The shift from the current linear model of the economy to a circular one has recently attracted increased attention from major global companies, such as Google, Danone, Unilever, Renault, Philips, H&M, etc., who are starting to take the first steps towards actively engaging with this concept, supporting it and implementing it in their practices. 

Some politicians and leaders of international relevance, as well as policymakers who often attend the World Economic Forum, are also starting to ‘wake up’ to the importance of adopting a Circular Economy model on a global scale. 

The reasons for this are, above all, the enormous financial, social and environmental benefits that a model such as the Circular Economy can bring.

However, the global shift from one economic model to another also affects smaller businesses at the micro level. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the design of circular business models is needed to stimulate and foster the implementation of the Circular Economy. And participation in this will necessarily involve society as a whole - governments and governors, businesses and entrepreneurs - but also all areas of society and even the individual in his or her role as a responsible citizen aware of the importance of small gestures that become big ones, such as recycling and concern with waste.

The Circular Economy (CE) model was probably first defined and conceptualised in the report of the Scottish NGO Ellen MacArthur Foundation, as ‘an industrial system that is restorative or regenerative by intention and design’. This means seeking and creating opportunities to move from an ‘end-of-life’, therefore finite, concept to a system designated as Cradle-to-Cradle™, of renewal; from the use of non-renewable energy to the use of renewable energy, from the use of toxic chemicals to their elimination, from a generalised situation of producing a lot of waste to the elimination of waste through superior design of materials, products, systems and also business models. The Circular Economy thus becomes a new vision of resource management, energy, value creation and entrepreneurship.

Above all, it is about changing from a linear economic model (the current one) based on producing, consuming and discarding, to one that is much more sustainable and beneficial for the planet, where the reduction, reuse and recycling of elements, where waste is converted into resources, take precedence.

It is now time to awake for that change – everywhere and as quickly as possible! Before it’s too late for the Planet – and for the whole humanity and all the other living creatures in it.

Nelson Mendes, AACI – Asociación Asturiana para la Cooperación Internacional, Gijón, Spain