Under our current economic system, the process of making products goes something like this: We extract resources from the earth, whether it’s cotton, wood, ore, petroleum or something else. We make a product, sell it to a buyer, and that buyer is responsible for disposing of it when they’re done with it. Although they may be able to give the product a second or third life by passing it on to a friend or thrift store, most of the time the disposal process involves putting it in a landfill or incinerator.
This process is hard on the planet, requires tremendous energy inputs, and allows precious resources to be lost when they still have a useable life. When disposal is cheap and easy, there’s less incentive to reduce waste at any level, from harvesting to manufacturing to consuming.
And, what if there were a better framework for our economy? What if instead of walking along the well-trodden path from extraction to waste, there were a way to conserve natural resources, continually put them back into a circular system, and decrease waste all along the way?
That’s the idea behind what’s known as the “circular economy.” The British charity WRAP defines the idea this way: “A circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy… in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life.”
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, another England-based non-profit, shares three principles that the circular economy is based on. The first is designing out waste and pollution. In a circular economy, wastefulness shrinks because all raw materials are seen as a resource rather than something to be thrown away. That means all businesses’ processes must be rethought so that value can be captured from things that are currently considered “waste” materials. That can be done by the company in question, or “waste” materials can be sent to an outside organization that can put them to use.
The second principle outlined by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation is keeping products and materials in use. When one person is done with something they purchase, their items must go for reuse, repair, or remanufacturing before they’re sent for recycling. If none of those things are possible, then they can go for disposal. Such a system allows fewer raw resources to be used in the first place, and materials that already exist to be utilized on an on-going basis rather than simply tossed into a landfill.
The third component of the circular economy is regenerating natural systems. When people and entities take a holistic view of their communities—acknowledging that without water, clean air, arable land, and human resources, nothing else can exist—they’re incentivized to protect those things. If all businesses thought this way, it’s easy to see how communities would be more likely to thrive. That means making sure soil, forests, waterways and other natural resources are protected and will be just as healthy and abundant in 100 years as they are now.
If some of these ideas sound familiar, it may be because BRING and other local non-profit social enterprises (including St. Vincent de Paul, MECCA, NextStep, and MetroPaint in Portland) are great examples of the circular economy. Our organizations treat waste as a resource rather than something to be cast aside. We follow the hierarchy of reusing items first, then (on varying levels) engaging in repair, remanufacturing, and recycling anything that cannot be reused as-is. We also use the proceeds for social good, including environmental education efforts, anti-poverty programs, environmental conservation, job creation and training, waste reduction, and much more.
Many local businesses provide excellent examples of the circular economy as well. PakTech takes back its plastic beverage container rings, offers them to businesses for reuse, and remanufactures any unwanted rings into new ones. Nancy’s Yogurt has redesigned its containers to decrease the amount of plastic needed for each one. The brand encourages people to reuse its plastic containers and accepts them back for remanufacturing through special collection events. These companies realize that wasting resources also wastes money, and they work hard to decrease the amount going into their dumpsters wherever possible.
These are both examples of companies that take back their own resources and manage them, but there are also plenty of opportunities for entities to take other people’s waste and turn them into a value-added product. SeQuential Biofuels takes used cooking oil and grease from restaurants and other businesses and turns it into a fuel additive. Rexius and Lane Forest Products take waste materials from the wood products industry and turn them into mulch and other landscaping products. They also compost yard debris and food waste, turning it into a rich soil supplement that benefits gardeners and farmers.
Transforming our economy from a linear one to a circular one will become much more pressing as overconsumption and extreme weather due to climate change make it harder for natural resources to regenerate, and more difficult to acquire. To assist in that effort, BRING’s Rethink Business program helps companies look for ways to engage in the circular economy. We do that by identifying opportunities to reduce waste in manufacturing processes, reuse items or offer them to the community for reuse, and increase recycling and composting.
BRING’s work to support product stewardship also plays an important role in the circular economy. Product stewardship asks companies to design their products so they are easier to reuse, remanufacture, repair, and recycle. It also requires them to take responsibility for what happens to them when people are ready to dispose of them. That’s why we plan to continue to focus on product stewardship in our advocacy efforts.
