The Circular Economy Can Help You Spend (and Waste) Less

If you’re like most people, you probably want to feel like you’re doing your part to avoid a Mad Max -style future in which we’re all fighting in the desert over dwindling resources. You recycle plastic, metal and paper waste. You bring a reusable bag to the grocery store.

These are all wonderful and meaningful actions, but they are not as effective as you might hope because we all lead wasteful lifestyles. For example, the average person throws away 168 pounds of perfectly edible food each year and produces about 5 pounds of trash every day . And most of your recyclables are not recycled, including less than 10% of all the plastic we use. The engine of the global economy is a take-make-leave model that encourages a one-off relationship with almost everything that is difficult to break out of.

But you can do more by adopting what’s called a circular economy .

Reduce reuse recycling

The circular economy is a model that focuses on reducing waste as much as possible. There are several basic principles :

• Reuse: If something has worn out or no longer functions as it was originally intended, look for ways to keep it useful rather than simply throwing it away.

• Recycle: If you can’t find a way to reuse something, find ways to recycle it.

• Repair: When something breaks, figure out how to fix it instead of just replacing it with a new model.

• Restoration: If there is no way to fix or repurpose something broken, only then create a new version.

The concept is based on the transformation of “waste” into a new resource that can be used. Obviously, some of this is only possible on a social level, but there is a lot you can do on your own to follow these principles and live a more secluded lifestyle.

Reuse everything you can at home

One of the easiest ways to incorporate a circular economy model into your life is to change the way you use resources in your home by finding ways to reuse them as much as possible. The water that flows down the drain can be collected for watering your lawn or garden or for flushing a toilet. Food scraps and other organic matter can be composted for use in your garden (or landscaping, or other people’s gardens ).

This concept extends to your belongings, too. You can repair many appliances and other items with a little knowledge and some basic tools, rather than throwing them away and buying new ones. Finding new uses for tools, gadgets or materials you’ve hoarded or that no longer serve their original function is also a key circular economy strategy – even something as simple as using an old toothbrush to clean bathroom tiles, picking up trash. leftover old soap bars to make new ones , or use dryer lint as firelight or fire pit fire.

If you’re remodeling or renovating, choosing materials like recycled tiles or reclaimed wood will turn your project into a circular one. (You can also recycle scraps from your renovation instead of throwing them in the trash.)

Borrow instead of buying

In a consumer society, it is easy to buy things we need, even if we only need them for one-time use. A more circular approach is to borrow or rent what you need. This could be as simple as borrowing tools from a neighbor when you need them, or renting equipment from a hardware store instead of buying it, using it once, and leaving it to rot in the garage for ten years before deciding that it too old and throw it away. it’s off.

Another approach is to find a local tool library or organize a tool share in your neighborhood. In fact, you can get together with neighbors, friends and family to share many things, such as clothes (especially those baby clothes that your kids outgrow almost instantly). Another way to make your lifestyle more circular is to use tools like Freecycle or Buy Nothing groups to give away things you no longer need and collect used items that still have a lot of life left in them. This kind of cyclical borrowing and lending has another big advantage: You can save a lot of money over the years by borrowing or finding free used items instead of constantly buying new ones.

Choose your products wisely

You can’t always find what you need at your neighbor’s or on Freecycle. Sometimes you will have no choice but to buy something new. However, in these cases, you can still support the circular economy by choosing companies that have also adopted the concept. For example:

• Patagonia has built its business model on a circular and sustainable concept, including its Worn Wear program , which allows you to trade in used gear and take turns buying used gear.

• Ikea not only works to use recycled materials in its products, but also offers a buyback and resale program , allowing you to sell your unwanted Ikea furniture back to the company, who will then sell it to someone else without losing anything.

• Adidas has launched a “Three Cycle” strategy , which aims to a) use recycled materials in its shoes, b) reuse those materials when the shoes wear out, and c) eventually move to using natural and renewable resources in the production of their shoes. .

• Flor has a robust carpet tile recycling program that makes it easy to send old carpet tiles back to the company for recycling and reuse in an environmentally friendly manner.

• Mattel hasa Playback program that makes it easy for families to mail in their old used plastic toys so the materials can be recycled and salvaged.

Selecting companies that have a circular economy strategy requires a little research, but once you identify them, you can make your own efforts much easier by working with these companies when purchasing something is your only option and creating your own circular economy is it is the most effective way to live a sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyle. (And think about the money you’ll save.)

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