What is the ‘Circular Economy’?

Annie Clementine
2 min readMar 29, 2022

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As we discussed in our last post, the benefits of circular models can be felt infinitely. They work to replace the linear models that are take-make-waste, and constantly find new ways to keep products in the cycle and out of the landfills.

A circular economy, is regenerative by design. What exactly does this mean? Regeneration is another term learned by our natural world. When products and services that contribute to an economy are regenerative by design, it means they are built using components that are resilient and able to adapt to any damages or market changes through the process of renewal or restoration.

Regions working to adopt circular economy models, are working to promote the consumption of infinite resources, rather than the traditional consumption of finite resources (i.e. single use products that ultimately end up in the ever growing landfills). One example of a city leading the way, is Amsterdam. They have set the bold (and commendable) goal of becoming a fully circular city by the year 2050.

“In Amsterdam we want to ensure a good life for everyone, within the Earth’s natural boundaries. That can be done in a circular city in which we adopt a smarter approach to scarce raw materials, produce and consume differently.”- City of Amsterdam

The decision makers behind this initiative are and will continue to be the leaders paving the way for others to follow. Thankfully, Kate Raworth has made it her personal mission to make adopting a circular economic model seamless as possible, and has created an entire roadmap to do so using a universally accepted snack: The Doughnut.

Photo by Heather Ford on Unsplash

In our next post, we’ll take a deeper dive into the types processes and models that need to be adopted in business to create truly circular products, so that everyday citizens can begin supporting them whenever we see them.

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