Circular Economy: 101
Contents
Video
What is the Circular Economy
Resources/Links
Quizz
What is the Circular Economy
According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (a global leader in the field), the circular economy is defined as:
“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.”
Furthermore:
“The circular economy is based on three principles, driven by design:
Eliminate waste and pollution
Circulate products and materials (at their highest value)
Regenerate nature”
These principals apply to all businesses, industries and personal behaviour, and is also applicable directly to the building and construction industries. However, as we saw in the video, we need to start moving away from the Linear Economy, or a take-make-use-waste system, and toward the Circular Economy.
When it comes down to practice, a good place to start is with the Waste Hierarchy:
Each level descends into lower and lower importance with Rethink being the most important to consider and Disposal the least. At all stages of a build and across all industries, theses methods should be considered.
Many think that recycling is a key part of the circular economy, but as you can see in the waste hierarchy, it actually sits lower on the level of importance than several other concepts. Other methods should be considered prior to recycling, but recycling should still be considered above disposal or waste.
For example, if you can design out waste at the beginning (Rethink) before you even start building, that’s where you’ll find you can Reduce the most.
Check out The Mill, a commercial sports gym project carried out by Cook Brothers in Queenstown. National Sustainability Manager Kristy Jones carried out a full blown waste audit on the project from inception through to completion. Over 30 skip bins were tipped out to be sorted through and analysed. The data found was incredible. Information on waste by volume vs. weight, where waste was actually coming from and at what stages of the build.
Jones found out that if they had made better design decisions at the beginning of the project, they could have reduced waste by 30-40%! That is huge!
There are other fantastic projects happening both locally and nationally in regards to the Circular Economy. But we need the industry as a whole to jump on board with the concept and practice.
