The warning is stark. Human activity on Earth has made us breach six out of the nine “planetary boundaries,” according to a study by leading scientists. Put simply, we are two-thirds of the way toward an unlivable planet. The take-make-waste linear model, which has ravaged the finite resources on which we depend, cannot continue indefinitely. It’s time to unleash the power of the circular economy.
As defined by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the circular economy is a system where we eliminate waste and pollution. Instead, materials are kept in circulation through maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, and recycling. In sum, it promotes the regeneration of nature by decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources.
While many firms have expressed good intentions about wanting to limit their impact on the planet, the reality is that most still struggle to translate those intentions into concrete actions. In fact, we are moving backward when it comes to circularity. As the economy has grown, so has our appetite for materials. According to the circularity gap report 2023, only 7.2% of the global economy is now circular, down from 9.1% in 2018. This means that 90% of materials are either wasted or remain unavailable for use.
The linear lock-in
Opaque value chains, the fact that we don’t design products for reuse, and a lack of infrastructure to collect, sort, and recycle are just some of the reasons why we remain locked in a linear economy, unable to make substantial progress despite our good intentions.
Moreover, circular business models aren’t taking off because it simply doesn’t pay for companies to adopt them. Until we can make the business case, we run the risk of failing to wean our economies off our insatiable demand for new materials.