{"id":62175,"date":"2025-01-17T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/?post_type=feature&p=62175"},"modified":"2026-05-05T18:03:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:33:58","slug":"idr-explains-circular-economy","status":"publish","type":"feature","link":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/features\/environment\/idr-explains-circular-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"IDR Explains | Circular Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What is a circular economy?<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>

Circular economy or circularity is a system designed to minimise waste and maximise resource efficiency. This is achieved through its three core principles: eliminating waste entirely, circulating products and materials in a closed loop, and supporting regeneration. This means products are kept in continuous circulation and are reused and repaired which reduces the need to extract new resources.<\/p>

This in contrast to linear economy<\/a>, which is the current model followed around the world, which promotes producing and selling as much as possible. This has led to the indiscriminate extraction of finite natural resources, giving rise to unprecedented<\/a> amounts of waste and carbon emissions that have exacerbated the climate crisis. A UN Environment report<\/a> states that resource extraction has more than tripled globally since 1970. If the global population grows to 9.8 billion by 2050, nearly three earths’ worth of natural resources<\/a> would be needed to maintain current living standards.  <\/p>

A circular economy, on the other hand, creates a closed loop or circular system where products are made better and used longer, producing long-term environmental and economic benefits. Unlike recycling, which begins at the end of a product’s life—often with limited impact<\/a> at scale—a circular economy ensures that, from the outset, products are designed in a way that maximises usage and minimises wastage throughout their life cycle. It is also regenerative and restorative by design. Restoration and regeneration imply that after their life cycle ends, materials used to make a product can seamlessly merge with natural systems, becoming resources again. For example, in food systems, organic waste like food scraps can be used as animal fodder or composted to regenerate soil health, enriching it with nutrients and promoting sustainable agriculture. In the textile sector, fabrics can be broken down into raw fibers and respun to produce new textiles, reducing the need for virgin materials. Similarly, in construction, materials such as concrete, steel, and bricks can be reclaimed and reused in new building projects, decreasing the demand for raw resource extraction.  <\/p>

\"What<\/a><\/div>

A circular economy also supports the repair and refurbishment of damaged products by designing them in a way that allows for repairs<\/a>, rather than requiring them to be trashed like most cell phones today.<\/p>

In order to work well, circularity requires a systems lens<\/a>, which uncovers the interconnections vital to understanding and building a circular economy. These include supply chains, consumers, producers, suppliers, and policymakers.<\/p>

A systems lens to circularity involves:<\/p>