Transitioning to a circular economy

Another long-term trend is the transition to a circular economy, which is likely to move faster with an increasing move to digitization and automation than in previous transformations. As we read earlier in the chapter, we are already consuming 1.75% of Earth’s resources, and we are not regenerating nearly enough to live within the constraints of the planet. In our current way of living, finite raw materials are extracted or non-virgin plastics are used, the products are manufactured, products are shipped to a distribution point, the customer buys and uses the products once, and at the end of the product’s lifetime, it is discarded with limited reusability or recycling – the process is linear. In a circular economy, we move from a linear process to a circular one. We stop producing waste in the first place. Nature itself – the circle of life – inspires the circular economy concept. Species are born, grown, decline...