How wonderful it is that nobody needs to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

– Anne Frank

This article series is written for those who are interested in the why, how, and what related to moving towards a circular economy, especially in the fields of business and technology.

Circular Arguments

This short article is an attempt at explaining why circular business models are not just an option but the only option for those who wish to have truly sustainable businesses. Now, how can I say that with such confidence?

Sustainability, Simplified

The word sustainability has come to mean many things. Sometimes nothing. But it is my belief that it is the proper word for what we must work to do, namely to sustain. To sustain something means to hold it up and make it endure. A question naturally arises, the question that might be the obscuring factor behind the confusion towards sustainability as a word. What do we want the ability to hold up, what do we want to sustain? Talking about sustainability without having an answer to this question is almost by definition meaningless, yet most discussions around sustainability seem to miss this central point entirely.

Sustainable Systems

The underlying answer to the question above becomes clear when viewing the world through a systems-lens. The answer then becomes that sustainability means the ability for any system to sustain its own existence, however dynamic or static it is. For a complex natural system such as a forest, it sustains itself through innumerable interactions between itself and other subsystems which are all part of the same larger system, our planet. This systems view can be zoomed in or out indefinitely, subatomic particles being viewed as subsystems of molecules as well as tiny subsystems of the entire universe. Less philosophically, all businesses are subsystems in the global economy. When a corporation wants to be sustainable, that would then mean that they want to sustain their existence in the global economy, and preferably do this in a way that allows them to grow, mainly through profit, as well as to evolve and change in ways suitable to the corporation. So why is it that most actions necessary for sustainability seem to go against what sustains a corporation economically? Oil and mining companies seem to be doing just swell sustaining themselves. So, what is going on here?

Unsustainable Systems

Many modern subsystems are working on false premises regarding the larger systems they act in. Oil and mining companies work perfectly well, for now, in the global economic system but their actions are destroying the global ecosystems of the Earth, a system wherein all other human systems are set. Without functioning ecosystems there will be no economy and, consequently, no oil and mining companies, as an example. If a subsystem is unsustainable because of how it affects the larger system it will, if the larger system is working properly, be destroyed, changed, spat out, or crippled by the larger system. Put simply, businesses that negatively affect the economy rapidly go bankrupt, civilisations that negatively affect the Earth’s ecosystems decline or collapse.

Only that which can change can continue.

– James Carse, Finite & Infinite Games

Sustainability, Revisited

So with all of the above fresh in our minds, where do we land? It goes something like this: for a subsystem to be sustainable it has to have the ability to sustain its own existence and simultaneously adapt to the changing conditions required to sustain the larger systems it is part of. A corporation must adapt to the changing conditions of the global economy, and both the corporation and the global economy must adapt to the changing conditions of the Earth’s ecosystems. If this is not the case, well, the evidence is all around us. It will become louder and louder until we decide to listen or are forced to. However, turning up the hopefulness meter again, there are ways of tackling this. Here, now, today. The global economy is in its current form improperly tuned to sustain both itself and those systems surrounding it. However, there exist businesses that function sustainably both within the global economy and within the larger systems of the Earth. What signifies those businesses?

Growth and Circularity

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. So, first things first, if you are looking to grow your company just because you want to grow, you will not be sustainable, nor will any of your actions contribute to greater societal sustainability. Take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself what you’re actually working towards. Growing organically with clear intentions behind the growth and change is the only way for any system to sustain its own existence. Secondly, we arrive at the real action point of this article: circularity. What does it mean to be circular, to work according to circular models, or simply being part of ”the circular economy”, and why is it sustainable? Before we can answer these questions in a clear and concise manner, we need to understand waste and externalities.

Waste and Externalities

Unhandled externalities are presently destroying all natural and human-created systems or, put as clearly as I can, the unseen consequences of our actions are ending the world as we know it. That is about as bleak as this article gets so if you’re still here, you’re doing great! Explaining externalities and how they create problems is complicated but, in short, you can see an externality as anything caused or created by a system that isn’t then managed or properly handled by the system or the larger systems it acts in. Another way is to see it as a cost paid by someone or something other than the creator of the cost. Waste, therefore, is an externality. So are emissions from cars, mental health issues from social media use, desertification following industrial agricultural practices, increased risk of cardiovascular disease due to humans living in highly artificial environments, etc. In short, any activity creates often unexpected consequences. Now, finally, we arrive at what can be done about these externalities, these consequences.

Three Dimensions of Circularity

A useful way of looking at making any system more circular is to look at three possible dimensions of circularity: recirculation, utilisation, and endurance.

Recirculation means finding ways of internalising the externalities of the system back into the system. A clear example of this could be re-using production waste in the manufacturing of something else or simply selling it to a different industry where it can be of use. Remember, resilient natural systems let nothing go to waste. Total recirculation should be the intention.

Utilisation refers to how and if the product or service is being used. Are you using heaps of resources to make something that isn’t being utilised? In the design of physical products there is sometimes talk of designing for the landfill where one is fully aware of the fact that what one is designing is mostly useless. Create things that have clear utility.

Endurance refers to how long a product or service can be used as well as any end-of-life processes. Are you making things that last a long time and that can be recycled, recirculated, repaired, or re-used? Create things that last, maintain things that matter.

Recirculation, utilisation, and endurance. Keep them in mind. All three taken to their fullest extent makes for truly sustainable systems, natural or man-made. Finally, if the activities of your business and/or its industry seem impossible to squeeze into any of these three dimensions, hard truths are approaching you rapidly. If your business creates useless or even harmful waste and externalities that can’t be recirculated or handled properly, if there isn’t any real utility to what your business makes, if it has no lasting value over time… Well, it is never too late to change course.

Towards Circularity

Moving towards circular business models is not easy but it is necessary and will, either through international laws or impending systemic collapse, become obligatory. Circularity is the only path towards not just sustainable businesses but sustainable societies of which your business plays a part. Furthermore, the resilience and adaptability of circular systems in times of change and disruption will lead to these systems being the only ones that make it into the future. Think in circles, move forward.

Continue with Circularity Part 2: Circular Analytics

Written by David Janzi, data engineer at Stretch Beyond

Image by Tommy Siegel