Circularity and the circular economy are increasingly seen as offering a pathway to a better & fairer society, whilst addressing many of the world’s most pressing challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, resource depletion, pollution and inequality.
But despite often being talked about as ‘a new solution’, circularity is actually a way for humans to live productively and sustainably that has been successfully practised for millennia, in a whole host of different ways.
If you take Australia, for example, then how the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples lived in balance with the landscape prior to European settlement, efficiently using what they needed to survive and caring for country is a great example of circularity in action. An example of circularity that, it can be argued, operated successfully across the Australian continent for more than 60,000 years.
More recently, modern society was still operating in a more circular way as recently as the mid 20th Century, when we remained highly skilled at making the most of the resources we had and using and re-using materials in smart and thoughtful ways. Think of your grandparents or great grandparents repairing their clothes or fixing the family radio – all simple examples of what living according to circularity principles looks like.
Over the last century, however, we have become increasingly lazy and thoughtless when it comes to how we use raw materials to support the kind of lifestyles we now see as normal. In our pursuit of convenience and comfort, we have ended up creating an extremely wasteful linear economic model that now totally dominates the world.
An economic model where we take resources, make the products we need or want, and then throw away most of that product as waste after using it just once.
A ‘take, make, waste’ way of living that we all know is unsustainable, but feels impossible to do anything about because ‘that’s just how the world is.’
Imagine living in a world that isn’t all about taking, making & wasting.
A place where people, the economy and the planet all thrive together, and where the materials needed to make that happen never become waste at all, and nature is regenerated, rather than depleted, along the way.
This is the kind of world that circularity and the circular economy can help create and is a world that is increasingly being pursued by individuals, communities, businesses, institutions and governments all around the world.
If we dig a bit more deeply into what circularity is all about, a more technical way of describing it is as ‘a restorative & regenerative economic model focused on resource re-use and waste elimination – a model that decouples economic growth from the depletion of finite resources and ultimately leads to the creation of a global circular economy that replaces the current throwaway linear economic model of take-make-waste’.
Despite descriptions like the one above sounding somewhat complex, the idea behind the circular economy is actually very simple.
It’s about creating a smarter, more thoughtful and less harmful way for humans to live comfortably on our home planet. A way that respects and properly values every single living creature and every single kind of resource that currently exists – whilst still providing us with the economic growth that human society has come to rely on.
‘The circular economy is a solution framework that offers better ECONOMIC growth while addressing the most pressing global challenges.’
Dame Ellen MacArthur, Founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
DEFINING CIRCULARITY AND THE PRINCIPLES BEHIND IT
One of the most commonly accepted definitions of the circular economy is provided by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation:
‘The circular economy is a system where materials never become waste and nature is regenerated. In a circular economy, products and materials are kept in circulation through processes like maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, recycling, and composting. The circular economy tackles climate change and other global challenges, like biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution, by decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources.
The circular economy is based on three simple and practical principles, driven by design:
- Eliminate waste and pollution.
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/eliminate-waste-and-pollution - Circulate products and materials at their highest value for as long as possible.
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circulate-products-and-materials - Regenerate natural and social systems.
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/regenerate-nature
Underpinned by a transition to renewable energy and materials, the circular economy is a resilient system that is good for business, people, and the environment.’
It’s also a model that was originally inspired by natural systems where resources are constantly re-used in a ‘closed’, or ‘circular’, loop.
DEFINING CIRCULARITY AND THE PRINCIPLES BEHIND IT (continued)
UNDERSTANDING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY’S SYSTEMS BASED APPROACH
Given circularity is a systems-based approach, it is sometimes easier to understand through a visual representation of the principles underpinning it. The ’Butterfly Diagram’ first produced by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2019 is one of the most widely used when it comes to representing the ‘Biological Cycle’ (left half of the diagram below) and ‘Technical Cycle’ (right half), that together make up a circular economy.
The Foundation also unpacks the Butterfly Diagram – including explaining the basics of the Technical and Biological Cycles – in the following short video:
EMBRACING CIRCULARITY CAN UNLOCK ECONOMIC POTENTIAL WHILE ADDRESSING KEY GLOBAL CHALLENGES
As a new model for how we could live into the future, the circular economy has huge potential:
- A US$4.5 Trillion economic opportunity globally by 2030 and AUD$1.9 Trillion in Australia over the next 20 years
- Addressing 45% of global greenhouse gas emissions
- Unlocking the value of 91% of raw materials that are currently wasted after a single use
- Reducing the 90% biodiversity loss associated with the extraction and processing of natural resources
- Fulfilling people’s needs with just 70% of the materials we currently use
- Reducing the annual volume of plastics entering our oceans by 80% by 2040, and
- Reducing global CO2 emissions from building materials by 38% in 2050
THIS POTENTIAL IS WHY IT’S AN IDEA ALREADY BEING IMPLEMENTED BY GOVERNMENTS AROUND THE WORLD
Including the European Union’s 27 member states, 99 countries now have some kind of circular economy policy in place, and that number is constantly growing (as are the number and type of circular economy policies being introduced).
IT’S ALSO WHY IT’S AN IDEA THAT IS ALREADY IN PLACE AND GROWING IN CIRCULAR PRECINCTS AROUND AUSTRALIA
In looking to make the Bega Valley more circular, we are joining a growing number of circular regions already in existence in Australia.
Some of Australia’s existing ‘Circular Precincts’ are highlighted on Circular Australia’s map below, and a number of other worldwide circular regions and cities can be found in the Learning from Others section of this website. We are already connected with some of these other circularity initiatives and will look to keep building these kinds of connections as we continue to grow the Bega Circular Valley program.
A COUPLE OF THINGS THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY ISN’T ABOUT
When people start looking into the circular economy, they often miss the fact that it’s about a complete redesign of our current linear economic model and instead just see it as a better way to manage waste or recycle more.
Yes, waste management and recycling are part of a circular economy, but they are a small, integral part of the whole model rather than being the be-all and end-all of it.
The circular economy is about designing out waste right from the start, whilst also thinking about how to best maintain materials at their highest possible value for as long as we can. Recycling in a properly functioning circular economy should only be considered as an option once the potential to reuse, repair, refurbish or remanufacture has been fully explored.
THE OPPORTUNITY CIRCULARITY PROVIDES TO CREATE A BETTER SOCIETY AND WORLD FOR US ALL
If we accept that the current linear economic model – where we take raw materials from the planet, make consumer products from them, and eventually throw them away as waste – is unsustainable, then moving to a more circular way of living is critical if we are to address the increasing impacts of climate change and bio-diversity loss, and the existential challenge we face of feeding and watering a human population on its way to 9 billion.
And this is not just us saying it. Over the last 15 years, the idea of shifting to a circular economy has become increasingly recognised as a pathway to sustainable development – to the point where organisations like the United Nations, World Trade Organisation and multiple national governments (including Australia’s) are all advocating for the system to be more widely adopted.
But while addressing global challenges is clearly important, the most exciting part of embracing the circular economy is the opportunity it brings.
The opportunity to transform our take-make-waste system into one where waste is eliminated, resources are circulated, and nature is regenerated.
To create a thriving circular economy that can benefit everyone within the limits of our planet.
To grow prosperity, jobs and resilience, while addressing important social needs and cutting greenhouse gas emissions, waste, and pollution together.
This opportunity is why the Bega Circular Valley program was created. To bring circularity to this small corner of Australia, show how it can work to help the communities here thrive, and then share this knowledge back with the world.
If you want to learn more about the principles underpinning the circular economy, please visit the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s website. The Foundation is a UK-based organisation that has been dedicated to growing the global circular economy since 2010.
‘The circular economy isn’t about one manufacturer changing one product, it’s about all of the interconnected companies and governments that form our infrastructure and economy coming together and rethinking the operating system itself.’
Dame Ellen MacArthur, Founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation