The Industrial Revolution of our time is here: The CIRCULAR ECONOMY

In 1684 when Thomas Savery invented the steam engine little did he know that he had just kickstarted the "Industrial Revolution" a period in history that marked the transition from an agrarian and handicraft industry to one dominated by industry and machine. The three forces of abundant labor, raw materials, and energy pushed to great heights and perhaps to a breaking point, which has resulted in the pandemonium of pollution, footprints, and wastage something we all are witness to as our planet battles for life every day. Every problem contains in itself a seedling of a better tomorrow and this bedlam brings in a new concept called the "CIRCULAR ECONOMY"

What is this concept or perhaps a wiser question would be is it even possible to incorporate this concept at such a critical juncture of history which will decide the course of our future generations?

Before I answer this question in an erudite manner, let's first admit the "surplus" amount of products we are bombarded with in our everyday life, from social media websites to internet search results I am sure you will all agree that is difficult not to be surprised or rather shocked looking at how much the world is producing from clothes to furniture to vehicles to anything under the sun. One line that best describes our current ironical times would be " there is more than enough to produce yet so little consume". Rapid industrialization has helped many to have access to products from all over the world at affordable prices. These products have brought many of us levels of material comfort unimaginable to previous generations.

We take resources from the ground to make products we use and?throw them away when we no longer want them. Take-make-waste. We call this a linear economy. Every year we dump a massive?2.12 billion tons?of waste. If all this waste was put on trucks they would go around the world 24 times. This stunning amount of waste is partly because 99 percent of the stuff we buy is trashed within 6 months. Hence, I bring to you the simple concept of "CIRCULAR ECONOMY". As defined by ellenmacarthurfoundation.org's website it’s a new way to design, make, and use things within planetary boundaries.

Shifting the system involves everyone and everything: businesses, governments, and individuals; our cities, our products, and our jobs. It is based on three principles:

• Design out waste and pollution
• Keep products and materials in use
• Regenerate natural systems
• To any inquisitive soul the next question is obvious, how do we execute these three principles in our expeditious society of ours? Well we need to understand the principles first, here is a short overview of them:

1. DESIGN OUT WASTE AND POLLUTION: A circular economy reveals and designs out the negative impacts of economic activity that cause damage to human health and natural systems. This includes the release of greenhouse gases and hazardous substances, the pollution of air, land, and water, as well as structural waste such as traffic congestion.

2. KEEP PRODUCTS AND MATERIALS IN USE: What if we could build an economy that uses things rather than uses them up? A circular economy favors activities that preserve value in the form of energy, labor, and materials. This means designing for durability, reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling to keep products, components, and materials circulating in the economy. Circular systems make effective use of bio-based materials by encouraging many different uses for them as they cycle between the economy and natural systems.

3. REGENERATE NATURAL SYSTEMS: A circular economy avoids the use of non-renewable resources and preserves or enhances renewable ones, for instance by returning valuable nutrients to the soil to support regeneration, or using renewable energy as opposed to relying on fossil fuels.

These three principles bring me to highlight a major locus; we need to identify which materials can safely re-enter the natural world. The materials we use can be broadly classified into two categories biological and technical.

a) Biological materials are those materials that can safely re-enter the natural world, once they have gone through one or more use cycles, where they will biodegrade over time, returning the embedded nutrients to the environment.

b) Technical materials?- cannot re-enter the environment. These materials, such as metals, plastics, and synthetic chemicals, must continuously cycle through the system so that their value can be captured and recaptured.

To summarize circular economy focuses on reducing waste right from the design phase of the manufacturing reuses and recycles materials and ensuring the identification of the right type of materials that can re-enter the system. Therefore it presents the opportunity to gradually decouple economic growth from virgin resource inputs, encourage innovation, increase growth, and create more robust employment. If we transition to a circular economy, the impact will be felt across society. Its major benefits can be grouped into economic and environmental benefits.

1. ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The strength of a circular economy lies in its process in which economic growth will be achieved by combining increased revenues from emerging circular economic activities and lower costs of production. Along with this, it will also create new jobs across industrial sectors, within small and medium enterprises through increased innovation and entrepreneurship and a new service-based economy.

2. ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS: The potential benefits of shifting to a circular economy extend beyond the economy and into the natural environment. By designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating rather than degrading natural systems, the circular economy represents a powerful contribution to achieving global climate targets.

Looking at all the benefits, the question arises how will companies benefit from the circular economy?

Businesses would benefit significantly by shifting their operations in line with the principles of the circular economy. These benefits include the creation of new profit opportunities, reduced costs due to lower virgin-material requirements, and stronger relationships with customers. At the same time, it will also allow us as individuals to have a greater disposable income and reduce our "excessive consumption" of "better" goods each passing day.

Looking at the profound impact, one can surely understand that the circular economy will boost the arrival of the next industrial revolution as we stand on the brink of collapse under the existing linear economy. We must take advantage of this favorable alignment of economic, technological, and social factors to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Circularity is making inroads into the linear economy and has moved beyond the proof of concept; the challenge we face now is to mainstream the circular economy and bring it to scale.

As I write the conclusion the words of E.H Chapin resonate in my ears ;

" Every action touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity", our resolve to switch to a circular economy will touch billions of lives for billions of years to come.