Even with as much effort as we’re putting into recycling at home and reusing items as much as possible, we still live in what is primarily a system of disposable items. When our computers break, we buy new ones. When we upgrade our phones, the old ones are so obsolete that we feel no one would want them anyway, so they simply get thrown in a drawer as “backups” that we will probably never actually use.

Home appliances, tools, plastic bottles, household items – most of the things we use on a daily basis are eventually headed for a landfill. In fact, 1.3 billion tons of discarded items end up in landfills each year worldwide.

Needless to say, this is not what you’d call a sustainable situation. There’s only so much the earth can take, and we’re exceeding that level by a significant amount.

A lot of the things we throw away aren’t suitable for traditional home recycling – so what becomes of those items?

In recent years, recycling efforts have started moving us in the right direction. Companies like Tetra Pak are creating packaging that can be recycled, and are sourcing as much as possible from renewable, sustainable and certified resources. While these are certainly positives steps, and it’s great to watch packaging companies innovate and move forward with sustainability initiatives, simply recycling pure plastic, cardboard, and metal isn’t enough. After all, a lot of the things we throw away aren’t suitable for traditional home recycling – so what becomes of those items?

Enter the Circular Economy

The idea behind the circular economy is pretty simple. In order to reduce waste enough to reverse our current patters of landfill abuse, product manufacturers need to adopt practices that will actually eradicate waste in a systematic way. This means that more products need to last longer, and there need to be structures in place to help bring unwanted products back into the manufacturing cycle, to be refurbished or reused in some way.

Many companies have already seen the light with regard to creating disposable products, and are moving toward more sustainable systems, ones where the very foundations of current consumer behavior are questioned, shaken, and ultimately transformed.

More and more companies are starting to adopt a new business model, one in which resource footprint reduction is given top priority

What this means on the whole is that more and more companies are starting to adopt a new business model, one in which resource footprint reduction is given top priority, and better manufacturing processes lead to more durable products, less waste, and more recycling on every level.

Services, Not Products

One of the big ideas driving the concept of the circular economy is a shift away from the perspective of “owning” products. Usually when we buy something, we think of it as ours to do with as we please. With this idea, though, comes the responsibility of what to do with the product when it breaks, reaches the end of its useful life, or simply becomes old enough that we don’t want it anymore.

In the circular economy, items are used in a consumer system more akin to renting – you use the product until you no longer need or want it, and then return it back to the company so they can refurbish it or reuse it as appropriate, and then pass it on to another customer.

In the circular economy, items are used in a consumer system more akin to renting

This business model can work for a surprising range of products, and it’s not just household appliances or personal electronics that can be recycled in this way. Mud Jeans, for example, operates on the concept of “leasing” jeans to customers, who pay a small monthly subscription fee to have a pair of jeans for a year. At the end of the year, the jeans can be kept, switched out for a new pair, or sent back. Returned jeans are recycled, the materials used to make new garments.

This is a great idea for people who have closets stuffed full of clothes that are rarely or never worn – instead of letting items pile up, they can be returned and exchanged for newer ones. The returned items are recycled and turned into materials for new products. Jeans are just one example, though – this sort of use-and-return model can be adopted for just about any reusable product.

Good for the Earth and Good for Business

A lot of press is given to the environmental benefits of the circular economy, but not only is it good for the planet, it’s also an extremely smart business decision from an economic standpoint. The circular economy generates both profits and jobs, and not in small amounts.

Shifting businesses to a circular economy model can create 100,000 jobs within the next five years

According to a 2014 report from the World Economic Forum, shifting businesses to a circular economy model can create 100,000 jobs within the next five years, and can be adding more than $1 trillion per year to the global economy by 2025. A huge percentage of these benefits would be seen in developing nations, where the most change needs to happen, and the most improvement is possible.

In order to achieve these kinds of numbers, though, businesses need to start working now to develop sustainable manufacturing, packaging, and return schemes. We have to stop over-consuming, and significantly reform our current system of simply disposing of unwanted items. This requires a complete shift away our current economy, and from landfill-based waste management systems.

These will not be easy changes, of course, but they are necessary if we want to be able to assure a long-term future for humans on this planet. If that sounds dramatic, it is – but so is the situation we’ll find ourselves in if we keep disposing of things in the current manner, without giving thought to what happens to all that trash.