Slower Cycles: An Essential Characteristic of the Circular Economy

Abstract

‘Closing the loop’ through recycling is self-evidently a prerequisite for a circular economy, but ‘slowing the flow’ is equally essential for adequate progress to be made towards sustainable development. Slowing product replacement cycles, however, demands more fundamental change than closing loops. Recycling could be increased with relatively little effect on consumption patterns whereas strategies to extend product lifetimes may challenge the norms of government, industry and consumers. This chapter explores the rapidly evolving debate on product lifetimes in the context of a circular economy. It begins by identifying the origins of the debate in concern about planned obsolescence and the depletion of non-renewable resources, before tracing its recent development in the context of waste prevention, resource efficiency and the circular economy. The need for a circular economy strategy focussed on product lifetimes, alongside recycling, is explained. Over the past decade, product longevity has been placed firmly on the European policy agenda, and there has been an ongoing debate on, for example, how to prevent unduly short-lived products from being placed on the market and the need to communicate information to consumers on the anticipated durability and reparability of products. The chapter concludes that such policies alone will not suffice. In order to move from a throwaway culture to a culture of durability, a transformation is required within education and in economic management.