Circular Economy
A Circular Economy is the revisioning of linear production models that “take-make-dispose,” aiming at the eradication of waste and pollution in a transition to sustainable economies. The model traces back to economist Kenneth E. Boulding and his 1966 article “The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth.” With a clear nod to Buckminster Fuller, Boulding’s model contrasts views of the Earth in open and closed perspectives, attributing a “Cowboy Economy” to the former, and a “Spaceman Economy” to the latter. The open, Cowboy Economy is one analogous to infinite growth, characterised by “reckless, exploitative, romantic, and violent behavior,” whereas in the Spaceman Economy Earth is seen as a “single spaceship” in which “man must find his place in a cyclical ecological system”. The basic principle of a Circular Economy is a closed-loop system of waste and by-product reutilisation, an idea that manufacturers have recognised since the 19th Century as a profitable strategy (i.e. selling waste as raw-material input for another industry), however beginning in the late 1960’s such closed-loop economic models have taken on ecological considerations.
Above all Circular Economies are responsive to resource and energy scarcity with regards to production, seeking to design economies that are sustainable, regenerative and that minimize negative externalities (unintentional by-products of production). Processes such as “maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, recycling, and composting,” factor heavily into Circular Economy dynamics. The concept has gained mainstream attention in the last decade through governmental, think tank, and consultancy advocacy (such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in collaboration with the international management consultancy firm McKinsey). Attentive to material-based lifecycles, from “environment[al] extraction to industrial transformation, and to final consumers,” within a Circular Economy materials are either reused in an industrial process, or when organically applicable, returned back into the environment in a regenerative cycle. Notably, this system requires a governance structure of ‘checks and balances’ to ensure used energy sources are either clean or renewable, and closed-loop procedures are thoroughly maintained.
As an alternative system, Circular Economies aim to redesign “the entire chain of production, consumption, distribution and recovery of materials and energy.” Critics point out that this acute focus on production chains often neglects social factors such as human labour, thus demanding that social sustainability be more conscientiously integrated into further models.
Author: Patricia Reed