Understanding Circular Economy As Against Linear Economies

Circular Economy V/S Linear Economy:  The Latest Trend Towards Environment Conservation

Our practice of consuming a product and disposing off has followed a very much linear pattern starting from the manufacturer and ending in landfills. Our consumption since the industrial revolution which further brought down the product prices, has sky rocketed and with that came higher landfills. This concept of economy is called ‘Linear Economy’. For a long time, we have been following a linear-economy which is proving to be very unsustainable as time progresses.

The concept on which our planet is working right now is, “Take, Make, and Dispose”. We, take raw materials from our environment, use it to make products required to sustain us on this planet, and once done with it, we dispose it off, as garbage. But have you ever thought what happens next?

What happens to the garbage once we dispose it off to our nearby disposing sites? Where does it go after a day or two? And what happens to it later? The most common perception is that it goes to waste treatment plants where it is made suitable to be buried under the earth. But is that it? And most importantly, is that for the best?

With mountains of landfills which not only is a health and environment hazard, the world looked towards a new approach.

Many countries these days have started to use a process called “CIRCULAR ECONOMY”.

Circular Economy is a model that aims at keeping resources in use as long as possible and at minimizing or eliminating waste by focusing on products that are “made to last long and to be made again” using the waste of a product which has passed its useful life.

This means, that in the circular economy, the adopting countries try to expand the use of products which can be recycled more than once and thus can be used over and over again, rather than those which are used in Linear Economy, and are used once or at most twice.

On the manufacturing side, that means designing products that lend themselves to being reused, repaired, upgraded, retrofitted, and ultimately dismantled for recycling. Having this type of product available allows contractors and electricians to choose wisely for long-term serviceability, which then allows end-users to proactively participate in the circular economy.

The idea behind it is to accelerate the transition from a linear economy, where raw materials are used and then discarded, to a circular economy that is “restorative and regenerative by design.” The approach takes full advantage of every opportunity to repair, reuse, refurbish, remanufacture, and recycle technical (i.e., non-biological) materials in a way that eliminates waste.

Although traditional manufacturing is good at supporting the “take, make, dispose” model, that practice is ultimately not sustainable. Rather, we need to seek out ways to minimize or eliminate waste by ensuring our products lend themselves to the 5 R’s of the circular economy, namely being repaired, reused, refurbished, remanufactured, and ultimately recycled. Embracing these options supplants the 3 R’s (reduce, recycle, reuse) of a linear approach and keeps products, components and materials at their highest utility and value at all times.

This may seem to be the most obvious thing to do but currently, only 14 percent of global plastic packaging is recycled, all the rest worth an estimated 4.96 trillion Rupees every year is lost after one short use. Environmentally, one research points that if the current trend is not reversed, then by the year 2050 there’ll be more plastic in the sea than fish.

There's a world of opportunity to re-think and re-design our future, where nothing is lost and everything is transformed.

The main idea behind circular economy includes the following:

1. Design for the future

2. Use waste as a resource

3. Preserve and extend what’s already made

4. Collaborate to create joint value

5. Incorporate digital technology

6. Prices or other feedback mechanisms should reflect real costs

Many countries including China, Japan, Australia and countries from EU have started to adopt Circular Economy on a large scale leaving behind Linear Economy, thus joining hands for the conservation, protection, and betterment of our environment and in turn our Green Planet.

Ecohoy understands the need and importance of the benefits of circular economy and thus adapts it in various products listed with them like recycled paper diaries, bags and pouches made of up-cycled cloth, recycled tyre tube bags and accessories, reclaimed wood trays, recycled beer bottle planters and more such products. Ecohoy gives the customers a range of recycled and up-cycled products along with other eco-friendly and bio-degradable items and ensures the products remain in circulation in a much better form and quality in comparison to its previous state and brings to you, the users, some amazing collection of repurposed products while working towards a circular and a much efficient economy!

Written By: Daniya Qureshi

Illustrations By: Diksha Relan