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Living systems have been around
for a few billion years

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and will be around for many more.

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In the living world, there's no landfill.

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Instead, materials flow.

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One species waste is another's food.

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Energy is provided by the Sun.

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Things grow, then die.

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And nutrients return to the soil safely.

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And it works.

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Yet as humans,

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we've adopted a linear approach.

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We take, we make, and we dispose.

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A new phone comes out
so we ditch the old one.

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Our washing machine packs up
so we buy another.

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Each time we do this, we're eating
into a finite supply of resources

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and often producing toxic waste.

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It simply can't work long-term.

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So what can -

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if we accept that the living world's
cyclical model works -

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can we change our way of thinking

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so that we too operate a circular economy?

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Let's start with the biological cycle.

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How can our waste build capital
rather than reduce it?

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By rethinking and redesigning
products and components

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and the packaging they come in,

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we can create safe
and compostable materials

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that help grow more stuff.

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As they say in the movies,

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"No resources have been lost
in the making of this material."

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So what about the washing machines,
mobile phones, fridges?

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We know they don't biodegrade.

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Here we're talking
about another sort of rethink:

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a way to cycle valuable metals,

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polymers and alloys

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so they maintain their quality

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and continue to be useful

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beyond the shelf life
of individual products.

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What if the goods of today
became the resources of tomorrow?

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It makes commercial sense.

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Instead of the throw away
and replace culture we become used to,

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we'd adopt a return and renew one

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where products and components are designed
to be disassembled and regenerated.

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One solution may be to rethink
the way we view ownership.

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What if we never actually
owned our technologies?

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We simply license them
from the manufacturers.

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Now let's put these two cycles together.

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Imagine if we could design products
to come back to their makers,

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their technical materials being reused,

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and their biological parts
increasing agricultural value.

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And imagine that these products
are made and transported

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using renewable energy.

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Here we have a model
that builds prosperity long-term.

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And the good news is
there are already companies out there

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who are beginning to adopt
this way of working.

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But the circular economy isn't about
one manufacturer changing one product.

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It's about all the interconnecting
companies that form our infrastructure

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and economy coming together.

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It's about energy.

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It's about rethinking
the operating system itself.

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We have a fantastic opportunity
to open new perspectives and new horizons.

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Instead of remaining trapped
in the frustrations of the present,

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with creativity and innovation,

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we really can rethink
and redesign our future.

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[Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Rethink the future]

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[www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org]