Many of us in the design and engineering fields have heard of the term “circular economy,” as well as accompanying principles like zero waste living, upcycling, recycling, and cradle-to-cradle. To quote UK’s Waste and Resources Action Programme, the circular business model is a regenerative “alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose).”
A straight forward approach to circular economy is to build objects that can live cyclically via cradle-to-cradle design. But efforts to establish cradle-to-cradle are riddled with challenges ranging from existing consumer expectations, complicated emissions trade-offs, and plain old capitalism.
The question I ask is- what if cradle-to-cradle is old news? What if circularity is meant to grow within the symbiotic web between multiple industries rather than within individual ones? Within this symbiotic web, could a system-based approach mitigate wicked issues like CO2 accumulation in the atmosphere?
This presentation was recorded in conjunction with our 1851 Virtual Alumni Science Evening 2021
