A linear economy depends on buying new, buying often, and throwing away last season’s unwanted items – whether it’s clothes, accessories, homewares, tech or toys – without really thinking about where they’ll end up. With landfills and oceans filling up with our discarded stuff, and ever-more of our natural resources being extracted and depleted, it’s time to rethink this model.
Around the world, communities big and small are seeing the need for another, more sustainable pathway. The transition to a circular economy is underway.
A circular economy is a system where waste is all but eliminated. Instead, materials and energy are kept circulating, at their highest possible value, for as long as possible. Consider a cheaply-made, synthetic shirt. Bought for $10 from a fast fashion store, it might only last a couple of wears before being discarded to landfill, where, depending on its material composition, it will remain for anywhere from 20-200 years. Its poor quality prohibits it from being passed on, reused and reworn. In contrast, a quality linen shirt is made to last, and its life could involve being worn, shared, swapped, donated, repaired and worn some more, over the span of many years. Eventually, it could be downcycled into something else (a tote bag, or cleaning cloths). When the fibres finally disintegrate so much the material becomes unusable as a textile, it can be composted back into the soil.
It’s a big shift from where we are now. Completely moving away from the linear model will take significant structural and policy changes, as well as a whole lot of creative, system-wide thinking. But it’s not just a pipe dream – WA has set becoming a “sustainable, low-waste, circular economy” as the vision of our state’s waste strategy for 2030.
The wheels of the circular economy have already been set in motion, and there are plenty of ways you can join the movement. To get started, think slow: avoid fast fashion and decorating trends, and – if you need to buy something new – make it a quality item built to last. Reduce the temptation of impulse buys by unsubscribing from brand email newsletters and writing a list of what you need before shopping. Explore small businesses and grassroots initiatives in your community to start extending the life of your items. You may already be on your way – shopping on Facebook Marketplace, sharing on Buy Nothing, donating to op shops and even borrowing from friends are simple ways many of us have already started building circularity into our lives. Could you also get your clothes mended at your local tailor, or a favourite pair of shoes reheeled at a shoe repair kiosk? Locally-run Repair Lab hosts regular events to help you fix broken household items. And why not head to your local toy library to borrow those pesky last-minute book week or kids’ party costumes instead of panic-buying on Amazon?
Going circular will require all of us to shake up our shopping habits, create new collaborations, and imagine new possibilities. But many of the solutions we need are already there – we just need to give them a go.
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