How does a circular economy differ from a linear one? Professor Simon Evenett, Director of the Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research at the University of St. Gallen, has a simple explanation. \u201cIf you think about making a car within a linear economy, you would bring together resources, which would then be used to make steel \u2014 the intermediate inputs \u2014 which are then used to make a car. Once the car is no longer used by its first owner, perhaps it is sold to a second one,\u201d he says. \u201cBut eventually, the car is just scrapped.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a circular economy, however, the resources from the scrapped car would be extracted and then used for another productive purpose. Furthermore, he adds that \u201conce you realise resources can have a longer life than in the past, you might design products and services differently in order to ensure that the resources used in them have a future afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such forward-thinking product design is a focus for David Christian. A few years ago, he started his company, Evoware, which creates cups and packages made of seaweed.\u201c Our main goal is to reduce plastic waste,\u201d says the young entrepreneur. \u201cWe want to replace single-use plastic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company\u2019s products are both edible and biodegradable. \u201cSo, if people don\u2019t want to eat it, they can just throw it away, without harming the environment,\u201d Christian says. The entrepreneur was born in Indonesia, one of the largest contributors to the ocean\u2019s plastic waste problem. \u201cBy changing the way we consume, we can clean the ocean,\u201d the founder of Evoware argues. \u201cBut we can not do it alone. All sectors should work together in order to create a circular economy. Business as it is right now won\u2019t be sustainable. We make, we consume, we dispose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So should our economic system serve growth and profit, or the well-being of our planet? \u201cIt is a misunderstanding to think that economists support growth without limits,\u201d says Evenett, \u201cWe are very aware of the adverse effects that economic activity can have. A properly trained economist would be very sensitive to the idea that economic growth could be too fast from a resource-spoiling point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Evenett, a fundamental principle in economics is a distaste for misallocated resources. \u201cOne form of that is destroying or getting rid of resources which actually still have use,\u201d Evenett says. \u201cI think one of the most creative things about the circular economy is the idea that resources can be used multiple times through different stages in their lives and ultimately reused and brought back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So might our economic system turn into a circular economy, perhaps in the next few years? \u201cWith all of these changes, you have slow acceptance over time,\u201d says Evenett. \u201cThis is not going to be revolutionary, it will be evolutionary.\u201d
To Evenett, the notion of a circular economy seems more relevant for some sectors and products than for others. Not every schema associated with the circular economy would be one economists like. \u201cIt is important to understand that the economic logic is not dogmatic. It is about the choice between alternatives. Under some circumstances, people might choose a renewable versus a non-renewable source. In other situations, people might choose a linear versus a circular model,\u201d he says. It all comes down to prices: \u201cWhat would be interesting over time,\u201d he adds, \u201cis whether innovation by firms expands the range of goods and services where the principles of the circular economy apply.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Circular and linear economies serve different goals, and the economy of the future may draw on both to achieve different goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How does a circular economy differ from a linear one? Professor Simon Evenett, Director of the Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research at the University of St. Gallen, has a simple explanation. \u201cIf you think about making a car within a linear economy, you would bring together resources, which would then be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":1914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[65],"class_list":["post-1913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SYMP-49-Magazine-Web-Article-L-Circular-Economy_0_skaliert_0.jpg",1304,960,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SYMP-49-Magazine-Web-Article-L-Circular-Economy_0_skaliert_0-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SYMP-49-Magazine-Web-Article-L-Circular-Economy_0_skaliert_0-300x221.jpg",300,221,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SYMP-49-Magazine-Web-Article-L-Circular-Economy_0_skaliert_0-768x565.jpg",768,565,true],"large":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SYMP-49-Magazine-Web-Article-L-Circular-Economy_0_skaliert_0-1024x754.jpg",1024,754,true],"xl":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SYMP-49-Magazine-Web-Article-L-Circular-Economy_0_skaliert_0.jpg",1304,960,false],"xxl":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SYMP-49-Magazine-Web-Article-L-Circular-Economy_0_skaliert_0.jpg",1304,960,false],"xxxl":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SYMP-49-Magazine-Web-Article-L-Circular-Economy_0_skaliert_0.jpg",1304,960,false],"xxxxl":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SYMP-49-Magazine-Web-Article-L-Circular-Economy_0_skaliert_0.jpg",1304,960,false],"xxxxxl":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SYMP-49-Magazine-Web-Article-L-Circular-Economy_0_skaliert_0.jpg",1304,960,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SYMP-49-Magazine-Web-Article-L-Circular-Economy_0_skaliert_0.jpg",1304,960,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SYMP-49-Magazine-Web-Article-L-Circular-Economy_0_skaliert_0.jpg",1304,960,false]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"
How does a circular economy differ from a linear one? Professor Simon Evenett, Director of the Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research at the University of St. Gallen, has a simple explanation. \u201cIf you think about making a car within a linear economy, you would bring together resources, which would then be used to make steel \u2014 the intermediate inputs \u2014 which are then used to make a car. Once the car is no longer used by its first owner, perhaps it is sold to a second one,\u201d he says. \u201cBut eventually, the car is just scrapped.\u201d…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"INSIGHTS<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"wordpress@weitblick-online.ch","url":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/author\/wordpressweitblick-online-ch\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","authors":[{"term_id":65,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"julia-koster","display_name":"Julia Koster","avatar_url":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/gravatars\/762b22de4bf1bf3924204e9b02554eaa","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1913"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3076,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1913\/revisions\/3076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1913"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}