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Date: 2025-08-22 Page is: DBtxt001.php txt00024188

INTERESTING IDEAS
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Explaining the Circular Economy and
How Society Can Re-think Progress with Animated Video Essay

Original https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/interactive-diagram

Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has been a force for good over many years but has not had as much impact on the main stream of corporate business as we need. I am not certain why this is, but would suggest that perhaps there needs to be a much more deliberate focus on the people that make decisions in the corporate world in addition to all the other things that are being done. To great extent corporate decision makes are getting a free pass when it comes to the assessment of the totality of SEE impact and nevertheless pull down an impressive amount of remuneration no matter the totality of SEE impact.
Peter Burgess

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Principle 1:

Preserve and enhance natural capital by controlling finite stocks and balancing renewable resource flows. This starts by dematerialising utility – delivering utility virtually, whenever optimal. When resources are needed, the circular system selects them wisely and chooses technologies and processes that use renewable or better-performing resources, where possible. A circular economy also enhances natural capital by encouraging flows of nutrients within the system and creating the conditions for the regeneration of, for example, soil.

Principle 2:

Optimise resource yields by circulating products, components, and materials at the highest utility at all times in both technical and biological cycles. This means designing for remanufacturing, refurbishing, and recycling to keep technical components and materials circulating in and contributing to the economy. Circular systems use tighter, inner loops (e.g. maintenance, rather than recycling) whenever possible, thereby preserving more embedded energy and other value. These systems also maximise the number of consecutive cycles and/or the time spent in each cycle, by extending product life and optimising reuse. Sharing in turn increases product utilisation. Circular systems also encourage biological nutrients to re-enter the biosphere safely for decomposition to become valuable feedstock for a new cycle. In the biological cycle, products are designed by intention to be consumed or metabolised by the economy and regenerate new resource value. For biological materials, the essence of value creation lies in the opportunity to extract additional value from products and materials by cascading them through other applications. As in any linear system, pursuing yield gains across all these levers is useful and requires continued system improvements. But unlike a linear system, a circular one would not compromise effectiveness

Principle 3:

Foster system effectiveness by revealing and designing out negative externalities. This includes reducing damage to systems and areas such as food, mobility, shelter, education, health, and entertainment, and managing externalities, such as land use, air, water and noise pollution, and the release of toxic substances.

https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/interactive-diagram

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Animated Video Essay

Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Aug 28, 2011

#circulareconomy

49.3K subscribers ... 1,459,732 views ... 11K likes

There's a world of opportunity to re-think and re-design the way we make stuff.

PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO

'Re-Thinking Progress' explores how through a change in perspective we can re-design the way our economy works - designing products that can be 'made to be made again' and powering the system with renewable energy. It questions whether with creativity and innovation we can build a restorative economy.

Thank you for watching this video. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is a UK charity working on business, learning, insights & analysis, and communications to accelerate the transition towards the circular economy.

Find out more about our work here: www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org

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