Circular economy / by Kyle J. Ritchie & Eric Corey Freed.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ritchie, Kyle J.

Freed, Eric Corey, author.

Series:

--For dummies.

For dummies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sustainable development.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 406 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, [2021]

Summary:

Imagine a waste-free future for your business, your family, and yourself A circular economy is an economic system designed to save money, eliminate waste, and achieve deep sustainability. No-brainer, right? Circular Economy For Dummies explains why the old way of doing things (linear economy) is fast going the way of the dinosaurs, and it gets you ready to think circular. From business processes and material lifecycles to circular design in just about every industry, this book is a fascinating glimpse into our sustainable future. Whether you're looking to close the resource loop in your business or develop a greener lifestyle for yourself and your family, this book shows you how. Learn how to innovate for circular economy, how to turn trash into treasure, and how to calculate the (potentially large) amount of money this will save you. And—bonus—you'll feel good doing the right thing and being a part of our sustainable future! Challenge the assumptions behind the old-school "linear economy" model Learn how we can work together to achieve a waste-free future Save money by rethinking your resource use or business supply chain Reimagine households, neighborhoods, schools, companies, and societies The future is circular. Buck business-as-usual and learn how to create a circular economy for all!

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

How This Book Is Organized

Part 1: Linear Is Out, Circular Is In: An Economic Revolution

Part 2: Rethinking Business for a Circular Economy

Part 3: Rethinking Material Lifecycles - The Circular Perspective

Part 4: Redesigning the Future to Be Circular

Part 5: Creating a Circular Economy for All

Part 6: The Part of Tens

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Part 1 Linear Is Out, Circular Is In: An Economic Revolution

Chapter 1 Rejecting Waste, Rethinking Materials, and Redesigning the World

Rejecting the Idea of Waste

Waste as a driver of the economy

Waste as a resource

Rethinking Material Lifecycles

Take, make, and waste

Making technical materials circular

Making biological materials circular

Upcycling versus downcycling

Redesigning the Future to Be Circular

Food production

Circular businesses, products, and clothing

A circular economy for all

Chapter 2 What's Wrong with Being Linear, Anyway?

We're Taking the Wrong Stuff

We're not importing this stuff from space

Everyone keeps having kids

We don't have as much as we thought

It all revolves around oil

We're Making the Wrong Stuff

You're buying trash

Even kids can build with blocks

Trying to recycle the unrecyclable

We're using materials that are bad for us

We're Wasting the Wrong Stuff

It all comes at a big cost

We're running out of room

It's expensive to throw things away

The debt collector is knocking at the door

Change Is Really Hard, We Know

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

Taking risks

Chapter 3 A Growing Demand for a Circular Economy

The Drive to Make Money

Redefining risk and liability.

Innovating to attract new customers

The Drive to Be Healthier

Lifestyles that foster health and sustainability

Wellness as a priority

The Drive to Be in Compliance

Environmental, social, and corporate governance

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Climate and shareholders

A Larger Drive Toward Deep Sustainability

This has been brewing for a while

Precedents

Looking to the future

Chapter 4 From Linear To Circular: What You Need To Know

So Much Chaos: Understanding Entropy

Externalized costs

Linear versus circular: A hilarious- yet-depressing comparison

Borrow from nature, not from the future

Waste = Food: Redefining Disposal

All materials have another use

Product stewardship

Building Resilience Through Diversity: Redefining Strength

Responding to disruption

Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'

Durability and reparability policies

Part 2 Rethinking Business for a Circular Economy

Chapter 5 Identifying Your Business Opportunities

Exploring the Benefits of Going Circular

Exploiting the profit opportunities

Reducing volatility and ensuring greater supply chain security

Managing the new demand for business services

Improving customer interaction and loyalty

Rethinking the Business Model

Building new types of capital

Rethinking money as the only medium of exchange

Reflecting the true cost of products

Embracing diversity

Rethinking your supply chain

Designing for the future

Examining Business from a Global Perspective

Chapter 6 Rethinking the Conventional Business Model

Rethinking How We Look at Cost

The hidden cost of procurement

The hidden impact of transportation

The hidden burden of inventory

The hidden secrets of quality

Maximizing Your Value Proposition to Customers

Becoming a mission-driven company.

Safeguarding your workers

Greenwashing

Turning Obstacles into Opportunities

Listening to customers

Creating unspoken demand

Rethinking old assumptions

Bending linear into loops

Thinking of businesses as a system

Chapter 7 Exploring the Essentials of a Circular Business Model

The Six Rs: Your New Circularity Mantra

Refuse: Say no to what you don't need

Reduce: Use less for longer

Reuse and remanufacture: Extend product life

Repurpose: Find other uses

Recycle: Return materials for rebirth

Rot: Return it to the soil

Developing a Circular Business Structure: The Bones of the Operation

Identifying potential material loops

Considering innovative business models

Who's at the table? Engaging your stakeholders

Developing a message

Benchmarking and improvement

Chapter 8 'Round and 'Round: Making Your Products Circular

Managing Material Lifecycle Performance

Designing products for reuse

Designing products to be remanufactured

Designing products for recycling

Making Your Product Lifecycle Smarter

Creating effective and serviceable products

Being flexible

Seeking collaborators and partners

How It All Comes Together

Everything is circular first

Everything is transparent

Chapter 9 From Trash to Treasure: Converting Waste into Products

Seeing Why the Circular Economy Is All About Retaining Value

Stop Being Linear: It's a Waste of Time

Why Buy Waste When You Can Sell It?

Selling your old stuff

Starting your own business

Troubleshooting a Wasteful Product Lifecycle

Where the wild things are

Signed, sealed, delivered

Waste not, want not

Being a sustainable shopper

Finding value in the ugly

Part 3 Rethinking Material Lifecycles: The Circular Perspective

Chapter 10 Understanding the Circular Material Lifecycle.

Viewing the Entire Spectrum of Environmental Impact

Defining degenerative lifecycles

Defining sustainable lifecycles

Defining regenerative lifecycles

Understanding the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Butterfly Diagram

Examining the circular economy's structure: The bones of the operation

Renewables flow management: Harnessing biological cycles

Stock management: Optimizing technical cycles

Promoting environmental restoration: Investing now to obtain even more later

Chapter 11 Analyzing Material Lifecycle Processes

Looking at Material Processes

Fostering transparency

Instituting chemical management

Rewarding innovation

The Lifecycle Principles: Identifying Where Change Can Happen

Preserving natural capital

Enhancing the usefulness of products, components, and raw materials

Developing effective systems that minimize negative externalities

Looking at Opportunities for Optimization

Refusing the new: Reusing the old

Employing the remaining factor: Remanufacturing

Biochemical extraction for the win

Chapter 12 Improving the Material Lifecycle

Improving How Material Lifecycles Function

Looking at Materials in a New Way

Getting to know your lifecycle

Refuse before you reduce, reuse, and recycle

Examining Operations in a New Way

Looking at human capital

You can be everywhere

Connecting Sourcing, Suppliers, and Customers

Chapter 13 It All Comes Down to Selecting the Right Materials

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Exploring Materials

Oil or Plastics - They're Really Much the Same Thing

What's Harder than Rock? Metals

Paper Products and Cardboard

Through the Looking Glass

And Everything In-Between

Identifying Hazardous Materials

Red list materials

Red list material alternatives

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

Sourcing, Ethics, and Standards.

Understanding strategic sourcing

Establishing ethics

Exploring certifications and standards

Chapter 14 Circular Materials, Products, and Packaging

Redesigning Materials and Products: The Transition from Linear to Circular

"Less bad" does not equal "good"

Planning for material reincarnation

How To Keep Materials In Use Forever

Why things break

From planned obsolescence to planned permanence

Shipping Global versus Producing Local

Building a regional economy: A shipping substitute

You've got to be shipping me

Permanent packaging

Part 4 Redesigning the Future to be Circular

Chapter 15 The Circular Economy of Food Production

Examining the Two Ways of Producing Food

Investigating the Hidden Costs of Agriculture

Food waste: Expending money, time, and resources unnecessarily

Environmental degeneration: Damaging the planet with increasing speed

Permaculture to the Rescue

Following nature's lead: Permaculture design principles

Taking a look at permaculture management zones

Chapter 16 Circularity for Design

Redesigning Design

Understanding circular design

Designing out waste

Keeping products and materials in use

Regenerating natural systems

Recognizing the Problems Designers Face

We're being overtaken by trash

We're running out of materials

We're choking on carbon

Creating a Framework for Circular Design

Applying the ReSOLVE framework to buildings

Layers of useful life

Putting the pieces together

Chapter 17 Circular Economy for Builders, Makers, and Manufacturers

Assessing a Building's Lifecycle

Defining construction and demolition debris

Gauging the economic opportunities of C&amp

D waste

Measuring C&amp

D waste impact

Defining lifecycle impacts

Identifying human health hazards and promoting transparency.

People, planet and profit.

Notes:

Includes index

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-119-71640-3

1-119-71639-X

OCLC:

1245671885