Looking to live a life that goes beyond 'sustainability'? Welcome to the circular economy. But what it is exactly? Taking inspiration from nature, the circular economy is a series of interconnecting systems that make everyday life more sustainable. Plus, we can all be part of it: you, your second cousin, that guy that lives down the street and the person you follow on Instagram on the other side of the world. In this handy book, Claire Potter helps explain what the circular economy is, how we as individuals fit into a bigger landscape, how we can demand more of brands, corporations and governments - and how all the decisions we make really do make a difference.

A Circular Economy seeks to rebuild capital, whether this is financial, manufactured, human, social or natural, and offers opportunities and solutions for all organisations. This book, written by Walter Stahel, who is widely recognised as one of the key people who formulated the concept of the Circular Economy, is the perfect introduction for anyone wanting to quickly get up to speed with this vitally important topic for ensuring sustainable development. It sets out a new framework that refines the concept of a Circular Economy and how it can be applied at industrial levels. This concise book presents the key themes for busy managers and policymakers and some of the newest thinking on the topic of the Circular Economy from one of the leading thinkers in the field. Practical examples and case studies with real-life data are used to elucidate the ideas presented within the book.

Waste to Wealth proves that 'green' and 'growth' need not be binary alternatives. The book examines five new business models that provide circular growth from deploying sustainable resources to the sharing economy before setting out what business leaders need to do to implement the models successfully.

This book provides scholars working in the many disciplines that relate to the concept of the Circular Economy with a cross-disciplinary forum, looking at areas such as: Theory, Policy and Contexts; Improving Resource Efficiency and Reducing Waste; Changing Consumption and Behaviour by Design; and Transforming Technologies of Production.

The next revolution in business will provide for a sustainable future, from founder, CEO and circular economy expert Ron Gonen Our take-make-waste economy has cost consumers and taxpayers billions while cheating us out of a habitable planet. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The Waste-Free World makes a persuasive, forward-looking case for a circular economic model, a “closed-loop” system that wastes no natural resources. Entrepreneur, CEO and sustainability expert Ron Gonen argues that circularity is not only crucial for the planet but holds immense business opportunity. As the founder of an investment firm focused on the circular economy, Gonen reveals brilliant innovations emerging worldwide— “smart” packaging, robotics that optimize recycling, nutrient rich fabrics, technologies that convert food waste into energy for your home, and many more. Drawing on his experience in technology, business, and city government and interviews with leading entrepreneurs and top companies, he introduces a vital and growing movement. The Waste-Free World invites us all to take part in a sustainable and prosperous future where companies foster innovation, investors recognize long term value creation, and consumers can align their values with the products they buy.

Additive manufacturing or 3D printing, manufacturing a product layer by layer, offers large design freedom and faster product development cycles, as well as low startup cost of production, on-demand production and local production. In principle, any product could be made by additive manufacturing. Even food and living organic cells can be printed. We can create, design and manufacture what we want at the location we want. 3D printing will create a revolution in manufacturing, a real paradigm change. 3D printing holds the promise to manufacture with less waste and energy. We can print metals, ceramics, sand, synthetic materials such as plastics, food or living cells. However, the production of plastics is nowadays based on fossil fuels. And that’s where we witness a paradigm change too. The production of these synthetic materials can be based also on biomaterials with biomass as feedstock. A wealth of new and innovative products are emerging when we combine these two paradigm changes: 3D printing and biomaterials. Moreover, the combination of 3D printing with biomaterials holds the promise to realize a truly sustainable and circular economy.

This book is a call to arms to all architects, designers and built environment professionals. To avoid a climate catastrophe and achieve a regenerative built environment, the use of new materials and any excess waste in resources need to be cut out from the very beginning of the design process. This requires far-reaching change in established industry processes. How might this begin? What are the key fundamentals you need to know? How can a more effective model be applied? This book, a much-updated second edition of the author’s previous work Building Revolutions, answers all your questions. Inspiring, but never overwhelming, the Handbook to Building a Circular Economy is your must-have companion to helping create a more sustainable future. It explains in simple and practical terms how the principles of a circular economy can be applied to the built environment, thereby reducing the resources required to construct, fit-out, maintain and refurbish buildings. Case studies include: The Forge, UK, by Landsec The Bath School of Art, UK, by Grimshaw Urban Mining and Recycling Experimental Unit, Switzerland, by Werner Sobek NASA Sustainability Base, USA, by William McDonough + Partners University of East Anglia Enterprise Centre, UK, by Architype Park 20|20, The Netherlands, by William McDonough + Partners.