- "A circular economy (also referred to as circularity or CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible."
Understanding of the concept of circular economy, which aims to eliminate waste and promote the efficient use of resources.
Cradle to Cradle: A framework developed by William McDonough and Michael Braungart that emphasizes the importance of designing products and systems for circularity from the outset.
Life cycle assessments: A methodology used to evaluate the environmental impact of a product or service throughout its entire life cycle.
Material and waste streams: The flow of materials and waste throughout a production process and how to optimize it for circularity.
Eco-design: The process of designing products and services that have a low environmental impact through the use of sustainable materials and manufacturing practices.
Biomimicry: The practice of drawing inspiration from nature to create sustainable designs and technologies.
Green supply chain management: The process of managing a supply chain in a manner that minimizes environmental impact and maximizes sustainability.
Industrial ecology: The study of how industry and ecosystems can coexist in a sustainable manner.
Sustainable packaging: The use of packaging materials and designs that minimize environmental impact.
Cradle to Grave vs. Cradle to Cradle: An overview of the different approaches to sustainability in product design.
Sustainable consumption: The concept of consuming resources in a way that does not deplete them for future generations.
Circular business models: A look at various models for creating circular economies, such as buy-back programs, leasing, and shared ownership.
Collaborative consumption: The sharing of goods and services between individuals or businesses, which can reduce waste and promote sustainability.
Energy efficiency: The practice of designing products and processes that use energy more efficiently.
Resource efficiency: The design of products that use resources such as water, minerals, and nutrients in a responsible and sustainable manner.
Regenerative design: The creation of systems and processes that promote and enhance the environment through design.
Urban design: The design of cities and towns in a way that maximizes sustainability and minimizes environmental impact.
Sustainable agriculture: The use of sustainable farming practices to reduce environmental impact and promote sustainable food production.
Sustainable textiles: The use of sustainable materials and manufacturing practices in the textile industry.
Circular tourism: The promotion of sustainable tourism practices that minimize environmental impact and promote local economies.
Circular economy policies: An overview of policy initiatives to promote circular economies, including legislative measures and public-private partnerships.
Closed-loop recycling: This involves designing products that can be recycled back into the same product repeatedly without losing their quality or functionality.
Product as a service: Instead of selling a product, companies can offer it as a service where the customers pay for the use of the product instead of owning it.
Resource recovery: This involves extracting valuable resources from waste streams.
Product redesign: Redesigning products to reduce waste and improve their lifespan.
Modular design: Designing products as a series of interchangeable parts that can be replaced or upgraded as needed.
Sharing economy: Enabling people to share goods, services and resources instead of buying their own and producing more waste.
Bio-based economy: Using renewable and organic materials instead of non-renewable resources.
Industrial symbiosis: Creating closed-loop systems where waste streams from one company become input materials for another company.
Urban mining: Recovering valuable resources from the waste streams generated by cities.
Zero waste: A goal of producing zero waste by reducing consumption, reusing and recycling materials, and designing products that are sustainable throughout their lifecycle.
- "CE aims to tackle global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution."
- "The three principles required for the transformation to a circular economy are: designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems."
- "The idea and concepts of circular economy (CE) have been studied extensively in academia, business, and government over the past ten years."
- "CE has been gaining popularity because it helps to minimize emissions and consumption of raw materials, open up new market prospects and, principally, increase the sustainability of consumption and improve resource efficiency."
- "At a government level, CE is viewed as means of combating global warming as well as a facilitator of long-term growth."
- "By the year 2050, 9.3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent (equal to all current emissions from transportation), can be reduced by implementing circular economy strategies in five sectors: cement, aluminum, steel, plastics, and food."
- "In 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."
- "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 the productivity of these resources."
- "For example, industrial symbiosis 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, fostering local resource loops and promoting sustainable lifestyles among their citizens."
- "Less than 10% of economic activity worldwide in 2022 and 2023 has been circular."