Food production
Redesigning the food production system to be circular will require shifting away from commercial strategies that are dependent on fossil fuels, pesticides, and artificial fertilizers to a more localized approach that relies instead on permaculture design strategies, developing polycultures rather than monocultures, and utilizing circular production strategies, like aquaponics. (For more detail on the circular economy and food production, see Chapter 15!)
The industrialized method of growing food is extremely wasteful in many ways. It requires the use of equipment that’s dependent on fossil fuels, high levels of harmful chemicals through the use of pesticides and fertilizers, and global shipping networks to deliver all these goods — not to mention the packaging required to preserve the produce. In addition, these methods create large amounts of food waste during the process because this system doesn’t support the recapture and reuse of unused or spoiled produce. Absolutely nothing about linear, industrialized food production supports the idea that waste is an unnecessary component of the food cycle.
By relying on a more localized approach to food production, many sources of industrialized wastes can be eliminated, such as transportation waste and food waste. Utilizing new methods of growing produce can also support the transition from a linear production to a circular one. Technologies such as indoor aquaponics allows for multiple ecosystems to flourish by utilizing the waste of one system to act as a resource for another. In such systems, fish waste acts as nutrients for the plants, and the plants then filter the water for the fish. Mimicking natural ecosystems is the only way we can redesign the food system to be circular.
Circular businesses, products, and clothing
Creating a circular economy will require a massive shift in the way we manage and exchange materials and products. Businesses will need to collaborate with their partners to eliminate the need for raw-material extraction. Products will need to be designed to stay in use for longer periods, and the clothing industry — one of the most wasteful industries in operation — will need to make massive adjustments to eliminate waste. To top it all off, adjusting all these variables will require high levels of coordination and partnerships between all stakeholders involved.
Businesses are realizing that the way they operate and the impact they have on the environment greatly impacts their ability to maintain customers. Transitioning from a linear way of producing products to a circular one won’t be necessary only from an environmental perspective, but from a social and economic perspective as well. To minimize the negative impact on the environment, businesses will need to adjust the relationship they have with customers to maximize the value of the products they create. Rather than businesses viewing success as the number of products made per year, they will instead base their bottom line on the number of products kept in use per year. Though waste certainly creates a demand for companies to continue selling new products, eliminating waste doesn’t have to eliminate demand. By maintaining the ownership of a product rather than selling it, new business opportunities emerge in the world of maintenance and repair. Though eliminating waste minimizes the need for new products, it certainly increases the need to service existing products. The circular economy will demand that new business models focus on maintaining products rather than on making new products.
In addition to the relationship that businesses and customers have, the way products are made will also require a major shift. Accepting waste as a component of a product’s lifecycle encourages production processes where the sourcing of the required materials and durability of those materials remain as cheap as possible. Products are designed with planned obsolescence and minimal opportunities for repair for a reason: to encourage the purchasing of new products. However, by eliminating waste as a necessary step in a material lifecycle and shifting business services from product production to product maintenance, products can be designed to last for longer periods.
One major industry that will need a major overhaul is the fashion industry. Poor material usage, fast-fashion, and poor sharing-and-reuse networks act as only a handful of reasons that the fashion industry leads the way in terms of waste and pollution. The fashion industry’s transition from a linear production of clothes to a circular one will require these four major steps:
1 The industry will need to phase out fabrics and materials that aren’t fully recyclable — fabrics and materials that act as a major source of pollution.
2 Manufacturers and businesses will need to redesign how clothing is made and how it’s used. No longer will customers be required to purchase clothing, but opportunities for sharing will emerge under membership programs.
3 Clothing that is made will need to stay in use for longer periods. This translates to using more durable materials and offering sharing and buyback programs so that clothing that’s no longer being used has the potential for continued use.
4 The resources required to support the fashion industry — like cotton and hemp — will need to be regenerated to ensure that the demand for clothing can be met.
A circular economy for all
Whether you’re interested in making a career of the circular economy or in learning how neighborhoods, universities, and the food service industry will look different after they’ve shifted to a circular management of their materials and products, you need to know about the major shifts that are coming our way. This book can help. Whatever the future focus might be, a common thread is already clear: We humans need to eliminate waste, keep materials and products in use, and regenerate the environmental systems on which we are dependent. A circular economy will be part of all those efforts.
Chapter 2
What’s Wrong with Being Linear, Anyway?
IN THIS CHAPTER
The earth has been around for 4½ billion years. We know that living systems have been around for most of that time (3½ billion years) and will probably be around for a few billion more. We humans, on the other hand, have only been part of these living systems for around 200,000 years — a fraction of that time. Yet even in that small period, humans have managed to disrupt every living system on the planet.
In nature, there is no landfill, no concept of waste. Everything in nature becomes a material flow (a natural resource) for something else — either food, nutrients, or energy. Everything we have is right here on the planet. The only incoming resource we have is sunlight (and maybe the occasional asteroid or two).
All living systems on Earth (except humans) are able to live in harmony with that balance. Species are born, they live, they die, and they feed their nutrients back into the soil safely. The sun provides warmth and energy, and it all just works well, in an elegant, closed loop — a circular approach to resources.
We humans follow quite a different approach, one where we take, make, use, and, eventually, waste — or