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Sustainable chemistry
Sustainable chemistry

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2 Circular economies

As mentioned in Video 1, there is currently a drive to transition from a traditional linear economy to a circular model in which the latter maximises the use of renewable resources.

These models are summarised in Figure 2.

Described image
Figure 2 (a) Linear and (b) circular economies
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The figure consists of two parts labelled (a) and (b) that illustrate linear and circular economies.

Part (a): linear economy. An illustration depicts a large (blue) curved arrow pointing downward. The arrow contains three dots of increasing size. The tail end of the arrow is labelled ‘take’. The arrowhead is labelled ‘pollute’. Eight small, curved arrows point away from the large arrow. The three dots are labelled ‘make’, ‘use’ and ‘dispose’.

Part (b): circular economy. A circular flowchart depicts five coloured oval shapes cyclically connected by curved arrows which are labelled: ‘make’, ‘use’, ‘reuse’, ‘remake’ and ‘recycle’.

Figure 2 (a) Linear and (b) circular economies

  • What are the main differences between a linear and circular economy?

  • In the linear approach, goods are produced and then thrown away – often in landfill. The circular economy involves treating waste as a raw material for the production of new goods. This extends to recycling and reusing products where possible.

One material that exemplifies the need to move to a circular economy is plastic – this is the focus of the next section.