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Explaining the circular economy, and how society can rethink progress | Animated video essay

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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.
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    So we ditch the old one.
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    Our washing machine packs up.
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    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
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    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
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    our infrastructure and economy
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    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]
Title:
Explaining the circular economy, and how society can rethink progress | Animated video essay
Description:

There's a world of opportunity to rethink and redesign the way we make stuff.

"Re-thinking progress" explores how through a change in perspective we can redesign 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.

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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

Follow us online on these channels:

Instagram: http://instagram.com/ellenmacarthurfoundation
Facebook: http://facebook.com/EllenMacArthurFoundation
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ellen-macarthur-foundation
Website: https:/www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org

#circulareconomy

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Video Language:
English
Team:
Amplifying Voices
Project:
Environment and Climate Change
Duration:
03:49

English subtitles

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