Explaining the Circular Economy and How Society Can Re-think Progress | Animated Video Essay

Living systems have been around for a few  billion years and will be around for many more. In the living world there's no landfill. Instead,  materials flow.

One species waste is another's food. Energy is provided by the Sun. Things grow  then die and nutrients return to the soil safely.

And it works. Yet, as humans, we've adopted a linear approach. We take, we make, and we dispose.

A new  phone comes out, so we ditch the old one, our washing machine packs up, so we buy another. Each time we do this, we're  eating into a finite supply of resources and often producing toxic waste. It simply can't work long-term.

So, what can? If we accept that the living  world's cyclical model works, can we change our way of thinking, so  that we to operate a circular economy? Let's start with the biological cycle.

How can  our waste build capital rather than reduce it? By rethinking and redesigning products and  components and the packaging they come in, we can create safe and compostable  materials that help grow more stuff. As they say in the movies, no resources have  been lost in the making of this material.

So, what about the washing  machines, mobile phones, fridges? We know they don't biodegrade. Here, we're talking about another sort of rethink.

A way to cycle valuable metals, polymers,  and alloys so they maintain their quality and continue to be useful beyond the  shelf life of individual products. What if the goods of today  became the resources of tomorrow? It makes commercial sense.

Instead of the throw away and  replace culture we become used to, we'd adopt a return and renew one, where products and components are designed to  be disassembled and regenerated. One solution may be to rethink  the way we view ownership. What if we never actually owned our technologies,  we simply license them from the manufacturers?

Now let's put these two cycles together. Imagine if we could design products to come  back to their makers, their technical materials being reused, and their biological parts  increasing agricultural value and imagine that these products are made and transported  using renewable energy. Here we have a model that builds prosperity long-term, and the  good news is there are already companies out there who are beginning to adopt this  way of working.

But the circular economy isn't about one manufacturer changing one  product. It's about all the interconnecting companies that form our infrastructure and  economy coming together. It's about energy, it's about rethinking of the operating system  itself.

We have a fantastic opportunity to open new perspectives and new horizons instead of  remaining trapped in the frustrations of the present with creativity and innovation, we  really can rethink and redesign our future.