Towards a sustainable ‘Circle of Life'

IKEA joins movement to share, repair, reuse, refurbish, re-manufacture and recycle

A circular economy is an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources. The system employs reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, re-manufacturing and recycling to create a closed-loop system, minimising the use of resource inputs and limiting the creation of waste, pollution and carbon emissions.

By contrast, the linear system that is currently the adopted lifestyle all over the world, practices the “take, make, dispose” model of production. In the process it uses up limited reserves to create products with a finite lifespan, which end up in landfills or incinerators.

The circular economy, often referred to simply as “circularity”, aims to keep products, equipment and infrastructure in use for longer, thus improving the productivity of these resources.

All “waste” should become “food” for another process: either a by-product or recovered resource for another industrial process, or as regenerative resources for nature (compost). This is a regenerative approach in contrast to the traditional linear economy.

Profitable system

Proponents of the circular economy suggest that a sustainable world does not mean a drop in the quality of life for consumers and can be achieved without loss of revenue or extra costs for manufacturers.

The argument is that circular business models can be as profitable as linear models, allowing consumers to continue enjoying similar products and services. Intuitively, the circular economy would appear to be more sustainable than the current linear economic system.