How does a circular economy work?

Imagine you throw away plastic cutlery from your local takeaway.

It’s part of the hundreds of millions of tons of plastic produced each year. Most likely it ends up going to landfill, litter and incineration facilities.

But high-grade plastic still has value – it can be heated, melted and used again and again.  

With 3D printing technology it might become part of almost anything – an artificial leg, a mobile phone case, maybe a chair for the worker in the takeaway. Perhaps this chair might too be taken apart and used again. 

Or take the example of an unwanted linen dress. This could be remade into a shopping bag. Once the bag is no longer usable, it could be composted to produce plants, maybe even a flax plant that can be turned into new linen to start the process again.  

We live in a world with finite resources and carefully balanced circular systems, so it makes sense that our economy reflects this.  

There’s no limit to what can be done differently.