Circular Economy            

Can you guess what a “circular economy is and what its purpose is? I confess that I didn’t know but we have recently read an interesting article in class  about  the difference  between  a circular  economy and a linear one and my idea of sustainability has completely changed.

A circular economy is one that limits waste by just recycling and reusing materials whereas in a linear economy we add to the two “Rs” other 3 “Rs” so they will be 5 in total :  refurbish, recycle, reuse repair and repurpose. In this way products won’t be thrown away after use but they will be designed to be long-lasting and easy to repair and it would be easily break down into components that will be reused.    Enter the circular economy, a new model that offers an alternative to the traditional linear economy will change our idea of sustainable economy because  the traditional model uses raw materials  and transforms into products that consumers use until discarding them as waste, with no concern for their ecological footprint and consequences. A linear economy will prioritize profit over sustainability, with products made to be thrown away once they’ve been used (we take raw materials from the earth, use these to make products to sell and, once these products have reached the end of their useful life, we dispose of them. A circular economy is fundamentally a strategy aimed at optimizing resources used within industries so that sustainability can be achieved. It involves a model of production and consumption in which recycling, sharing, leasing, and refurbishing of existing materials are performed for as long as possible. The principles of circular economy can be applied to all sectors, including one of electronics: Currently only about a fifth of all electronic waste is recycled but copper a vital material used by smartphones and other device.  Copper is a very common material that is widely useed in electronics. In theory, it could be recycled indefinitelywithout loss of quality. So, let’s change our behavoiur!