Introduction to Circular Design

How Society Can Rethink Consumption

Happy Tuesday! Today we’re diving into circular design. Are you familiar with it?

What is Circular Design?

The term circular design means designing products that generate zero waste. It comes from the Circular Economy. The 3 core principles are:

1. Eliminate waste and pollution

2. Circulate products and materials

3. Regenerate nature

Circular design is better for the planet. When creating for circularity, designers consider all stages of a product's lifecycle and ensure that it is sustainable from manufacturing to disposal.

What are some of the goals of circular design?

→ design out waste and pollution

→ create new materials efficiently and only when necessary

→ design for longevity

→ enable repair of item or parts

→ create for recycling and re-use instead of waste

→ return to nature safely

Plastic bottle waste in Singapore

This is in direct contrast to the linear economy. The take → make → waste model, which results in the following:

1. Resource depletion

2. Environmental Degradation

3. Increased Waste and Landfill Use

4. Climate Change

5. Economic Instability

The circular economy calls for a transformation of every element of our current take-make-waste system: how we manage resources, how we make and use products, and what we do with the materials at the end of life. By doing so, everyone can benefit within the limits of our planet’s finite resources.

Image of electronic waste in a landfill

Circular design was popularized by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Today the foundation has about 180 member organizations, regulators in some regions of the world, and are actively implementing circular economy agendas. The organization says,

At its core, a circular economy means that products no longer have a life cycle with a beginning, middle, and end. Therefore, they contribute less waste and can actually add value to their ecosystem. When materials stop being used, they go back into a useful cycle, hence the circular economy.

Learn from Nature

Turns out there’s a lot humans can learn from nature. Designing for circularity could be compared to the design of nature, where nothing goes to waste. One thing feeds into another benefitting the entire ecosystem. 🔄 🌎 For example, in forest ecosystems, the nutrient cycle is circular. Trees and plants absorb nutrients from the soil to grow. When they shed leaves or eventually die, these organic materials decompose and return nutrients to the soil, which are then reused by other plants.

Why design for circularity?

Companies cannot continue to grow unchecked on a planet with finite resources.

If you’ve taken my Sustainable Growth Playbook or if you follow me on Linkedin, you’ve probably heard me chat about this 👆. I’ve mentioned that the circular economy aims to tackle challenges like:

• climate change,

• biodiversity loss,

• waste, and

• pollution.

The truth is because we are all interconnected by shifting to a circular economy, we can also decouple economic activity from the consumption of finite resources, which will result in:

• less price and supply chain volatility,

• less exploitation,

• less health risks, and

• new job creation. 👏

Let’s dive deeper into understanding the lifecycles of products and how we can facilitate circular design. There are 2 key ways we can look at waste: technical and biological.

Circular Economy Butterfly Diagram

Did you immediately get a headache when looking at this image? 😵‍💫 ME TOO. Let’s break it down.

Technical Materials

Technical materials are synthetic or non-biodegradable materials, such as metals, plastics, and electronics. Thus, they are not consumed during use. If you need a reminder of where they end up, see that e-waste landfill image I posted earlier. 👀 The circular design process for technical materials includes the following stages: