A circular economy is an industrial economy where material flows are of two types, biological nutrients, designed to reenter the biosphere safely, and technical nutrients, which are designed to circulate at high quality without entering the biosphere (http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy).
Founding principles of the idea are:
- the non-existence of waste since it should always be re-used in another process
- diverse systems survive better than systems built on efficiency
- energy should always be produced by renewable sources
- systems thinking is vital for us to understand how everything influences everything
The idea behind a circular economy is old but since 1970s it has been more widely used and for example the charity organization called the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has given rise to the economic opportunity related to the concept (http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/).
Also the European Union has taken a clear stand on building a more resource efficient Europe. The European Commission has adopted a new programme in order to boost recycling and to reduce greenhouse emissions and to adopt new eco-oriented and zero-waste business models (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/).
The first major event for the circular economy was held in March 2014 in London with over 6000 participants. The event has boosted the importance of the topic and lately we have seen a substantial rise in the number of new circular business models (http://www.resource-event.com).
At the morning program of the Finnish Broadcasting and News company YLE, the subject was last discussed on Thursday, November 20th 2014. Jyri Arponen from Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, was present at the morning show. You can watch the programme at Yle Areena http://areena.yle.fi/tv/2492777.
Sitra is one of the key players in Finland on the subject of circular economy. Sitra is trying to get Finnish companies to adopt the idea of circular economy in their business models and innovate new businesses around the idea (http://www.sitra.fi/en/blog/carbon-neutral-industry/competitive-zero-waste-circular-economy).
Sitra is one of the key players in Finland on the subject of circular economy. Sitra is trying to get Finnish companies to adopt the idea of circular economy in their business models and innovate new businesses around the idea (http://www.sitra.fi/en/blog/carbon-neutral-industry/competitive-zero-waste-circular-economy).
Info on circular economy provided by Kirsi
Examples of the circular economy in Turku
Video by Anna, Kirsi and Thomas. Edited by Thomas.
Brainstorming on the concept of circular economy
by Anna, Kirsi and Thomas
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