omniharmonicCircular Economy
A circular economy is an economic system designed to eliminate waste and maximize the continuous use of resources by structuring supply chains and production processes so that the outputs of one process become the inputs of another. Where the dominant linear economy follows a “take-make-dispose” pattern — extracting raw materials, manufacturing goods, and discarding them as waste — a circular economy mimics the logic of natural ecosystems, in which nothing is wasted and every byproduct nourishes another process. Circularity encompasses strategies such as designing products for longevity and repair, recovering and regenerating materials at end of life, and creating industrial symbiosis networks where one enterprise’s waste stream feeds another’s production.
The significance of circularity extends beyond mere efficiency or waste reduction. At a first-principles level, the linear economy’s extractive logic is rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of value. As articulated in the analysis of labor and the earth as the two foundational sources of value, the current monetary system functions like a straw, relentlessly sucking value out of people and the planet and consolidating it in the hands of a few. A circular economy, by contrast, operates more like arteries in a circulatory system or tributaries in a hydrological cycle — distributing energy equitably and nourishing all essential life-support functions. When supply chains are designed so that value created by the earth circulates within industrial processes or cycles back as nourishment for planetary regenerative processes, the economy begins to align with the patterns of living-systems rather than working against them.
Circularity connects to degrowth through the shared recognition that infinite material throughput on a finite planet is impossible, though circularity emphasizes redesigning flows while degrowth emphasizes reducing aggregate scale. It relates to regenerative-economics as a practical mechanism for economic systems that restore rather than deplete, and to the well-being-economy through its reorientation of economic purpose away from extraction toward systemic health. When combined with worker-cooperatives — enterprises whose worker-owners are directly responsible for the places they call home — circular design becomes not just an engineering challenge but a democratic one, as those closest to the consequences of production decisions gain the authority to reshape them.