seems to be only marginally addressed in many publications on the circular economy. Some cases that might require different or additional strategies, like purchasing new, more energy-efficient equipment. By reviewing the literature, a team of researchers from Cambridge and TU Delft showed that there are at least eight different relationship types between sustainability and

6068-401: The start, including solar panels . For sustainability and health, the circularity process designs may be of crucial importance. Large amounts of electronic waste are already recycled but far from where they were consumed, with often low efficiency, and with substantial negative effects on human health and the foreign environment . Recycling should therefore "reduce environmental impacts of

6150-500: The wholesale collapse of biological systems. In 1974–75, he and David Holmgren "jointly evolved a framework for a sustainable agricultural system based on a multi-crop of perennial trees, shrubs, herbs (vegetables and weeds), fungi, and root systems" for which they coined the word "permaculture". Holmgren was a student at the radical Environmental Design School in the Tasmanian College of Environmental Education. Mollison

6232-399: The working life of products, to make goods last longer, to reuse existing goods, and ultimately to prevent waste. This model emphasizes the importance of selling services rather than products, an idea referred to as the "functional service economy" and sometimes put under the wider notion of "performance economy." This model also advocates "more localization of economic activity". Promoting

6314-483: Was a senior tutor in the Psychology Dept of the University of Tasmania." Originally intended as a contraction of permanent agriculture, Mollison quickly realised it was a system for permanent culture, as without a productive landscape, a healthy ecology and a circular economy , no culture would survive. Permaculture began as both a positive concept – open to new information – and a practice that could integrate

6396-468: Was awarded third prize in the Mitchell Prize competition on sustainable business models with his paper, The Product-Life Factor. The first prize went to the then US Secretary of Agriculture, the second prize to Amory and Hunter Lovins, and fourth prize to Peter Senge. Considered one of the first pragmatic and credible sustainability think tanks , the main goals of Stahel's institute are to extend

6478-562: Was further modelled by British environmental economists David W. Pearce and R. Kerry Turner in 1989. In Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment , they pointed out that a traditional open-ended economy was developed with no built-in tendency to recycle, which was reflected by treating the environment as a waste reservoir. In the early 1990s, Tim Jackson began to create the scientific basis for this new approach to industrial production in his edited collection Clean Production Strategies , including chapters from preeminent writers in

6560-561: Was instrumental in the diffusion of the concept in Europe and the Americas. In 2010, the concept of circular economy started to become popular internationally after the publication of several reports. The European Union introduced its vision of the circular economy in 2014, with a New Circular Economy Action Plan launched in 2020 that "shows the way to a climate-neutral, competitive economy of empowered consumers". The original diffusion of

6642-458: Was the first company to offer free recycling to customers and to launch to the market a computer made from recycling materials from a verified third-party source. Moreover, the waste management case that includes many stages such as collection, disposal, recycling in the study was Republic Services , the second-largest waste management company in the US. The approach to defining the drivers and barriers

6724-544: Was to first identify indicators for their cases in study and then to categorize these indicators into drivers when the indicator was in favor of the circular economy model or a barrier when it was not. On 2 March 2022 in Nairobi, representatives of 175 countries pledged to create a legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution by the end of the year 2024. The agreement should address the full lifecycle of plastic and propose alternatives including reusability . The agreement

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