A circular economy, in basic terms, means extending the life cycle of products, i.e. when a material is coming to the end of its life, they are kept within the economy wherever possible and can be used again and again and create further value. In contrast with a linear economy where products are bought, used and thrown away.
As the raw materials on this planet are finite a circular economy is a necessity. If we all lived like the average citizen in the UK we would need the resources of 2.63 earths*!
1. PRIORITISE SECOND HAND WHERE YOU CAN
Borrow or buy second hand, utilise programmes like the library of things, car-share apps, clothes swaps, charity shops and online marketplaces like eBay and Facebook. why not set up a Whatsapp group with your neighbours where you can swap items amongst yourselves.
2. BUY LESS, BUY BETTER
Invest in quality durable items, to buy less and save on future spending.
3. REUSABLES
There are a lot of swaps you can make to encourage circular living stricture into your life, switching to reusable items is one of these. These include coffee flasks and water bottles to shopping bags, period products, beeswax wraps and face masks!
4. REPAIR AND UPCYCLE
Patch your jackets and darn your socks! Not only can you repair your worn-out clothing, but you can also send off your technology for repair or breathe new life into old furniture with a lick of paint. Upcycling is a creative way to reuse re-purpose things to add more value to the item, get creative with the things you think are destined for the bin and you might surprise yourself, follow our Instagram for ideas
5. RECYCLE AND COMPOST AS MUCH AS YOU CAN
Keep the materials in the loop when items are beyond repair, scroll down to read our previous blog post on identifying the recyclable plastics amongst non-recyclable plastics.
6. PUT PRESSURE ON THE GOVERNMENT TO ADOPT CIRCULAR ECONOMY POLICY MEASURES
The main three strategies to achieve a circular economy is renewable energy, energy efficiency and material efficiency. Significant steps in these three areas could see dramatic drops in carbon emission, also encouraging a culture of repair, maintenance, upgrading and remanufacturing is predicted to more jobs to exceed 100,000. making the benefits of moving away from a linear and towards a circular economy huge.**
One small step you can take today is to sign up to a petition or support environmental focused businesses.
Linked is a petition to fix the UK's plastic pollution crisis from Greenpeace:
if in doubt refer to the 'buyerarchy of needs'
The Sunny Jar Team x
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/economy/20151201STO05603/circular-economy-definition-importance-and-benefits
* Eathrise.studio from the global footprint network (2017) UK
**https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/apr/15/circular-economy-jobs-climate-carbon-emissions-eu-taxation
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