Circularity means preventing – or at least delaying – durable products and materials from going to the landfill.
Although circularity is sometimes equated with recycling, preferred environmental solutions include rental, repair, reuse, and remanufacturing. That is because the process of stripping a product down to its recyclable components wastes much of the resources and energy initially used to create the product. To understand this, let’s take a high-level look at the recycling process.
The first step in recycling is to separate the components in a product. Next, compost the separated biological material (plant material) if adhesives, dyes, or oils have not contaminated the materials. Unfortunately, if the materials are contaminated, the recycler will discard them. Then the plastics and metals will be sorted and recycled if there is a viable market for the recycled material. However, the market fluctuates, which means at times it is not cost-effective to recycle certain materials because the recycler cannot profitably sell the finished recycled material.
Further, the term recycling is misleading. Downcycling is a more accurate word since the process generally produces inferior materials compared to the initial material (for example, weaker material or material with a changed color). Finally, recycled materials don’t contain the value of energy put into the original product, and the recycling process uses energy.
Companies increasingly embrace new, high-impact, circular market opportunities such as product repair. Here are three compelling examples:
- Vaude, the German cycling and outdoor recreation company introduced a Repair Index to help the company’s designers create durable products that are easily repairable.
- Fairphone, whose motto is, “The most sustainable phone is the one you already own,” sells replacement parts. They also have a network of active community members who assist customers with updates, repairs, and how to get the most out of their phones.
- Patagonia encourages its customers to keep their products as long as possible and offers online care and repair tutorials.
