24/5/23, 16:02 Building a circular economy: five key concepts

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Building a circular
economy: five key
concepts
Here’s what you need to know about the global
movement to rethink materials and waste.

National Geographic Editor in Chief Susan Goldberg moderates the "Leading Disruption" panel
during The Circular Economy forum at National Geographic headquarters February 26 in
Washington, D.C.

BY CHRISTINA NUNEZ
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P H OTO G R A P H S BY PAU L MO R I G I

PUBLISHED APRIL 15, 2020 • 7 MIN READ

This is Paid Content. The editorial staff of National Geographic was not
involved in the preparation or production of this content.

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24/5/23, 16:02 Building a circular economy: five key concepts

For most of us, using a product once before throwing it away is a daily habit.
Beverage bottles, food containers, and other packaging are sanitary and
convenient, but our disposable world brings consequences that must be
addressed: Trash is ending up in our rivers and oceans, threatening wildlife and
food supplies.

To allow for the benefits of safe packaging without creating a flood of waste
into the environment, we need to create a circular economy, where products
are designed to last longer and eventually come back into use as new materials
rather than going to landfills. National Geographic recently convened a group
that included CEOs, city officials, and recycling experts to talk about how we
can bring the circular economy from concept to reality. Here are five notable
concepts that emerged during the discussion February 26 at National
Geographic's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Andrew Morlet, CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, set the context for
the event with a keynote address laying out the circular economy concept—"a
bigger idea," he emphasized, than just recycling.

1. The circular economy is bigger than you think

When we talk about reducing waste, the temptation is to think recycling is the
answer. But recycling alone will not save us from a surfeit of stuff, noted
Andrew Morlet, CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation: "The circular economy
is a bigger idea that takes the entire system into mind." That means rethinking
how products are conceived at the start, minimizing unnecessary use of
resources, designing items to be used as long as possible, and planning to
funnel material back into the economy afterward. Achieving this will require
massive investment in collection, sorting, and recycling infrastructure, but
especially in developing economies, governments won't be willing or able to
invest at the pace needed."It's not a $1 billion problem—it's a $150 billion
problem," Morlet said. "We need to have industry stepping up and actually
contributing to the creation of that infrastructure so that these systems can
work."

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24/5/23, 16:02 Building a circular economy: five key concepts

During the "Leading Disruption" panel, Susan

Goldberg led a discussion with three CEOs, from left:
Halsey Cook of Milliken, Jacob Duer of the Alliance to
End Plastic Waste, and Jim Fish of Waste Management.
Cook, right, noted that the "greed is good" mentality
of the 1980s no longer applies in today's business
environment.

2. For businesses, green is good

While the mantra "greed is good" from the movie Wall Street ruled the 1980s,
companies today are turning away from a solely profit-driven definition of
success. Smart business leaders recognize both the obligation and the
opportunity in pursuing growth while safeguarding resources. Managing
future risks associated with climate change are an important driver of focusing
on environmental impacts, but not the whole story. Halsey Cook, CEO of
Milliken & Company, pointed to a recent Ethisphere ranking of most ethical
companies, which included Milliken. "The data is very clear that companies that
focus on doing the right things over time have higher returns,” he said, when
compared to the Large Cap Index. Among other initiatives, Milliken has
invested in PureCycle Technologies, a technology that transforms post-
consumer polypropylene into a like-new version of the resin that, Cook added,
could potentially be valued more highly by industry.

From left, Urban Green Council's John Mandyck, New

York City Department of Sanitation's Bridget
Anderson, waste management consultant Swati Singh
Sambyal, and the City of Toronto's Annette Synowiec
discussed the theme of "Cities as Metabolisms."
Anderson, right, said New York has at least 4,500
businesses focused on repair, reuse, and sharing.

3. Cities can lead the way

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24/5/23, 16:02 Building a circular economy: five key concepts

In cities around the world, municipal governments are becoming incubators for
ideas that can inform broader policies and can inspire action in both public and
private sectors. Toronto, for example, collects organic waste from the city's
households and turns it into biogas that can fuel truck fleets or be used for
heating. In New York, the city is looking at ways to boost its already strong
recycling initiatives by extending the life of products before they go into the
bin. At least 4,500 New York City businesses focus on repair, reuse, and the
sharing economy. "It's there, it's under the radar," noted Bridget Anderson,
deputy commissioner for recycling and sustainability for the city's Department
of Sanitation. "So the question is, how do we scale those things up for the
products that can have a second life before they become recycled."

Nina Butler, CEO of the consulting firm More Recycling, said product carbon
emissions need to be taken into account in order to make successful policies
for reducing waste.

4. Carbon needs to be factored in

"We have to decide what we're solving for," said Milliken CEO Halsey Cook. "It's
easy to [say you want to] eliminate plastics, but you might replace that with
other materials that might have a big disadvantage" from a carbon footprint
perspective. Some argue that strong policy targeting carbon emissions is key
to making progress. A policy that holds companies responsible for waste from
the products they make, for example, "needs to be first rooted in how we track
our carbon," said Nina Butler, CEO of the consulting firm More Recycling. The
better producers do at shrinking the lifecycle carbon emissions of their
product, she argued, the less they should have to pay.

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24/5/23, 16:02 Building a circular economy: five key concepts

From left, National Geographic's Valerie Craig moderated a discussion on

"Rethinking End-of-Life Solutions for Plastic" with recycling experts Nina Butler
of More Recycling, Ernel Simpson of TerraCycle, Scott Saunders of KW Plastics,
and Keefe Harrison of The Recycling Partnership.

5. What you buy—and recycle—matters

Consumers have voiced their concerns about waste in the environment, and
companies are responding. To build on the momentum, people need to ask
businesses for products made from recycled content and demand better local
recycling programs from local authorities. "Part of the answer here has to be an
increase in the use of recycled materials on the back end,” said Jim Fish, CEO of
Waste Management. “Both big and small businesses play a very critical role in
this.” The more people value the reuse of materials, the easier it becomes for
businesses to accelerate the circular economy: "Let the people you buy from
know that recycled material is important in their container," advised Scott
Saunders, general manager of the recycler KW Plastics. "Companies follow
what their customer wants."

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24/5/23, 16:02 Building a circular economy: five key concepts

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