Afterword

This book is not the first, nor will it be the last word on the ‘Circular Economy’. What it does is to bring together leading researchers that have collaborated to look at the concept from a number of perspectives and disciplines. This whole realm, however, very much remains a work in progress, and presents fertile ground for much more work to be done.

A circular economy model encompasses all of the previous sustainability thinking of the past, but places this squarely in an economic context. It’s so obvious, I don’t know why this wasn’t done much earlier in our history. Linear models are out, circular is in, but we aren’t yet applying the principles. Waste, I’m reminded, is a global growth industry, and there’s no end (yet) in sight.