Chapter 1: The Origins of the Circular Economy

There is an implicit understanding that the circular economy (CE) will help firms, supply chains, and countries meet global warming, carbon emissions, and sustainability targets well into the future. We are not the first generation to identify a pressing need for change as a precursor to ‘saving the planet’. It is imperative that we realign our priorities; carefully plan all human endeavours to anticipate their short and long-term consequences for the planet; bring a genuine end to waste; bring about a significant retrenchment in our levels of consumption; increase recycling, environmental restoration, and repair; ensure conservation through changes in social and economic patterns of development; and control of natural surroundings, primary agricultural land, open spaces, etc.; and protection and enhancement of environmental quality. This list seems to resemble a set of demands that might have emanated from COP-26.