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Imagine a waste-free future for your business, your family, and yourself
A circular economy is an economic system designed to save money, eliminate waste, and achieve deep sustainability. No-brainer, right? Circular Economy For Dummies explains why the old way of doing things (linear economy) is fast going the way of the dinosaurs, and it gets you ready to think circular. From business processes and material lifecycles to circular design in just about every industry, this book is a fascinating glimpse into our sustainable future.
Whether you're looking to close the resource loop in your business or develop a greener lifestyle for yourself and your family, this book shows you how. Learn how to innovate for circular economy, how to turn trash into treasure, and how to calculate the (potentially large) amount of money this will save you. And-bonus-you'll feel good doing the right thing and being a part of our sustainable future!
The future is circular. Buck business-as-usual and learn how to create a circular economy for all!
Kyle J. Ritchie is the Education Sustainable Design Lead at Cannon Design in Chicago and an Adjunct Professor at the Boston Architectural College.
Eric Corey Freed is an award-winning architect, 12-time author, and global speaker. He is a sought-after lecturer who has educated over 250,000 people on sustainability and high-performance building.
Introduction 1
About This Book 2
Foolish Assumptions 3
Icons Used in This Book 4
How This Book Is Organized 4
Part 1: Linear Is Out, Circular Is In: An Economic Revolution 4
Part 2: Rethinking Business for a Circular Economy 5
Part 3: Rethinking Material Lifecycles - The Circular Perspective 5
Part 4: Redesigning the Future to Be Circular 5
Part 5: Creating a Circular Economy for All 6
Part 6: The Part of Tens 6
Beyond the Book 6
Where to Go from Here 7
Part 1: Linear Is Out, Circular Is In: An Economic Revolution 9
Chapter 1: Rejecting Waste, Rethinking Materials, and Redesigning the World 11
Rejecting the Idea of Waste 12
Waste as a driver of the economy 13
Waste as a resource 13
Rethinking Material Lifecycles 16
Take, make, and waste 17
Making technical materials circular 17
Making biological materials circular 18
Upcycling versus downcycling 19
Redesigning the Future to Be Circular 19
Food production 20
Circular businesses, products, and clothing 20
A circular economy for all 22
Chapter 2: What's Wrong with Being Linear, Anyway? 23
We're Taking the Wrong Stuff 25
We're not importing this stuff from space 27
Everyone keeps having kids 28
We don't have as much as we thought 30
It all revolves around oil 31
We're Making the Wrong Stuff 31
You're buying trash 32
Even kids can build with blocks 33
Trying to recycle the unrecyclable 33
We're using materials that are bad for us 34
We're Wasting the Wrong Stuff 34
It all comes at a big cost 34
We're running out of room 35
It's expensive to throw things away 35
The debt collector is knocking at the door 35
Change Is Really Hard, We Know 36
If it ain't broke, don't fix it 36
Taking risks 37
Chapter 3: A Growing Demand for a Circular Economy 41
The Drive to Make Money 44
Redefining risk and liability 44
Innovating to attract new customers 46
The Drive to Be Healthier 46
Lifestyles that foster health and sustainability 46
Wellness as a priority 47
The Drive to Be in Compliance 47
Environmental, social, and corporate governance 48
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) 49
Climate and shareholders 50
A Larger Drive Toward Deep Sustainability 50
This has been brewing for a while 51
Precedents 51
Looking to the future 54
Chapter 4: From Linear To Circular: What You Need To Know 57
So Much Chaos: Understanding Entropy 58
Externalized costs 59
Linear versus circular: A hilarious-yet-depressing comparison 60
Borrow from nature, not from the future 64
Waste = Food: Redefining Disposal 66
All materials have another use 68
Product stewardship 69
Building Resilience Through Diversity: Redefining Strength 71
Responding to disruption 72
Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin' 73
Durability and reparability policies 74
Part 2: Rethinking Business For a Circular Economy 77
Chapter 5: Identifying Your Business Opportunities 79
Exploring the Benefits of Going Circular 79
Exploiting the profit opportunities 80
Reducing volatility and ensuring greater supply chain security 81
Managing the new demand for business services 81
Improving customer interaction and loyalty 83
Rethinking the Business Model 85
Building new types of capital 86
Rethinking money as the only medium of exchange 87
Reflecting the true cost of products 87
Embracing diversity 89
Rethinking your supply chain 89
Designing for the future 90
Examining Business from a Global Perspective 91
Chapter 6: Rethinking the Conventional Business Model 95
Rethinking How We Look at Cost 98
The hidden cost of procurement 100
The hidden impact of transportation 104
The hidden burden of inventory 104
The hidden secrets of quality 105
Maximizing Your Value Proposition to Customers 105
Becoming a mission-driven company 106
Safeguarding your workers 107
Greenwashing 107
Turning Obstacles into Opportunities 108
Listening to customers 109
Creating unspoken demand 110
Rethinking old assumptions 110
Bending linear into loops 111
Thinking of businesses as a system 112
Chapter 7: Exploring the Essentials of a Circular Business Model 113
The Six Rs: Your New Circularity Mantra 114
Refuse: Say no to what you don't need 114
Reduce: Use less for longer 115
Reuse and remanufacture: Extend product life 116
Repurpose: Find other uses 116
Recycle: Return materials for rebirth 116
Rot: Return it to the soil 117
Developing a Circular Business Structure: The Bones of the Operation 117
Identifying potential material loops 118
Considering innovative business models 118
Who's at the table? Engaging your stakeholders 120
Developing a message 121
Benchmarking and improvement 122
Chapter 8: 'Round and 'Round: Making Your Products Circular 127
Managing Material Lifecycle Performance 128
Designing products for reuse 129
Designing products to be remanufactured 130
Designing products for recycling 130
Making Your Product Lifecycle Smarter 131
Creating effective and serviceable products 132
Being flexible 132
Seeking collaborators and partners 133
How It All Comes Together 134
Everything is circular first 134
Everything is transparent 135
Chapter 9: From Trash to Treasure: Converting Waste into Products 139
Seeing Why the Circular Economy Is All About Retaining Value 140
Stop Being Linear: It's a Waste of Time 144
Why Buy Waste When You Can Sell It? 145
Selling your old stuff 147
Starting your own business 149
Troubleshooting a Wasteful Product Lifecycle 152
Where the wild things are 153
Signed, sealed, delivered 153
Waste not, want not 154
Being a sustainable shopper 154
Finding value in the ugly 155
Part 3: Rethinking Material Lifecycles: The Circular Perspective 163
Chapter 10: Understanding the Circular Material Lifecycle 165
Viewing the Entire Spectrum of Environmental Impact 166
Defining degenerative lifecycles 167
Defining sustainable lifecycles 167
Defining regenerative lifecycles 168
Understanding the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Butterfly Diagram 169
Examining the circular economy's structure: The bones of the operation 169
Renewables flow management: Harnessing biological cycles 171
Stock management: Optimizing technical cycles 172
Promoting environmental restoration: Investing now to obtain even more later 175
Chapter 11: Analyzing Material Lifecycle Processes 179
Looking at Material Processes 181
Fostering transparency 183
Instituting chemical management 183
Rewarding innovation 184
The Lifecycle Principles: Identifying Where Change Can Happen 184
Preserving natural capital 185
Enhancing the usefulness of products, components, and raw materials 186
Developing effective systems that minimize negative externalities 187
Looking at Opportunities for Optimization 187
Refusing the new: Reusing the old 188
Employing the remaining factor: Remanufacturing 189
Biochemical extraction for the win 190
Chapter 12: Improving the Material Lifecycle 195
Improving How Material Lifecycles Function 196
Looking at Materials in a New Way 198
Getting to know your lifecycle 199
Refuse before you reduce, reuse, and recycle 200
Examining Operations in a New Way 201
Looking at human capital 201
You can be everywhere 201
Connecting Sourcing, Suppliers, and Customers 202
Chapter 13: It All Comes Down to Selecting the Right Materials 207
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Exploring Materials 208
Oil or Plastics - They're Really Much the Same Thing 208
What's Harder than Rock? Metals 212
Paper Products and Cardboard 214
Through the Looking Glass 217
And Everything In-Between 218
Identifying Hazardous Materials 219
Red list materials 220
Red list material alternatives 221
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) 221
Sourcing, Ethics, and Standards 222
Understanding strategic sourcing 222
Establishing ethics 223
Exploring certifications and standards 223
Chapter 14: Circular Materials, Products, and Packaging 227
Redesigning Materials and Products: The Transition from Linear to Circular 228
"Less bad" does not equal "good" 228
Planning for material reincarnation 230
How To Keep Materials In Use Forever 231
Why things break 232
From planned obsolescence to planned permanence 232
Shipping Global versus Producing Local 234
Building a regional economy: A shipping substitute 235
You've got to be shipping me 238
Permanent packaging 239
Part 4: Redesigning the Future to Be Circular 245
Chapter 15: The Circular Economy of Food Production 247
Examining the Two Ways of Producing Food 248
Investigating the Hidden Costs of Agriculture 249
Food waste: Expending money, time, and resources unnecessarily 250
Environmental degeneration: Damaging the planet with increasing speed 252
Permaculture to the Rescue 252
Following nature's lead: Permaculture design principles 253
Taking a look at permaculture management zones 256
Chapter 16: Circularity for Design 259
Redesigning Design 260
Understanding circular design 260
Designing out waste 263
Keeping products and materials in use 264
Regenerating natural systems 264
Recognizing the Problems Designers Face 265
We're being overtaken by trash 265
We're running out of materials 265
We're choking on carbon 266
Creating a Framework for Circular Design 267
Applying the ReSOLVE framework to buildings 268
Layers of useful life 269
Putting the pieces together 271
Chapter 17: Circular Economy for Builders, Makers, and Manufacturers 275
Assessing a Building's Lifecycle 276
Defining construction and demolition debris 276
Gauging the economic opportunities of C&D waste 277
Measuring C&D waste impact 277
Defining lifecycle impacts 279
Identifying human health hazards and promoting transparency 280
People, planet and profit 280
Selecting Appropriate Building Products 283
Sourcing responsibly 284
Something stinks 285
We All Embody Carbon 287
The human's relationship to carbon 288
The building's relationship to carbon 290
Operational carbon 290
Embodied carbon 291
Carbon influences on building design 293
Straight from the Open Source 294
Recognizing the benefit 294
Looking at open source in action 295
Chapter 18: The Circular Economy for Fashion and Clothing 297
Sewing Together the Issue: Where Fashion Is and Where It's Headed 298
Fashion = Waste + Pollution 299
The current trajectory to catastrophe 302
Making It Circular: A Future Forecast for Fashion 303
The Phase Out phase 304
Redesigning how clothes are used 305
Optimizing collection and recycling 306
Relying on renewable resources 307
Comparing Common Fashion Fabrics 310
Plastic 311
Plants 313
Animals 314
Part 5: Creating A Circular Economy For All 317
Chapter 19: Understanding an Individual's Circular Opportunities 319
Looking at the Food You Eat 320
Sourcing 320
Managing food waste 321
Sizing Up the Products You Buy 327
Recycling: The last resort 327
Selecting products with reuse potential 328
Evaluating the House You Live In 328
Considering lifecycle costs 329
Building better 329
Thinking About the Way You Commute 331
Be car-less for once 331
Choose more efficient options 332
Revisiting the Way You Work 332
Promoting telecommuting and teleconferencing 332
Managing office supplies 333
Chapter 20: Creating a Career in the Circular Economy 335
Looking at the Future of Jobs 336
Jobs that are central to the circular economy 338
Jobs that are enabling the circular economy 338
Jobs that are indirectly related to the circular economy 339
Skills required for a circular economy 341
Where to Go for More Education 341
Earning certifications 341
Earning degrees and diplomas 342
Chapter 21: A Global Vision of a Circular Economy 345
Seeing What a Circular Community Looks Like 346
Sourcing community resources and aid 347
Looking at food management 348
Eyeing transportation 349
Seeing What a Circular University Looks Like 350
Learning from living laboratories 351
Insisting on data visibility 352
Seeing What a Circular Restaurant and Brewery Look Like 353
Fostering effective and efficient sourcing and prep 354
Revising service standards 355
Viewing waste as a resource 356
Part 6: The Part of Tens 359
Chapter 22: Ten Questions to Ask About Your Material Lifecycle 361
Where Did This Material Come From? 362
What Are the By-Products of Harvesting This Material? 362
What Are the By-Products of Manufacturing This Material? 362
How Is the Material Delivered? 363
How Is the Material Installed? 364
How Is the Material Maintained, Powered, or Operated? 364
How Healthy Are the Materials? 364
What Can We Do with These Materials After We're Done with Them? 365
What Can Be Done to Extend, Prolong, or Maintain the Material? 366
What Can We Do to Encourage the Reuse, Refurbishment, Redistribution, or Remanufacture of the Material? 366
Chapter 23: Ten Questions to Foster Innovative Thinking 367
How Can We Make This Product Redundant? 368
How Can We Rethink How This Product Is Used? 369
How Can We Reduce the Resources or Materials Used? 369
In What Ways Can This Product Be Reused by Another Consumer? 369
In What Ways Can This Product Be More Easily Maintained and Repaired? 370
In What Ways Can This Product Be Restored or Kept Up-to-Date? 370
How Can Discarded Parts Be Remade into a New Version of the Same Product? 370
How Can Discarded Parts Be Remade Into a New Product? 371
In What Ways Can We Recycle These Materials into Quality Products? 371
How Can We Dispose of This Material in a Manner That Recovers Energy? 371
Chapter 24: Ten Questions to Ask about Your Supply Chain 373
What Drives Your Product Design? 374
What Are Your Users' Needs? 374
Will Your Customers Access or Will They Own Your Product? 375
Who Are Your Partners? 376
What Materials Are Required? 377
How Will You Produce Your Product? 377
How Will Users Receive Your Product? 378
How Will You Support the Repair and Maintenance of Your Product? 379
What Refurbishment Options Will You Offer for Your Product? 379
How Will You Reclaim Your Product at Its End of Life? 380
Chapter 25: Ten Questions That Reveal How Much Your Waste Is Costing You 381
What Labor Costs Are Tied to Waste Disposal? 382
What Is the Real Cost of Waste Disposal? 382
What Is the Impact on Human Health? 383
How Does Waste Impact Ecosystem Services? 383
What Is the Innate Value of Waste? 384
How Much Raw Material Is Required to Offset Waste? 385
What Are the Indirect Costs of Waste? 385
How Much Does Poor Efficiency Cost? 386
What Natural Resources Are Required for Waste? 386
What Waste Remediation Will Be Required? 387
Index 389
Welcome to Circular Economy For Dummies!
This is a book about materials and waste, but it's also a book about design and business and how these elements are connected. At its heart, this book is about rethinking how we humans can create food, buildings, fashion, and other products without destroying Planet Earth and burying the world in waste.
To safely provide for the needs of billions of people in an ever-warming world, we need to change the situation dramatically. Every manufacturer, designer, and producer of goods needs to rethink their industrial approach to how products are made. Instead of the old take-make-waste approach to manufacturing, where natural resources are extracted from the earth to make stuff that ends up rotting in a landfill, we need to explore a new model. That's the definition of the circular economy.
Although you'll find a lot of information about the impact of waste in this book, it isn't a book about trash. Nor does the book focus only on how to reduce plastic, even though that's a part of the story. At its core, the circular economy focuses on how to redesign everything so it can be made and remade over and over again. It turns out that doing good can also be beneficial to a business's bottom line.
The planet is swimming in trash. Though the industrial revolution transformed the quality of life for everyone, it also produced billions of tons of plastic waste, nearly all of which ends up in the oceans or in a landfill. At this rate, the oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050. If we want to save the planet from a terrible waste, resource, and climate crisis, we have to transform our way of making things.
The environmental problems we humans need to solve aren't trivial or easy to fix. Though it's true that we understand far better the impact that humans have had on the environment, we still have a long way to go to be truly circular in terms of the entire economy. Rethinking our approach, reimagining our businesses, and redesigning our products is a huge challenge, but it's also a huge opportunity.
We wrote this book to be the definitive guide to the circular economy. Though the circular economy has been gaining mainstream adoption in Europe and the United Kingdom, it's still largely a new concept in North America. This book is for anyone who runs a business and has an interest in making better products, services, or approaches for their customers. It's also intended for anyone who wants a clear framework for how to create a truly sustainable product or material.
In our daily lives, we both work on improving the sustainability, health, and impact of buildings, and we're driven to help show people how to have a positive impact on the planet. This book - which reflects our hope for a better and brighter future - shares the lessons we've learned from working with thousands of businesses, institutions, and government agencies to help them create vibrant, healthy, and waste-free buildings.
Circular Economy For Dummies is the first comprehensive reference and how-to book that gives you the knowledge and tools you need to transform your business from a linear (wasteful) model to a circular (sustainable) one - and to impact the lives of everyone in the world for the better.
This practical, action-oriented book is about manufacturing and design. It doesn't dwell on theory or abstract concepts. Nor do you need a PhD in supply chain management. Throughout, we focus on asking the right questions and figuring out how to radically rethink materials so that you can make a true impact. The book includes a diverse set of case studies, interviews, and examples to inspire and guide you.
Transforming how everything is made is no easy task. Trying to improve the environmental impact of your product might require you to study dozens of books. Who has time for all that? Instead, we've distilled and condensed only the parts that truly matter so that you can delve directly into the heart of what's important. This book is detailed, but we didn't include long-winded passages or unnecessary content. You get everything you need in order to be successful in creating and implementing a complete circular strategy.
Our hope is that this book inspires you to take action to envision a better approach to manufacturing, materials, and waste - full of new possibilities. Unlike some other topics, the circular economy is quite complex, with layers of meaning and understanding to it. Luckily, we've written this book so that anyone can find an aspect that will grab them and motivate them to make a positive change. The circular economy addresses biodiversity, climate change, energy use, natural resources, and so much more. This book focuses on materials and products, but covers hundreds of interconnected subjects.
The future success of humanity is tied to figuring out how to achieve the ideas outlined in this book. If we're going to be able to house, clothe, and feed a global population of 9 billion (and counting), we need new ideas and new approaches to making durable, reusable, and recyclable materials of tomorrow. This book can make that future possible.
Whether your job is linked to manufacturing, design, or materials - or if you're just a curious soul looking to make the world a better place - you'll find Circular Economy For Dummies to be a fun, inspiring, and helpful guidebook on your journey.
Throughout the writing of this book, we had only you (our gentle reader) in mind. Don't panic, but here's the information we assumed about you so that you can get the maximum benefit from this book:
Throughout this book, you see these little graphical icons to identify useful paragraphs:
The Tip icon highlights expert advice and real-world experience to provide ways to save you time and money - and preserve your sanity!
The Remember icon marks information that's so important you'll want to remember it for later use. To grab the most important points in each chapter, just skim these paragraphs.
The Technical Stuff icon marks information that's technically oriented but not critical to your understanding, so you can safely skip over them without harm.
The Warning icon highlights some sage advice to follow so that you can avoid costly mistakes or missteps. Warning: Don't skip over these warnings!
This book is divided into six main parts - feel free to jump to any part you want. Each part is written in a way to tell you everything you need to know about a single topic inside each chapter. The following sections explain what you'll find, and where:
The early chapters in Part 1 help you understand the problem behind the traditional approach to making products. It starts with an overview of the damage that industrial manufacturing has created and explains that it cannot continue in its current state. Then you'll see how the circular economy has emerged as a new model that corrects these issues. Finally, you'll read how the traditional approach compares to a circular approach in order to identify new ways to discuss and understand both approaches.
In Part 2, you'll look at business in a new way that will help you identify and uncover the issues in your current business approach. You'll quickly understand how actions that you previously assumed were "just a part of doing business" (like creating waste and using toxic chemical processes) are actually costing you money. From there, you'll find out how to structure a new business model based on simple pillars that will improve your relationship with your customers and your suppliers - and improve your profits. Think of this book as a crash course in strategic business planning for a new, circular world.
This part concludes with an extended look into waste products for what they really are - valuable resources to be reused.
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