What is the difference between linear and circular economy?
‘Linear economy’ consists of using raw materials to make products, which will be used for a determined period of time, and then they will be considered as wastes and they will be thrown away.
On the other hand, ‘circular economy’ is based on the principles of recycle and reuse. From the start, new products are designed to reduce the consumption of raw materials, and then, after they have been used, they are not considered as waste, but a material that can be reused for another function directly, without requiring any change, or a material that can be recycled and then use it in another production process to make another product.
To illustrate both concepts in an example we will use packaging plastics. In a linear economy, raw materials for producing these packaging plastics will be extracted directly from nature and will go through the required production processes to be able to make the product, which will end up conforming the package of another product. After unpacking the ‘principal’ product, the plastic will be thrown away and will be taken to a landfill for decades, or even more time.
In a circular economy, the packaging plastic will probably not be produced with only raw materials, but with recycled materials too. Then, after being used as the package of another product, it will go through a recycling process, that will permit the packaging plastic to be used again in another production process to make new products.
So, as it can be seen from the information expounded above, linear, and circular economy are essentially different.
Linear economy is a one-way path, that bases production on extracting materials from nature, producing, using products just once, and generating trash, that pollutes the environment. While circular economy pretends to be a closed cycle that produces new products using the less raw materials from nature as possible, in favour of reusing and recycling already existing products that have already finished their initial purpose, intending to minimize the pollution of the environment.
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