Going round in circles: closing the loop on waste
What does it mean to follow the principles of the circular economy? In this webinar, experts from Signify lay bare the core themes that designers should keep in mind on circularity
What do we mean by the ‘circular economy’? Many people have a vague sense that the term refers to the practice of recycling and reducing waste. But from a design perspective, the circular economy goes far deeper into how we think about what we make.
In their webinar, Signify defines the circular economy as a mode of thinking about people, planet and prosperity which provides a viable route to becoming fully sustainable. The current take-make-use-waste model that dominates the linear economy that we are currently part of does think about recycling on some level, but there is still a high degree of waste produced by this model.
Opportunity to rethink
Through circular thinking we can improve this model, designing-out waste and offering an opportunity to think about the materials and role of a product beyond its first life cycle. This can involve thinking about how products can be designed for easy repair and restoration, removing planned obsolesce or even rethinking a product’s reliance on fossil fuels and looking to other resources to produce new products with greater sustainability credentials.
Watch Signify’s webinar on the circular economy here to find out more.
